Forbidden Bond - Mr_Xeno - Alien Series [Archive of Our Own] (2024)

Chapter 1: Accidental Discoveries

Chapter Text

LV-560 was the forefront of the space frontier meaning there wasn’t much if any development out here. The only developments consisted of research bases and terraforming stations. LV-560 only held one medium research station financed by Weyland Yutani, the mega corporation which slapped research stations on any new and possibly profitable planet.

The research base on LV-560 was a decent size with a large hanger for the few ships parked there. It had 2 levels above ground which were accessible by almost anyone working there. It was outfitted with a cafeteria, kitchen, and lots of offices and workstations. Aside from these 2 levels, there were at least 2 levels below ground as well. These of which weren’t accessible to just anyone and restricted to most who worked above ground. The reasoning was due to possible hazardous chemicals and in an effort to keep research from going into rival hands. The only real way to get down to the lower levels was the large elevator and adjoining staircase. These were guarded as well, in fact there was a small but decent guard presence for a frontier research base. A research base which recently had an alarm go off from a supposed chemical leak. 3 people went missing the day the alarm went off, and the station was plunged into lockdown. This happened 3 days ago and the station was finally lifted in its lock down. Thomas knew that meant he would have to probably go fix something.

Thomas was one of the site engineers for the research center under the Frontier Research Institute (FRI) funded by W-Y on LV-560. He had been stationed there to help with construction and it paid well so he wasn’t complaining. He stood in a small room, one which had nothing in it but a tarp draped lazily over one wall. He was called to fix the electrical damage from a chemical leak, the one which must have been the cause for the alarm a few days prior. This was ordinary procedure, someone calls him from his room, they need something fixed or built, and he does it without questioning. The latter part was something required by the job, something he had to abide by to earn his pay. He had been stationed here for well over a year now and was growing quite fond of the gloomy research station on the frontier of space. It was far from perfect, especially considering the food there, but he was needed here. It felt good to be needed as he had been rejected for most of the jobs he applied for before. He didn’t conversate with any of the researchers besides business because they were either too busy or pretending to be. Either way, Thomas preferred talking to the more down to Earth.. Or LV-560 I guess, anyway, the other engineers were way cooler to talk to. The guards were also very stern and didn’t talk much with the residents of the base. Thomas did question why so many guards for a base but the thought didn’t bother him.

There was another person in the small room with him, a researcher, clearly marked by the white lab coat they all wore. He was straight to business as usual with a half paying attention attitude as he was studying his clipboard of who knows what. It didn’t matter to Thomas.

“The pipe there.” He said motioning to a melted pipe protruding from the sides of the hole in the floor in front of them, “That pipe burst and sprayed a particularly acidic chemical all over causing the floor to melt. Yes we shut off the chemical flow, no there’s no residue left over, no it’s not toxic, yes this was the only section damaged enough to require your attention.”.

How can someone be so smart, apparently, and such a dick. Thomas thought and holding back the urge to make a comment on the researcher’s attitude, said, “Alright.”

“Good, I’m very busy so notify me when you are finished. Do not go anywhere further than here, areas are restricted.” The scientist said before leaving, barely caring about the engineer.

Chemical leak? What chemical would do this? Thomas thought as he stared down the hole through the floor he was standing on. The hole covered a decent portion of the floor and the metal pieces of the floor were melted in an odd way. They bent downward at the edges pointing to the idea that the source of the “acidic chemical” the researcher was mentioning must have started on top of the floor instead of inside it. It was a small detail that Thomas noticed but didn’t think further on. He also was told not to ask many questions as this area was restricted normally to people like him. He was on sublevel 1 and it was the first time he had been here.

Nose down and they feed ya I suppose, best get started. He thought as he reached down to grab a tool from his bag he brought in.

Well into the repairs, Thomas had fixed most of the electrical minus a couple more loose wires which needed attending. He was on a ladder which stood on the floor below the level of the room he was repairing. This ladder held him between the floors giving easy access to the repairs which needed his attention. The second to last wire which needed fixing jolted to life as he touched it. Sparks flew across the gap in the floor where Thomas was standing. The dancing array of sparks lit up the small space in under a second. In a panic he flew himself away from the live wire and achieved his goal by falling down to the ground with the ladder following but missing by mere inches. Hitting his head and back hard on the cold steel grate which acted as a floor for this level. All he had seen of this level was where the ladder had stood, it was a sort of maintenance tunnel looking area. Until now, the repairs were going normally, smoothly. Lying there for a few seconds he collected his thoughts.

God Damn! f*ckers didn’t even turn off the electricity! What a joke! f*ck!
His anger was tempered and he rolled over to his belly, head still pounding from the landing. Crawling till he was free of the dancing wire above him he stood slowly, which was still too fast for his disturbed head. The harsh headache starting to set in caused Thomas to groan in pain. Leaning against the rail till he got his balance and his head cleared a little, he reached down to his pocket.

Fuuuck.. The crunching sound and feel wasn’t a good sign for the communication device which was in his pocket. Pulling the scrap out he dropped the now useless tech to the floor and looked down the tunnel. With the options of either waiting here forever till someone came or look for help down the tunnel, Thomas started stumbling down the tunnel. He was following the wire which had caused this so he could shut down the power source and finish his job or find some help. Assuming his head would clear in a minute, Thomas staggered on. The maintenance tunnel looked complex and maze-like with little effort into making it look pretty. He finally found a metal box on the wall which the wire retreated into. Fumbling with the lock he got it open and studied the different switches inside. It was a sort of breaker box, he switched off the one which powered the cable that attacked him just a few minutes ago. With that he closed the lid to the breaker which gave a loud clunk echoing down the tunnel. The sense of accomplishment overcoming his pounding head for a moment gave him the second wind to begin the trek back to the repair site.

Walking… walking… more walking.. Wait.. Thomas thought, breaking his mindless wondering, sh*t, where am I? The sense of dread filled his body as he realized he had mindlessly walked to god knows where. Losing the wire he followed to the breaker among the rest of the tangled mess of wires that slithered along the winding tunnels. His head still aching and balance thrown off, he settled for looking for any door or way of communication. Completely forgetting the nonchalant warning the researcher gave him a while ago about the area being restricted.

Thomas tried to reason with himself, Did it matter that much? This can be explained as an emergency, so that makes me in the clear.. probably.

Finally coming to a door and with a clearer head, he peered into the glass slit to see the other side. There was a white room on the other side and it looked complete, different from the low effort maintenance halls he’d been traversing. The room seemed to have tables with all sorts of lab equipment on it but he saw no one in the room. With a grudge of reassurance he thought, well, I’ll find someone here, then I can finish that stupid job. Imma have a nice talk with the director Victoria about a hazard pay for this. He opened the door with a push and stepped into the bright room allowing the door to close behind him. Once his eyes adjusted, he scanned the room. Tables upon tables of equipment he didn’t know anything about lined the room. All this stuff has a use and that made him a little curious what it all does and can do. The room was definitely being used as Thomas noted the piles of papers and rows of computer screens still on. It felt wrong to go looking at what was on the screens or papers. Even with the full view of the room however, there was no one in sight. Thomas sighed, and headed for the nearest door to him.

He observed the equipment as he passed toward the nearest door and then something caught his eye. A wall had a large discolored rectangle painted on it, below were panels of buttons and levers. Upon further inspection he noticed a crack in the strangely colored wall. Why they wouldn’t fix an easy fix like that was beyond his reasoning. The strange discolored portion of the wall was decently big, about 5 meters long and 2.5 tall.

Come to think of it.. Thomas playfully thought, I’ve never really known what is researched here. I mean, for a research base, you’d think they’d wanna like display what the hell they do, right? He asked himself as he approached the panel of buttons and levers slowly, I mean, maybe it’s best I wait here till someone comes. You know, before I get more lost. He rationalized, his curiosity getting the better of him. He was having fun being curious and asking questions he’d never really thought of. Asking these questions also distracted him a little from the headache which was still pounding his head. He studied the panel for an interesting button or something to tell him what the purpose was. The thing which caught his eye actually wasn’t a button, but a dial. The dial read, “Opacity” and this was interesting as Thomas didn’t see anything the dial could refer to. With slight hesitation, but a curious smile he spun the dial. Casually looking around for the change the dial promised, his eyes noticed the discolored section of wall above the panel was now invisible. With curious excitement and accomplishment he looked up eagerly.

"Ha, gotcha!" He said to himself as his eyes peered into the room on the other side of the now glass section of wall. "What is this abou- WHAA?!"

His body reacted, flying backwards onto the ground on his butt. In a panic and sudden regret he crawled backward on his butt till he hit one of those tables not far from the now glass. His heart rate through the roof, and adrenaline pumping he yelled. No words, just instinctual yelling for what he saw was usually people's last sight before they die a brutal death. The Xenomorph on the other side of the now glass, stood there doing absolutely nothing but staring at Thomas. The alien’s lips had peeled back a little creating a sort of grin on the creature. If Thomas wasn’t freaking out, he may have noticed the alien looked almost.. amused.

The Xenomorph stood roughly 9 feet tall on its 2 legs. The slick black skin covered his body making his white sharp teeth much more visible. The smooth long dome rested elegantly on their shoulders. Sharp claws on its toes and fingers made the creature a formidable opponent for any poor soul that were to be in a fight with it. Its boney tail swayed slightly back and forth stretching until the razor sharp tip which proved a quick and deadly weapon. The alien had a slight drool almost, coming from its mouth as it grinned. It didn’t make any significant moves, and just watched as Thomas’s yell began to subside. The Xeno felt interested in the new human, it considered their differences compared to the other humans the Xeno knew.

As thoughts rushed through Thomas’s head, his body was frozen in fear. Now making his way to his feet, he stood, eye’s wide, wider than he had realized, staring the creature down. His heart rate was rapid and he could even feel sweat starting to drip down from his hairline. He frantically assessed the situation in front of him, and most of all, realized he wasn’t dead. Now gathering his sporadic thoughts, never taking his eyes off the creature. After a minute of heavy breathing, he realized he was.. Sorta safe. The Xenomorph was on the other side of the now glass wall section and wasn’t doing anything but grinning its toothy grin. Thomas’s fear resided way quicker than he thought, as it was overcome with questions.

Wh- Why?! What is a f*cking Xenomorph doing here?! Why is it in there? What put it there? What does this have to do with the research base? What the f*ck is going on?!

Within seconds Thomas had thought up a storm and most of the questions he had, were actually answered once reason brought its insight.

He began to think up connections, The research base is researching Xenomorphs, that’s why they don’t talk about it. That’s why areas were restricted and I guess that’s what that dial did.

These questions brought some new insight to his understanding of the base he worked for. Then it clicked.

The 'Acid chemical'! That was no chemical was it? It was Xenomorph blood right? That’s what we learned I believe, god those frontier training tapes were so boring. He thought with a feeling of accomplishment.

He felt proud that he remembered that from the little he paid attention to the creatures from the frontier training tapes. The tapes were played before he had traveled here and it was a mericole if he didn’t fall asleep during them. He was taught the basics but never thought he’d see one. Not to say he wasn’t interested in the aliens, I mean he always thought of them as really cool. The only well known intelligent organism, but most of the planets they were known to be on were nowhere near here. Of course that was on paper, but now that his nerves were calming, that interest was coming back. With the Xeno on the other side, he could get within a few steps of the glass while staring the Xeno in the face er- dome. The feeling of awe struck him as he studied the alien which was now co*cking its head to the right and moved a step closer to the glass in interest.

What are you doing here? Damn I’d never thought in my life I’d see a f*cking Xenomorph. There’s no way this is real. Thomas thought eagerly.

With a quick look around the now glass section he determined the wall was safe especially considering it was in some high tech research lab. Oddly enough, Thomas felt almost too safe on the other side of the glass. This gave his curiosity more power over his fear.. And rationality. Thomas put his hand up and waved instinctually at the Xeno saying, “Hi” with a slight smile. Once the words left his mouth he felt stupid quickly putting his hand down the smile retreating from his face as quick as it came.

What am I doing, waving to an alien which has no clue what ‘hi’ even means? If it can even hear me that is. f*cking genius. God I’m such a-

His thoughts were interrupted by his heart dropping to the floor. The Xeno seemed to look at Thomas's hand and then with a mild curiosity raised it’s hand. The creature didn’t wave it, but its intentions were clear, at least to Thomas. Now Thomas was overcome with wonder and excitement that the Xeno seemed to know what a f*cking wave is. He didn’t even realize that all his fear of the creature was replaced with admiration and curiosity.

Wha- No, no way the alien just waved.. Why? How? What else does this Xenomorph know? Is this what they were testing on? Did they teach this alien how to wave?

The stupid question brought a soft chuckle from Thomas as he pushed off the thought as obviously false. These questions however, needed an answer for Thomas, so he stepped close to the glass. He was only mere inches away from the wall looking the Xeno in the dome. He thought about what to do now, all his focus on the alien. He had completely forgotten about the lab, his job, the live wire, everything. It was almost a sense of tunnel vision focusing in on the life form in front of him. He quickly thought of a simple question to ask the Xeno and with haste, he spoke.

“You- can you, understand.. Me?”

He looked at the alien with his eyes wide and pointing at himself to emphasize his point still feeling stupid as he didn't know if the creature could hear let alone understand him. The Xeno took a second and then nodded its head up and down slightly a couple times. It was closer to the glass now looking Thomas down with morbid curiosity and height over him. Thomas wasn’t short nearing 6 ft. but the towering alien was closer to 8. Thomas on the other hand let out a big gasp of air and had the biggest smile he’d ever had on this base. Not knowing or caring whether the alien’s motion was meaning what he hoped, he still allowed himself to be once again embraced in wonder. The alien could sense his lift of emotion and couldn’t help but feel a little proud.

“Holy f*ck.” Thomas said, grabbing at his hair.

The Xenomorph leaned forward becoming just inches from the glass which set Thomas back a step. It took him a couple seconds to remind himself that he was safe from the deadly killing machine. That’s just it though, he didn’t think of it as a killing machine but more as just an alien in a box. This was probably due to the safety at which he met the creature, having not seen this alien be anything but docile. Was it naive? Perhaps, but Thomas didn’t care, flowing with optimism and hope. After all, the Xenomorph had acted only calm for the few minutes Thomas had been talking with them. Thomas thought they had a sense of curiosity as well, despite them not possessing many facial expressions due to the lack of eyes mostly. Even with that however, Thomas could just tell from its movement and body language that it was interested in him. For a snack or something else was not something Thomas thought of.

This glass had held up for a long time and if the Xeno could have broken it, he would’ve already.. Right? Thomas quickly thought.

With this rationalization he hesitantly mimicked the Alien’s motions, stepping nearer to the glass. Once he was a total of maybe 6 inches away from the glass he began to feel a compelling force within him feeling safe. Soon enough he was relaxed and looking into the Xeno’s dome with interest. He was asking questions in his head such as, Why are you here? Once like this for a few moments, Thomas began to feel an odd tingle almost in his head. The sensation was a good feeling, at least he thought so. It was the strangest thing, almost like looking into the slick black dome of the Xenomorph before him was affecting his brain. Every few seconds Thomas would wince at a small pang of pain shooting through his head from the huge headache he had. He tried quickly brushing off the pain in an effort to not let it affect his thoughts on the Xenomorph. There was this foreign feeling however which followed the spikes of pain in his temple. Something he couldn’t really explain but was getting more and more noticeable with each passing second. Thomas was trying to think of what to say next.

Ok ok ok, what is happening? The Xenomorph is just there, freaking centimeters away from me! But it looks so-

The oddly pleasant situation was abruptly interrupted by the shatter of a ceramic cup shattering from across the room. The sound was immediately followed by heavy footsteps rushing toward Thomas. The metal clanking filled the room but to Thomas the sounds were muffled. With his vision slightly blurred, he looked in the direction of the new sounds. Above all the muffled sounds Thomas was hearing, and his very own thoughts he heard a unique voice. The voice clearer than anything else was nothing or no one Thomas had ever heard. It was clear, but deeper, closer to a male voice but in this instance, had anger behind it and perhaps a touch of fear.

“NOO!” The blood curtailing voice shouted.

The voice screamed in his head, which honestly frightened Thomas. Immediately after, his head was filled with fierce ringing. In reaction to the people closing in on him from across the room and the strange feelings on top of the voice, he started to run. Not to his clumsy surprise, he took 2 steps before a chair with wheels got in his way. Flailing his arms he came down to the metal floor quickly, once again hitting his head real good. With his brain in so much confusion and pain his vision blurred. Mindlessly rolling onto his back away from the sabotaging chair, he clutched his head in an attempt to help the pain. Before he knew it, there were silhouettes above him and a pain shot up his right arm. Immediately afterward he felt an overwhelming sense of tiredness and he felt his mind slip as his eyes closed.

Blackness..

_______________________________________________________

What an interesting day. This is.. new. Who was that? Why was he.. Different? Why were the others seemingly unhappy with him? Curious..

The Xenomorph thought as he pondered the events which happened less than an hour ago. Curled up in the far corner of the white box, furthest away from the disappearing window, he thought to himself. The bland white box he lived in was now dark with the one fluorescent light off and the disappearing window clouded up. The pain on his left arm made its presence known once again as he sat in the deafening silence he had known for the past 3 years. 3 years of the same white room, well almost. Breaking out of the last room required some self injury, hence the pain on his left arm. The wound hadn’t healed fully yet and he treated it with care. The escape attempt was only a week ago and was honestly a last ditch effort to escape, one final plan. After that failed, the Xeno began questioning whether living this torture was worth it. He had almost no recollection of anything outside of a testing chamber. Being relatively young, for a Xenomorph, he had spent most of his remembered life in a cell.
About a year ago he had been really close to breaking out, but then the soldiers came in and.. He didn’t care to think about the past, not now. He felt it was useful to learn from but useless to dwell on, and that’s what he was doing. So he placed his thoughts on something more recent, something of more interest.

The strange human who had talked with him today was so odd and unexpected. It was causing him to forget about his surroundings as he dove deep into thought. There were a few things to note about the human that the Xeno found rather.. Different.

He wasn’t wearing white clothing, like all the other people who had experimented on me. Did that separate him from the others? Or not? I certainly haven’t seen him before, I’d know. He was- he felt, different. He had feelings of curiosity and wonder.. At me? Was he admiring me? Why? He was of course afraid, all the new people who see me are the first time, that’s not new. But he rather quickly was friendly with me.. This is new. What was up with him? Why did the other more recognizable people seem to be unhappy with him? They took him away after using some tool on him quickly. What was that? So many questions I can’t answer.. He thought disappointedly.

This thought process continued for a while as the alien tried to explain the new situation which had happened. Part of him feared it was part of the experiments on him, but he hoped it was not. Perhaps an accident? Either way, he had finally got a good chance for the first time to attempt to connect with someone. All the scientists never allowed such er- seemingly intimate activities. Activities which were required for him to even try a connection in the first place. He had to have done it with all of his hive back before all this. It took a moment of close connection or proximity and having less fear definitely made it easier. What he hadn't tried before, was connecting with a human. If he could do that, then he could hopefully talk with them and get them to let him out, one way or another. At the very least, understand what was going on, and why he was being close to tortured and tested on everyday. It was a fantasy and he knew it, but it didn’t stop him from trying. He was looking for any reason to keep going, considering he was close to giving up and refusing food. That was his last resort to end the suffering, but he didn’t want to. All the scientists were so hard to even sense let alone get close enough to try and connect, but this human which had talked with him just an hour ago was different. He was easy to sense, and willing to connect, at least his mind was even if he didn’t understand it. His mind was in an odd way, weaker and jumbled up with incoherent thought that made weaving into it easier. All the Xeno had to do was get Thomas’s brain to recognize the brain waves he used to talk. These brain waves he emitted from his dome to communicate and needed to almost be shown in a way to the human mind. It was like teaching a human mind to recognize the waves as voice. To be honest, the Xeno didn’t know if the connection worked after all. Their connection had been interrupted and he hadn’t even been able to say one word to him to test.

The Xenomorph sat in the cold, white box of a room, waiting. Waiting for the testing on him to resume, probably in the morning. Not that he knew what time it was but the humans didn’t tend to test on him at night. But now, the before dwindling determination to live through this constant torture was beginning to grow again. He found a reason to keep at it, at least a couple more days. Enough time to determine if the connection had worked, that is if the human also survived. The small spark of liveliness and almost hope led the Xenomorph into the most peaceful sleep he had for a long while…

Chapter 2: The Start Of Something New

Chapter Text

The obnoxious ding which the communication device set in Thomas’s room made whenever someone needed him for something, rang throughout the smaller room. His room was well kept furnished with a bed, desk and chair, small display screen in the wall, small closet, and a couple shelves. It wasn’t necessarily the most luxurious living but it was better than where he was living before being moved to the research station. It was safe and had plenty of available food and water, even if the food was lackluster.

Thomas woke from a rather deep sleep to the sound of the communication ding. He was a mess. The bed was all messed up and he woke in a slight sweat. His head hurt like hell, and the clothes he had on were slightly damp with his sweat. Trying to ignore his headache, he sat up in the bed looking over at the communication panel on his desk. It was unusual that he slept this messy, something not really normal for him. Unraveling himself from the sheets of his bed he got to his feet and walked over to the desk. Pushing the button caused the loud dinging to subside and replaced it with director Victoria’s voice.

“Thomas, there you are! Glad you're finally awake, cuz I need you to finish that job you started on yesterday. Well eventually at least, first, head to the infirmary so doctor Nicholas can check you out. You hit your head pretty hard falling from that ladder. I’m sorry that floor probably wasn’t the best base for a ladder, we should have figured out a better way to prop it up, but now we know.”

Her voice was in an optimistic tone and was actually setting Thomas back for 2 reasons. A: Victoria usually had a ‘I don’t have time for your sh*t’ attitude but now was sincere? B: Why was Victoria calling him? Usually she left that to a researcher, not herself, like ever. Thomas found the whole situation strange but couldn’t think of what happened exactly last night. He tried but could barely remember anything from that day entirely.

Did I really fall off a ladder? What an expert Thomas.. He thought sarcastically before answering Victoria through the communication device, “Oh, ok, yeah I’ll head to Nick. Is it bad that I can’t remember much from yesterday?”

His voice still tired from just waking up, along with talking, he found out his throat was sore as well. With an odd, faint but barely noticeable sigh she responded, “That’s a question for Nicholas, best get going, I have to get back to work, very busy.”.

Thomas could barely say bye before the communication device clicked ending the conversation. The clock on his desk read 6:30 AM, at this time, not much would be going on in the station. Thomas stood there thinking to himself.

What was the sigh for? Probably just her other work, and knowing I’m at least alive, less paper work probably. Whatever, get cleaned up, and go see Nick, I can do that.

He reached down to the desk and grabbed his lead engineer card which allowed him access into all places above ground. Of course he wasn’t allowed below ground, not many people he knew were. After throwing on clean clothes and washing his face, Thomas left his room for the infirmary. The halls outside his room weren’t too busy, it was the morning after all. The faint sounds of muffled electric hums coming from the lights above along with his very own footsteps on the solid metal floor were the only sounds around him. From time to time, there’d be a conversation Thomas would pass, only hearing a portion until the talking was too distant. Most of the living quarters on the research station were on the 2nd floor, the infirmary was close to the stairs on the 1st. Exiting the stairwell, Thomas then entered the medical room.

The room was a large semi-circle shape with beds spread out along the edges, each accompanied by various medical equipment. Carts carrying more supplies occupied the middle of the room ready for when needed to be used. Not many people needed medical attention on a distant research base far away from any fighting going on. Against Thomas’s expectations, there were in fact a few beds occupied. All but one of the occupied beds had curtains drawn in an effort to provide privacy to the injured person. The one which had no privacy screen drawn was due to the fact that Nicholas was checking on her. Thomas couldn’t pick out much detail from across the room but she looked to have burn marks across her face. Nicholas was looking into a data pad in one hand while his other rested on his chin. Barely noticing Thomas enter, Nicholas moved away from the bed and drew the curtain closed. The doctor motioned for Thomas to sit on an operating table in the center of the wall opposite the door he came in. The doctor had a slight smile, and greeted Thomas kindly. In the few times Thomas had needed to come to the infirmary, Nick was always super cool. You could tell he enjoyed his job and helping people in need. He was like Thomas in this way, feeling needed as he was the only real professional doctor on base. Most of the professional doctors were either closer to the more developed areas of space or near the battle front. This didn’t allow much extra for a random base on the edge of space. Thomas began walking across the room as the good doctor spoke.

“Ah, Thomas! Please take a seat, I hear you took quite the fall yesterday. I just need to check on you and make sure there's no serious damage, it shouldn't take long.” The doctor reassured him as he grabbed one of the carts and wheeled to meet Thomas at the table.

“Alright” Thomas tried to sound thankful, “I actually was a little concerned about my lack of memory from yesterday. Is that a problem?” he genuinely asked.

Nick sighed, stopping the cart by the table Thomas was now seated on. He looked almost disappointed for a second before responding in a quiet, but stern voice, “I heard”. The tone was unexpected, and caught Thomas off guard compared to his normal happy attitude. It was almost solemn, if he were to really read into it, he would've guessed it showed guilt. Quickly reverting back to a more normal tone and looking at Thomas he continued, “So, that’s exactly what we are here to find out.”

The doctor performed a few quick tests using equipment Thomas didn’t understand, but trusted the doctor to. After the tests were done rather quickly as promised, Nick looked into his data pad with focus and studied it for a moment. Thomas almost felt he was just avoiding looking at him. The doctor had an odd complexity on his face, one which almost resembled annoyance. He looked guilty with the way his eyes wondered about the screen and how his smile had faded into a straight face. He looked around the room as if he was looking for a misplaced piece of equipment.

Thomas, feeling something off, asked Nick, “Is everything ok?”.

Nick responded, turning to him with a hesitant but sure, “yeah, wait here one sec, I gotta check on a patient real quick.”. After saying this he set down the data pad which was attached to his arm via velcro on the table next to Thomas. He gave Thomas one look which was too short to gather any emotion from and then proceeded to walk over to an occupied bed moving behind the curtain. Thomas sat there in the electrical hum of the lights above and his thoughts began to wonder.

Weird, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Nick like that.. Doesn't he need his data pad? What exactly happened to those people? Wait.. What if it was from the lockdown ‘chemical leak’ a few days back? Hmm..

Thomas thought as he glanced at the screen from the corner of his eye trying to respect the doctor's privacy. However, sitting there with nothing else to do, his curiosity got the better of him. He picked up the pad nonchalantly and studied the words displayed. It read a few things Thomas skimmed past but the results on the tests Nick performed moments ago were shown. This he figured he had a right to know anyway so what's the harm.

Blood test #2 on patient -Thomas Anderson-
Date: 10/5/2413

Abnormal content: traces of benzodiazepines
Possible conclusion: Patient was under heavy sedation recently

Wait.. what? That doesn’t make sense.. I wasn’t under sedation recently? That… huh.. Weird..

Thomas thought with slight concern not even noticing the doctor had returned by his side. He pulled the data pad out of Thomas’s hands slowly and looked at him. He spoke as if nothing happened and ignored the concern clearly making its way onto Thomas’s face now.

“It looks like you’ll be fine, but take it easy ok, don’t go getting in trouble.” Nick said as he moved past Thomas who was standing up off the bed now, Nick turned around once past Thomas, “Take your results for what you will Thomas.”. He spoke quieter, and with his eyes looking down at the tablet he took from Thomas. The doctor then turned around again to open the door to the infirmary for Thomas to leave. Thomas who followed loosely behind couldn’t help but notice the small camera above the door. For some reason it just stood out to him, but Thomas pushed the thought away for a different time. He left through the door Nick opened and he had closed it behind leaving Thomas in the halls. He stood there for a good moment thinking back.

Take your results for what you will.. Thomas.. Nick had never said my name before really.. He usually refers to most people with general terms like dude, or something.. What does that mean? Possible conclusion: Patient was under heavy sedation.. Is this important? It seemed like Nick wanted me to see it, but why? I mean he didn’t seem mad when I saw it. God what is going on?

Thomas thought, gripping his head and starting to walk down the halls. He thought heavily on this while he wandered down the halls toward the cafeteria to grab some breakfast. Eventually, he found himself in the rather large circular room filled with tables and chairs. Natural light illuminated the large space coming from the skylights above. It was kind of nice to get away from the constant LED lights and their so very subtle hum, only audible if in silence. The cafeteria was sparsely populated and the kitchen window just had a couple plain options available for breakfast. Grabbing some simple granola bars, Thomas sat down and fell lost into thought. The world around him slipped away as he thought. It was a comfortable space for him, away from everything that could bother him. All he needed was something to place his thoughts toward, so he imagined reasons and explanations behind the mystery of his infirmary visit and what had happened yesterday.

_______________________________________________________

The loud metallic bang echoing throughout the small test chamber the Xeno lived in shook him awake. Following the bang, the one light switched on illuminating the white box containing the very obvious black Xenomorph against the white walls of the room. The startle from awaking so quickly, especially from a deep sleep, caused his forearm to flare up in pain. Grabbing his arm with his other hand, the alien looked around the room for the window to appear. There it was, revealing all the scientists in their white coats, most of them working at desks about the other room. A few however were looking at him and conversating. It was normal for the Xenomorph to not be able to hear all their conversations, but he didn’t fully know why. He assumed they were able to cut communication into his chamber as they always pressed a green button on the panel below the window before speaking to him. He took pride in being observant and questioning the things around him he didn’t understand. There it was again, the scientists pressed the green button and began speaking in a playful attitude. This wasn’t a nice or fun playful one either, it was full of belittling and superiority which the Xeno hated.

“Heard you had a visitor yesterday. That cost us a lot of bribing to get him sorted out, but you're lucky we didn’t have to kill em. THAT would be expensive to cover up.” He waited a second before talking again, the time in between he chuckled a little and broke a smile, “Alright, well today we start a new trial. We will see just how hard it is to make you guys fall asleep.” He said this in a sinister, yet oddly joyful tone.

The Xenomorph now stood in the middle of the room checking all around him waiting for something to happen. He was observant for the usual tests they did involving many methods of pain in an effort to prepare himself for it. While waiting for the scientists to do whatever they were going to do, the Xenomorph thought to himself idly.

Glad they have no idea I somewhat understand them. Their constant talking to me had made it easier to pick up on their language.. Fall asleep? What does that mean for me.. At least it sounds like the guy from yesterday is still alive so there's that at least. There is still hope I can contact him. I may be able to reach him through the walls if he is close enough.. I don’t know, that could be-

His train of thought was thrown off by a sharp pang in his side which shot up to his brain. Whipping around, preemptively slashing his tail at the source of the pain. The screeching of metal like nails on a chalkboard sounded out as his razor sharp tail blade crossed the wall. He heard a yelp from the area he had just slashed but once focussing in on the source he saw the small slit in the wall aside from the new scratch mark. Another metallic sound echoed obnoxiously as a metal tube hit the floor from where he had slashed. It was a barrel to those weapons the Xeno knew the humans had, he must have cut it off from the rest of the weapon. The small slit which he now knew the barrel came from now closed up. Still on alert, he inspected his side and found a dart barely stuck in his skin. It came out with ease and upon further inspection, seemed not to even get far enough to actually get inside him. He moved to pick up the metal tube on the floor and grabbed it to inspect. It wasn’t all that interesting and the alien dropped it carelessly to the floor pretty quickly. Glancing back at his side where the dart had hit him, he thought with achievement.

Are they trying to hurt me.. With this? Really? With this thought the alien let out a laugh on his end, but to the humans listening in on him, it was more of a wailing screech. You’ll have to try harder than that guys! He thought amusingly, still laughing.

This small win resonated with him and he enjoyed the silent sigh coming from the human who was looking at him now with his head down. One of the scientists from beside this main one spoke.

“Is it working? It looks hurt. Like it's mad or something” He said with a certain hopefulness.

The main scientists let out a harsh and loud, “No!”. After that he talked at a normal tone, “It in fact failed to even get to his bloodstream, now go tell the weapon development department that their ‘really f*cking sharp dart’ isn’t good enough and to get me a better one by tomorrow that can actually have a chance! They know the alien’s skin is tough as f*ck, so what is this sh*t?!” He said this aggressively, waving at the scientist who had asked him the question.

The other scientist nodded quickly and left the room at a pace. The main scientist with one hand rubbing his eyes and with the other pressed the green button cutting off the communication. He then walked a couple steps and sat in a chair, at this point the Xeno had been a little more observant of the scientists. Now that there was a chance not all humans were like this, he wanted to study the differences. Based on the person who found him yesterday, the main difference was the cloth they wore. They left the window clear allowing the alien to walk up to the glass and focus in on the main scientist who was yelling. He had some physical differences from the human which came in yesterday but mainly the clothing he wore. He had a tag on his clothing, upon inspection, the Xeno read out the letters.

T r a v i s K e n n i t h

The alien had never seen this combination of letters before, and that led him to believe it could be a name or something he hadn’t heard yet. He had learned the basics of the human language from listening in on them and over the years of being captive, he had nothing else to do. Understanding the language his captors used seemed useful and an interesting challenge. He was constantly surrounded by the language causing him to even think in the language by now. This tremendously helped him apply the words and phrases and overall speed along his already quick understanding of the language. The Xenomorph loved a challenge, it was in his nature after all.

The Xenomorph was now inches away from the glass staring at Travis, the main scientist. Travis looked up from his deep thoughts to unexpectedly meet the Xeno’s stare and let out a gasp. Quickly collecting his fear, he drew a long breath slowly and looked over to his colleague currently talking with someone else. Travis spoke in a clearly annoyed voice getting the attention of the other person who instantly ceased their conversation.

“Fade.. the window.. Would you.” his deep breath coming out as he spoke.

The other scientist looked at the alien which was close to the glass and sighed letting out a simple, “Right.”.

With a couple steps toward the panel, he turned the dial cutting all visuals between the 2 rooms. The Xenomorph backed away from the wall and went back curling up in the corner. He closed off his mind, reaching out mentally to see if he could detect the human’s presence. The one which he hoped he had secured a mental connection with. He did this to no avail sadly be still kept at it nevertheless, holding out slowly dwindling hope.

_______________________________________________________

Finishing his breakfast, Thomas noticed more and more people filling up the cafeteria. Just as he was about to get up and head off, the scientist who had given him the job yesterday, sat next to him. He was much more focused on Thomas compared to yesterday when he was half-paying attention. Thomas determined the change was due to someone higher up getting mad at him for Thomas’s injury. Sadly, that was probably due to paperwork and money that could have been put elsewhere. The thought however surprised Thomas as he pondered it.

Wait.. that’s right, this was the guy from yesterday. The one who gave me a half-assed job explanation. I didn’t remember that till just now? Well I guess Nick was right, maybe my memory thing was just temporary and would get better.. hopefully..

The thoughts of him remembering the scientist left him zoned out until the very scientist he was pondering on was waving his hand in front of Thomas’s face.

“Hello? Are you with me?” The scientist said visibly trying not to sound annoyed.

Thomas, blinking a couple times, responded, “Yeah, yeah. What do you need?”

The scientist sitting back into a relaxed position started, “Ok, I know you are hurt, but we could really use that room to be repaired as soon as possible. I swear we-.”. The scientist cut himself off abruptly and looked at Thomas quickly saying, “Can you do it today?”

Thomas didn’t care to press the inconsistency in his voice and said with a sigh, “Sure, I’ll get started soon.”

With that, the scientist stood and promptly walked away happily saying, “Great.”. Thomas was a little thrown back by the change in attitude but wasn’t complaining that the researchers were nicer to him. Then it hit him that he didn’t even know the guy's name, or really any of the names of the researchers. I guess he didn’t need to for his job but he still found it interesting nonetheless. Now that the cafeteria was filling up with people looking for breakfast, he figured it was a good time to go ahead and at least inspect the damage he still needed to fix. He liked to build a list of things he needed to do anyway. He also would be lying if he said he wasn’t curious about the area he fell in. He thought being there could have a positive impact on his memory even. He didn’t know why the whole memory thing was this interesting to him but he didn’t care to push it off. These were some pretty interesting events compared to the boring year he had spent on this station. These reasons pushed him up from his chair and down the halls toward the elevator.

Once Thomas exited the elevator on to sublevel 1 he started to make his way back to the repair site from yesterday. The door was already open and inside was one of the guards normally on the elevator. He sat in the corner of the room furthest from the hole reading a book. Thomas tried to just ignore the guard while he inspected the hole in the floor once again. Kneeling down on the edge of the damage he noticed the ladder stood up from the level below.

Must have fixed the ladder before I came back, Thomas thought as he carefully lowered himself onto the highest step on the ladder. Once he was securely on the ladder he began to inspect the wiring around him, looking back on his previous job. After determining there were only a couple wires left to fix, he reached out to grab one in order to fix it. Once his hand made contact with the electrical cord, for a split second, he saw an array of lights draw out around him. Sparks all emerging from the limp wire dancing in a frightful beauty. This quick but sure vision drew Thomas’s hand back startling him. He stood there on the ladder staring at the wire which hadn’t made any real move and thought:

Was that.. Did that happen? Was it.. Yesterday?

Pushing the intruding thoughts out of his mind temporarily, he reached back the wire and began to fix it. It only took a couple more minutes to complete the job but while reaching into the floor to grab a connector, he had accidentally knocked over a tool which clanged on the metal grate floor below. This was why once Thomas finished the job he had climbed down the ladder to retrieve the tool for his bag. He grabbed the small pair of pliers equipped with useful isolated handles for electrical work. With a sigh he said to himself, “Alright.”

The second he went to take a step onto the ladder however, he heard a voice behind him. He couldn’t make out what it said and it wasn’t the guard above him. Turning around expecting to see someone exploring the maintenance tunnels behind, but he found no one. The voice was odd, it wasn’t a voice he knew yet felt familiar. The oddity caused him to look into the ever extending tunnels trying to pick apart the words as they continued. After a moment of speculation he chuckled saying, “God I may need some sleep.”.

He paused.. Something he didn’t realize until just talking hit him. The voice, the one which still was fighting to reach his brain, was clear. It was faint and quiet, but clear. Thomas’s voice just now echoed like hell in the tunnels down here, this one didn’t. The peculiarity caused him to focus in on the speech harder again, stopping his climb up the ladder. He felt kinda stupid standing there closing his eyes, but the only person who could see him was the guard in the room above who was currently reading a book thinking Thomas was still at work.

Great security staff here, the thought passed quickly through his head.

It was excruciatingly annoying as he was barely unable to pick apart the sounds into words. It was the feeling when you have something on the tip of your tongue but can’t remember it. He knew he couldn’t go down the tunnel unless he wanted to get in trouble… Thomas thought back to the idea.

Get in trouble.. Nick had told him to stay out of trouble. The comment had felt more explicit than general.

Thomas began to think down a rabbit hole slipping away from reality a bit.

I fell so hard that I blacked out? From a 4 foot drop? Why did it say I had been sedated on the data pad? Something’s not adding up. What, the, f*ck, is this vocal sensation?!

It was then Thomas noticed something, a little black piece of something lying on the grated floor a few feet away from him. He moved over and picked up the obviously broken tech. Inspecting it for a second he felt a slight chill down his spine. This was his mobile communication device issued to him in case he needed to be contacted when he wasn’t in his room. This was serious tech and it was sitting here broken. Looking back where the ladder was, he thought.

How did this get all the way over here if it was in my pocket?.. I would've had to have gotten up and dropped it. There's no reason they would leave it here when, supposedly, they found me. I gotta investigate further, how can I get that guard distracted for a minute? Just to ease my mind, just a little investigation. What's the worst that could happen..

With the fear of inflicting karma on himself, he stopped and thought up a way to distract the guard. Thomas had never done anything against the wishes of his superiors which made him nervous about what he was about to do. However, despite this, the thought of going against his superiors was a little exciting. Giving himself some confidence he climbed up the ladder and to the floor above. There the guard was still reading his book, and Thomas began to leave the room. Before he could get out the door, the guard stood saying, “You done here?”.

“I need to go to the bathroom, but yeah I’m almost done.” Thomas said, trying to sound normal and chill.

The guard’s response was by sitting back down and reading his book. With that, Thomas left the room into the hall. The halls down here were narrower than the ones above ground but mostly much less crowded. Thomas wasn’t looking for the bathroom however, he was looking for an electrical panel on the wall. If the design down here was anything like the one upstairs then there would be electrical panels around which did various things locally around it. He had historically used them to shut off power when repairing something nearby. Thomas took note of a janitor's closet near to the room he was repairing and carefully moved down the hall. After a few seconds of searching, he came across the local panel. Quickly looking side to side and determining the coast is clear, he opened the cover on the panel. The power was currently being diverted to lights and a few other controls but after reading through the options, Thomas found his distraction.

Fire Alarm Systems Sublevel 1

No way.. This should be plenty distraction.. Jackpot!

Thomas thought as he hovered his hand over the switch to turn it on. He briefly thought of what he was getting himself into, but reasoned he could explain it away easily if needed. Right now, he was determined to ease his mind on the mystery currently clouding it. Any fire alarm systems stem from one place on each level so the center fire alarm system for this one happened to be near this panel. It was perfect for what he needed, and so he pressed the switch with a click. Immediately after he ran to the janitor's closet down the hall he came from as fast as he could. The red lights spurred to life and sirens sounded throughout the level, only this level though as the panel only had access to this level’s systems. The wail of the electric warning made hearing anything else hard, even his own thoughts to an extent. Quickly finding the janitor’s closet he remembered from before, he swung open the door and tucked himself inside. He closed the door enough to still see out a sliver through the crack. In a couple seconds he saw a guard run past. Right after he peered out into the hall to make sure that guard was the one that was watching him. It was. With a sudden jolt of thrill, Thomas left the closet and moved toward the door to the room he was repairing. A couple feet away from the door, a group of 3 guards came around the nearby corner. Thomas flattened himself against the wall just in time for the soldiers to not run into him. The boots of the guards barely could be heard through the loud alarm and quickly were overcome by it once the group got some distance. He stood there for a second to calm his rapid heart rate then taking one last glance down the halls, he slipped back into the room.

The door behind him slid closed, cutting down the alarm’s sound to a much more manageable volume. There must not have been an alarm in the room, not that there needed to be considering the alarm outside was still very audible. The guard's corner where he had been reading the book was now vacated and with the feeling of no turning back now, Thomas climbed back down the hole. His feet hit the grid metal floor sounding a metallic echo down the tunnel. He listened carefully, hoping the voice was still there. Nothing yet. Not wanting to wait too long, he started jogging down the maintenance tunnel with haste, looking for clues and more importantly keeping track of where the hole was. The experience was so new and exhilarating which kept Thomas going until he stopped near a metal box on the wall. There it was, he heard the faint voice still unable to pick apart the words. With nowhere else to go and no idea where he was going in the first place, Thomas decided to follow the voice. It was such a crazy thought, the idea he was following some voice he was hearing, but there was something to the voice. A feeling of familiarity, which Thomas was looking for anyway. He began jogging down a different tunnel causing the voice to grow slowly more louder and clearer. Eventually he came to a door in the tunnel, the voice was coming from it. It was much louder now and almost understandable. He stood in front of the door and thought.

I’ve come this far, there’s gotta be something.. Anything.. But I can’t get caught, it’s not worth losing my job over peace of mind.. Is it?

He thought as he gripped the handle of the door peering into the room. He did make out 2 people talking on the other side, they seemed to be in a rush. After a moment, they walked at a pace out of Thomas’s view.

Here goes nothing..

Thomas’s thought verberated through his soul as he slowly and gently opened the door with a slight tremble in his hand. Once it was cracked open, he looked into the lab, seeing the door on the other side of the room finish closing. Someone had just left. Thomas opened the door and scanned the room determining it was empty. Not wasting time he let go of the stress and focused inward. The voice, it was muffled and jumbled but certain sounds came through to Thomas’s mind.

“--n —--ow, di—l” The broken up voice repeated slowly.

Thomas had that tip of your tongue sensation again, so strong it made his mind hurt. Thomas moved to where the voice was loudest, which took some back and forth movements but soon found the spot and inspected the area thinking.

That’s definitely an ‘O’ sound and then a pause, after that is a die sound… die, die, die.. Dial?

He thought, finding the dial reading “Opacity” on it. Thomas twisted the dial slowly and watched as the section of wall cleared into glass. The Xenomorph was on the other side head against the glass staring at Thomas right away. Thomas saw the alien and instantly got a headache. He grabbed his head and closed his eyes as flashes of images and sounds flowed through his mind. They were memories. The Xenomorph was triggering his brain to remember the events from yesterday. After a moment, the pain began to subside and Thomas remembered everything, everything from the wire to the Xenomorph which stared at him now. He stood upright, removing his hand from his head still looking down into the panel. The Xenomorph had succeeded in getting Thomas to remember, and the alien couldn’t help but feel relieved as this could have very positive implications.

Thomas said to himself in an almost disgusted manor, “What the f*ck?!”

It all crashed down on him at once and his thoughts came like rapid fire:

They lied to me? They drugged me?! Would they have hesitated to kill me?.. Possible conclusion: Patient was under heavy sedation, it makes sense now. I saw their secret test subject, A f*cking Xenomorph I Might Add, so they covered it up making it seemed like I just fell from a f*cking ladder! What the f*ck!?

Thomas felt many things at this point such as anger, confusion, disbelief, but most of all, betrayal. He had worked for this station doing any and everything they wanted for almost a year now. He spent a good portion of his life here and abided by their rules for so long. They didn’t even try to talk with him or any more humane way of getting him to not speak of what he saw. The feelings were starting to overwhelm him without him noticing as his breaths came in quicker.

A calm, sympathetic voice interrupted his train of thought, “I’m sorry..”

It was laced with, as far as Thomas could tell, true sympathy and sadness. Thomas took a second then in fear he whipped around flattening his back against the glass. He scanned across the room, back and forth, looking for the source of the words of comfort. Fearing someone found him again he prepared himself to run, however, before he could the voice spoke again. It spoke clearly and now that Thomas was looking for one, it sounded louder behind him.

“Hello? Behind you. I am behind you. Don’t scare yourself.” It said

Eyes growing wide, Thomas turned around slowly and faced the Xenomorph. The alien was very close to the glass and bent down in a way to allow Thomas to look straight into his face. His slick black dome caused Thomas to remember back to when he first met the Xeno. All his thoughts rapidly condensed to one coherent question:

“You can talk?!” Thomas frantically said, half astonished, half in disbelief, jaw open.

“Yes” The Xeno said knowing Thomas would have a reaction based on their previous interactions.

“Holy f*ck!” Thomas spurted, letting out a deep breath, afterward he continued, “Ho- how?”. This was all Thomas could think to ask, still trying to wrap his head around the fact a Xenomorph was talking, and was talking to him.

“All I had to do was get your brain to recognize the waves I make from my brain and translate them as words.”. He said this so matter of fact, like explaining why apples fall from trees. While explaining, he even moved his hands around gesturing to himself and then to Thomas when needed. He talked and acted like a human in normal conversation. This exploded something in Thomas’s brain causing a mixed bag of feeling to burst of disbelief, awe, and sympathy. He felt sorry the alien was trapped in some testing chamber which really didn’t look too cozy. Thomas made an effort to push the feeling away and revert back to believing the Xeno was a deadly creature of nightmare willing and very able to tear him apart in an instant. His efforts were futile however and his moral compass was telling him that this felt wrong and inhumane considering the Xeno didn’t seem to enjoy being trapped there. At least, Thomas assumed as much. He wanted to ask the alien everything he could but knew in the back of his mind, he was on the clock. The alarm distraction he made would soon be figured out to be a ‘false trip’ and people would return to where they were. Here.

“That’s f*cking crazy!” Thomas reacted to the short explanation the Xeno gave him. Rubbing his eyes to make sure he wasn’t dreaming he reset and focused on what to do. “I- I don’t have much time, before they come back. I- I’m not supposed to be here, to see you. I’ll find a way. A- a way to come back, but I have to get moving.” He said this hastily but laced with sadness he could ask the 1,000 questions brewing in his mind.

Another time

He thought while explaining to the Xenomorph his situation. The Xeno spoke soon after.

“Ok, ok. But please- please come back another time.. I must talk to you.” The Xenomorph said solemnly and almost as if begging just a little.

This response made Thomas feel bad. He felt he was about to make a promise he wasn’t sure he could hold up. The possibilities which could come from this were fantastic and would determine him to find a way to talk to the Xeno again in a less rushed situation. This would give Thomas something important to do, and much more interesting than his current job as lead engineer. He did like his job as engineer and it was nice to feel needed, but this felt like it could do something good. Not to mention the time in between when he was needed for anything engineering, was dreadfully boring. The response only made his sympathy toward the alien stronger and Thomas responded.

“I promise, I will.” He said this with a sudden rush of determination and purpose looking straight into the Xeno’s dome. He felt the Xeno looking straight back at him and to his surprise still didn’t even have a passing thought of fear. With that statement, he gave one more melancholy look at the Xeno and made haste for the door he used to get into the lab from the tunnel. He was sure to quickly turn the dial making the glass disappear into the wall again as he found it. Entering into the tunnels, the door shut behind him echoing down the halls. Thomas jogged down the tunnels remembering the turns he needed to make as he made them. While jogging down the halls it began to sink in what had just happened to Thomas.

Oh my god.. I just had a conversation with an alien.. A Xenomorph! Like, what the f*ck? What am I getting into? God, imagine all that could come from just talking with a Xenomorph. It’s.. holy f*ck this could be bigger than I thought!

He thought as he retraced his steps back to the hole he was supposed to be repairing. Once he came within sight, he realized the alert was off. Thomas found himself under the hole and flew up the ladder as quickly as possible. No one was there in the small room, the small testing chamber Thomas now assumed putting two and two together. With a deep breath to try and calm himself, he left the room into the hall. A guard was walking down and saw him step out of the room. The female soldier with a confused look, walked up to Thomas who returned a confused look.

“What are you doing here?” She asked with a stern and almost warning voice.

“I- I was working on repairs. Some alarm went off and the guy watchin me left.” Thomas responded, trying to sound innocent as he could without forcing it.

“Um. Ok.” She said slowly before resuming her normal pace, “Well, are you finished?”

“Yes, that’s why I came out here.” He said hoping she would allow him to leave.

“Ok, here, follow me, let's just get you back to ground level.”

“Alright.” Thomas said happy to get out of the situation and seemingly out of trouble for tripping the alarm. Now all that was on his mind was figuring out a way to get back the Xeno without anyone knowing.

_______________________________________________________

The Xenomorph sat in silence and darkness. He couldn’t help but allow a small grin to emit across his face. His connection had worked, and that meant he had a chance to change something or at least understand more. It was a dream come true, however scary as he was relying on a random stranger. A kind, curious, funny stranger as the Xeno thought of him.

It worked.. I need him to come back. Promise? What does that mean? Haven’t heard that one before. Hopefully this guy will come back, and perhaps, he would be open to explain. That’d be amazing to have someone to ask questions instead of guessing at everything..

The prospect of this alliance gave the Xeno a giddy excitement at the possibilities. This was something new, something that could finally bring change even. He didn’t want to get his hopes up, but couldn’t help but spend the next hours thinking about it. Until the tests resumed, then he’d figure out what they were planning with that strange dart. The very thought of it sickened him with disgust. How could some humans be so cruel yet now, there was one at least who seemed so good. All the Xenomorph could do is sit and wait till either the tests inevitably resumed or the new person he connected with came back, his.. Friend?

Chapter 3: Determination

Chapter Text

Thomas couldn’t sleep. It had been hours after his rebelling to find answers was a success to his mild surprise and proudness. He was escorted back to the upper levels by the guard and by then it was later in the evening. Besides getting something to eat, he had been in his room the rest of the day. Usually, he would go hang out with the few cool people he knew in the common space. The common space was a larger room with monitors, books, and a few board games which made it a good place to pass time in. Instead Thomas lay in his bed, a mix of thinking back to his discovery, being mad at his superiors, and brainstorming ways to get back down there without anyone knowing. His brain juggled these thoughts causing some frustration to build at the lack of solutions.

Ok, ok. I need to get back down there and I need to do it without drawing any attention. There has to be another way down right? A second emergency exit? It can’t just be that one elevator and staircase guarded 24/7 right? Damn.. It feels like that should go against some safety code right?.. Safety code.. Wait.. There must be a way to reach the elevator shaft in case of emergency or repair right? I’ll bet that the maintenance tunnel that led to the Xeno has some entrance into the elevator shaft. If I can find an easy way to get into the shaft on one of the upper floors, then hopefully I can bypass the guards.

Thomas thought with excitement at the new idea which seemed to hold some sense. If this was possible, he could easily get near the Xeno at least without anyone knowing. Now the only unsure part was if he could talk to him and/or see him once there. It was a problem for when he got there. Not hesitating to prove his theory, Thomas jumped out of bed and walked over to his desk in haste. Taking a seat in the rolly office chair, he pressed the on button listening to the technology boot up. Once the screen lit up, Thomas went to access the station's blueprints. Something he knew how to do considering his job a lead engineer for the station. Upon attempting to look up the files, a warning flashed across the screen:

Access Denied

“Oh, wait..” Thomas said to himself, grabbing his ID card which had the privileges of a lead engineer. Sliding it into the card slot in the monitor, the warning disappeared.

Hey, wasn’t sure that’d work, sweet!

Thomas thought while starting to scan the documents. Finding the elevator layout and the maintenance entrance on sub-level 2 into the shaft. He was right, and now hoped that there was another entrance on one of the upper levels. After looking a few times there wasn’t an entrance per say, but there was a main vent duct that led into the elevator shaft from floor 2. Right by the elevator was a bathroom which the main duct also ventilated meaning Thomas might be able to get into the vent in the bathroom and a few meters away was the entrance into the shaft.

Ok, I think I can make this work. Umm, I’ll go at night, then there’ll be less people and less risk… probably.

Thomas thought as he went to lay down till he attempted to go back to the Xeno. It was the only thing occupying his mind at the moment, it was almost the only thing he could think about. It was kind of nice to him. To have something exciting to do for once, other than repairing or building different areas of the station. He felt important, like a great purpose had fallen into his hands, and he didn’t want to miss a good opportunity. With that, he waited till night

_______________________________________________________

The loud clunk of the light above lit up the room in an instant and jolted the Xeno awake. With one glance he saw the window was see-through once more and prepared for the ‘testing’ which usually followed. Last time they seemed to have failed, but in pessimism, the Xenomorph expected this time to go more in their favor. He stood and, expecting a similar situation to last time, readied his tail.

Here we go again…

The Xeno thought shrouded in sadness and annoyance. The lead researcher pushed the button again allowing his intolerable voice to be heard throughout the small chamber housing the Xeno. Travis Kennith still was displayed on his lab coat, a detail the alien only recently paid attention to.

“Wakie wakie, don’t get too used to being awake though.” A smile protruded onto his face twisting his mouth in a sinister way, “We do however need to make sure you are wide awake.. For science.” The statement struck fear into the Xenomorph, not for what he was saying, but how he said it. The look of excitement which now fell upon his face never meant something good for the alien. Before the Xeno could think, a powerful jet of water blasted into his side, thrusting him into the opposite wall. Pain shot up the Xenomorph's body and after the jet turned off he fell down to his knees. Full of unbearable pain, he clenched his fists and fought the urge to lash out. The water still dripping from his figure, he tried to recover.

Don’t lash out, don’t lash out.. It’ll just make it worse.. It’ll pass..

The alien tried to fill his mind with calming thoughts to sway it from forcing him to act in defense. He couldn’t get out of the cell, and if he were to be threatening, the main researcher would do it again. Beginning to come to his senses he just realized the piece of metal sticking into his side, the side where he was blasted with water. The area was swirling with pain that he didn’t even notice. Pulling the object out, he realized they had shot something into him. He finally realized what the scientists were attempting to do. They were trying to make him sleep with chemicals like he had seen them do to the stranger that came down here. This connection gave the Xeno a reminder of the stranger which had visited him and a spark, however small, of hope. He got an idea.

These guys wanna make me sleep right? Like the stranger. They don’t know I know that. I could trick them into thinking their tests are working which could have many possible benefits. They could waste a lotta time down this dead end I’m creating. Yeah, Imma give these guys a show..

The Xenomorph had to hold back a grin at the thought of being one step ahead of the people torturing him. The idea saw that he got a moment of strength ignoring the pain until he was done. With that, he stumbled to his feet dropping the dart to the metallic ground making a chink. With a few carefully placed drunken-like steps, the Xeno fell to the ground. Plopping down like a ragdoll onto his stomach. Normally he slept in a crouching position with his tail curled around himself, but that wouldn’t sell what he was trying to portray. With a visible sigh, he acted like he was asleep. This was pretty easy however, considering all he had to do was lay there. It's not like he had eyes he had to keep shut, which allowed him to continue watching the researchers. They looked upon him for a good moment after his show before cheering. They applauded each other and said things like:

“They’re gonna like this!” and “It worked!” as well as “The implications are great!”

All these comments disgusted the alien,

How could they be so happy at my suffering and downfall? Before, they were tests of my strength and durability, but now.. They cheer? I don’t understand..

The idea let a wave of sorrow crash over him as the researchers celebrated their sick success. I made the Xeno feel insignificant, and compared to nothing. This sudden sadness left him hopeless, even for the stranger who said they’d come back. He lay there, the researchers applauding away as if they just saved someone, motionless yet so full of emotion. He couldn’t move. If the Xenomorph could cry, he would.

_______________________________________________________

…10:00 pm, it was time for Thomas to try his crazy plan to talk with the Xenomorph he had met. The idea of talking with another alien species was dawning on him and filled him with eager excitement. He couldn’t wait anymore. Jumping from his bed, he peered out into the halls. No one was around as by now, most people had either retired to their chambers for the early morning coming or the common place. Either way, no one would be looking for him at this time, meaning he wouldn’t be summoned to build or fix anything. Walking down the hall with a pace, he slipped into the bathroom before reaching the elevator. The common bathroom was shared by everyone near it on this level as their rooms didn’t have this luxury. The long mirror casted a perfect replica of the dim, boring restroom. Above the stalls lie the vent covers he was looking for. They were of decent size and strength due to it being the main duct that served as an anchor point for the smaller ducts to spread out from. Taking a look around the room to determine it was empty, Thomas entered the stall under one of the vent covers. Looking up at the wall housing the cover, he questioned himself.

Is this right? Should I really be doing this? What if I get caught?.. God, I can’t just pass up this opportunity though! Imagine.. Yeah, f*ck it, lets go.

He thought trying to inspire himself while carefully stepping onto the toilet lid to reach the vent. He was entering a “you get one life” kind of mental state. He knew the vent cover had no screws but instead a simple seal which was locked in with a small switch. Building and repairing this base has given him great knowledge of the workings of the structure. Reaching his finger up the side of the thin metal cover, he found the small switch. He prepared to catch the soon to be loose cover to avoid loud noises, not that he thought anyone would notice but better safe than sorry. He flicked the small lever causing the cover to fall into him. Safely setting it down on the ground he stood up and looked into the duct. It really was a short distance to the elevator shaft which was a pleasant surprise. On the monitor, it was hard to tell just how long the distance was. He hoisted himself up into the hollow metallic space trying to get his whole body in quickly, just in case someone were to enter the bathroom. Fully engulfed by the vent, he crawled the short distance to the next cover. Fidgeting with the switch for a moment, he unsealed the cover grabbing it before it fell into the shaft. The elevator shaft was dark, only lit by an illumination coming from the elevator itself, currently on the 1st floor. Shimmying his way forward, he could make out the service ladder along an indentation in the wall thanks to it being colored a dull but still noticeable red. He was confident no one would miss the cover in the elevator shaft which probably hasn’t been seen by anyone for years before Thomas. With this rationalization, he reached with one hand to grab the ladder. He pulled himself out of the vent with a grunt that echoed down the shaft. Securely on the ladder, he laid the cover inside the duct he came from as it was a rectangle shape. He began to descend down the elevator shaft passing the elevator thanks to the ladder being in an indentation.

Boom, step 1, done! Just find the maintenance entrance and then find the Xenomorph. What could go wrong?

He thought as he reached the bottom of the shaft looking for the entrance to the tunnels. There it was, a small sliding door granting passage. After stepping around the machinery resting at the bottom of the elevator shaft, Thomas got to the entrance. Luckily, he brought his ID card as the door had a scanner to open it. Thomas found it peculiar that they felt the need to put security on this door but didn’t care enough to let it occupy his mind. Swiping the small card opened the door and Thomas didn’t hesitate to go through.

The tunnels filled him with familiarity as memories of traversing the same area flashed through his mind. Excitement building, he jogged down the echoey tunnels being sure to keep track of the directions he took. Eventually coming upon the breaker-like box from his repair, he knew he was getting close. After another minute of walking he came across the door which led into the lab. He stopped himself,

Little after 10:00 pm, they are probably not in there.. I’ll open the door slowly to make sure.

Thomas thought as he slowly turned the handle and cracked the door. The room was dark, and seemingly empty. It was perfect, it actually worked! Thomas fully opened the door and moved himself into the room straight for the disappearing window. Not able to wait any longer, he spun the dial revealing the inside chamber housing the Xenomorph. Thomas was taken back. He saw the alien sprawled out across the floor, unmoving. He could make out water splotches across the metal floor. The alien himself was in an unusual position and there was a metal dart on the ground nearby. Concern hit Thomas like a truck, and he looked down at the control panel.

What happened?! Come on, come on.. There should be a- Here we go.

He thought, finding the green button which allowed his voice to be heard to the chamber’s habitant. He couldn’t think of anything to say but a simple, “Hey” in a soft voice. The Xenomorph reacted a little to this sudden sound and turned his head in the direction of Thomas. The Xeno was filled with an overwhelming surprise and relief that gave him life once more. He had spent the last few hours thinking down a rabbit hole of pessimism and pain but now, the stranger was here, like he said. The alien shot up to his feet and took a step toward Thomas while his obviously joyed voice entered Thomas’s head.

“You came! I can’t believe you came!”

Thomas sensed this joy and couldn’t help but smile before answering, “Yeah, I promised.”. After saying so, he found all his uneasiness and doubt slip away. It was like seeing someone who really values you, hearing the Xenomorph talk had completely changed his view of him. His voice and mannerisms had such a human-like feel which made it hard to look at him as anything less than an equal. This way of thought had thrown out any fear or concern Thomas had toward the alien leaving room for curiosity and compassion.

The Xeno spoke right after him, “Promise?”

“Yeah.. Oh, you don’t know that word do you?” Thomas questioned, thrown into conversation.

“I’ve learned many words, but haven’t heard that one yet. What does it mean?” The Xeno was overjoyed to have someone to ask questions to and he wasn’t going to hesitate.

“umm, I made you a deal I’d come back. A deal that’d be really mean of me to not follow through on.”

“Oh, ok, I get it now.” The Xeno said, taking a gentle step closer as Thomas began.

“I have sooo many questions.. Like how the hell do you understand and know English?” Thomas eagerly asked, holding back from freaking out.

“I listened. I heard all of you around me speaking and after years, put together the language. It’s really interesting actually, the language and how it works.” The Xeno couldn’t help but feel a little proud that the human seemed impressed.

“Wow, that’s like.. Insane! You learned a lot of a very complex language by just listening and without being taught? That’s crazy!” It had just dawned on him that this Xenomorph may be way more smarter than he first thought.

A smile erupted from the Xenomorph’s face, “It wasn’t THAT hard.. I had many years.” He said, trying to sound humble, “Can I ask you something?”

“Yeah, go ahead, anything!” Thomas said with enthusiasm.

“Why am I in here?” The Xeno said with a melancholy undertone.

“Oh.. I- I don’t really know.. It seems like they are testing on you.. Holy f*ck! They're testing on you!” Thomas said, the idea of this intelligent alien being tested on shocking him, “I assume you didn’t sign up for this, right?” Thomas asked, knowing the answer. He had just put two and two together with the chamber and the dart on the floor now behind the alien.

“Um.. no.”

“That so f*cked! Do they hurt you? Make you do anything you don’t wanna do? God, are you fed alright? How the hell did you get here?!” Thomas paused, noticing the slightly overwhelmed expression on the Xenomorph’s face, “sorry.”

“You- you don’t know what they do? You didn’t.. know about me?” The Xeno asked in response, and as if just figuring out something heavy.

“No, no I did not.” Thomas answered with sincerity.

“Oh, that makes sense. Yeah, yeah.. They do tests on me, I was hoping you would know why or be able to influence it.. Or something” The Xeno sounded disappointed as he spoke, realizing it was silly to think the stranger the researchers dragged away could have much influence.

“Jesus.. No, I don’t, I’m sorry..” Thomas said, feeling the sadness build.

“Thank you. I’ve never had someone say sorry before. To me at least, but you did nothing wrong.”

“God..” Thomas said faintly in disbelief mostly to himself, “How did you get here?” Thomas said attempting to shift the subject and revive the giddy questions he thought of before.

“I don’t remember much. I have lived in chambers like these-” He said raising his hands around him, “-as long as I can really remember. I mean, I got in this room because I escaped the last one, not too long ago.”

“It was you!” Thomas exclaimed suddenly, “The ‘acidic chemical’ wasn’t a chemical, it was your blood, right?” Thomas questioned, connecting the dots.

“Yes, it hurt a little more than I anticipated.” The Xeno said, showing his forearm’s wound to Thomas.

“Damn, I bet they didn’t even give you medical help, did they?”

“No.” The alien said now close to the glass separating the two. There was a moment of silence before Thomas said anything. It wasn’t awkward silence, just a moment which allowed Thomas to somewhat wrap his head around what he was learning.

“Wha- What’s your name?” Thomas asked, trying to bring a happier subject.

“Name?” the Xeno answered, unsure of the word.

“Yeah, like what you are known as, what you call yourself.”

“Um, I don’t know. I’m a Xenomorph.”

“Well, yeah, obviously.” Thomas said letting out some laughter which brought a happier blanket over their conversation. The Xenomorph smiled as well, the sight of Thomas laughing was pleasant to him and filled him with a similar joyfulness yet he didn’t know what was funny. Thomas struggled to compose himself but now that the walls of laughter were down, he had begun an onslaught of laughter. He fell back into the chair behind him, trying to calm his chuckling. Thomas’s contagious laughter spread and the Xeno began a slight hissing laugh, his inner mouth jutting out a little while his head bobbed up and down a little. At this moment, all the pain, all the stress, flowed away and left the Xeno in a beautiful bliss of conversation. He had not felt fear or sorrow for the first time in a long time, he wasn’t sure just how long.

“I’ve never felt this- (Chuckle) -way before, what is so funny?!” The Xeno asked in between hysterics.

“You- A name is like something you make up, something for people to identify you.” Thomas said, now gaining a hold on his laughter, “Like yes, I’m a human, but people don’t call me, individually, human when talking.”

“Ok, I believe I understand. Do you have a name?”

“Thomas.” He said pointing to himself, “Now do you have a name?” now pointing at the figure of the Xenomorph.

“Um, no?” The Xeno questioned, “But it’s nice to meet you Thomas.”

Thomas let out a smile and slight chuckle before responding, “Well, do you want a name, what should I call you?”

“I’d like that.” Having a personal name was a new concept for the alien as before he had only been called ‘the Xenomorph’ or ‘subject’ which didn’t feel very personalized. “But I don’t know what name I should have.”

“That’s fine, I’ll help you.” Thomas said, relieved to be on a happier topic. Now that he had shared a bout of laughter with the alien, he had loosened up. This was displayed by Thomas starting to roll around in the rolly office chair which belonged to the main researcher. “Ok ok, hmm. Not sure a typical human name would suit you though. However, the idea of an 8 foot tall Xenomorph being named Chuck is pretty amusing!” Thomas said with a chuck-le..

“What do you have in mind?” The Xeno asked, now interested in the idea of having an identification.

“Hmm, we could take inspiration from mythology perhaps.” Thomas said realizing he had no clue of any mythology other than the most popular ones such as Thor or Odin.

“Mythology? What’s that?”

“Mythology is like old tales or stories from a long long time ago. Often these stories have really cool people with some really cool and unique names that’d suit a Xenomorph such as yourself.”

“That sounds like a good idea, what are some?”

“Heh, well, I can’t remember most of 'em off the top of my head, but how bout I get some for tomorrow.” Thomas said instinctively as he was occupied thinking of where he could find mythological names, or really any names. He sucked at naming things, let alone living things who were relying on him for such a task.

“Tomorrow? You're coming back tomorrow?” The Xeno said, eagerly changing his position to look at Thomas.

“Oh, um, I mean.. Yeah I can.. I will.” Thomas responded thinking through it and coming to the conclusion this was worth it and kind of fun.

“Great! That’s er- cool, I’d be glad to talk tomorrow.” The Xeno said, trying not to let his happiness show too much. He was worried if Thomas would do this again. He had so much fun talking with him now.

“Alright, then we’ll get you a name tomorrow.”

“Thank you Thomas.” The Xenomorph sounded sincere and truly grateful, the tone had made Thomas feel an unexpected feeling of care for the alien. He had only talked with him for a little bit and now had a growing list of things he’d do for the Xenomorph. A growing list of things he’d risk. Yeah Thomas had friends on the station, but none were this friendly with him. They’d all been casual work friends he could hang out with to pass the time.

“Well, I understand how you know English, however impossible it may sound, but how are you talking to me? I’m not used to hearing someone speak without their mouth moving.”

“I told you, it had to do with teaching your brain to understand the waves my brain emits and interpret them as words. I’ll be honest, I’m not sure how it works much beyond that. It just takes a moment of connection so I can reach your brain.” The Xeno responded, happy to explain something to Thomas so familiar to him yet so fascinating to Thomas.

“Damn, that's pretty cool you can just do that. If I knew about waves and sh*t I’d understand but I don’t.” Thomas let out a smile saying this.

“What do you do? When you’re not here?”

“I live on the second level of this station, 3 floors above us now, and I am an engineer er- someone that builds and fixes things for the station.”

“Second level? 3 floors above us? Are we underground?” The Xeno asked, realizing he knew very little about the station that housed him.

“Yeah, technically the underground floors are restricted to me, most definitely to prevent me from finding you.” Thomas said with a low anger.

“Ahhh, ok.” The Xenomorph had a wave of hopelessness hit his face. It had just dawned on him that Thomas, however nice, had no way of helping him out of his torture. Talking with someone else was great and really had shown him that not all humans were evil. But how long could he endure this constant suffering? Even with a friend, with Thomas. He had grown really attached to him so quickly, mostly due to him not treating the Xenomorph like a test subject and instead as an equal. The alien couldn’t hold back the sorrow from showing a little as this train of thought ravaged his temporary bliss in conversation. Thomas noticed this right away, which surprised him that his instinctual observations picked up on the alien’s expression considering the differences between them. This almost proved that they may not be so different after all and this thought shook Thomas. Before he let it get uncontrollable, he pushed it down until later as now he had to address the Xeno’s sadness.

“Hey” Thomas began softly, being sure not to sound condescending but concerned, “What's wrong?”

“It’s nothing, really.” The Xeno said in an effort to avoid talking of the pain he had been through. He wanted to stay in the ignorant bliss of their conversation.

“No, dude, you’re in an awful situation, and I want to help. Let me help, talk to me.” The answer of the alien had yet again surprised Thomas as it was so human to avoid uncomfortable subjects in that way.

“That’s the problem. Not to sound ungrateful, I adore our conversation, but it doesn’t seem you can stop my testing.”

“Oh.. No, I couldn’t stop it.” Hearing himself say that triggered something deep in Thomas’s soul and his frustration boiled over, “I- I have no authority, nobody respects or cares about my opinion enough to change anything, even if I said something, they’d just get rid of me. f*ck!” Thomas said kicking up from his chair in frustration, “I’m a lead engineer of a high tech research station on the frontier! I solve everything I need to, every problem they throw at me I have solved, yet I stand helpless to solve this?! Hell, no one here cares! Why care for the test subject in the basem*nt which embodies a killer, yet no one sees you for who you can be, who you are! Everyone here would shrug off the moral experimentation code to make a quick buck huh! I- I.. I have an idea..” Thomas was out of breath but driven by an unseen source. The relentless speech had shown the Xeno just how much Thomas seemed to feel toward him.

“Thomas..” The Xeno began, “ Don’t beat yourself up.. You have an idea about what?” The Xeno said, learning close to the glass, looking into Thomas with interest yet almost guilt that he was the source of Thomas's anger.

“Yeah!” Thomas’s brain turning in predicting possible outcomes, “The Moral Experimentation Code, it vaguely says no inhumane testing, mostly applying to living things. But the question is, does it specifically say ‘human’? If I remember correctly, there have been cases against Wayland Yutani for inhumane animal testing during the new engine design testing a few years back. If a primate qualifies for this-”

“Could I?” The Xeno finished the thought not really understanding the idea fully but comprehending the gist.

“It’s- it’s possible, but we’ll need some pretty f*cking bullet proof evidence as W-Y is known for covering up mistakes and shady sh*t with ease.” Thomas’s mind raced through the idea, “It’ll take time.”

“I understand, thank you Thomas, if you really see a future where I’m not tortured for science then I’ll hold onto hope.”. The Xeno said with a renewed confidence and almost desperate trust in Thomas’s words, “I may not understand how, but if it is possible, please do so.”

“The Moral Experimentation Code is a law or rule that everyone must abide by to keep people in check and from doing evil things. People out here, in the frontier, tend to bend these rules, but if word of this with sufficient evidence gets back to the inner planets, the rule will hopefully be enforced.” Thomas said trying to make the complex laws of space simple to understand.

“That’s, actually very nice. I find it so odd that people are so different, like you, compared to the scientists who test on me.” The Xeno said, confused.

“Yeah, that’s the joy of humanity.” Thomas said jokingly, “When I get back to my room, I’ll start building a file to send to the inner planets. I will try, I’ll try my damnedest, but hey, you’re pretty fun to talk to. I’ll be back tomorrow, k?”

“Ok, I- I’m glad you found me Thomas, I’ll be waiting. I have many questions to ask you.” The alien smiled at the thought of asking Thomas the variety of questions he had brewing in his own mind.

“I’m glad I found you too.” With that, Thomas twisted the dial and left the lab through the maintenance door retracing his steps. He made it back to his room after climbing back up the ladder in the elevator shaft. Through the vent and down into the bathroom. Sliding the cover back on, he left the bathroom quickly. He was walking down the halls toward his room, passing only one person with a pace. Thomas recognized the guy, it was someone from security with a rounder face accompanied by a thin beard. Soon after, Thomas securely got into his room once more. He lay there, on his bed, remembering the conversation.

Holy f*ck.. I can’t believe I actually had an in depth conversation with a Xenomorph. He spoke so well, he had so much emotion, he felt so- humane. I must visit him again tomorrow, I must free him. God that’s gonna be a challenge, but it feels so right. It feels like I’m doing the right thing, morally. Damn, this better not be a dream, or imma be pissed..

Thomas thought trying to fall into slumber. He was slightly obsessed with the whole situation, with the Xenomorph. It had a thought in his mind consistently, and he didn’t feel the need to subdue it. It gave him determination. He felt this was his chance to prove to himself that he is a good person, that he’s not working for evil, that his past doesn't make who he is now. He’d spent enough time hiding and running from his past, now, he thought this as his opportunity to change that. Change who he is. He needed this almost as much as the Xeno, and he wasn’t about to give up on it easily.

Chapter 4: A Name, A Bond, A Friendship

Chapter Text

Thomas had left the Xenomorph alone once again, but this time, with a sense of hope and excitement. He had long forgotten of the pain in his side from the water blast as his mind was elsewhere. He had learned many things in their conversation, names, who the stranger is, and most importantly, a possible way to end the horrible testing against him. The alien didn’t quiet fully understand how:

Frontier? Inner planets? How are they different? How big is human society? Weyland Yutani… What is that exactly?

Questions like these flowed in and out of the Xenomorph’s mind while he began to curl up in the far corner. He had so many questions to ask Thomas, he’d have to wait til tomorrow. The Xeno got excited at the thought of finally learning aside from overhearing conversations not meant for him. Thinking back on Thomas, the Xeno found himself so attached to him. Just the thought of him brought a smile to his face as he sat in the far corner of his cell. He was the first person to treat him kindly and as an equal. The Xeno didn’t think he’d ever be treated this way, yet this person, Thomas, was actively working to free him now. This meant he finally had some control over his future for once and if everything went well, may be able to have full control one day. He expected his freedom to be hard, but now with a friend, someone to help him on the inside (or outside really) he had the best chance yet. The new thought seemed to have sparked a new era of the alien’s life, and it was because of Thomas.

“So, must have had a good sleep, eh?” The hated voice shook the Xeno awake as he looked to the window. The main researcher, Travis, was standing there looking like he had just bested the alien. Behind him, the rest of the researchers were getting their equipment and monitors ready. This observation told him it was the beginning of the day and they must have been eager to check in on him. Not wanting to look submissive to Travis’s look, he stood from his sitting state, now taller than the human. He looked upon Travis with a snarl, flexing his digits as he woke.

“Man..” Travis said, looking over to his college, “ I’m excited to see what Data Analysis says about his sleep cycle last night. If it was deep enough, we could get a working sample to the boss soon. That means, money soon.. What’d I say? I told you we’d get paid well here.” He said while hyping up his co researchers.

Data Analysis.. How’s that gonna know how I slept last night? What is that? If it does know how I slept… they’ll know it was faked. I tricked them, and knowing them, they’d hurt me for it. no..

The Xeno thought as the man spoke. He did catch that the other researchers needed some form of inspiration from Travis. Then it hit him:

Travis.. Travis Kennith is his name! Just like my friend’s name is Thomas. That could be useful to know..

The thought of names brought back some excitement for the alien was supposedly getting named tonight when Thomas came back. How curious he was to receive such an honor, he was only snapped out of the happy thought when Travice began speaking again.

“To my shame, we cannot resume testing until the sleep results come back tomorrow. So enjoy your day off..” He stated before under his breath saying, “f*ckin idiot.”.

Travis then turned and walked over to some other people to begin a conversation. The communication channel was cut, but the window was left open allowing the Xeno to view into the lab and the lab to view the Xeno. He silently watched the procedures of the researchers while thinking about many things. Thoughts of future escape, the worry of them finding out he faked sleeping last night, Thomas.. He still brought a smile to the Xeno when thinking of him, despite the scary situation now plaguing the alien’s brain. He had been something to look forward to, and now, may even be able to help the new situation around the sleep results. It was definitely something he wanted to bring up to Thomas tonight, and possibly, he could help.

_______________________________________________________

The insufferable alarm beeped in Thomas’s ear which only stopped when he lazily swung his arm over to smack it. Staying up extra late last night to talk with his alien friend ate into his sleep schedule. Once out of his bed though, it was worth it to Thomas. He had a checklist of things to do today, some of which he added last night:

Finishing his report he was required to do on the repair which led to him finding the Xenomorph in the basem*nt, or the basem*nt’s basem*nt I guess.
Finding a mythology book in the small library for name searching.
Reviewing the Moral Experimentation Code reporting instructions in the space travel manual.
And looking into a way to get into the archive. There could be some good evidence in there as to what they are doing to his Xeno friend and may make a good basis against the station.

With this he left his room going downstairs and after breakfast headed for the library. The doors to the place hissed open showing the room filled with games, tables, and some shelves of books. Only one other person was sitting at a table on the other side of the room writing something. He walked over to the small array of books ranging from sci-fi to history books. It took a few minutes of scanning the neatly organized works of literature before Thomas actually found a thin book of mythology. Sliding the novel out of its place, he smiled.

“Score!” He whispered to himself.

Leaning against the wall, he inspected the cover of the book, ‘The Great Legends Of Ancient Greece’. Opening the paper cover, each page had a picture of a legend, their name, and a small description on them. He flipped through the pages looking for a suitable name. Apollo, Ares, Hades, Zeus, Damon. These names weren’t too bad, and they’d make a good starting point. Once Thomas determined the book would be fine, he left the common room. One his way back, the loud speaker came on with the usual voice behind it. It was common for announcements to be made throughout the day but this one caught his attention.

“Thomas to the director’s office.” The speaker cut off once it said its bit.

Umm.. Ok, Hopefully that’s nothing bad.. I guess it’d be a good time for me to ask about a couple things which have become of curiosity to me as of recent. I could ask about vacation days or something. That’d be a non suspicious way to leave which may be useful in the future.

Thomas thought as he changed direction and left for the director’s office. Most likely it would be some top researcher who’d listen to him, as Victoria was always busy. He rarely ever saw Victoria aside from the hung pictures of her in a couple places around the station. The director’s office was on the second and top floor, and Thomas was getting close. He had been there once or twice before for different reasons but if he remembered anything, it was really fancy. Thomas got to the entrance as someone left through the doors. It was the security guard he passed last night with the round face and thin beard. He came out of the room seeming so preoccupied he didn’t even notice Thomas, walking right past him. Assuming that meant the room was ready for him, he entered the ornate doors. The room was definitely fancy decorated with pictures and trophies on the walls. The floor blanketed in a soft red carpet which led up to the center piece, the desk. It was a large desk with a couple monitors embedded into its frame. There was a small domed skylight which stretched across most of the roof giving the whole space a natural lighting. It displayed the bright sky of the foreign planet above, not fit for breathing. It was a little freaky to think about the fact that Thomas and everyone else was only protected from death outside by only a metal wall or even a thick piece of glass. Thomas couldn’t think of this though. Now he was standing two feet in the door, not believing that Victoria was actually there, at the desk. She sat leaning back in her comfortable office chair, rolly of course. She wore a nice looking uniform showing off her ranks as director of this very station. She looked extremely confident for no particular reason, it was just her stature. The fancy chair she sat in had the most interesting design which sprouted out from behind her in various directions making a satisfying pattern. After Thomas entered, she spoke in an unusual welcoming voice which probably meant she wanted something from him, or at least, that’s what Thomas thought.

“Thomas! Come in, I’ll make this quick, I got work to do.” The later comment was more like what he was expecting which oddly calmed him despite the negative tone it brought. She continued, “So, I wanted to make sure you’re fine.. After your fall a couple days ago. I want to be sure there’s no complications because I wish to promote you soon.” She said looking at Thomas with a smile.

“Um, yeah! Yeah.” Thomas spurted out from excitement before retaining his composure, “I am doing well, and would be honored at this opportunity.”. This was a serious deal, and it had taken him by surprise. As he said this however, thoughts of the Xenomorph came through his happiness. He felt like he was betraying his friend by accepting a possible promotion, but he justified it.

There was no turning back now so I might as well play along, to not be suspicious. Hell, they probably want to make sure I stay in line by enticing me with a promotion. If she had told me this before I investigated sub-level 2 again.. I don’t know if I would’ve done it..

“Great, that’ll be all. I truly do have to get back to work but figured you should know.” She said, hinting at his hasty departure from her office of unappreciated luxury.

“Oh, I wanted to ask if I could have access to the archives.” Thomas said, the thought just now coming across how he could play this, “I want to review previous repair and construction jobs to assure they were done properly. 5 out of the last 7 repairs I was assigned have been repeats and I’d like to stop that from occurring.” He said, a sense of accomplishment filling him for the sensible reasoning despite it stretching the truth ever so slightly. He really only had maybe 2 out of 10 repairs connected to previous damage but either way, it made a decent argument. Victoria thought for a moment before responding.

“I’m sorry. I don’t believe I can allow you in there, despite your convincing reasoning. Too many company secrets, but maybe sometime in the future. Not that I think you’d do anything malicious, but it’s policy. Is that all?” She said making sure to use an authoritative voice.

“Yes, thank you.” Thomas answered before walking out of her office trying to look chill.

f*ck.. Thought I had that.. Why would she want to promote me? What if she wants to renew any alterations in loyalty on my part. Perhaps due to the recent events? Even though by their knowledge, I don’t remember.

Thomas thought as he then made his way back to his room. It felt like something had changed. He knew why, but it was peculiar to him why others were really all the sudden interested in him now. Victoria, who had never before congratulated him, just gave him a promotion. The thought was so controversial in his head as his mind split in decision. On one hand, he needed to play along and turning down the soon to be promotion would cause suspicion as he would have taken that a couple days ago without a thought. Yet on the other hand, it felt so wrong and he felt so disgusted to accept an offer from the same people torturing innocent creatures, friends. Before he knew it, Thomas was entering his room. Closing the door, he noticed a slip of paper which had been dropped off in his room. The door to each room had a slit to slide papers through as mail almost. Thomas picked up the folded piece of paper and read it:

“Thomas,

I know what you did. I know of your travel to restricted sub-level 2 and your continued knowledge of what’s down there. I want to talk tomorrow, at noon, sit at table 7 in the back of the common room when the station is eating lunch. I’ll be waiting.”

f*ck.. f*ck. f*ck! Who the hell knows all this? How?! Why! sh*t.. What option do I have? Tomorrow.. Maybe I can talk to the Xeno about it? Is that stupid? What does he want?

Thomas thought reading the note frantically searching for solutions yet to come. He had to go, and hoped there was a way around this. Part of him debated on going down again tonight, but he was overcome by the need to learn more and honestly just to talk with the Xenomorph. It was quite nice and he did say he’d come back tonight. Making enemies with a Xenomorph seemed like a heavier burden then running a higher risk going down again. With this, he sat down at his desk and began his usual boring task of reports on his recent job anticipating the night to come.

8 hours later..

The little clock on Thomas’s desk read 9:25 PM and Thomas couldn’t wait any longer. He was able to get his reports done but the consistent thought of his Xenomorph friend made it harder to focus. He’d find himself wasting minutes just blankly staring at the monitor, thinking. Eventually he finished his work and was reminded of the note which was placed in his room. He picked up the small paper and inspected it one more time. Whether he was confirming what it read or making sure he didn’t have a nightmare about it was unknown to him. Either way, it read the same message, though now with more attention, he noticed some erase marks. The words were in pencil, meaning it wasn’t typed out and printed like most papers on the station. This could have a variety of implications.

Erase marks? Mistakes and pencil could mean it was quickly written, written to avoid others seeing it, this could mean a few things.. Best I get going though. Might as well bring this along.

Thomas thought as he held the paper but the thought also pertained to the mythology book he got earlier in the day. He grabbed what he wanted to take and packed them into a small sack with strings he could wear on his back. Once done, he left his room and went to the bathroom near the elevator. Already having done this before, he was less uncertain and by extension, less nervous. The bathroom was occupied by someone at the sink to which Thomas gave a nod before entering the stall under the vent entrance. He waited until the guy at the sink finished up and quitted the bathroom, leaving an echo as the door shut. That was Thomas’s que to begin. Now that most of the uncertainty was gone with this route he was taking, he allowed himself to indulge in a little imagination. Comparing himself to some of the action movies he’d seen in the past made the whole experience more fun than annoying. Before he knew it, he was back wandering down the maintenance tunnels following the familiar path he took to get there last time to the Xeno. In a matter of minutes he had reached the door which led into the lab holding the Xenomorph. Stopping in place, Thomas looked through the small glass in the door, peering into the sophisticated room. The lights were on and he could make out a few scientists visually trying to wrap up whatever was busying them. He did get here earlier than usual both due to the time he left and the increased speed at which he traveled fueled by familiarity. Slumping down to the cold, metal floor at his feet, he sighed. He’d been building up his brain in anticipation and almost had a sense of adrenaline which now began to fade at the pause in his adventure. The feeling came from doing something he wasn’t supposed to. Taking a seat, back against the door he had to hold back from entering, he sighed once more.

His brain now slowing its rapid thought, reflected back on the past few days. Just a few days ago he was just an engineer employed in some distant station trying to get by with the only job which had accepted him. He was mindlessly living life with the hope of having a different future. Thomas imagined where he’d be right now if he didn’t take this job. What life he’d have. It was an impossible to answer question which would just lead down a descending web of possibilities. It was.. Useless. It was meaningless to explore what could have been for Thomas, he lived now and here. His life was thrown into something new which could lead to fantastical outcomes, or miserable downfalls. There was no way of knowing, and this thought had given Thomas a sense of scary contentment. The growing doubt in his mind over this situation had caused him great stress in whether or not he was going down the right path. Now however, he satisfied that concern:

I’m not wasting my life passing time anymore. I’m sticking to this, this is right, this is what I should do. To hell with submitting to people who don’t give a sh*t about me!

Thomas encouraged himself as he rose again, realizing he had spent a time to himself. Taking another glance through the window, he determined the scientists were gone now. He pushed into the door entering the room and quickly made his way to the window. Spinning the dial, the window became see-through. The Xenomorph was standing right there, close to the glass, looking at Thomas. He could have been filled with fear or surprise, but instead greeted the alien.

“Hey, how you doing?” Thomas said in the most casual way possible.

“Thomas! You came back.” The Xeno said with a grin. It was obvious he had been anticipating Thomas's return and he had both hands on the glass. The palms of the Xenomorph were slick black and had so much force yet so gently were placed.

“Yeah, I said I would, right?” Thomas assured the kind alien while taking off his bag, and beginning to grab the contents.

“I’m doing pretty good actually. Today the researchers didn’t test on me, so I’ve had a relativ-ely calm day. And I found out, thanks to you, that the main researcher who tests on me is Travis Kinnith” He said, proud he had figured another thing out about the people who were experimenting on him. All this information could be used eventually. In some way.

Thomas paused in his activity, “Travis Kinnith.. Not sure I recognize that name, but that can definitely be useful.”. A wave of gloom struck his face when addressing the next thought, “I’m sorry that that is what makes a good day for you. I’m glad though. Why didn’t they do anything today?” He said continuing to finish getting the book and letter out of his bag.

“That’s actually something I wanted to ask about.” The Xeno said, beginning to pace a little, “They said things like they were waiting on, um, results. These results are supposed to tell them how well their attempt to put me to sleep went. The thing is.. I kinda faked falling asleep, to trick them, and if they find out-” The Xeno was calmed by Thomas interjecting.

“Its ok, first, that's pretty f*ckin smart to fake them out! So they are testing on you to see what puts you to sleep? Ok, are they using gas, or a dart, or something?” Thomas asked, trying to understand just what had happened.

“Dart?”

“Yeah, like a little sharp thing that sticks in you.”

“Oh, yes, yes they used that, but it didn’t really do anything.”

“Ok, good. Why did they think anything injected by a dart would survive in your.. special blood.” Thomas pondered, half to himself.

“My special blood?”

“Yeah, your very acidic blood. We don’t have similar blood. Mine is.. I don’t know, not acidic, and yours is very, very acidic meaning it’ll essentially melt most things it touches.”

“Oh wow! I didn’t know that. I mean, I knew mine could damage things, but I guess I just assumed yours was the same.” The Xeno said, looking down at his hands, “Is that bad?”

“No, not at all. Just different, it’s actually pretty neat.” Thomas complemented, “Now, I’m tired of thinking of you as just ‘the Xenomorph’ so how bout we name you!” He said enthusiastically.

“Yes, I’ve been waiting to choose a name. Do you have any ideas?”

“That’s what this,” Thomas said holding up the mythology book, “is for. Hopefully there are some good ones here.”

“Alright!” The alien excitedly said, listening closely to Thomas.

Thomas opened the book and began reading off the names of the various characters in mythology. If the Xeno liked a name, he’d read off the backstory and meaning behind the name. This occupied a decent amount of time between Thomas reading the names and the Xenomorph asking about them or anything else he didn’t understand in the book. Thomas had to reach back in his mind to explain who the Greeks were for the curious alien. Learning about anything from Thomas made the Xeno super interested in learning more. He found the extensive intricacies of human society baffling, and wanted to know more, to learn more. They both were lost in the intriguing conversation for some time before Thomas finally landed on one.

“I’m telling you! He like shoots lightning out of his hands or something..” Thomas attempted to explain.

“I can’t shoot lightning out of MY hands, and I seriously doubt you can.” The Xeno played.

“Well, yeah. Fine, fine, not Zeus. Next.. What about, Damon?”

“Damon?”

“Damon, you like that?”

“It doesn’t sound too exotic, but still unique.” The Xeno reasoned.

“Ok, yeah. Umm, basically, it says he and some dude named Pythias were the ‘ideal friendship’ and-”

“I like that, how bout that one?” The Xenomorph asked.

“Sure, we’re almost at the end of the book anyway.”

“So now, I’m a Xenomorph by the name of Damon, right?”

“Yup, sound good to you?”

The Xeno smiled in response, “Thank you Thomas.”

The genuine content from the alien over a simple name moved Thomas, “It’s only what you deserve.. Damon.” Thomas said with a new smile reaching across his face which the Xeno responded with a similar smile. After the pure moment of silent content between the two, Thomas found it a good enough time to bring up the note he received. It was on his mind, and he figured there’d be no harm in bringing it up to Damon. It was related to him in a way after all.

“So, earlier today I found this note in my room.” Thomas began holding the note he brought, “It’s a warning. Saying someone knows I’m coming down here and seeing you, but they want to talk with me tomorrow. Considering I haven’t been reported yet, they may want something from me.”

“Oh.. That’s not good. What can we do?” Damon asked, concern filling his voice slightly.

“I mean, I don’t have many options right? I gotta meet with them.”

“It seems so, how would they know?”

“I don’t know, there’s no one in here,” Thomas said checking around the temporarily abandoned lab, “Unless, maybe someone walked by and opened the door without us noticing..”

“That's a concern in of itself. Could you lock the door while you’re here? A strangely locked door would be less suspicious than seeing a stranger in the lab.” Damon reasoned.

“You have a point.” Thomas said before jogging over to the entrance. There was a lock in the door he could use. It was an emergency lockdown lock, but manual so it wouldn’t trigger any alarm. He slid the lock in place and went back over to Damon. “There, I just have to remember to unlock it when I leave.”

The comment hit the Xenomorph harder than he expected. It was inevitable Thomas would leave, he had too, it still didn’t feel great realizing it. “Remember how I told you the scientist researching on me said they’d know how I slept when I fake doing so.. Is there any way to stop him from knowing? I’m scared he’ll.. Hurt me for it.” Damon said with worry.

“Hmm.” Thomas thought of ways he could. He became more and more stressed as he couldn’t even think of one solution, one way to help his friend. His mind flew through the process of how the results would be made and how he could intercept them. Nothing. He was helpless.

“No.. I will not let those results see the light of day. I’ll stop them.” Thomas said in bitter rage, staring at Damon who felt bad his question caused such a fire.

“You don’t have to, I can take it, I’m used to it by now.” Damon tried to convince Thomas, but he had filled himself with determination to help the Xenomorph. That's what he was going to do. Damon looked so helpless in the cell, the sight of such a curious, intelligent being who had treated him with nothing but kindness in the environment tortures like that. It was enough to convince Thomas to stop those results and he went into a rant.

“No. No, you have suffered enough, and I- I will help you. So, these ‘results’ are probably created down here. It’s a little past midnight so most, if not all, the scientists will be absent. All I gotta do is find where they made the results and tamper with them. Wait.. How did they get information on your sleep state?” Thomas asked.

“Not sure.. They said something called Data Analysis would tell them, but I don’t know who or what that is, does that help?”

“Ok, I bet that refers to a department, one which would be empty right now.. I’ll be back. I’m gonna go tamper with those results.” Thomas said with a thrill of confidence.

“Thank you Thomas, be careful.” Damon said knowing he couldn’t change his mind easily.

Thomas moved to the door which led to the rest of sub-level 2 and prepared himself for what he was about to do. Unlocking the door, he opened it slowly. Peering into the dimly lit halls, he determined there was no one there, yet at least. With this he left the lab carefully and quietly sneaking down the hall. His heart was pumping and adrenaline fueled his racing worries. He came to a T intersection which had painted on directions informing the reader where to go depending on what they were looking for. Thomas skimmed through the signs and found what he was looking for as one read, “Data Analysis”. This was a pleasant surprise that he was actually right in his inference of Data Analysis. It was in fact a department, and one he actually found.. The directions too at least. He now walked at a pace down the hall that ‘data analysis’ was supposedly down. A new sound froze him in place, at this time he noticed two things. One, Data Analysis was a few feet away and two, there were footsteps approaching. Almost instinctively, Thomas thrusts himself along the side of the hall using a doorway to hide as much as possible from the direction of the footsteps. He barely peeked out to observe the guard down the hall. The guard had just turned the corner and took maybe 2 steps down the hall Thomas was hiding in before the radio on his belt clicked on. The bloop from the device sounded down past Thomas who at the moment was frantically thinking of ideas to avoid being seen. The guard paused in his advance, and with an audible sigh, lifted the device to his face.

“Deakin.” He announced to the radio in an annoyed tone.

Thomas could barely hear the other voice on the radio and couldn’t make out any words. The guard looked down to his vest and pulled out a clipboard which had been tucked into the apparel. The guard inspected the clipboard and pulled the radio to his face once more.

“Yeah, I’m keepin track… What? No.. Ok, let me see.” The guard responds to the voice on the other side of the radio.

Thomas saw this as an opportunity to make a move, possibly the only opportunity. Studying the guard, he determined their focus on the clipboard was enough to have a good chance at missing him cross the hall far ahead. Once the guard pulled the clipboard a little closer, Thomas, making sure to be silent, sprinted across the hall. His whole mind was screaming at him:

Be Silent!

He held his breath to avoid breathing too audibly. He rolled his steps to avoid loud footsteps on the metal floor. In a moment he was now in the doorway of Data Analysis, immediately going to open the door. A second later, the door was opened with little to no noise allowing Thomas to slip into the room behind. He closed the door mostly, pausing to listen to the guard in the hall. After a second he heard their voice.

“Yes, I did.. Try Jeremey.”

Ok.. ok, they didn’t notice me. Jesus! I ain’t doing this for nothing! There better be something in here.

Thomas thought as he explored the room after closing the door. He could still hear his heart thumping throughout his body. He carefully inspected the large servers which had monitors built into their frame. Luckily, all data analysis rooms had a similar design. To find the ‘results’ Thomas was after, he went to each monitor and read what was displayed. Each one woke up and showed a few options. Six servers later, he found one which read:

Experiment X-1:
Vitals
Location
History
More

This interested Thomas and he used the buttons to select location. He hoped this would prove that “experiment X-1” was Damon. The screen cut to a loading symbol and low noises followed by a map of sub-level 2. On the map was a blinking green dot and after relating the lines to what he knew, the dot was in the lab chamber. The same chamber his alien friend occupied.

X-1 eh.. Let me guess, the X stands for Xenomorph, right?

Thomas thought with a chuckle as he backed out of the location option. He then selected the “history” option, waiting for the loading to complete. Once done, the screen read:

Sleep analysis complete:
Weak-light sleep, lasting approximately 3 hours…

This was what Damon was worried about, the analysis must have required some time to complete. This definitely doesn’t show any signs of a working tranquilizer and would let the scientists know that Damon faked the whole thing. Thomas, who was filled with excitement that he actually found what he was looking for, played around with the buttons. Eventually he pressed a button which allowed him to edit the results. Changing them to heavy-deep sleep and the time to approximately 8 hours, Thomas finished altering the results. Pressing confirm, he backed away from the monitor, silently celebrating by waving his hands and punching the air.

Under his breath he cheerfully said, “Yes! Boom, baby! That’s gotta be it.”.

With that done, Thomas made his way back to the door. He slowly turned the handle and pushed the door open, being sure to inspect the halls before committing into them. They were barren, the guard had moved on. Thomas wasted no time swiftly retracing his steps back through the hall to the lab, to Damon, his friend. Encountering no one else on the way, he slipped back into the lab. Crossing the room, he met back up with the Xeno.

“Got it! I freakin got it! The stupid results are changed! You should be good.” Thomas started proudly. He had done it. He had helped the alien, and it felt so good to do so, so right.

“What?! Really? That’s amazing! Thank you soo much Thomas, you don’t understand how much that means to me.” The Xenomorph replied, visibly ecstatic and so relieved.

“Damon” Thomas said, which took a moment to get the alien’s attention as he only just got the title, “I want you to know.. That I am here for you, I want to do something good, truly good in my life, and you are that. I will do my best to make your life better, I swear Damon.” Thomas said, filled with determination, a tear welling in his eye.

“I- I don’t know what to say Thomas.. Thank you. I’ve never had anyone.. Care, so much, as much as you.” Damon responded, trying to wrap his domed head around the statement, not knowing what to say.

“Well, I’m feelin the change.” Thomas contently said, “I did almost get caught roaming the halls, so I do think I should get going.”

“Oh, Yes, I don’t want something bad happening to you. Speaking of which, be careful tomorrow, with the meeting.” Damon warned.

“I will be, and I’ll come back down tomorrow night, K?” Thomas said, approaching the glass. He looked straight into the great domed head of Xenomorph with zero fear, he saw a friend, who the alien truly was. He felt safe and part of him wondered what would happen if the window were to disappear allowing the Xeno to reach him. Would he be this friendly? The small thought scared Thomas so much he shoved it down, hoping it wouldn’t resurface.

“Ok.” The Xenomorph said with a grin, also close to the glass.

After a moment, Thomas slowly turned the dial causing the window to become solid. Double checking his surroundings, Thomas began moving back to his room through the tunnels. The Xenomorph however, slumped back into his corner, reflecting on the day.

If Thomas had truly saved my trick on the researchers.. I.. I owe him. Why would he- Why does it matter? He is actually helping me.. How could I ever return the favor. This is..

His thoughts trailed off, as sleep began to take hold. He was perplexed as to why Thomas would risk so much just for him. It was this that made Damon feel so connected with him. It was crazy just days ago, he was debating continuing through this torture, and now, he couldn’t wait for tomorrow.

_______________________________________________________

The steam softly rose from the cheap, plastic cup the cafeteria provided. The dark room was small, and dimly lit by only computer monitors. Tucker rubbed his chin deep in thought and in the non-rolly office chair. His look did not accurately depict his inner emotions however. His heart was beating fast, and he didn’t notice his leg was fidgeting. The monitors were currently showing him something he couldn’t understand or grasp. They were showing a station engineer seemingly talking with the secret underground Xenomorph test subject. The guy was laughing and having a full on conversation which made no sense. Either the guy was crazy or talking with the alien.. Thomas was talking with the Xenomorph, and Tucker needed answers. Answers he would get tomorrow.

Chapter 5: The Man Behind The Note

Chapter Text

The room had lit up considerably all the sudden which woke the Xenomorph for his slumber. Damon had been under a light sleep throughout the night, and the chamber which had trapped him was dark until now. Turning his head to view the window, he saw the usual routine of the scientists in the morning. The window had been turned see-through but the communication wasn’t on yet. Damon just observed the scientists while he waited for whatever they had planned for him. Travis, the lead researcher, was showing some papers to various different scientists even seemingly ordering one to leave with them. Damon had more incentive to be observant for everything he could, as anything had a possibility to be useful in the future. Once the person left with the papers, Travis took his usual spot in front of the window pressing the green button. Now that communication was open he began speaking, the sounds of his voice filled the room. He was partly talking to his co-researchers and partly mocking Damon most likely not realizing just how much he understood.

“So, for the coming weeks, now that we know the tranquilizer works, we’re gonna simply test to find out where the darts are most effective. However, as we are on a schedule, I can’t go giving up whole days for Data Analysis to tell me how ya slept, so.. I’m not. Which means we’ll just get to test on you every day! Oh, this’ll be great, progress!” He said this mostly to the other scientists as well as Damon in his twisted mockery.

It confused Damon greatly as to why Travis even bothered to talk to him still. It’s not like he knows that Damon understands him so what’s the point? The only answer the Xeno could think of was that Travis simply enjoyed it. He liked teasing the alien and acting better than him. Could there be a reason for it, or was it really just what Travis was like. Either way, he still enjoyed torturing Damon and oh, what Damon would do if he got his hands on him. It’s safe to say, it wouldn’t be pretty. However, that small speech by Travis did inform Damon that Thomas’s adventure last night had paid off. He actually changed the results giving him away, and now, he could play into this forced sleep testing thing for much longer. These tests were nothing compared to the previous testing done on him and it’d be amazing if he could keep them on this for a while. Having a little metal dart shot at you once a day was a way more tolerable situation than before. And it was all thanks to Thomas. Another smile began to break the Xeno’s straight face and by extension, his anger toward Travis. So curious to him how just the mention of Thomas’s name had such a great effect on him and for the first time, a positive effect.

Damon’s train of thought was interrupted by a prick at his thigh. He looked down at the metal dart sticking into him and pulled it out. He did wince at the pain for a second as it flared up due to his action. Now was his que to begin his show and he had to admit, it was kind of fun. Both from tricking the people who underestimated him and the thrill of needing to sell his drowsiness good enough for them to believe their chemical works. A few drunken-like steps later, he plopped to the ground sprawled out once more. Once he was down, he listened for the researcher's reaction to get an idea of their thoughts. After a moment, they said things along the lines of, “Alright, that works” and “Mark it down, find what’s next for tomorrow.”. The thought occurred to him asking why they were even bothering to stick him in different locations.

They must think some locations on my body aren’t as effective.. Right? I’ll need to ask Thomas if I shouldn’t fake falling for certain locations. One more thing to ask him.

The thought of Thomas made him look forward to later that evening and he couldn’t help but carry a slight worry about Thomas as he was investigating that letter right about now. It held so much uncertainty and had many different possible outcomes, most of which Damon could imagine, were unfavorable.

_______________________________________________________

Thomas sat there looking at the rather sad breakfast presented to him by the cafeteria. It had been a couple hours since he got the food. Between that, and sleeping in a little later from last night, it was already approaching noon. Thomas had been dreading this since he woke. All his efforts from the past few days, Damon, were in danger. The main conundrum occupying Thomas was why? Why did this person go through the effort just to pass a note to him instead of just reporting what he knew to Victoria or something of the sorts? It didn’t make sense, and that’s what scared Thomas. Everything about this was so uncertain. He couldn’t wait any longer, he had to go to the common space. Often, the space was sparsely populated during lunch as most of the people were eating in the cafeteria which made it a well planned meeting place.

The door opened to Thomas and he entered the common space firstly looking straight at table 7. There they were, someone was sitting there, waiting. Thomas approached and as he did so, a number of observations were made on the person. Security outfit meant that they were a security guard which would make sense as to how they knew about what he was doing every night. Upon closer inspection, Thomas knew the guy! Or at least recognized him. It was the security guard he has seen a couple times in the past few days. He couldn’t quite remember their name but he saw him leaving Victoria’s office yesterday and before that, passed him in the hall. Thomas didn’t know how to feel about this discovery, but it didn’t matter much as he sat down across the table from the security guard. There were a few other people in the room, but none were close enough to hear as the guard spoke first in a quiet tone.

“Thomas?” He asked in a tone of barely noticeable forced confidence and composure, but Thomas sensed something beyond those initial feelings.

“Yes.” Thomas responded simply. He figured he needed to play whatever game this guy was wanting. He didn’t have much of a choice, so he played along.

“I take it, you got my note then.” He said, with a little more emotion seeping behind his voice whilst he adjusted the glasses on his nose.

Thomas had noticed now that he was fidgeting with his leg as it shook up and down under the table, the guy was nervous. “I did. What do you want?”, he responded in a neutral voice.

The guy let out a short sigh before starting, “Before I answer that question, I think it’s best I first explain what led me to not report you.” He said, completely losing his confident appearance and resorting to a normal tone laced with slight concern or nervousness. Either way, he hadn’t reported Thomas yet. This was a promising start.

With a nod, the guy continued, “My name is Tucker, a- security guard. I er- monitor the security system of the station, most notably the cameras.”, he paused for a moment on this statement and Thomas’s brain lit up with connection.

Of course! Why didn’t I think to check for f*cking security cameras! God I’m such an idiot..

Thomas thought in an instant before Tucker continued, “I’ve been working here for a decent amount of time now, I’ve done everything I could for this station.. Well, after the lockdown a few days ago, my pay was cut.. A- a lot in fact. They just came up to me and said, ‘sorry, you're gonna get paid less now’. No warning, no nothing, those-” He paused, realizing he was raising his voice a little, then continued, “I need the money.. For my family. They live on some- overcrowded station in a nearby system and my sister.. She needs extra money for the medical bills, money my family doesn’t make. So, I left them for this job which promised good enough pay to help them and for a while it did. Did I have to ignore the various different laws being broken here? Yes..” he ceased for a second reflecting on his past before continuing, “But I didn’t have a choice. With this reduction in pay, I’m not gonna be able to send home enough support, meaning I’m gonna have to leave in search of some other better paying job soon.”. Tucker’s voice was sorrowful and upset, making Thomas start to feel bad for him. He didn’t say anything, just listened to Tucker who took his brief silence as an answer and kept going.

“A- Anyways. After I found out this.. News, you can imagine my surprise when that same night I see you break away from your duties in repairing and find X-1. At the time, I thought your discovery was already under control by the upper-ups but then I saw you in the halls the next night in person on the second floor. Normally, I’d say you were going back to your room, but I still checked the cameras and saw you sneak to the maintenance tunnels through the elevator shaft. I went to call the main office of security but before I could do so, I saw you talking.. You were talking to nothing, or what should’ve been nothing to talk to. You were having a full on conversation with yourself until I thought of what was on the other side of that glass. Either you’re crazy or were somehow communicating with the Xenomorph on sub-level 2. Eventually I gave in, and requested a meeting with Victoria. I hoped to drop this discovery on her and demand my original pay back as a thanks for bringing it to her attention. While I waited for said meeting to come, I watched you talk, and laugh, and couldn’t help but feel you were actually talking with the Xenomorph. You were laughing with it. I’d switch to the camera inside the chamber and see X-1 making gestures oddly similar to yours, something I’d never seen in my life or even thought of, and by the time I found myself before Victoria.. I couldn’t.. I asked for my original pay and at the last moment, didn’t report what I had seen. She declined me, and I left with the idea to write a note asking you to meet.”. Tucker slumped down a little after finishing his speech and Thomas couldn’t think of anything to say. He was moved by the explanation and honestly forgot about the importance of this situation as he was lost in Tucker’s story.

“I’m- sorry Tucker.. What did you want with me?” he said in a sympathetic and light voice.

“I have lost all respect for this station and I want to know if you are actually talking with X-1. Also, considering you snuck into Data Analysis last night and tampered with data regarding X-1, I’m assuming you don’t have much care for the station either.” Tucker said with a building determination.

Thomas was still unsure of where exactly this was going but responded nonetheless, “Yes, and yes.. It’s hard to have respect or loyalty to the same station that drugged you and tortures intelligent aliens for no moral reasons other than their f*cked up science, and money.” Thomas said with a bitterness, feeling slightly relieved thanks to him being able to express his discontent with recent discoveries.

Tucker exhaled in surprise and disbelief, “Holy f*ck” He exclaimed, “You- your talking- can talk with X-1, with the f*ckin Xenomorph?! H- How?”

Thomas couldn’t help but allow a slight smile to cross his face. Hearing someone else say it made Thomas think about how unheard of it was, “It’s uh- Some type of telepathic communication or something, I- I don’t really understand it nor does he.” Thomas responded, glad to answer the question.

“He? You know its gender? My god.. Based on the little I’ve overheard, the scientists don’t even know that!” Tucker said, trying to wrap his head around it all.

Thomas let out a chuckle which visibly brought a calm to the conversation a little before he spoke, “Didn’t know that.”.

Tucker continued seemingly forgetting about the melancholy situation he had just described, “So, you're talking with a Xenomorph. Ok, You were laughing, with a Xenomorph? Wha- What do you even talk about? Wait.. Why did you sneak into Data Analysis?”

Thomas was happy to get to tell someone else about Damon, especially someone who at least seemed interested in him as well, “Well, um, one thing we talked about was getting him a name, which is Damon.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, yeah. I had to sneak into Data Analysis to tamper with some stats on Damon. Right now, they are trying to put him to sleep with chemicals and sh*t but he’s tricking the scientists into thinking they work by faking being sleepy. This is working to my knowledge, but there were tests run on him in Data Analysis which proved he was faking it, so I had to go change them.” Thomas said with some sense of accomplishment at helping his friend.

“God.. you did that for him? You realize you could’ve- would’ve been shot if you were caught. You risked that much for the alien you met 2 days ago?” Tucker asked not understanding or believing Thomas’s motive.

Thomas reflected for a moment. No he did not know he would’ve been straight up shot when doing that. It wasn’t too much of a surprise considering how quick they were to give him the mercy of a tranquilizer, But the question was, did that change anything? He really did risk his life, but he felt so good, it felt like he was doing something greater than just himself. After a moment of reflection, he determined it didn’t, he was still glad he did it and only hoped that right now Damon wasn’t being tortured thanks to his efforts.

“Yes.. yes I did, and I think I’d do it again.” The statement hung in the air for a minute with power until Thomas broke the brief silence, “I don’t want to be insensitive, but, what do you want from me? You said you didn’t report me and explained your initial reason, but why did you want to meet?” Thomas said with an investigative expression expecting the worst response and actually questioning what he’d do if that worst answer came. If Tucker said he had to report him or something of the sorts, what would he do in response? The thought was a little scary.

“I’m leaving this station soon, and cutting my ability to support my family has pushed me to search for a new job. I’m saying that I despise this place and wouldn’t mind lighting a match on my way out, if you understand me.” Tucker replied with a slight smile at the final statement.

Thomas couldn’t help but smile himself a little. Not only was Tucker not reporting him but wanted to help him. Thomas was relieved at the assurance, “I understand fully.” he said, “I’ll be sure to let you know when I need a match, or help getting there at least.”.

“Please do. For now, I’ll look past any nighttime security footage on sub-level 2. If you need me, contact me on the communication terminals and keep any messages in private of course.” Tucker said before getting up and leaving the common space.

Thomas could only get out a, “thank you” before the man left him at the table. He sat there for a minute afterward reflecting on what had just happened. Not only did Tucker give him another reason to have discontent toward the station but also gave his services. Thomas had a feeling he’d need them. Who knows what would become of their future. It’d be a bit before Tucker was likely to get a job offer which gave some time for Thomas to ask for his help. The thought made him question what the end goal really was. Was his goal to free the Xenomorph, Damon? If so, how? Even if he did free him, what would he do after? Live alone, forever isolated on this dull planet? He had never really considered these things until now, and it was starting to get to him. Stopping himself from hyperventilating, he decided to simply ask Damon tonight. That way he didn’t have to worry about it right now. Until then, he had to go about his usual mundane tasks when not working on any repairs or construction.

________________________________________________________________________________

9 hours later…

The lights had finally shut off, leaving Damon in the dark once more. He was so tired of lying in the same position for hours upon hours not able to move. It was a necessary act however, as if he faltered from it, he would surely miss the mild discomfort of pretending to sleep. Now though, he was able to stand up and stretch, oh the amazing stretch after that position was phenomenal!

About time those people left, I really need to find a better position to lay in.. At least Thomas should be coming soon. Hopefully, the whole meeting thing about that note went fine.. He better be fine..

The Xeno thought in slowly growing worry, anticipating the should-be-soon arrival of his friend. In an effort to take his mind off the path of pessimism, he thought of the questions to ask Thomas. Beginning to walk about the small chamber, he made a list.

Alright.. What am I most curious about?
What is a hamburger? The scientists were in a heated debate about what one should have on it earlier as they left the communication link open most the day.
Why would they want to make me sleep?
What do THEY want out of testing on me, what do they get from it?
Money is something they desire greatly, what is the extent of its purpose?
What is life like outside? How big is the world? The universe? It must be pretty big to house all the things they talk about. Could I see from one end to the other, or is it too big? Whoa..

The brewing questions were successful in relieving his mind of its dread. These questions instantly ceased once he felt something new. Damon jolted his head at the window recognizing the feeling of his telepathic bond with Thomas. Thomas, however, wasn’t there. The Xeno walked up to the glass confirming Thomas definitely wasn’t there. But Damon knew this feeling, he knew it was Thomas. He cut off his vision, a similar action to closing your eyes, but for a Xenomorph considering they had no eyes to close. He was able to focus and even cut off his vision entirely which helped him to amplify his other senses at the lack of sight. He felt Thomas was near, without even seeing him. This was… new.

After a moment of this, Thomas entered the room coming up to the window. He had a happier aura about him signaling Damon that hopefully nothing bad happened. The Xeno began the conversation, which did surprise Thomas considering he didn’t think Damon noticed him yet.

“Well, you look pleased. Did the meeting about that note go well?”

“Ah- er- yeah, it actually was someone who wants to help us.” Thomas responded with a joy of bringing good news.

“Someone wants to help us?” Damon questioned, slightly skeptical.

“Yeah, Victoria f*cked him over and now he offered to give his services to us! It actually could be really valuable to have him in our corner.”

The Xeno looked around, “What corner?” He innocently asked.

Thomas could help but let out a chuckle, “It's a metaphor silly, um, a phrase that has a well known deeper meaning to it.”

“Hmm, interesting, I guess. I actually have a few questions I’d like to ask you.”

“Sure, I like answering your questions.” Thomas assured Damon with a small smile.

“Ok, so, they now plan to test on me once a day by shooting me with those dart things to make me sleep. They are sure to target certain areas on my body when doing so. Does this mean I am expected to not be affected by the contents of the dart in certain areas? If so, then I need to know when to fake and when to not.” The Xenomorph explained.

“Huh, well, at least that's not as bad as the other things they were doing to you, so that's a plus! If I had to guess, I’d say they probably do believe there may be some regions on your body which may not be affected by the dart. That’s a good thought, and again, I’m guessing, but maybe places not directly connected to your blood stream would be expected to not warrant a successful tranq.” Thomas said, trying his best to come up with a sound idea.

“Yeah, ok.”

“So places composed of mostly something other than just skin, something like a claw or hard place on your body a dart may not be able to get through. It’s hard to tell without actually er- being or um, seeing in- without barriers like this glass.” Thomas stuttered a little trying to say that last part and the Xeno did pick up on that but moved on.

“Ok, I think I understand. Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind next time.”

“Just, be careful Damon.”

“I will, now, I’d like to know why exactly they are trying to make me sleep. Like, what do they get from it?” Damon questioned.

“Oh, well, there could be a number of reasons. First, they are getting paid to research you, so there's some incentive. Aside from that, perhaps they want to develop a chemical or something which can cause Xenomorphs like you to fall asleep. Once they get that, they could sell it for more money. At least that makes the most sense. Speaking of which, how’s your trickery going?”

“Huh, that makes some sense.. I’m pretty proud of them having no idea I’m faking it still, thanks to you.” The Xeno said grinning.

“That's good to hear.”

“You said something about other Xenomorphs, like me?” Damon pondered.

“Yeah, there’s a lot of Xenomorphs throughout space but, you are.. Different.”

Damon reflected on this for a moment, he had never thought of any other Xenomorphs like him. His hive was wiped out a while ago and that was his only other knowledge of any Xenos besides himself. He soon found his response, “Different?”

“Waaay different. Most notably, you are really nice and actually talk!” Thomas said, a little giddily, making the Xeno smile at the compliment.

“Wow.. Thank you. I didn’t think there were many other Xenomorphs. I also didn’t know I was that different, but at least I got you.” Damon said.

Thomas smiled quickly looking about the room behind him in an effort to conceal his light blush at the sudden kindness. He quickly gained his composure, “So, what um, do you want at the end of this? If we can get you out of here, what will you do?” Thomas questioned.

“Oh, I’m not sure. I haven’t thought that far ahead yet.”

“Me neither.”

“Well, when I get freed, I’d like to explore! I have heard so much of so many places and things, I want to see them all. I want to live a normal life.” Damon began to fantasize. He had no recollection of other Xenos so a ‘normal’ life was one which closely resembled peoples’. Being surrounded by humans for so long made him just desire to be treated on the same level as they are and ultimately live a life like them, outside of a cage.

Thomas seemed happy with this response, “That’s what you’ll get, one day, I promise.”

“Thank you Thomas.” Damon said in a genuine tone which cut through Thomas. After that, he put his finger to his chin and asked, “Now, what is a hamburger?”

With a large smile, Thomas sat down in the rolly chair and began explaining what a hamburger is. The simplest thing he never thought twice of was baffling to the alien. They weaved in and out of various different conversations about anything Damon was curious about and even some things Thomas wanted to know about him. They stayed up late into the night, losing track of time in their talking. It was so nice to have someone to talk to and care for from the Xeno’s point of view. From Thomas’s, he had a true friend he was growing more and more comfortable with and close to by the day, someone to rely on. Most of all, he felt he was doing something truly right with Damon.

Eventually the two said their goodbyes and Thomas left back through his route. He thought of the idea to ask Tucker if he could get him into the archives somehow to gather evidence. He’d have to ask him tomorrow as it was already 2 in the morning and he had to wake up at 8 AM the latest. It was worth it however, to spend time with Damon. He just ignorantly hoped things would stay this happy forever, but in the near future, he would have to bear the stress of impossible choices which could be the difference between success and failure, happiness and sadness, even life and death…

Chapter 6: The Archives

Chapter Text

7:57 AM - Thomas

Thomas sat at his desk in his room, hovering his finger over the ‘start’ button on the communication panel. He had just woken up, and the tiredness still hadn’t left him yet. He wanted to contact Tucker asking if there was a way to get him into the archives. If Thomas could get there, the amount of evidence he could gather against Victoria and the station would be plenty to at least warrant a search. The inner planets may not spend the resources to keep an eye on stations this far out but they surely wouldn’t hesitate to come this far if proof was presented. After society almost collapsed from riots and revolts due to a corrupt government about 20 or so years ago, they are now keen on suppressing anything to cause that sort of thing. He was pretty confident this plan would bear some fruit, but he just needed to get in. Hopefully, Tucker could help, so he began his audio message to him with the press of a button.

“Hey, Tucker, um- I have a plan, well, sorta. I need to get into the archives in order to gather evidence sufficient enough to uh- free.. Damon. He deserves better than this, a- and I know you may question it, understandably. I could really use your help though. You don’t know Damon, trust me, he is- can be good. He just needs a chance, don’t we all? Anyway, I gotta go get some work done, but whenever you can, if possible, send me your answer to my room. Thanks again.” Thomas ended the message with the press of the complete button.

Alright, here's hoping when I get back, I’ll have a nice opportunity to get into those archives and simply snag some files on a drive. I still have that portable storage device the station issued me, right? Then, bada bing bada boom, Damon is free, how hard could that be?

Thomas joyfully thought, acknowledging his own optimism but choosing to allow it to fill his mind. He quitted his room and left to work on the usual tasks of the day. Meanwhile, Damon was getting ready to play his trick once more 3 floors below.

_______________________________________________________

9:34 AM - Damon

This time the dart had stuck into Damon’s upper arm, and definitely would have made it to his bloodstream by his knowledge so he went through with his trick. A couple seconds later he was on the metal ground again. Now that this wasn’t as new, it wasn’t as exciting for the Xeno. He was growing tired of the same charade everyday but didn’t have a choice unless he wanted to get hurt. So, he lay there, motionless which wasn’t as much of a challenge now that he was more experienced in the act with repetition. However, in his bored state, he stopped reflecting on last night’s conversation with Thomas to listen to the new sounds surrounding him. Usually when he went down, all he’d hear were the murmurs of the scientists but now he was hearing a metallic movement. Looking around the room through his dome, making sure not to move it, he saw a hidden rectangular section of the wall in his chamber begin to sink back. It retreated into the wall further and further until it reached about 2 feet behind. The Xenomorph’s head could see in a 360 degree area around it thanks to the dome shape of it and lack of fixed eyes. However, looking forward was much more clear and detailed than looking anywhere else. It would give him a headache to look behind for too long without turning his head to face the direction of interest. If he kept looking behind, not through the front part of his head, his vision would blur while his mind swayed. For this reason, Damon could only look backwards for a little bit before needing to take a second not doing so to avoid these symptoms.

After a moment, the door slid to the side, disappearing from the now open hole in the white wall, his cell wall. Damon began to hear his heart race at the new event and it almost failed him when he made out a human figure walk into his cell. A person had walked into his cell! That meant they came from the hole which meant that hole led out and in turn, he could get out. This was a dream come true for him, a real option for him to escape. Damon felt the rush of adrenaline fill his veins as the person made step by step closer to him. Each step echoing slightly on the metal floor as the Xenomorph played out the outcomes of every possible decision in his mind:

With one fling of my tail I could render the guy in the room useless and it’d only take maybe 3-4 steps to clear that hole. After that, I could fly through the scientists, painting the room in their liquid red. That’s what they deserve. I could then leap into those beautiful vents and crawl my way up to the ground level in less than one minute. Once on the ground floor, sweeping through the station would be easy, taking the guards with guns first. Without them, they had no chance of stopping my rampage. The freedom! The revenge! The- the.. What about Thomas?..

What ABOUT Thomas?!

What would he think if I- did that? Would he-

No! You wont get this chance again! Escape while you can!

But.. then I’ll leave Thomas. I’ll be alone, no- friend.

Are you gonna spend your whole life in here for a f*cking human? No! That’s so stupid! What are you thinking? Who cares if you're alone, you’ll be free. That’s what matters.

Yeah, free.. But how much could I enjoy an isolated freedom? I’d never get to see the wonders I’ve heard about, space, stations, different planets..

What makes you think humans will just let you wander their hive? Huh?

Thomas will-

Thomas can’t promise anything! You’re putting your LIFE in his hands? Really?

I- I trust him, I mean he’s done so much for me already I-

Do you really think he’ll let you out though? Even if he wanted, do you think he could?

I- I don’t know..

Yeah, you do know that that door is open and you can get out right now!

I- I don’t know.. A lot could go wrong..

A lot HAS gone wrong! Do it NOW! If you don’t, you’re stuck here forever, you’ll die here, you will die..

Damon couldn’t hold back his inner thoughts yelling at him to take the opportunity. His tail twitched slightly as his lips slowly peeled back with anger revealing his white teeth not yet visible to the scientist now almost standing over him. His tail twitched more, he was about to fling it into the guy's chest. Oh, it would feel good too, to get back at those torturers finally. He had been staring through the back of his domed head for so long and with so much focus, his vision gradually blurred. The scientist transformed into a blurry figure over him and the Xeno’s head began to pound. Despite this he pushed himself further as he prepared to strike in just a few more seconds. At this moment, he swore he saw a glimpse of Thomas, the figure had resembled him for a second in its blurry form. The almost boiling anticipation and anger faltered at the sight, causing him to relax his body and tail for the moment. His mind raced through confusion at the vision and something deeply rooted in, compelled him to not go through with this plan, at the risk of Thomas getting hurt. The everlasting moment ended upon the dart sticking out of his upper arm being pulled out. The scientist had plucked it out and instantly dashed to the hole in the wall. Before Damon could think clearly again, the hole had already begun to fill in. His head hurt like hell, and now that the opportunity had passed, he forced himself to continue to lay still. It took everything in him not to jump up and do something, anything. He won over his inner thoughts however, and fell into a disappointed slump.

What did I do.. Was that the right decision? I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know… He looked- Why did I.. Why do I-

The Xenomorph sighed, pausing his dreary thoughts. He wasn’t sure if he had just made the greatest mistake of his life like his thoughts had convinced him. He was unsure how he felt about the effect of even thinking he saw Thomas for a second on him. Damon was so confused about his emotions and actions which came without a second thought in the moment. He could hear the scientists conversing in the background about the dart they had just pulled out of him. All he heard was a little of them speak of his blood for a moment before his mind began to block the sounds around him. Their voices grew faint and he just laid on that metal floor, reflecting, completely zoning out of his situation whilst he thought.

_______________________________________________________

8:07 PM - Thomas

Thomas was finally finished with his boring day tasks which today included performing maintenance checks on various different sections of the station. Now that he was done, and had just gotten back to his room, opening the door to the small space. It wasn’t until he had sat down that he noticed his communication panel was blinking with a message. His mind was suddenly flooded with remembrance of his request to Tucker. With anticipation, he pressed the button and listened to the message play in Tucker's voice.

“Hey Thomas! The station archives are pretty sensitive, having multiple security checks within and around them. It would truly be a shame for all of these security checks to require an update from approximately 8:30 to 9 PM tonight, wouldn’t it? I mean all these various systems guard the door so the station doesn’t have to waste an actual person to do so. A system wide update would render it no different from any other normal door. Well, good thing the servers inside are secure through a password right? I mean, who's gonna guess ‘XStation560’ for the password? It’d take one lucky man.. Anyway, due to this, I’d like to meet and talk about it with you sometime sooner than later.”

The audio message ended, and Thomas let a large grin cover his face in response. It was smart to use audio messages as they were deleted automatically soon after hearing due to their storage size. This covered their tracks, and he was pretty impressed with Tucker for how well he was so far at helping him.

“Damn Tucker, if this works..” Thomas said to himself as he got up and checked the time. He didn’t have long to get to the archives, so he left his room en route. By the time he got to the door of the archives it was about 8:26, and the hall had a couple people walking up and down it. To not look suspicious, Thomas leaned against the wall and began to study the structure of his current space. This way, if someone were to question him, he could just use the ‘I’m an engineer’ card to explain himself. Either way, no one did question him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the small digital screen next to the door switch to green from red. Tucker must have actually disabled the security systems, but Thomas couldn’t make his move just yet. There were still people wandering about the hall, passing him, and they would definitely question why he was going into the normally secure room. He had to wait, a painful task considering every minute was important as he had only about 30 minutes to do whatever he was going to do. 8:40, he finally saw the opportune moment, and pressed the digital pad which clicked and pushed the door open for him. He slipped in and the door slid closed behind him.

The server room was dimly lit with a blue, low light illuminating the space. A faint fog almost covered the relatively cold room compared to the rest of the station. Thomas had no time, he rapidly began searching the server screens for a promising title. Each server had a title displayed on a screen embedded into their frame which described briefly what was on that server. After a few duds, he found one which peaked his interest. Titled “X-1 research files”, it had to have something Thomas could use. He pressed on the screen, bringing up the password request. Typing in the password given by Tucker, XStation560, in hopes of it letting him into its files. The screen took a second to process the information but soon switched to a menu of options.

“One lucky man.. Thank you Tucker.” Thomas whispered in accomplishment.

He scanned through the various different files and documents stored on the server. He didn’t have time to read them, just time to make sure they were what he was looking for. He took a couple minutes looking through, and this was the jackpot. From the little he read, there was sure to be some good, incriminating evidence in here. Descriptions of Damon and what they are doing to him, what they feed him, how they got him. There were a couple other files as well describing the station and its past. He didn’t waste anymore time and connected his own storage device to the server to begin the download. He had this personal storage device for reports in case he needed to keep any. He never did, but at least the portable thing would be used now for something arguably way more important. Thomas checked the time, 8:54, he didn’t have much time. The download was not going to complete, but he’d get most of it. A few more minutes went by, 8:58, he had to go. Ending the download, he unplugged the device now loaded up with all the evidence he needed. He was sure to reset the server back to how it was before, and left. He was about to turn the corner of one of the servers for the door before he heard the door in question slide open with a hiss. His heart dropped and so did he down into a crouching position. He peered around the corner using the light fog and faint illumination to hide him. It was Tucker, and a couple other guards.

“Like I said, the security system needed an update, and I figured a later time during the day would be better to do so as less people would be around to potentially take advantage of it.” Tucker explained to the much larger guard.

That larger guard responded in a deeper tone, “That’s fine, we still gotta check the place, protocol. You really should have contacted someone to stand watch while it updated but I don’t care enough to make it a problem.”

“Alright, I’ll watch the door then, yall go do what you need to.” Tucker said while he looked about the room then to the other guards with a sigh.

Both the guards began walking into the server room, picking two adjacent rows to walk down. Thomas was at the end of the room, a few server rows away. He counted a couple seconds before he left his spot and moved toward the door Tucker was guarding. He carefully made each step silent as possible as he crossed the rows of servers at their end. Eventually Tucker saw him approaching and took a look down the row the guard closest went. Once Thomas was close to crossing the row, he held his hand up in a jolt. Thomas stopped in his tracks, Tucker must have been warning him the guard was looking. Putting his trust in Tucker, he waited for instruction which came within a few seconds. Tucker lowered his hand and Thomas crossed the row to the door and upon taking a look down the server hall, saw the guard walking away. Thomas slipped out the door and instantly leaned against the wall in the hall outside the archives. Tucker casually leaned over toward him.

“Did you get it?” he whispered under his breath, obviously stressed.

“Thanks to you, yeah.” Thomas responded in a similar manner.

“Thank God.. You should probably leave now before our luck runs too thin.”

“Yeah, thank you again, if you need anything, just ask.” Thomas assured him as he left down the hall.

It was close, but Thomas had got hopefully enough evidence to compile a justified reason for the government to at least run a search. That could wait though, it was close to the time he was to go down to Damon. He could easily work on organizing the information tomorrow alongside his usual tasks. Oh, how Damon would feel to know his immense progress today. The thought excited Thomas, like the feeling you get when giving a present to someone you care for. He was happy to make Damon happy, and there was something both comforting and interesting about that. Either way, he entered his room after idly walking to it, and crouched under his desk. The frame of the desk had wood planks stretch across the underside for support but not filled in for price constraints. It made an easy spot to hide something smaller like the drive he had just filled up with data. He placed the technology in this spot and began making way through his route to Damon.

After waiting for the scientists to leave the room, Thomas entered into the familiar darkened space. He had been waiting for a little over 15 minutes by the door, observing the room through the small glass window in the door for when the lights went off. He jogged up to the window in high spirits and saw Damon. He wasn’t standing like usual, instead, he was sitting down close to the window looking into his cell. He seemed not to have noticed Thomas enter. Thomas pressed the communication button, slightly concerned.

“Damon? Is everything alright?” He asked gingerly.

Damon took a second to respond, but did in time, “Do you really think you can free me? Even if so.. Do you really think your society will even accept me?” Damon responded in an odd manner. He said this in an expressionless tone yet Thomas felt something deeper behind the words. There was almost nothing laced in Damon’s words, yet Thomas just knew something more was behind them.

“I do,” he answered in a genuine voice, “I don’t believe I can free you, I know I can. You wanna know why? Because today, I got it. It was risky, and I did almost get caught, but I got the evidence I need to bring in the government. They will shut this place down, and will see you for who you are. I’ll show them, we’ll show them, right?”

Damon was fueled a little by Thomas’s inspiring words, and sat up looking upon Thomas, “You can- are gonna free me? It’s guaranteed?”

“I- I can’t guarantee everything will go smoothly, but I can guarantee I will get that evidence to the government and they will come. I’ll make sure of it.” Thomas said, filled with determination.

Damon let out a sigh, whether from relief or worry was unknown to Thomas, “Ok. Thank you. When will you be able to do so?”

“Well, due to us being out in the space frontier, we only get a supply ship every other month. The next docking is expected in about a week or so. Then, I’ll catch a ride on it straight to the inner planets, get the calvary, come back here as soon as I can, and we’ll have you out in no time.” Thomas said, hyping himself up as well as the Xeno.

Damon smiled, “Sounds like a plan. It also sounds like Imma need to learn about this society of yours.” Damon played, still serious about the statement however.

“Well, you already understand most English, so that's quite the start!” Thomas exclaimed.

“I presume that’ll help,” Damon began with a chuckle in his alien hissing mixed with a little kackling Thomas had never heard from anything else in his life, “So, you say we are in the ‘frontier’ and that you must travel to the inner planets to get the help for my release. What’s so different from here and there?”

“The frontier is the region in space where we haven’t developed much, meaning we haven’t built a lot out here. Due to this, the government can’t monitor the region well if at all. The inner planets are highly developed with cities and stations you could only imagine! Rules there are enforced better.” Thomas explained.

“Wow, that sounds fantastic! Do you think I’ll be able to see this?” Damon asked innocently.

“I’ll make sure of it Damon.”

Damon thought about telling Thomas about the events which occurred today, but now that the conversation was in a positive direction, he didn't want to change that. He began asking basic questions on how human society was which evolved into Thomas explaining every aspect from the workings of government to how the economy is run. He explained expectations and laws as well as employment and entertainment. Damon was particularly interested in music and movies as those seemed like magic to him. How could someone create sounds that sound so different from simple constructions? How could a scene be projected onto a canvas depicting something which happened in the past? It was fun explaining to Damon the various ins and outs of his normal life and it was fascinating to the Xenomorph to learn about these things. The next week or so went like this. Thomas would perform his normal duties, and kept in contact with Tucker. Thomas worked on and completed organizing the files he snagged from the archives. The two talked to each other every other day at least about things relating to Damon, as well as other things too. Thomas found a friendship with Tucker and they bonded over common interests and enemies. Once night rolled around, Thomas would travel down to Damon and talk with him late into the darkness. It wasn’t great for Thomas’s sleep, but it was worth it. He and Damon became indistinguishable from any normal human friendship with each and every talk they had together. The simple joy of these conversations made the stressful situation they were in disappear even if only for a moment. All Thomas could think about was Damon, and all Damon could think about was Thomas. They both had good reason considering Thomas was filled with a determination to free Damon and Damon only knew one human who was kind to him. They had become such crucial parts of each other's lives in different ways of equal importance. Damon dealt with the continued darts shot at him day by day and his trick on the scientists. He was fueled by the idea of getting out sooner than later. Tucker searched for a job during this time, to no avail yet, but Thomas offered his help once everything was over. Everything as in the whole Damon being trapped thing. Thomas expected to be living a normal life after this, one which he had dreamt of his whole life. If only he knew what the future had in store for him, but then again, where's the fun in knowing your future?

Chapter 7: Luck

Chapter Text

9:48 AM - Thomas

A few days had passed from when Thomas successfully gathered all the intel he needed from the archives. It was a risky move which brought him unfavorably close to botching the whole plan. After Damon had asked Thomas if he truly believed he could free him, Thomas was reluctant to take any more risks than necessary. He had made a promise to Damon, and he didn’t want to break it for many obvious reasons. Among them, Thomas realized he was Damon’s first and only real friend, specifically an interspecies friendship. This meant, so he believed, that if he made a big enough mistake, then Damon may never trust anyone again. Not only would that jeopardize an extremely rare, friendly Xenomorph but selfishly, their relationship as a whole. He didn’t understand a lot of things regarding human society and the complexity of it yet. Yes, Thomas was teaching him, but there’s only so much you can teach with only a few hours a night and no references. Damon wouldn’t fully understand anything until he experienced it himself, something which Thomas was increasingly excited to make happen as well as worried for when it did.

What would that even look like? Would Damon be accepted by others? There's zero similar situations from the past to reference for this. Like no one else has ever befriended a Xenomorph.. God this could really get f*cked up quick..

Thomas worriedly thought as he blankly stared at his cards, an ace of spades and a plain four of hearts. Him and Tucker were passing the time with a simple game of poker, waiting for their work to catch up to them. Thomas had been speeding through his boring reports and inspections to make time for his.. New hobbies. Tucker simply had less work to do, mostly he watched the security systems at night which made the day time extremely uneventful when not sleeping. So here they were, in the back of the common room with enough space from other people to discuss more private topics.

On the table, four cards of the five were shown and Thomas did not match much up with his. He scanned through the possibilities of combinations but couldn’t make many which had a decent chance. Tucker, on the other hand, looked pretty confident with his cards. The last card was flipped with no raise, and Thomas had nothing to make. Throwing his cards down in acceptance of his inevitable failure for this round, he said, “I got nothin’!”.

Tucker just smiled and set down his cards which clearly beat Thomas’s by a lot. He enjoyed his victory and while they both set up for the next round, Tucker started, “Sooo, how is Damon holding up?” he asked, still getting used to asking normal questions about the Xenomorph in the basem*nt.

“He’s uh, good, annoyed with being trapped and especially now that I’ve been telling him about what life is like outside of that cell. Damn, it really sucks to see him forced to be in the same spot every time I see him, you know? Like imagine if that were me, or you..” Thomas responded.

Tucker paused at this response, he was still surprised by how much Thomas seemed to care. This wasn’t a bad surprise necessarily, it actually gave him respect for Thomas. However, it did make him worry for more negative outcomes and unknowns as he hadn’t met this supposedly nice alien.

“I get that.. Are you.. I don’t know, slightly concerned at what may happen when he is set free? I’m not implying anything bad will happen, but that something unexpected could happen. I haven’t met this alien friend of yours, so you must understand my hesitation. I mean, by my knowledge, those organisms would shred you to pieces the moment you let em’ out.” He explained.

Thomas looked down, “I- uh.. That’s a valid thought.. but I can’t see him doing anything bad. He’s been so- human like in his emotions he expresses and how he acts. I- I can’t imagine it..” Thomas trailed off, suddenly scared Tucker may have even the slightest chance of having a point. Had he been blinded by his own desire to do something right and for friendship that he failed to see the possibility of it being wrong?

“Hey,” Tucker said, getting his attention in a gentle voice, “I didn’t mean to give you doubt man, I just don’t want you to blindly make a decision without attending to some necessary possibilities. From what you have said, Damon seems great, and like he’d never do anything.. Well anything a Xenomorph would normally do.”

“Yeah,” Thomas said, bringing back a faint smile, “I’ll think about it some more. What is your plan right now? How’s your job search going?” Thomas asked.

“I actually think I may have found something. The military is in deep enough need right now to apparently consider my recruitment. They’ve offered me a position in ship security I think I’d like to try. The pay would be enough to allow me to continue sending money back to my family so that's the main reason I’m deeply considering it enough to schedule my leave soon.” Tucker excitedly said.

“Wow! That’s great man, when do you think you’ll leave?”

“Actually, I’d like to leave with you when you go to the inner planets soon if that’s alright. I could even support the evidence you’ve gathered if you want.” Tucker offered.

Thomas thought about this for a moment before responding, “Yeah, it would be nice to have a familiar face with me.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“Cool, now, are you gonna check or raise?” Thomas said holding his cards up with a smile in hopes of deceiving Tucker that he had a better hand than he really did. Minus his luck in this poker match, he and Tucker were enjoying quite the nice ride of fortune in their favor. Now, in just one day, they were to leave and initiate their plan to save Damon. It was going smoothly enough to let the two relax a bit especially considering their imminent departure.

_______________________________________________________

11:00 AM - Damon

The window had finally disappeared showing Damon the lab beyond, housing the scientists and letting the light into his cell. They waited extra long to check in on him this morning which was a little concerning. Damon looked upon the usual people in lab coats with a small snarl, despite them giving him a bit more sleep than normal. Travis, who still headed the research on him, had an exhausted mixed with annoyed look. He pressed the button allowing his voice to ring throughout Damon’s chamber.

“Why?” He asked in a growing frustration.

What.. Is he asking me? Damon thought as he came to his feet approaching the center of the cell.

“Why did you not attack Ren? He was in your cell, the door open, and hell- we all believed you were out cold. I guess you can call me curious as to why you wouldn’t do what you normally do.” His voice was stronger in tone.

Oh… Oh no, how did he- why- Oh no no no… Damon dreaded

Travis sighed, “I don’t know if you can even understand a word I say,” he paused briefly before growing his voice, “but we wasted Thousands of dollars! Thousands! On that sedative.” he yelled, holding the dart they plucked from Damon yesterday and continuing in a lower voice, “I mean, engineering gave me this piece of sh*t. The damn tip bent upon hitting your skin, barely anything even made it into you. Could what did sedate a chicken? Yes, but I’m willing to bet an 8 foot tall Xenomorph requires a little more, no?” His face was red with anger.

Damon tried to look confused, as if he couldn’t understand Travis. This was hard considering his fear for what was to come now that they found out about his trick on them.

“Look- Whatever.. Now we just gotta make up for lost time and Vic wants a way to transport Xenomorph aliens such as yourself easier through sedation. Developing a drug for that would take waaay too long now, I guess we’ll have to just figure out another way.” Travis said in a way to put blame on Damon for what was to come.

He refused to continue, and waved a woman over to him. He subtly talked to her and she nodded. Once she was in position for whatever he was planning, he blankly said, “go ahead.” not taking his eyes off the Xeno.

All Damon could hear was the unknown hum of something beneath him before he felt the pain of magical current fill his soul. Electricity shocked through his body, causing his limbs to freeze up and vision to blur within seconds. He felt his heart jolt as his mind was filled with pain toward no specific area, his whole body was lit up in an intolerable suffering. Writhing in agony, he fell to the floor not caring or able to protect his head from making a harsh contact with the metal. It was an unknown amount of time before the electricity stopped yet he continued to feel the after effect of the shock. Dazed and unable to think past the pain, he curled up on the floor. He heard Travis begin to speak, but couldn’t make out the words as they were muffled. He wanted to scream, let out his inner mouth, but his jaw refused to open and stayed locked shut. All he could do is just endure the torture. Meanwhile, Travis began writing down notes on his clipboard describing his newfound success in using high voltage to subdue the Xeno. He was smiling with devious intent, unknowing of the few faces behind him which had a slight disgust about them. Some of the other scientists seemed to have taken more interest in the fact that Damon was showing signs of intelligence beyond what they thought. Or maybe they were put off by Travis’s look of insanity, no way to know for certain. Damon couldn’t even make these observations for he was beginning to pass out. He felt as his head slowly but surely closed off from the harsh world. His consciousness retreated into his mind, barricading the doors in an effort to heal from the never before felt pain.

_______________________________________________________

11:09 AM - Thomas

Thomas was walking down the halls of the station with Tucker. Tucker was heading to his room to go to bed as his job required him to stay up late into the night. Thomas had nothing to do at the moment so he just talked with him as they made their way to his room. Tucker, on the topic of sleep, noticed Thomas was dragging a little.

“You should take some notes,” he started.

“Huh?” Thomas said, completely lost in what he was asking.

“You look like you maybe got 2 hours of sleep last night dude.”

“Oh,” He exhaled with a chuckle, “I’m fine, just must have had a bad sleep last night is all.”

“Alright,” Tucker said, entering his room they had just arrived at, “Well, Imma hit the hay. I’ll be watching the cameras tonight.” he chuckled awaiting a response.

…

“Thomas?” Tucker said, turning around.

Thomas was leaning against the door frame, his hands gripping his head. He spoke in painful stutters, “I- my- God!” He grabbed the door frame to hold himself up.

“Thomas? What’s wrong?!” Tucker said immediately lunging to help hold him up.

“I- I don’t know. My head- Damn! Just give me a sec,” he said and took a moment before elaborating, “Ok, ok.. It's going away.. f*ck that was a harsh headache, it felt so strong.” Thomas said regaining his strength a little.

“Do you need to see Nick?”

“No no, I’m better now. Thanks, I think I will go lay down after all.” Thomas said with a smile to comfort Tucker.

“Alright, I’ll see you later then. Take it easy man.”

“See ya.”

Tucker closed the door once Thomas stumbled slightly down the hall. His room wasn’t far, but it was odd for him to get such a strong and rapid headache like this. His thoughts were almost overcome by a white noise during the discomfort. It had dissipated mostly but hung around in the background which was more annoying than painful. Due to this, he went back to his room to rest for a bit. He admittedly had been tired and was almost excited to close his eyes for a minute.

… 9:46 PM

Thomas was feeling a bit more energized from taking a rest prior to coming down to see Damon. He was excited as he brought something Damon was sure to like. Using some paper and pencil, Thomas made some tic tac toe boards to play with him. A fun little game to occupy their time while conversing. Thomas was due to leave soon, this would probably be the last he could see Damon before leaving. The ship was set to depart tomorrow night around 8 PM, and would definitely not leave enough time to meet with him. Thanks to that fact, Thomas wished to make this a good conversation to help hold Damon’s faith in him.

He pushed open the door into the lab. It looked the same as always, but it felt like something was simultaneously missing. He walked over to the window to see his Xeno friend. His heart dropped at the sight of Damon curled up into a ball, only wiggling slightly. Thomas’s smile dissipated instantly and he rushed to press the button, dropping the simply made tic tac toe boards on the ground. The button clicked.

“Damon? Damon, can you hear me?” Thomas said, trying not to assume anything yet.

…

“Damon?! Damon!” Thomas frantically shouted, ignoring the possibility of being heard. His heart ached with worry as he began looking around for something to help. He searched through the panel of buttons, investigating each one to find out what their purpose was. Nothing he found could help and he didn’t even know what was wrong. He looked upon the Xenomorph with defeat in his eyes, “Please answer me..”.

“...Thomas?” A faint yet familiar voice entered his head.

“Damon! What’s wrong?!” Thomas instantly asked.

“Glad you're here..” Damon’s voice was a little stronger, but still significantly weaker than normal.

“Damon,” Thomas exhaled, “What happened?”.

“They found out.. About me faking my sleep.”

“f*ck..”

“I’ve never felt this kind of pain before, it’s..”

“Do you know what they did?” Thomas said in anger, clenching his fist.

“Twisted a knob.” Damon answered still not wanting to move from his spot but being ever so slightly energized by Thomas’s company.

Thomas looked down at the panel, looking for the different types of dials and twistable knobs. The opacity knob did, but that didn’t do this. There were a couple others but one stood out to him, the electric shock intensity. Thomas now understood what had happened, and the shock levels on this dial were lethal if twisted far enough. He felt like somehow, someway, this was because of him. He felt an increasingly growing responsibility to his friend.

“I- I'll help you, Damon, um… how?” Thomas said almost to himself.

“There's no need Thomas, it'll get better, just need some time.” The Xeno said, even his telepathic voice sounded strained.

Thomas looked around the lab near Damon's cell for anything that could help. He didn’t know exactly what to look for however. Damon tried to take Thomas's mind off his suffering by attempting to resume as normal.

“So- how do these-,” his voice interrupted by a hissed wince toward his pain before continuing as fast as he could, “how do these ships travel such vast distances?”.

“That is, very complicated, maybe I can show you when this is over.” Thomas said not buying into Damon's distraction, “ah ha! Here we go!”.

Thomas had found an emergency medical container attached to the wall in the lab. No one would notice if anything was missing for a long enough time. With this reasoning, he opened the medium sized hard plastic lid revealing the supplies inside. There were bandages and liquid pain medicine in vials taking up the space. The bandages weren’t going to help any bit, but the pain relief could.

If you’re in pain, then this should help, right? How.. wait how am I gonna- get this in there? f*ck..

Thomas thought as he took a vial of the pain relief. He walked over to the window again, “Ok, I found some medicine to help with the pain. Do you know a way I could get this to you?” Thomas asked.

Damon tried to look up but couldn’t bring himself to do so, “Thomas.. I’m fine, I’ll be fine.”.

“No, Damon, let me help, please.” Thomas pleaded.

Damon couldn’t see Thomas from his position, but he felt the emotion behind his voice, “I- You really don’t have too..”. Damon was nervous about Thomas possibly entering his cell as he was unsure how he’d react, both of them. Thomas, upon seeing his figure directly, without barrier may find something undesirable about him. He was an alien to them, something vastly different. Also, the last person who entered his cell was almost killed as a cloud of vengeance covered his mind. It sickened him just to think about hurting Thomas, which reminded the Xeno as to the reason he held back from killing the scientist in the first place. Thomas.

“Well, I do have too, I will find a way to get this to you.” Thomas said investigating the area, “And what do we have here?”. Thomas had located the door into Damon’s cell which had an airlock type design to it. The door was not obvious and really only distinguishable through the small handle. He grabbed it and pulled back the door from its frame. The small space on the other side was big enough for maybe 3 people and housed another door leading into the cell. He stepped into the room, closing the door behind him.

“Thomas-” Damon began.

“Don’t worry dude, I want to help you. It’s just a simple liquid you have to drink, no big deal.” Thomas explained.

“I- thank you.” Damon realized he was powerless in this conversation.

Once the door behind closed Thomas in the small room, the other door was unlocked. The handle twisted and the door slid back toward him. Once far enough, it could be pushed to the side, opening the passage. He did so, revealing the cell which held Damon ever since they met. The smell was instantly different, it wasn’t necessarily bad or good, just different. Thomas took a step into the chamber gingerly. The white room had a much different feel to it from the inside which made Thomas sympathetic as it wasn’t a good feel. His eyes couldn’t look about the room anyway as they were locked onto the Xenomorph roughly 8 feet from him. He had his back to Thomas and his head was tucked into his own embrace. The alien didn’t move and now upon closer look, had been slightly wiggling, most likely in pain so he thought. The organism was massive up close and struck an instinctual fear through Thomas. This instantly dissipated with Damon’s voice entering his mind however. Damon also looked much different up close. His pitch black, smooth skin reflected the simple lighting along its ridges and patterns. His segmented tail wrapped around him had great delicate detail which surprised Thomas. The dorsal tubes were glistening with a slick wetness much like his intellectual domed head. Thomas thought the noggin was impressive from behind the reinforced glass but now he could make out every intricate detail. Thomas couldn’t help but be lost in the sight, it was something so interesting to him. He was seeing Damon in a more pure observation he underestimated the impact of. Damon was so neatly composed of perfect pattern, texture, and-

“Thomas..” Damon cut off Thomas’s gaze.

“I- Uh.. Yeah?” Thomas blurted.

“Are you.. In here?”

“Yeah.” Thomas said, taking another careful step closer.

“I- are you.. Do you..” Damon struggled to find which question to ask.

“Hey, I’m here for you, no need to worry.” Thomas spoke in a gentle voice approaching the alien.

“Is this necessary? I- I’m scared you’ll get hurt..”

“I’m here already so, yes.”

Damon’s mind raced through probabilities, mostly bad. He rapidly feared everything and worried what Thomas thought of him in person.

What does he think of me? How could he be friends with me? A Xenomorph and a human. Is he getting closer? Why does he care? Is this fake? What if I lose control? I feel him, he’s so close.. What will I-

The fast paced thoughts abruptly stopped at the touch of Thomas’s hand on his shoulder. His mind filled with a bright bliss from the kind contact of someone he cared for instead of feared. It was mind numbing, and his body instinctively relaxed itself under Thomas’s soft pressure. His shoulders dropped, legs loosened, hands unclenched, and jaw opened letting out a long drawn breath. He breathed slower and more evenly which helped his slight shaking. His inner jaw came forward into his mouth at the relaxation. Thomas on the other hand, was out of the Xeno’s vision currently. He had reached out as far as possible to touch his shoulder. The alien had instantly relaxed at the contact which made Thomas relax a lot as well. He admittedly held his breath when reaching out to his alien friend as he’d never been this close to him and Tucker had just warned him about what possibilities could occur once Damon was free. However, now that they had both relaxed, Thomas broke the silence.

“See, it seems my presence isn’t so bad after all.” he played.

“I- your presence was- is never bad!” Damon responded much less strained and filled with more strength however stuttering.

“I’m just messin with you, alright, how much can you move?”

“I- It’s painful to, but I believe I can.”

“Ok, you’ll need to sit up to drink the pain relief. Can you?” Thomas asked.

“Can you..” Thomas could barely notice it, but Damon sighed faintly then said, “Help me a little.” Damon was almost ashamed to ask, but Thomas’s contact made movement easier and less painful thanks to the relaxation which followed it.

“Yeah, I got you man.” Thomas said, moving his hand to Damon’s neck and wrapping the other across his chest. The skin was very slightly moist, not even enough to really get on Thomas’s skin and acted mostly as a texture. The rib structure was very solid and he lightly gripped it to help pull Damon up. The Xeno’s neck was soft and textured, warm to the touch and equally fascinating. Thomas pulled back to aid the Xeno in sitting up. Damon relished the physical connection, and sat up with a surprising ease. His chest was warm with the new contact and he felt the desire to lean into Thomas’s hand currently on his neck. He didn’t in an effort to focus on the task at hand. Once up, a wave of pain broke his bliss, and he winced in the discomfort.

“Sorry, are you ok?” Thomas asked.

“Ye- Yes, very much, thank you, Thomas.” Damon said, looking at him.

“Ok, ok. Now here is the drink that’ll ease your pain.” he said holding up the vial.

Damon realized he had been kind of staring at Thomas when he helped him up for a second. Thomas looked different in person, he looked much more real. Seeing him right there, helping, separated him from the other humans Damon knew even more. In person, he was able to smell the unnatural but pleasant scent of Thomas’s hair. His skin was so soft and warm, unlike anything Damon had felt before. He forced himself to look away at the bottle of liquid shown to him. It was clear and in a small amount stored in an equally small container. It reminded him of the darts that were shot into his body every day until today.

“Are you- sure.” Damon said with uncertainty.

“This will help, I’ve drank similar things myself when injured.”

“Ok.. I trust you.” he said, the concept of trust still newer to him.

Thomas handed the alien the small vial which Damon carefully held with his longer digits. He took one more look at Thomas, who smiled in response, before drinking. The contents of the tiny bottle brought an awful, manufactured taste with it. However, even just the thought of drinking a magical liquid which would help his pain somehow made it better in of itself.

“Thomas?”

“Yeah?”

“Can you stay in here for a while? I enjoy your company in sharing this.. Room.” Damon asked.

“I see no point in leaving until I have to go like usual, sure.”

“Thanks. Could you explain what I just drank?” Damon pondered.

“I’ll try, but I’m no expert.” Thomas said with a chuckle.

The laughter spread to Damon and he too let out an amused hiss. Thomas sat in the cell with the Xenomorph, in closer proximity, going about their normal routine of him explaining whatever the topic was as best he could. Damon seemed to really enjoy learning about how big and sophisticated the universe was. He was also extremely good at it. He understood almost everything Thomas explained with a great unexpected speed. It was fun to show Damon what life is like, and they both liked the absence of a glass barrier. Thomas wasn’t grossed out at the undisturbed sight of the Xeno as Damon feared he would be and Damon didn’t do ‘anything a Xenomorph would normally do’ which was a relief to Thomas. No matter how close of friends Thomas got with Damon, there would have always been that question of what would happen should they come face to face with no barrier. Now that instinctual worry had vanished, he could really allow himself to get invested in their relationship.

Meanwhile, Tucker was going to his usual occupation.

_______________________________________________________

10:47 PM - Tucker

He had slept in a little more than he had hoped, but Tucker was awake now. With the sheets thrown off, he climbed out of bed and went to grab his key card. As he swiped up the card, he noticed the communication light in the panel on his desk was illuminated. He pressed the button after moving to the right side of his desk and a female voice played.

“Hey Tucker, this is Victoria. Due to an increase in security equipment, we have hired an intern to learn under your wing. A younger man, and he will start tonight. Sorry for the late notice.”

Intern? Since when did this place need a- Oh sh*t.. I’m late.. Intern.. f*ck I gotta go!

Tucker thought rapidly gathering his jacket and leaving his room in haste. He determined if there was an intern he was supposed to train coming in tonight, and he’s late.. They might find Thomas and his Xenomorph friend which Tucker was growing increasingly invested in. The whole concept of befriending an alien like that was fascinating once past the danger and fear of it all. Tucker had to hurry, so he jogged down the halls toward the security office. It was his last night needing to go through with this dreadfully boring job and of course something had to go wrong.

He fumbled with his key card to the security office but eventually got it in the slot. The door hissed open allowing him access and he ran inside stopping in his tracks once in. The security room had someone already inside however, and Tucker was hit with a wave of fear when he heard the voice from within.

“Sub-level 2 laboratory, break in, send guards now, subject is in close proximity to X-1…” The intern security guard rapidly said into the radio.

Voices on the other end responded and the guard in Tucker’s chair hadn’t even noticed him enter. Tucker couldn’t stop his mouth from opening in disbelief at the fact someone was in here, where he sat, and they were sending guards to capture Thomas. It felt like a nightmare, hell, it was a nightmare.

“What did you do?” Tucker instinctively said.

The young man turned around in the chair to see him, “Oh, you must be Tucker. I’m your intern! Boy, I hope every day is this exciting.” the young man said, either not hearing or ignoring his question.

He must’ve been no older than 21 and seemed so excited to start his job in such an environment. Poor kid was ambitious and didn’t know right from wrong in such a complex situation. He was doing what he was getting paid to do, and Tucker couldn’t help but believe he found where some of his previous pay went. Victoria was already making moves to replace him most likely, but how could she know he planned to leave? He hadn’t told her, unless they were planning his leave anyway. Why else would they push an unexpected intern on him out of nowhere. They either expected him to quit soon or were pushing him to quit so they could give a cheaper pay to this young man. It didn’t matter now, all he could do was watch as guards viewed through the cameras moved toward the lab Damon and Thomas were in. His mind flashed through things he could do, but nothing bore any fruit. He couldn’t do anything, otherwise, he'd make things worse by exposing himself.

The young man spoke again into the radio upon looking at the cameras, “What the- get to the lab fast, the subject is er- opening the door to X-1’s cell?!”.

“Oh f*ck..” Tucker said in a confused horror.

_______________________________________________________

10:50 PM - Damon

Thomas had explained to the best he could about medicine and basics of what it is. He would do anything to keep Thomas explaining whatever so that he didn’t have time to think of leaving. Now that he was inside Damon’s cell, their communication felt so much more connected. Damon never wanted to go back to having a barrier between them. It was so unexpectedly comforting to have someone to talk to and who cared enough to risk themselves for you finally in the same room. It had been something he feared for some time as he wasn’t sure how Thomas would react or even how he himself would. But now that that was in the past, he wanted nothing less than this personal contact. They currently sat a respectable distance away when conversing, within arms reach. Damon was simply staring at him innocently, lost in thought of many different things all regarding Thomas. Most of them were on what the future would look like and the interesting difference from communicating without the glass. Damon felt like the luckiest Xenomorph alive considering his situation currently. To be honest, he had missed the later half of Thomas’s explanation on what something called bowling was. It took Thomas’s pat on his knee to break him from the trance instantaneously.

Thomas spoke in a soothing curiosity, “You feeling better now?”.

“Hmm, Yeah, I do, I don’t feel nearly as bad as before.” Damon responded surprised at the observation.

“Glad to hear… Hey, look, tonight is probably gonna be the last night I’ll see you for a minute. But don’t worry, the ship leaves tomorrow and I’ll be as fast as I can. It’s for you Damon, we are gonna get you out of here.”

“O- Ok.. I trust you Thomas. Please, please come back, I-”

“I will.” Thomas said, placing his hand firmly on Damon’s leg now, causing a warm sensation to spread from the area.

“Thank yo-” Damon began to say before stopping at the sight of Thomas’s facial expression devolve. It was twisting in a strange horror at a sight behind him, “Thomas?” he said, starting to turn around.

Time was seemingly paused when Damon saw the multiple figures standing in the window. They had those weapons Damon had yet to understand which hurt things at a range. One rushed over to the control he had only learned about today, the electric shock dial. In fear, Damon turned back around to face his friend who looked into his dome. Thomas opened his mouth to say something but before anything could come out, the electric shock shot through both of them simultaneously. Damon’s body locked up and an uncontrollable force held his limbs in a fixed yet vibrating position. Thomas was hit as well but had an initial lesser impact due to his clothing and shoe apparel. He lunged forward and grabbed Damon’s head.

“I won’t- forget- Damon..” Was all he could say before succumbing to the electricity and falling to the floor.

They both endured the electric torment until blackness enveloped them and they hit a forced unconsciousness. The pain left the two as they fell into their minds, an endless abyss with no clue as to when and what they will wake up to. Something must’ve gone wrong, their luck must’ve run out, and now, there was no way of knowing what was next, but one thing was for certain, it wouldn’t be good.

Chapter 8: Ulterior Motives

Chapter Text

Time unknown - Thomas

The first thing to come to his senses was his touch. He felt a mild pain vibrate throughout his body as well as the metal in contact with his hands. It was cold and smooth compared to the clothes he felt with every motion. The cooler air swirled around him in such a faint continuous breeze only perceived by one who can’t use their other senses. This feeling in particular dissipated at the reintroduction of his smell. The metallic, manufactured air which surrounded him filled his nose. His hearing came next, growing from a muffled sound of voice to clearer and clearer vocals. He heard a couple random voices he didn’t recognize as well as the hum of electricity. This sound caused memories to flood back through his brain of the pain in electric shock. He flinched at the recollection, and dared to open his eyes and perceive what situation he was in. The moment his eyelids split apart, the blinding white light spilled in causing another flinch at the discomfort. It took a second to get used to the artificial illumination but once he did, he could observe exactly where he was. It was no room he knew of, the white walls reminiscent of Damon’s cell, yet definitely smaller. Attempting to move his hands made him aware of the strong metal bondage holding them together. He was sat down in a chair which failed to be more comfortable than the floor. His head hurt like hell, waves of pain lighting it up to the beat of his heart. He looked around the room and saw three people. Two guards male and female, geared up with weapons and someone in a white coat behind them. Upon further inspection, he knew the guy behind those guards. It was Nick, the doctor who actually inspired him to go back down to investigate the maintenance tunnels in the first place. All the events which had occurred since then must have caused Thomas to forget. Nick didn’t have a good look about his face, one which may resemble concern. Thomas’s thoughts were interrupted by the authoritative voice that erupted from the male guard.

“Is he fine Nicolas?”

Nick stepped forward to get a closer look and with a face of reluctance spoke, “As long as you don’t hurt him anymore, yes.”

“Alright, you're dismissed then.”

Nick took one more look at Thomas before leaving through a door behind. The female guard pulled up a chair while the other hung back by the door. She had a rougher voice as she began to speak to Thomas.

“Thomas, site lead engineer. May I ask why you found yourself on sub-level 2 after knowing the restrictions implemented on that section?” She asked in a strong voice.

Thomas took a second to warm up his vocal cords with a cough, “I- I don’t know.” Thomas eventually said not knowing what to say.

“You don’t know? Really? Alrighty, well then why don’t you explain to me why you were inside of X-1’s cell?” She asked.

“X-1..? Damon? Why are you experimenting on him?” Thomas responded, trying to buy time to come up with an answer for their question.

“Him?” The guard said to themselves more than him before talking to him once more, “I’m asking the questions here Thomas, and don’t make me ask twice..” she threatened.

Thomas, knowing what the guards here weren’t afraid of doing, didn’t want to play with them, “It really doesn’t matter what I say, either I lie to you or you don’t believe the truth.”.

“Try me.”

“Ok..”. Thomas thought about it for as much time as he could and he couldn’t think of any reason not to tell them the truth.

If I tell them the truth, it might have a chance of increasing Damon’s odds of being treated better. I mean, if I can’t fathom how crazy the talking with a Xenomorph thing is, then I can only imagine what an actual scientist would think. They may switch their experiments on him to be more humane by default compared to what they were doing. If I play this right, then I could preserve my life and Damon’s.. possibly.

“Well, how much do you think you know about Damon er- the Xenomorph?” Thomas asked, being sure to let on that he knew more than they did, which was actually true by his knowledge considering what Tucker had told him before. The thought made him ponder on where Tucker was right now, did he even know what had happened.

“Damon? Look, just tell us what you know, and why X-1 didn’t attack you.”

Thomas actually laughed at what it would sound like from the guard’s perspective, “Damon didn’t attack me,” he smiled, “Because he- is my friend.”.

The look on the guard's face was priceless to Thomas. It was a mix of confusion and mostly doubt which perplexed the woman’s face as well as the guard behind her. She held up her finger to her ear before saying anything and stood up from the metal chair. Thomas commented on her leave, “I told you you wouldn’t believe me,” he said before they left through the door, smiling at a seemingly successful interrogation.

Thomas’s small pride in how that went was crushed once he thought about Damon. He only hoped things went ok for him, and it scared Thomas to think further on it. All he really had the option to do was wait, so he did just that.

_______________________________________________________

11:34 AM - Tucker

Tucker had been involved in the capture of Thomas since last night when it occurred. He had little to no sleep last night trying to come up with any way to help Thomas out. Both of them were planned to leave today around 8 PM on that ship. Tucker checked his watch, ‘11:34 AM’, he had to make something of a plan soon. Currently he was watching as Thomas was interrogated by some guards he never met before. The one-way glass had given him and the other people in the room access to both see and listen in on the conversation held inside. The room was dark where he was, and the few people who were in there were masked by it. All the furniture was against the wall out of the way. He had done his best to stay in the loop regarding Thomas so he could get every possible opportunity for anything. He had been focused on Thomas and didn’t think to look for what happened to Damon. His concern was mostly for Thomas anyway as he was his friend, one who he valued. The people who surrounded him, all watching the interrogation, included Travis, the young man who was to take his job, and a couple other scientists he couldn’t recognize. His mind was wandering down possible future paths until he was dragged back to reality from Travis speaking in front of him.

Travis spoke into a mic, “Erie, pause questioning, leave the room, we’ll continue this after a moment.”.

In response to him, the woman questioning Thomas got up and left the room but not before Thomas got a comment in, “I told you you wouldn’t believe me.”. Tucker silently smiled at the comment and observed as Travis talked with his co-researchers.

After a moment, one of the other scientists began, “Um.. did he say.. ‘Him’? Why would he- Xenomorphs don’t have genders.”.

Travis had a confused yet annoyed tone, “Yes.. yes he did. No, Xenomorphs don’t have sex organs, which means.. You’re telling me.. Victoria happened to fail to mention the Xenomorph I’m researching has a f*cking Gender! I would think that kind of information would be useful, especially considering the reproduction regarding Xenomorphs is Literally The Most Desired Research For Weyland Yutani! A mega corporation who doesn’t know the difference between 100 and 100,000 dollars? This is outrageous..”

“Travis,” another one said, “Maybe- he’s lying?”.

Travis huffed at this, “Something tells me he’s not.. How would he even know we didn’t know? Even if he did somehow, what would using the alien’s correct pronouns, which is a natural thing we do by default, do for him? How would it help him to drop that information if it were false?” he explained.

The other researcher sunk away saying, “You- have a point.”.

Travis turned around, now facing Tucker but not talking to him directly, “Why are we wasting time studying how to put these things to sleep when we could make so much more money AND progress researching its reproduction? Huh?”. No one answered, probably in fear of being verbally slapped down. Travis continued at this realization, “Get me a meeting with Victoria.. Now.”.

One of the other scientists took the opportunity to leave and do as asked before Travis spoke once again, “Ok, now he said Damon? Who the f*ck is- don’t tell me,” he said as he looked back through the one-way glass at Thomas, “That thing has a name..”.

One scientist responded, “Well, he says he’s friends with it. I don’t know about that, but we know for a fact X-1 refused to attack him and he seemed willing to enter the Xenomorph’s chamber..”

Travis visibly retreated into his mind for a moment, leaning against the wall. He soon spoke softly, as if stumbling upon an epiphany, “10 million dollars..”.

“10 million dollars?”, the other researcher asked, interest peaked as expected.

“16 years ago, this scientist named Harven discovered the temperature at which Xenomorph eggs could survive. A relatively simple task, however dangerous and hard to perform due to lack of said eggs just lying around. The guy was awarded 10- million- dollars, straight from Wayland Yutani into his pocket. That discovery is so minute compared to the finding of a Xenomorph with sex organs! Xenomorphs with the possibility to breed without human sacrifice. This would be worth much, much more than 10 million..” Travis explained.

Everyone was in disbelief at the connection, even Tucker who saw the extreme monetary value, also saw the consequences.

What would Wayland Yutani do with an army of Xenomorphs able to breed with relative ease? What? They’d sell them to the highest bidder and sit back as civilizations are destroyed from it. And what of Damon? Thomas says he has emotions just like us and I trust his not lying… How would Damon like to be sold away to be most likely forced to breed against his will- Holy f*ck that’s dark! Oh my god.. I have to figure something out before that can happen..

The scientist that Travis sent away had come back to interrupt Tucker’s thoughts. He came in saying, “Victoria agrees to a meeting at 5 PM today.”.

“Ok. Before I go, I must confirm my assumptions.” Travis said, looking into the chamber holding Thomas. A stone cold expression stretched across his face as he left the room.

_______________________________________________________

11:45 AM - Thomas

The deafening silence accompanied Thomas for what seemed longer than it was. The consistent low buzz of the light above reaching into his mind attempting to drive out sanity. He was essentially forced to think, so he chose to think about what he could say to the next person to walk through that door. Going through the many possible questions they’d ask him, and thinking of the best answers. This, he hoped, would help him in the moment of being asked. A loud metal chink sounded out from the door, shocking Thomas from his thoughts. The door opened and in came a guard who stayed near the door as well as a scientist looking figure based on their apparel. The scientist sat down, his straight face providing Thomas with little to no information.

“Oh, let me guess.. Travis? If not, then when will I get to meet the person leading the inhumane experimentation on Damon?” Thomas said with a calm face hoping to put up a confident front.

The scientist co*cked his head in amusem*nt, “Now that is interesting.. According to my knowledge, you and most people up here, don’t know of me or my essential studies. However, to make sure you and I are on the same page, I am Travis Kennith, lead researcher on this station’s important studies. I am what brings money to this show, and you have threatened that income greatly with your recent actions. But, you are in luck, as I am a man who sees opportunity when it comes, and you are one indeed. If you want any sort of favorable outcome for yourself, then tell me, did X-1 communicate with you?” Travis explained in a calm demeanor.

“X-1? Really?,” Thomas sighed, “Yes, Damon did communicate with me.” Thomas said in a slight annoyance.

“Wow, you really must care,” he responded showing zero true care, “And just how did you communicate with an alien species who doesn’t have the required vocals to do so?”

“Well, that is.. Complicated..” Thomas said in truth as well as in an effort to not give him everything just yet. If he kept a few cards up his sleeve then that could give him some amount of leverage.

Travis is a scientist.. The lead scientist.. Who really, obviously likes money. He’s gonna want to find out everything he can from me, I can use that.

“Don’t waste my time Thomas, tell me what you know.” Travis said, letting a hint of impatience slip through his straight face.

Thomas quickly thought of what he wanted in a moment, what he could get from Travis, what he desired which could realistically be achieved, “I won’t answer anymore questions till- you- tell me Damon is fine.”. Both of them were a little surprised by this demand, the answer had just instinctively come out. Thomas held his confident expression however, quickly accepting the demand he made.

Travis’s eyes narrowed slightly, “hm, what if I said, I don’t know, I may have it or him locked up somewhere where all I have to do is make one call and he dies..” Travis threatened.

Thomas didn’t want to risk pushing him further, “Ok, ok, as long as you tell me he’s fine.”

Travis sighed, “Ok, fine, I’ll tell you how your- Xenomorph is if you tell me how he spoke to you.”

“Well, I don’t know how it works exactly and neither does he really, but he doesn’t speak. Instead, somehow, he uh- communicates- in my head..” Thomas tried to explain.

Travis, for the first time in this interview, looked intrigued, “Like.. telepathy?”.

“You could say that, yeah.” Thomas answered.

Travis stood up and took a deep breath. Without saying a word, he began to leave the room but couldn’t get out the door before Thomas commented.

“I told you what you wanted, is Damon alright?”

Travis looked back after a second of standing still, “I pity you,” He now faced back to Thomas while in the doorway, “A touching, yet stupid story of the engineer at some backwashed station far from any real civilization, founding the most important friendship known to science. Too bad this discovery of yours couldn’t be put to good use, I’m sure it would’ve brought great research and greater monetary gain. I’ll let you know, if it was up to me, I would’ve let those guys die to subdue X-1, the sheer value in such a specimen.”

Thomas felt the world begin to fall around him as he asked, “What happened?” he said in fear and anger.

“X-1 lashed out unexpectedly, and the goons of this station don’t understand scientific value. Don’t worry though, I’ll find you another alien at a great expense I expect. Your story is just beginning.” Travis said, walking out of the room before Thomas could answer.

The closing of the door sounded out around Thomas, plunging him into his thoughts as they devolved. His brain hurt about as much as his heart and he couldn’t think past the loud, rapid thoughts flying through his head. He hyperventilated involuntarily and could resist clenching his fists and mouth together. Anger, regret, and sorrow manifested until it was all he could feel. Consistent waves of negative thought suppressed his strength. He knew people were watching him, so he tried to avoid showing his immense emotion. His efforts were futile against the sudden desire to break down and allow tears to build. Quietly mourning, he fell away from the world, letting the news affect him in such a larger strength than expected. Had he lost it all, right at the end?

_______________________________________________________

4:55 PM - Tucker

Tucker had tirelessly tried to stay in the loop with Travis, which had him working with such a person. It was necessary but felt so wrong at the same time. Travis had a sudden change in attitude after speaking with Thomas, and had spent the last few hours going around the station, collecting people he knew. He was asking almost half the station’s scientists to meet him in Victoria’s office at this time. Tucker didn’t understand why, but wasn’t complaining for the ease at which he was able to stay close thanks to this change. Now he stood near Travis along with a decent amount of people gathered in the last few hours. They had just entered Victoria’s office, still decorated in elaborate design all leading to where she sat front and center. She was flanked by a few guards herself, all carrying guns. She had a look of annoyance and impatience about her before speaking.

“Ok, now that you’ve gathered half the station's researchers, what is this for Travis?”

“I am tired of your incompetence in running the research conducted here. You have cost us a fortune in withholding valuable information on X-1. You know as well as I do that Xeno reproduction is at the top of Wayland Yutani’s research desires, so why would you fail countless times to inform me about its sex?” Travis explained, frustrated.

Victoria sighed, “I didn’t, because that’s not what we are studying here. We have been tasked with finding innovative ways to subdue Xenomorphs, not breed them.”

“I don’t care what our specific goal is here, I don’t care about what you think. I care about my research on Xenomorphs and the money which comes from it. I think I speak for a lot of people on this issue.” Travis said expressing his discontent with hand motions toward the gathering of scientists.

This flipped something inside Victoria and she stood up, slamming the ornate desk, “You work for me Travis! I gave you a chance to fix the sh*t hole of a life you had before. Without me, you’d be dead by now! I have my orders, Xenomorphs are a threat to humanity and must be wiped out!” She shouted.

Most of the others in the room behind Travis sunk away in the outburst. None of them had seen Victoria this angry or emotional including Tucker. Travis didn’t falter however, “What are your orders? Huh? You know Wayland would take any opportunity to use the Xenomorphs to their advantage. Where are your loyalties Victoria?” he said, almost shockingly calm.

Victoria visibly didn’t approve of this, “Get out or leave this station.” She said suppressing her own rage.

The tension was higher than ever in the room, everyone was on edge from the argument. Victoria had a look of fury on her face as she waited for Travis’s response. The guards behind her had their fingers on the triggers, ready to draw weapons. Tucker had a pistol on his holster, but he was one of the only people on this side of the room with such equipment. If things were to lead to those guards opening fire, they had no way to protect themselves, both Tucker and Travis knew this. The moment of silence felt forever until Travis finally answered.

“Ok. Orders are orders.” he said in reluctance.

He began to quit the room before Victoria could respond and so too did his followers. Victoria fell back into her seat with a sigh and a stare as he left. Tucker followed behind and saw as the guards behind her relaxed. He quickly thought of where to go and what to do, there was only under 3 hours til the ship left for the inner planets. It was a slightly selfish thought, but he also determined it would look good for him to inform the military about illegal activity when he’s trying to join. The thought made him wish even more to fix what had happened regarding Thomas, and worst case, he would find a way to break Thomas out on his way to the ship. Then it hit him, did Travis imply Damon was dead. The constant stress of riding under Travis’s wing with ulterior motives had caused him to overlook his comment toward Thomas before leaving that interview.

f*ck.. Tha- How.. No. Why would he have killed Damon? That makes no sense.. It's.. no..

He thought in disbelief. To confirm his doubt, he quickly made his way to his security office and a few minutes later he was there. The door opened to his keycard and he entered, moving straight to the cameras. Flicking them on, he scanned through to find Damon’s cell. His fear growing at what he’d find.

They didn’t kill him, they didn’t kill him, god there's no way. Oh my- How Thomas must feel right now.. Damon.. Please..

He flicked through the list of cameras as fast as possible until he finally found Damon’s cell. He backed away from the monitor, and couldn’t keep his mouth closed at what he saw. His heart skipped a beat at the sight. He had to get Thomas on that ship, one way or another..

_______________________________________________________

5:36 PM - Damon

Today was too strange. He had woken up to the empty cell and hadn't seen anyone till an hour ago. His tail had an extremely heavy weight on it, and hands were bound together in strong metal bonds. The weight on his tail attached him to the wall behind, but didn’t hurt. Now the small camera made a mechanical movement sound, and Damon perceived it point toward him. He didn’t understand the small box accompanied by a red light. In a minute however, the red light turned off. He didn’t pay much mind to it as now, Travis had just entered the lab on the other side of the window. Damon feared the floor now, as it had caused so much pain and ended so much good. Thomas had, for the first time, been that close, close enough to touch. His contact was so enchanting and had a tremendous effect on him he didn’t understand, making the whole encounter one of, if not the, best day he’d ever had. He worried for where they had taken Thomas, not even considering the idea of his death. Pain radiated through his body but he was getting more used to it with time and finding thoughts to distract him. Travis walked in with a haste, the communication line wasn’t up yet so he couldn’t hear anything. After saying a couple things to some of the other researchers, he took a seat staring at the Xenomorph. This occurred for a few minutes until Travis stood and walked over to the panel pressing the communication button. Damon, still sitting down, looked over at him.

He sighed, “Ok, you know what, you know Thomas right? The guy who you decided not to kill last night. He’s alive, but I can kill him with one radio call, all it takes is one second. That means, if you understand, don’t play anymore bullsh*t with me. I’m out of time, patience, and have to stall for at least five or so days.”

Thomas? You better not have done anything to him, when I get outta here oh..

Travis looked down, “Well.. Just to prove my threat has foundation, he calls you Damon right? Do you even understand me? What a-”.

The Xenomorph interrupted him by nodding up and down enough to draw his attention. Travis dropped his negative expression, “Oh my-” he stood up calling over to his co-researchers, “Get over here!”.

Damon didn’t like playing into their ‘research’ but did he have a choice? He dropped his shoulders in acceptance. Once the others were next to him, “If you want Thomas to live, raise your right hand.” he said slowly which annoyed Damon who complied nonetheless against his wishes. The researchers gasped at the sight and action of Damon who obviously wasn't enjoying this.

“This! This is what will make us rich! Actually helping Wayland Yutani in its mission to better our society by studying an intelligent Xenomorph not how to subdue one. And this specific one, is male.” He said excitedly whilst watching the others reaction.

The other researchers began conversing among themselves, and Travis turned away toward them, “Go, begin making studies for this but do not tell Vic alright and someone get me a call with Wayland Yutani, I have an idea.”. He turned around with a smile and cut off the communications.

Damon was a little confused by this conversation, but it did tell him Thomas was alive. That is if Travis could be trusted, but he didn’t fully understand who Victoria was, or what stall was. Who was Wayland Yutani and why did he want to call them? If only he could ask Thomas, but who knows when he’d see him again. All he could do is hold onto hope, and endure whatever is thrown at him until then. The more time he spent with and away from Thomas, the more he looked up to him and idolized him. It was an interesting feeling which he had never felt before and didn’t quite understand. Now that Travis had left the panel to ‘build studies’, he was left alone once more to wait for what was to come.

Chapter 9: A Chance

Chapter Text

7:30 PM - Thomas

The white room lit up by the one insufferable light had been all Thomas saw for the past few hours. He was left, looking away from where he believed the one way window was, to sob in silence. He was overcome by Damon’s supposed death and the great effect it had on him. He had mentally put all his eggs in one basket with Damon in the sense that Thomas saw his relationship with Damon as proof he wasn’t a bad person. For the first time in a long time he felt he was doing something purely right and that falling apart after so much effort was devastating. His plan of befriending a Xenomorph and working to set him free was crazy sounding.

What’d I expect.. How could I ever believe I had any chance to.. Oh what have I done.. I-

Thomas thought as memories of Damon and their arguably brief time together continued to plague his mind with regret. Tears held their position in his eyes until they gave way and paved a light stream down his cheek in the quiet. This lasted for a seemingly infinite amount of time before the silence was broken by the door to his holding chamber opening. Thomas didn’t even bother to look up or react for that matter, his body and mind were weak with grief he continued to attempt to hide. He wasn’t brought out of this state until a familiar voice spoke to him closely, Tucker. He knelt down in front of Thomas and spoke softly. Right away Thomas could tell he was exhausted and sympathetic just based on his expression.

“Well.. This is f*cked.” Tucker said plainly, now kneeled in front of him.

Thomas took a minute to gather himself, “Yeah, you can say that again.” Thomas’s voice cracked from disuse and sorrow still trying to hide the pain.

“You must really care for that er- Damon to get this upset. There was still some amount of doubt in my mind as I’d never seen him in person but this proves you aren’t lying.” Tucker admitted.

“Yeah, how are things out there, what’s gonna happen to me?” Thomas asked, wanting to change the subject.

“Ok so, I have good and bad news. I can’t talk for too long cuz I don’t know how long that other guard is gonna think Travis requested him when he goes down to Travis and is told he’s an idiot.” Tucker informed. Thomas looked at him with confusion so Tucker pulled out a small tool and began investigating the cuffs holding Thomas as he continued, “Ok, so now that you're up to speed, we gotta high tail it outta here because I may have told the guard watching you that Travis wanted him aaand how long is the walk from here to sub-level one- or two is it?”

“Alright,” Thomas said, being lifted out of his sad trance at his friend’s attempt to break him out, “Ok, let's hear it then.”.

“Ok so good news first because it's, um-” Tucker paused expecting a reaction from Thomas, “Damon is alive.”.

Thomas’s sadness disappeared at the words, as if the whole world had just changed in the snap of a finger. His emotions, so strong, drifted away within a moment, swept off to be replaced with instant doubt and soon relieved happiness. Thomas had spent those last few hours slowly breaking his faith that Travis had lied about Damon’s death. His mind twisted around his interpretations of Tucker's words like a kaleidoscope of thoughts and feelings crashed around in his head all within a few dizzying seconds. After these seconds of processing the information, he looked up at his friend and with a serious tone he asked the only thing he could, “He’s.. alive?”. Tucker simply nodded at this question and witnessed Thomas let out a heavy sigh of relief as if a weight five times his own had just been lifted off, “Oh thank god.. I- f*ck I thought, he.. Oh my..” he said between heavy breaths of happiness.

Tucker smiled at Thomas’s content and began applying pressure on the cuffs using the small tool, “Yeah, Travis was testing to see if you were telling the truth about Damon in that you seemingly care for him. After telling you Damon died, your reaction told him either you were way too good of an actor or you truly did care and did tell the truth which intrigued him. The f*cker is obsessed with his ‘research’, like willing to do anything to secure or foster it. I mean, he went against Victoria for altering it from what he wanted.” Tucker explained.

“That-” Thomas held back his anger from spilling out, “Is really sh*tty.. He went against Vic?”

“Yeah, Travis led this uh- strike almost against Victoria for driving his research down less monetarily rewarding paths I believe he described it as. It ended in somewhat peace but I have a feeling it's not over knowing him cuz he seems like he ain’t gonna just conform to what she thinks, he thinks way too much of himself for that.”

“Huh, lines up with what I saw of him, wasn’t expecting that… You said you had bad news?” Thomas asked.

“Yeah.. That ship we were going to leave on to bring in the government departs in,” he checked his wrist decorated by a plain watch, “about 20 minutes and, we have to go now.” He said applying more pressure using his own weight.

Thomas looked down, “f*ck.. It's fine,” he looked back at Tucker’s efforts, “Ok, ok, that storage device with all the evidence you helped me get is under my desk in my room, I’ll get it before we leave. Hopefully it’ll be enough and, if something happens, I need you to promise, promise me Tucker, that you’ll come back. One of us has to get on that ship, you get there, I’ll get the drive and if time comes down to it, leave.” Thomas said seriously.

Tucker simply nodded saying, “Understood.”, and he focused all his attention on the pressure he was applying to the cuffs. Soon the metal bondage holding Thomas’s hands together finally unlocked under the pressure, freeing him. They both stood and moved to the door.

“Stick to the plan, ok.” Thomas said.

“Alright, see you in a minute.” Tucker responded.

With that, they both left from the door in haste trying not to run and draw any attention yet moving as fast as they could. Thomas moved down the halls quickly, careful not to cause any alarm as he approached his room. Eventually he arrived and slipped inside not hesitating to reach under his desk for the drive. He felt the small plastic tech balanced on the frame of the furniture and pulled it out. He took a second to observe his room he’d lived in for years now and was surprised. In this situation he thought it might be smart to bring his things but upon looking around he had no things. No personal items to individualize him, he had boring and basic decor that could be found in anyone’s room. Checking the time before he left, there was only 10 minutes till launch, he had to hurry. Exiting his room with the drive, he took maybe two steps down the hall before coming face to face with a guard. The frozen moment of Thomas’s worry and the other guard’s confusion could be seen as comical if not for the weight of the situation. He was close to the stairs, just a little more down the hall. The guard spoke out, trying to break their confusion.

“Uh- Thomas? Aren’t you..” He asked.

Of course he recognizes me..

Thomas thought as he came up with an answer, “Um- yeah, I was, but- Tr- Victoria released me.”.

The guard wasn’t fully convinced, “How bout I ask real quick huh, just to check.”.

“Just to check?”

“Yeah, just to check.”

“Go for it.” Thomas said slightly shimmying to the side of the guard to make himself an exit if needed.

The guard pulled up his radio and talked into it, “Hey, can you check the status of Thomas?”. He looked at Thomas now to the side of him who responded with a half smile before the radio answered.

The crackly voice came through, “Yeah, the one in custody?”.

At this moment Thomas’s fight or flight response kicked in and since the guard had a gun, his brain forced him into a dead sprint. First shoving the guard with all his weight into the wall, he took long, rapid steps toward the stairs at the end of the hall. He felt no exhaustion in this moment, pure adrenaline drove him down the hall faster than he thought he could achieve. He’d never done anything this dangerous before a couple weeks ago, and now he was running from an armed guard. Before he knew it, he burst through the door into the stairwell, and not wanting to lose momentum, he began down the stairs. Taking as many steps as he could at a time, eventually he reached the ground floor, each thud of his shoes echoing in the narrower space. Opening the door into the hall, he wasted no time to begin his run for the ship port. The halls weren’t super busy luckily meaning not many people could intervene. He did hear boots behind him in pursuit along with angry sounding voices, but he was close to the ship dock now. Catching the time on a clock in the hall, he determined he had just minutes before the ship left. The large electronic door that spanned across the entire hall led into the dock and by extension, to the ship. Thomas had to wait a brief moment at the door for it to open for him, just in time for the guards following behind to see him. Running through the now open door, instead of straight to the ship, he went to the side. There sat a small red button connected to the door accompanied by the warning:

Emergency Override

He didn’t wait another second before sending the heavy door shut, blocking the guards thanks to the emergency override he helped install so long ago. With the door shut, he bolted for the ship which hummed in an increasing volume filling the large space. He ran over the grated path suspended above lower levels of the dock which devolved into darkness due to the lack of flood lights the upper levels had. This path he was on was crowded with crates along with machinery used to move these crates and aid in the docking of ships. Embedded in the concrete roof was a large metal door the ships would enter and leave through. Thomas had helped design the large airlock for ships to keep the dock from changing in pressure. The door to the ship opened to allow Thomas on once he got there, Tucker waited for him right inside as he got in.

Thomas frantically spoke, “Get us out of here!” as he flew into the vehicle.

Tucker left him to inform the pilot that everyone was aboard and to take off. While he did this, Thomas sat down on the floor next to the open door, his exhaustion catching up with him. Once he gathered his strength, he stood to close the door with a smile of accomplishment. He had beat the system and soon would set his Xeno friend free if the government listened to him. It was a sense of pride while he looked into the future which filled him up. Maybe it was this, or the roaring engines that blinded him to the fact that a guard was diving toward him. Only having a moment to widen his eyes, Thomas was tackled to the hard metal floor of the ship. The hit rendered him dazed, yet stable enough to see through a haze. He saw as Tucker returned to throw the guard off him and pin the guy against the wall of the ship. Light from the open door spilled into the scene as the two figures struggled. Tucker was no match for the well trained guard however and soon would be tossed down. By now, Thomas was on his knee, mostly recovered. The whole room shook violently as the ship's thrusters ignited, slowly raising the vehicle into the air. The guard had been thrown off balance by this, and Thomas saw an opportunity. If he let this guard stay on the ship, he’d ground it and any hope of governmental intervention would be lost, any great hope of saving Damon would be gone. That couldn’t happen. In a swirl of emotion and determination, Thomas got his second wind and thrusted himself forward toward the guard. He slammed into the guard’s side as hard as he could, pushing himself with a never before felt anger. They both flew at the open door so quickly, Thomas barely managed to grab onto the step for the door as he and the guard flew out the door. He now was out of the ship with a death grip on the small bar used as a step, dangling 10 feet and increasing from the floor below. The sound of the thrusters pierced the air out here, but that was the least of Thomas’s worries. He felt as the guard weighed him down by grabbing onto his ankle. One second was split into an everlasting moment of time as Thomas fought to pull himself up and kick the guard holding on off. Looking back into the ship, at Tucker who was stumbling toward him with a hand out, Thomas yelled as loud as possible reaching into his pocket with his free hand.

“Get outta here! Come back and bring this place down!” Thomas screamed not even knowing if Tucker could hear him. He pulled out the small drive with all the evidence they collected and tossed it into the ship with all his remaining might. His strength faltered and he couldn’t hold on much longer. Before Tucker could reach him with his helping hand, Thomas felt as the sharp pang of pain flared up in his leg. Instinctually wanting to reach down and treat the wound of the guard stabbing him in the leg combined with his waning energy, he had no choice but to let go. The ship left him as he fell from it, Tucker having just made it to the door in time to witness his fall. It may have taken just one more second for Tucker to have helped, but now he watched from the open door as Thomas fell from the ship. Thomas felt fear, pain, but an odd sense of peace filled him as he fell in seemingly slow motion back to the station. He knew Tucker would make it out and get the government, he had faith in his friend. A couple second fall felt like an eternity as Thomas smiled, in such a situation one might call him a mad man. One may think he’s brave while another says he’s foolish. None of it mattered to him however, for he felt an inner peace now devoted to his cause. Regardless of what others would think, he felt satisfied with his devotion. The floor eventually ended this freefall in a painful smack. Landing on top of the guard helped break his fall, and he pushed away from the guy to stand up and get another last look at Tucker as he left. Limping to avoid pressure on his damaged leg, he saw Tucker, with a look of sadness, close the door to the ship as it raised higher into the tall room. Someone grabbed Thomas from behind, forcing his arms together and cuffing them. A familiar voice sounded next to him, and turning over his shoulder, he saw Victoria frustratingly yelling into a radio.

“Get that ship back here! Tell the pilot to land Now! You hear me!”, She said.

It was faint but Thomas could make out the person on the other side, “I- I can’t, their comms won’t respond.”.

“f*ck!” She said as they all watched the ship rose behind closed doors in an airlock style exit to prevent any unwanted atmosphere from getting in. Victoria, obviously fuming with rage, drew a pistol on Thomas yelling, “What have you done?!”.

Right as she did so, another hand pulled her arm away in force. It was Travis, “Victoria! I need him for testing, stand down!”.

“You don’t have the authority Travis,”, she shoved back at him and looked away, “just f*cking take him, now.”, She said bitterly.

Travis didn’t bother with any remarks, he just guided the guards holding Thomas away for sub-level 2. Thomas complied easily not wanting to push his luck after having a gun drawn on him. He was so engrossed in what he had just done that what Travis said to him hadn’t registered until now.

Wait.. Testing?

_______________________________________________________

7:50 PM - Damon

“Talk to me.” Travis said plainly.

Damon had been worried all day about Thomas no thanks to the threats Travis kept making. He felt he had to have shown that he understood them to create a better chance for him and Thomas. Damon understood Travis wished to research him, however in horrid ways, and if he gave Travis something to study, they’d have to keep him alive. Fidgeting with his fingers while seated along the wall of the room, the Xenomorph looked over to the lead scientist. Travis had been staring at him for an uncomfortably long time, seemingly plotting something, but either way it was weird to Damon. Finally Travis had spoken, which despite his voice being one of annoyance, was welcomed by Damon over the intolerable silence he was forced to live in. Sometimes the muffled sounds from the lab would make their way into his brain, but mostly he was left alone in the quiet. Damon had cut off most of his senses to try and contact Thomas if he was out there until Travis had interrupted. It felt he had latched onto something, but unable to build on it, he had to stop the strained effort.

‘Talk to me.’? Part of me wonders if I could, I’m not sure if the same thing that worked for Thomas would work for someone else.. It doesn’t matter does it? If I talk to this- scientist, then in his eyes, would he need Thomas? If he doesn’t need Thomas, then.. I don’t want to think about that.. I can’t talk to him.

Travis sighed at the Xeno ignoring him, “f*ck..” He whispered under his breath before looking behind and motioning to some other scientists, “Go get Thomas, I don’t have much patience right now.”.

That was exactly what Damon wanted to hear. This meant they’d bring Thomas to him, close enough so they could at least talk. The thought excited Damon, once Thomas was in his sights he could worry a little less. The other scientist who Travis ordered was talking into the radio too far away for Damon to hear, but based on the look of his face, it wasn’t a good emotion he had. It really was fascinating how human faces depicted so much emotion exaggerated by the combination of movements it could perform. Damon could show some emotion through his face, but not nearly to the extent people could. Xenomorphs mostly communicate emotion through body language or mostly their telepathy. Talking to and studying Thomas had helped Damon read the emotions of people better. Damon was taken out of his thoughts when the person who Travis told to get Thomas walked up beside him. The stranger spoke lightly to Travis, Damon was barely able to pick it up through the communications to his chamber.

“I can’t get a hold of the Gen.” The person with the radio said.

Travis had a confused reaction to this and before he could say anything, someone walked into the lab. They quickly made their way over to Travis who said, “Ah, well there he is, why aren’t you with Thomas?”.

Gen paused, “Uh, I was coming down here as you requested. Tucker’s watching Thomas right now.”.

“I didn’t-”, Travis began and paused, he now raised his own radio, “Tucker, can you give me the status of Thomas?”, he asked.”

…

“Hello?”

…

Travis put down his radio and looked around, “Something’s not right, go get Thomas now.” he said.

They left the room right away and after some minutes, Travis’s radio came on with one of their voices. Gen was speaking, “Travis, Thomas is not in his cell and we are getting reports of him fleeing. Moving to pursuit currently.”.

Travis’s demeanor switched to frustration as he raised the radio to his mouth, “Where? Is he- f*ck, the supply ship leaves like right now, go there, I’m en route.”, he yelled running out of the lab.

Did Thomas escape? A supply ship? Is he-

Damon remembered what he and Thomas were talking about before they were caught. Thomas was mentioning that would be the last time they’d get to talk for a bit as he was leaving to go get help. Damon took this in, but at the time, was admittedly distracted by Thomas being in his cell and their contact with each other. He didn’t even fully comprehend what Thomas had said, and now that he did, he was extremely saddened. Thomas had brought him hope and kept him going as someone cared for him. However, he hated being trapped in this cell and tested on day after day. It was a difficult conundrum Damon didn’t like trying to figure out. He sat back down to go through the thought again.

Why do I care if he leaves? Shouldn’t I be hoping he leaves so he can get help to free me? Why does a part of me wish he’d stay considering the consequences? This is stupid..

Damon thought in frustration at his emotions both happy and angry given the idea of Thomas leaving. In a way, only time would help him, or perhaps his human friend could. About 15 minutes later, Damon’s thoughts were intercepted by the familiar feeling of his and Thomas’s shared connection. He looked up, scanning the rather boring lab on the other side of the glass with his great domed head. He stood making his way over to the glass anticipating Thomas’s arrival. After a moment, the door opened and in came Travis along with 3 armed guards escorting Thomas behind. Now, both him and Thomas saw each other for the first time since they were caught. Until a little over 30 minutes ago, Thomas was under the impression Damon was dead. Damon, seeing Thomas, couldn’t help but let a crude smile form from his thin lips and he could feel, despite the situation, a sense of warming happiness taking hold of his soul at the sight. Thomas had to fight to not run up to Damon and show his relief, asking him if he was ok. He wanted to keep his composure, except for a slight smile in response to Damon’s, as he had no idea what was in store for them just yet. These smiles of relief however, were short lived as they both now considered the whole situation.

Damon’s voice entered Thomas’s mind in a pleasantly comfortable feeling, “Are you ok?” he said, not doing well at concealing his vibrant emotion.

Thomas opened his mouth to respond before noticing all the people around. He didn’t want to go talking with Damon in front of everyone because he wasn’t yet sure how they’d play this. He hadn’t ever tried communicating with Damon mentally as up till now, he never really needed to. So in an effort to try this idea out, he thought as loud as he could trying to take up his whole brain with the response he wanted to say. It was a weird thing to attempt and it felt a little silly when he told himself to just think really loud.

Can you hear me?

He waited a second after and his hopes lifted when he heard Damon’s voice once again.

“They didn’t hurt you did they? Can you hear me? What happened? They caught us and you were gone and Travis was asking some rather odd questions and now he knows I understand him and I was- … erm, worried.” Damon said, his patience failing to wait for Thomas’s response or to slow down his speech.

Damon! I- Ho, this isn’t working..

Thomas was sat down in a chair near the window looking into Damon’s chamber. The Xenomorph was looking at him from the other side nervously. He had no restraints on, but none were necessary as the couple guards near the exit with guns kept him there. It’s not like he had anywhere to run anyway even if he wanted to. Travis approached now that the escorting guards had left, having completed their duties.

“Ok, so..” Travis started with a clap, “Here’s the deal. You and your- friend in there will live and better yet be fine as long as you do what I say. Just to make things real clear, this is not a team, this is an experiment of which I am conducting on your intriguing relationship with a Xenomorph. I don’t want any unnecessary trouble from you or the alien that’ll mess with my experiments. You will do as I say, and in return, get to live.. unscathed. I’d say I’m being generous.” He said in a slightly condescending tone.

Thomas saw no other options currently at his possession so he gave a simple, “Alright.”.

“Good, now it’s late so don’t expect anything today, but tomorrow is gonna be marvelous!” Travis exclaimed oddly.

It was interesting how quickly his attitude could change like just now. When he was giving Thomas his ‘deal’ just now, he had a serious and frustrated tone which led to his condescending sound. However, when Thomas agreed, that entire side of him vanished instantly revealing an almost giddy excited researcher. He gave off vibes similar to that of a child on the eve of some huge event such as Christmas who could barely fall asleep. This showed Thomas that while Travis can be a dick, he also values his research above everything, meaning so long as Thomas and Damon were critical for that, they’d be safe in his hands. Travis had left Thomas to go sit at the most prominent desk near the glass and work. His desk wasn’t anything special or even close to Victoria’s, but it was obviously better than the rest of them down here. Thomas rolled his chair a little to be right next to the communication into Damon’s cell. He made sure the line was open and leaned his head against the glass in exhaustion. His adrenaline was all spent as well as his emotion today. His leg hurt like hell but at least it was now bandaged and treated, sitting really felt good at this moment. With no one right next to him now, he resorted to a whisper to talk to Damon, looking through the glass he was seated adjacent to.

“Can you hear me Damon?”

Damon walked over and sat down right next to Thomas, only the thick ballistic glass separating them, “Yeah,” Damon said in relief, “It’s nice to hear your voice again, even if at a whisper.”.

Thomas couldn’t help but smile at his comment, he looked at Damon now seated right next to him, “Glad you're ok, they uh- They told me you were dead for a little while and I-..” he faded.

“Really?” Damon said in verbal disgust knowing that Travis knew he was never under any risk.

“Yeah, probably did it for some research or some sh*t I don’t care. God I’m glad you’re ok..”

“God?” Damon asked.

Thomas had the biggest smile lift him out of his distressed mood thanks to Damon asking questions like he always did. Thomas missed that, “It’s nice to know you haven’t changed. I’ll explain that later, how are you?”

“I’m doing good now, a little concerned for what’s to come.”

“What’s to come.. Yeah..”, Thomas said looking over to the busy Travis, “Did you hear what Travis said to me?”

“Yes, the experimenting thing.”

“From what I know, Travis is a dedicated scientist who cares about 2 things in life. Money and discovery. Right now, me and you are his source for both so I actually trust he won’t severely harm or kill either of us, that’d be dumb right.” Thomas explained.

“Ok, that’s comforting kind of.. Are we just gonna do whatever he says? What if he wants us to do something bad I mean-?” Damon nervously said.

“I know, I know.. But what choice do we have?” Thomas pointed out, “Tucker did make it out, with the evidence, meaning we just need to wait a little longer before help arrives.”

“Oh wow, that’s great news! What do we do now?”

“Just wait and play along with Travis I guess..”

Damon sighed in his unique fashion which was a mixed hiss and heavy breath, “At least we have each other.” He happily said.

Thomas looked into Damon’s innocent frame with a smile, “At least we have each other.”

Chapter 10: Realization

Chapter Text

10:00 PM - Thomas

Travis, as much as he wanted to begin testing, decided to wait for the next day to do so to assure they have exactly what tests they want to do and what they are looking for from these tests. Plus there was a need to set up some rather complex equipment Thomas didn’t understand based on the looks of it. Thomas nor Damon had any objection to this, at this moment, they were just glad to be together once again and wanted to enjoy each other's company even if separated by probably bullet proof glass. Once the night came round, all the other scientists began to leave and Travis came over to get Thomas. Up until now, Thomas had been whispering with Damon for a little over an hour, mostly just reassurances and analyzing their situation. Thomas had been hoping for the whole night to talk with Damon but Travis had planned to take him to a secure room for when he wasn’t testing. He showed objection to this but ultimately didn’t have the energy to argue tonight. He determined to think on it tonight and come up with a solid reason for him to stay with Damon at all times instead of just for testing. He could present this reasoning later but after promises of return, Thomas reluctantly left for the night. The small room he was given wasn’t anything special but all that mattered was the bed right now for Thomas. Plumping down on the stiffer mattress, his eyes began to drift shut.

…

The bar was dimly lit, loud music drowning out any sound further than 10 feet away. Thomas was alone yet surrounded by people in the crowded space. He gazed at his watch and recorded the time, 10:47 PM. He knew he had to get home early as tomorrow he had an interview for a decent paying job. Flashes of his old boss firing him a week ago had raced through his mind at the thought. Raising his hand to get the attention of the bartender, he asked to check out. A couple minutes later he was stumbling out the door, the blazing bright lights overhead kept him awake. Barely making it down the hall, he fumbled with his door trying to get it open. The door eventually gave way and he moved inside, throwing it closed behind him. An unknown amount of time later and he was on the couch laying down yet feeling like he was spinning. In and out of consciousness, he heard the sound of a male voice just before he fell into his slumber.

He had to focus hard to understand the words, “I need to go grab s- -back in- -Ugh, forget it.” and with that, he fell asleep.

The drowsy moment was cut off by the sounds of heavy knocking at a door and even a door bell sounding out. He jolted up in one second and the next he was being escorted down the halls of the medbay. He felt queasy from last night's drinks and something else he couldn’t quite pinpoint, his interview wasn't on his mind at all. All he could make out was worry and within another moment he was sitting down talking to some guy in a suit- no a white coat. The guy's calm voice was drowned out by sobbing and it was really hard to hear any of his words. Loud noises incomprehensible to him flew by his ears causing a deafening confusion to rattle his brain. The guy’s voice grew above the rest of the noises suddenly, speaking loudly enough to overcome the swirl of noises from various sources.

“Wake up… Wake up… Thomas! Wake up!” the guy’s voice yelled, growing louder with each word.

All of a sudden, Thomas’s eyes shot open and he rapidly sat up in his small bed. Covered in a light cold sweat, he rested his head in his hands as he sighed and tried to calm his breathing. He knew instantly that he had just been in a dream, a nightmare for that matter. Taking him out of his recovery was the voice of a familiar guard, ironically the one who stopped him from leaving and stabbed him in the leg.

“Hey! You need to get up cuz Travis wants you in the lab soon, get to it.” he said in a stern voice as he shut the door to the small room Thomas had slept in.

Off to a great start..

Thomas thought as he got out of bed and prepared to perform in whatever tests were planned today. A few minutes later he was back in the lab where Damon was now up moving around his small cell. The lab was already packed with scientists, more so than he’d ever seen in the medium sized room. As Thomas entered, he began to walk over to the glass showing off the Xenomorph he saw only as a friend by now. Damon noticed him right away beginning to move up to the glass speaking to Thomas.

“Hey! Good morning.” Damon said with a hint of cheer.

Thomas moved up to the communication panel undisturbed due to everyone already being busy at whatever work, even Travis barely noticed him enter, “Good morning, you sound awfully jolly today.” Thomas replied.

Travis interrupted for a second saying, “We’ll start in a moment Thomas.”.

Damon soon followed up, “It’s just nice to see a friendly face for once during the experiments.”.

Thomas couldn’t help but smile at this comment for a moment, “Do you know what they have planned?” Thomas asked Damon.

Damon looked to the side, “No.. The last experiment they did was.. Painful.” he said worriedly. Whether Thomas picked up on it or not, Damon was worried as much for Thomas as he was for himself at this idea. This was a new feeling for Damon, one he was trying to get used to.

“Oh,” Thomas expressed, having almost forgotten why he went into Damon’s cell in the first place, “Are you feeling better.. After that?”

“Yeah, I would like to believe whatever you did helped.”

“It should’ve, but then again, there’s no telling as your body is er- slightly different than mine.” Thomas said, scanning the Xenomorph from dome to toe.

“You don’t say.” Damon said in a sarcastic manner, placing his hands on his hips. He looked so human-like to Thomas doing poses like this despite these obvious differences.

Thomas chuckled a little not noticing Travis watching him closely and now spoke up from behind him, “Alright Thomas, you say you can communicate with X-1 via some form or what you perceive to be telepathy right?” he asked, walking up beside him.

“Well, yes, that’s what it seems like. I just kinda hear his voice in my head, and can you just call him Damon, I mean he did choose it.” Thomas said with a slight sternness. Thomas couldn’t see as he was turned around, but Damon had a slight grin at this comment.

Travis gave a look of annoyance, “Whatever, as long as you cooperate, now take a seat next to the panel.”.

Thomas did as asked and sat down while Travis called over someone nearby. The female scientist carried a net of various tech components in her hands which honestly was slightly intimidating to Thomas. She was smaller and wore large glasses topped with messy hair. Damon stood right next to the glass, looking down upon the whole scene with great interest.

“Um, what is that?” Damon asked.

“Um, what is that?” Thomas repeated as she approached with the contraption.

She spoke before Travis could in a hyper interested attitude and once she started, Travis watched with impatience, “This is a mobile Magnetoencephalography or MEG testing unit which uses electroencephalography to monitor your brain activity in real time in the hopes of discovering something to show us exactly what your brain experiences when communicating with Damon formally known as X-1.”. After dumping that information, she stood there smiling. From first impressions, she didn’t seem evil to Thomas, or at least not like Travis.

“Uh-” Thomas began before Travis spoke.

“Clara-” he sighed quickly before turning to Thomas, “It monitors your brain alright, so we can see what it looks like when- Damon speaks to you. Which, by the way, are you able to communicate with him in the same fashion?” Travis asked.

“I tried, but haven’t been able to, no.” Thomas stated

“You tried to talk to me without your mouth?” Damon interjected, curious about the idea himself.

“Yeah, last night, but it didn’t work. I’m not sure what I suspected would happen.” Thomas answered Damon.

“Hmm,” Damon pondered for a second before resorting back to a nervous tone, “What is that thing she is carrying? Is it for you?” Damon asked, not able to hear much beyond what was right next to the mic.

“It just monitors my brain, so they can get some information while we talk, it’s fine.. at least it seems that way.” Thomas said now unsure himself.

“Hm.” Travis expressed as the MEG contraption was set around Thomas’s head. It was elastic so it formed to his head comfortably, more so than Thomas expected. He felt weird in the net of wires and different technological components he didn’t understand the importance of. The system had multiple cords and wires running from the device on his head to a nearby computer. This would display information gathered from it as well as use a connected pen which could draw visual representations of the waves being monitored. This was much like the machines which could detect earthquakes called seismographs but instead used for brain waves. Thomas felt concerned, more so than he could explain, the feeling was almost amplified by what felt foreign.

Calm down, why am I- this.. Feels similar to Damon’s voice, am I- is he?

Before Thomas could finish his thought, he was spun around to look at Damon who was right up on the glass standing above him. Damon looked stressed based on his position and slightly fidgeting with his long fingers together. He now kneeled lower so he was eye level with Thomas in the chair, “Does it hurt?” he asked quickly.

Thomas felt around and soon replied, “No, just feels like a really weird hat.”.

“Ok..” Damon said watching closely and curiously now that he knew it wasn’t hurting his friend.

From behind Thomas, Clara announced, “MEG is online now.”.

Thomas didn’t even react to it, he just looked at Damon intently saying, “It’s gonna be fine, just like our normal conversations.”.

“Ok, you said that your friend er- I forget his name, but you said he got out? Out to get help?” Damon asked.

“Yes, he did. Tucker did.”.

“Ok, then in that case, what should I know about the world outside- Here? He’ll help right?” Damon pondered optimistically.

“Ho,” Thomas expressed, taking a second to think, “Yeah, I trust he will but as far as what you should know.. Uh- well that’ll be a long list and honestly, the only way you’ll know truly is to experience it yourself. I’ll be there for you when er- that comes around.”

“Thanks,” Damon said looking up past Thomas, “Can they understand me? I mean with that machine?”

Thomas looked over his shoulder at the complex batch of metal and electrical equipment humming. He also saw Travis, Clara, and a few other scientists gathered around the machine either taking notes or closely observing what the machine was saying. Thomas looked back to Damon, “Naa, they only are seeing my brain waves or whatever, I don’t think they have the technology to turn your voice in my head to words on a screen.” he said.

“Good, because if they need you to tell them what I’m saying then..” Damon stated.

“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking, definitely would uh- help us. Have you tried to- do that with anyone else?” Thomas replied, trying not to give away what exactly they were talking about to the crowd behind him.

“Um.. no. I honestly am afraid to, I’m not sure what having a link like ours with one of them would be like, what it could do to me or my mind.. I mean, when I linked with you, it was kind of out of desperation sadly. You looked different than the others and at the time, I needed something- anything. luckily I was way more right than I realized, boy am I glad I connected with you,” Damon said staring into Thomas, “I don’t know what I’d do without you Thomas.”. This, Damon realized, was the truth and he was almost happy for it.

This hit Thomas like a wave containing a complex mix of good emotions. He had realized he cared quite a lot for Damon by this point with all they had been through but there was always something so warming about Damon being happy with him. No matter how many times it came up, how many times Damon acknowledged his content, it still made Thomas feel a sense of pride and accomplishment. He was happy Damon was happy, especially regarding him.

Thomas smiled wide at this comment which Damon did notice, “Glad to hear it.. You know, it astonishes me that people don’t realize just how smart you are. Like understanding the uh- idea you brought up is pretty advanced thought I’d say! You know, I wonder if you are good at math.” Thomas played.

Damon, who was currently kneeling and leaning against the glass, puffed his chest out and raised his head in an expressed confidence, “Pff, I assure you I can handle math.”.

“Do you really know what math is?” Thomas asked.

Damon lowered his expression of confidence down to a sitting position now slightly below the eye line of Thomas and looked off a little, “Well, not really. I know you use it a lot in research and sciency things like measuring.. Right?”.

“You’re not wrong I guess, I mean, there’s a little more to it but yeah.”

Travis broke their conversation, “Thomas, come here.”.

Thomas stood giving one last look to the Xenomorph sitting down innocently and walked over to the computer all the wires were plugged into. He still had the weird net of tech on his head which he was surprisingly getting used to. Travis was writing something down and motioned to Clara who was seated at the monitor.

“Now this is not what I expected, according to this data.. You should be-” Clara paused to stand up and inspect Thomas for a moment, mostly his face, “You should be showing signs of encephalopathy but eyes, mouth, everything looks fine, function fine, I don’t quite understand. How do you feel?” She stopped for a minute to think as she asked.

“I feel fine, normal,” Thomas then looked over at Travis, “I’d like to know what she’s talking about.”.

Travis, looking up from his clipboard and sighed, “The machine says you should be having a seizure or something of the sort currently but obviously you aren’t.”.

Thomas was taking back, now unexpectedly concerned, “What do you mean seizure?! I feel fine.”.

“Yeah, that’s what we don’t understand, the machine doesn’t seem to be reliable for this particular experiment.” Travis said, giving a look toward Clara. This must have been a discussion while Thomas was talking with Damon.

Clara in a frustrated tone said, “These machines have an incredible track record, they don’t just not work.”.

“Well, they don’t for this. We will be running another telepathy test later today. Hopefully soon, we’ll make a shift in what we research. I have to make a few calls and we’ll have to wait for travel time. Until then, we’ll study X-1’s telepathy.” Travis said, trying to exert his authority and prove he has everything under control. This was a subjective matter however.

Clara stood up abruptly and Thomas took a good few steps back toward Damon’s cell, “We have been testing with X-1 for over 3 years now, making half decent progress on sedation, pain administration, and plenty more regarding Xenomorphs and their weaknesses. Imagine how useful the sh*t we’ve discovered here has been to the UACM in the threat of the aliens. Now, all of a sudden, we are putting all our resources into studying a random engineer who says the Xenomorph can talk, but only to him. I mean, you ever think for a second, he’s lying to save his ass? Yeah, the MEG scans are weird but that could be anything by this point. How are we supposed to just drop everything to work on something which sounds like a fantasy?” Clara stated, staring into Travis while she tried to keep her confidence.

Travis said nothing for a moment of dead silence, not one soul in the room dared to speak at this point. It was obvious now that many of the researchers down here agreed with Clara, even if they didn’t say so at this time. When Thomas expected to hear anything, the buzz of electric lights or the AC, he heard nothing. It was an odd moment filled with tension so high it was hard to breath through it. Without saying anything, after a moment of this intolerable silence Travis walked up to Thomas with a clear impatience. Damon was now standing, anxiously watching over the scene as it played out. Travis grabbed on to Thomas’s shirt and moved him to the door leading into Damon’s cell.

Thomas willingly followed him asking, “Travis, what are you doing?”.

Clara and some others spoke out when he did this, but didn’t make any great attempt to stop him, “Travis, what the hell?!”. Of course they figured out what he was doing and thought if anyone were to enter that cell, they’d die a horrible death. Thomas caught on to what Travis was doing, after all, only a select few people saw him in the cell with Damon. They didn’t believe him.

Damon’s voice announced in Thomas’s head, “Thomas?! What are they doing? Are you ok?”, he asked worriedly as he could barely see Thomas now near the door to his cell.

“It’s ok Damon. They don’t believe we’re friends, and they want to prove it, right?” Thomas said in a relaxed tone to Travis, then realized Damon couldn’t hear him as the communication mic was too far away now.

Travis looked at Thomas while the first of the 2 doors to the cell opened, “You prove to them- us that you are friends with this Xenomorph, and I won’t kill you.. Then again, if you’re lying, that won’t matter anyway. In fact, you cooperate, and I’ll treat you and your- friend like people, k.”.

With that, he pushed Thomas into the small airlock style room and closed the door. Thomas was familiar with this procedure as he’d done it before getting caught. At this moment, he began smiling, knowing he’d prove these scientists wrong. This could help him prove Damon was much more than they know and hopefully lead to some better conditions for him as Travis said. How or if Travis would fulfill that deal was unknown to him. He watched as the second door began to hiss open and Thomas walked out into Damon’s cell. Damon was standing patiently on the opposite side of the room and Thomas took a glance through the glass. Everyone in that lab was staring at them, some yelling in shock. The looks on their faces were priceless to Thomas and Damon. He was only one step in the room, and Damon was twiddling his fingers like he was nervous.

Thomas looked at Damon with a welcoming smile, “Hey.”.

Damon seemed to smile back, “Hey, didn’t expect this uh.. Why?”.

With Thomas now in the room, the door behind him closed, “They don’t believe you are friendly, or that we are even talking to each other. So their genius idea was to throw me in with you and see if you kill me.” Thomas joked, knowing they were listening.

Damon now rested his hands on his hips once more, he again looked so human-like in this pose, it was comforting to Thomas, “Ha, so we just need to prove to them or something?” he asked, taking a step toward Thomas.

“Yeah, imagine their faces.” Thomas said, also beginning to take steps away from the wall toward the Xenomorph.

“I don’t need to.” Damon said, gesturing to the crowd watching them with his dome. By the time he looked back, he felt the warm embrace of Thomas’s body and arms wrap around him. Damon was slightly surprised, but any surprise was instantly replaced with instinctual, overwhelming comfort being in Thomas’s arms. Damon’s usually high guard was decimated by the show of care from his friend. He stood taller than Thomas by about 2 feet depending on where you measured placing Thomas’s head in his upper chest.

Thomas said in a muffled voice buried in the alien’s chest, “I’m not looking at them.”.

Damon, after a second of processing, wrapped his own arms around Thomas, hugging him close. It felt so nice for him to have such loving care for someone and experience someone having shown the same. He felt happy. Neither of them bothered to look out of the window at the crowd inevitably watching, that didn’t matter to them in this moment. Thomas adored the feeling of Damon’s gentle yet so strong arms pulling him in. He felt safe with Damon in a situation where that feeling was rare. Being in their hug, Thomas could feel Damon’s heart beat deep within his sturdy frame. Of course he knew Damon had a heart most likely, but there was something special about hearing the soft beats so similar to his own. It made Thomas feel like he and Damon weren’t so different after all, and this was the first time Thomas understood truly what was at stake. It was scary this realization. Damon, a Xenomorph that he was currently hugging, was something- someone that he wouldn’t know what he’d do without.

Sometime passed with them in this affectionate enclasp, a time of which neither of them knew. They both felt feelings which were only present when in each other’s company. Thomas felt safety while Damon felt care. Finally, both their eyes opened to the sound of a voice over the mic, it was Travis's.

He cleared his throat, “Thomas? A- Are you- ok?” Travis asked. For the first time, Travis sounded uncertain or slightly worried not for Thomas but possibly the consequences and paper work of essentially killing someone.

Thomas pulled away from Damon who let go with a very small reluctance still taken note by Thomas, “What’d I say, he’s my friend.”.

All the other scientists except Travis had shown such expressions of disbelief while Travis simply smiled at his win. He had taken this moment to make the most of it and turned around to the crowd of scientists who had doubted him, “As I said, telepathy test this evening. Never doubt me again if you want to stay on this team.”. He had threatened them with their own job now, this would assure they follow him through these tests. With that, all the scientists began working and conversing with each other. Travis turned back toward Thomas and Damon.

“Ok, if you don’t mind, it’d be the most efficient if you stay in there until experiments are done for the day. This way we don’t have to risk opening and closing the doors as much.” Travis asked, though, this was more of an order disgusted as a question.

Thomas leaned into the Xenomorph next to him, “Whaaat, you still scared of him?” he toyed.

Damon spoke before Travis could, “I did threaten to kill him in very brutal ways..”.

Thomas nudged Damon saying, “He didn’t hear that though.”.

Travis gave a rather unamused expression, “Just because he’s friends with you, doesn’t mean he’s friends with us. Now, one last assurance, come up to the glass.”.

Thomas left Damon’s side to walk up to the glass, “Alright, what is it?” he asked.

“I’m just ensuring my tests are accurate and you aren’t lying, I’m sure you understand. Now, read what I’m about to write and relay that information to X- Damon. This would easily prove you can indeed communicate once he does the same procedure. Here.” Travis said.

“Alright, easy enough. You hear that Damon?” Thomas acknowledged.

“Yup,” he responded.

Travis then wrote down a simple phrase on a piece of paper and showed it to Thomas being sure not to allow Damon to see. It read, “Raise your arms to make a T.”.

Thomas shrugged, “Ok, Damon,” he looked over to him, “Raise your arms to make a T.”.

Damon looked at Travis, then at Thomas, then back at Travis and began laughing in his alien way. He exhaled in a mix of hiss and a sound similar to a normalish laughing sound. This spread to Thomas who realized it sounded sort of silly.

Travis’s voice rang out again, “Is- Is he laughing?” he said in disbelief. He let the two get out their laughs before attempting to get them back on track, “What the fu.. Can you just do it?”.

Damon collected himself enough to raise his arms to make a T, “I look dumb.” he said, still giggling.

“Alright, moving on. X.. Damon, come over here and Thomas back up to the center of the room. Read this, and tell Thomas what to do.” Travis said.

They both did this and Damon inspected the words Travis wrote carefully, not wanting to interpret them wrong. Damon finished and turned to Thomas, “Jump 4 times.”.

“Really? That’s it? Ok..” Thomas said before proceeding to jump up 4 times in a row, “Boom, we done now?”.

Travis looked down, “For now yes.” and with that, he walked off into the lab.

Thomas and Damon sat down against the walls of the cell and talked about anything which came to mind. Thomas explained movies and TV while Damon gave his take on what foods he’d most likely enjoy based on Thomas’s descriptions. Damon liked the sound of a hamburger, the meat he was used to mixed with some various other food which intrigued him. They went on like this for hours, taking breaks in between to relax.

8 hours later…

“Shut up! I’m not that bad.. It’s uh- I think it represents the given one quite well.” Thomas said, staring at what he had just drawn.

Travis was having one observe a drawing and describe it to the other who was tasked with replicating it. They both sat down, back to back except not too close as the Xenomorph dorsal tubes provided a required barrier. Damon had just described a rather simple drawing of a house to Thomas who did replicate it, even if it was far from exact. The house was lopsided and the door was at an angle as if it were italicized. Damon, and even Travis a little, were poking fun at the poor art.

“Well we now know drawing is not your strong suit.” Damon toyed.

“Drawing has never been my strong suit.” Thomas replied.

“Well, the Xenomorph had an objectively better drawing than you so..” Travis proceeded to point out.

Thomas looked at Damon’s drawing on the floor which was better than Thomas’s but still rough, “Unbelievable..”.

Travis had taken a minute to go clean up some work as they slowed down for the day. Both Damon and Thomas stood adjacent to each other, looking at their works of art.

Damon broke the brief silence, “Did you hug me to show them I was friendly?”.

Thomas was a little confused by the question, “Well, that was the goal, yes, why?”.

“Yeah, just wasn’t expecting.. That.”.

Thomas expressed concern and looked at Damon, “Did you.. Wish I didn’t?”.

Damon reacted instantly, “No no, I- no.. Just thought you’d go with a different approach is all.”.

Thomas thought he had realized what Damon was working toward, “I wanted to hug you to show those assholes you’re cool AND cuz I wanted to. Hugging to me is kinda like a show of thanks or appreciation, and since you’re the coolest friend I’ve ever had, I wanted to hug you.” he explained.

Damon smiled his crude smile, “Well thanks then.”.

Travis interrupted, “Alright, Thomas, it’s time to wrap up for the day. Go to the door, and Damon stand on the opposite side.”.

“You’re leaving?” Damon asked with a tone of sadness.

Thomas looked at him, “I have to, I’m thinking of a good argument to stay but for now, I must.”.

Damon sighed, “Ok, I’ll see you tomorrow then?”.

“Bright and early, except, it’ll be the same amount of illumination so just early I suppose.” Thomas assured him as he turned around.

“Alright.” Damon said and before Thomas could take a step toward the door, he felt the Xenomorph’s arms wrap around him from behind. Leaning into the hug given from behind, Thomas squeezed Damon’s slick black, neatly textured arms in front of him. A moment later, suddenly Damon broke the hug and instantly sat down wrapping his tail around himself. He drew his legs and arms in tight, trying to look normal. He didn’t look sad, but more uncomfortable which slightly worried Thomas.

Thomas was taken back by the reaction and turned around to Damon, “Is everything ok?”.

“Yeah, yeah. Just really super tired, that’s all.” Damon said suspiciously.

Thomas, knowing both Damon obviously didn’t want to talk about whatever it is and that Travis was losing patience waiting on him, decided to back up to the door, “Well, I’ll see you in the morning.”.

“See ya.” Damon responded.

The door opened with a hiss behind him, and Thomas went in to go through the usual procedures. A few seconds later he was on the other side in the lab. Travis was on the phone as he must have just got a call so Thomas just waited a moment and listened in a little.

He could only hear his side of the conversation, “Weyland Yutani- Yes it’s urgent- ugh, can you shorten it at all?- Whatever, just make sure it’s a decent force- I don’t give a.. Just make it happen ok?-". The conversation ended and Travis walked over to Thomas.

“I’d like to thank you for cooperating today, at this rate, we could make some interesting discoveries soon. Think about it, if we can pinpoint just what is the science behind your telepathy, then maybe we can replicate it. The potential is immense.” Travis explained.

“Glad to hear it.” Thomas said.

They had now arrived at Thomas’s small room not far from the lab itself, “Thomas.”, Travis said.

“Yeah?”.

“Um, back there- I.. Well..” He paused a second before continuing, “You know what? It doesn’t matter, I expect you to be up at the same time tomorrow.”.

Before Thomas could have questioned Travis’s odd behavior, he had closed the door leaving him in his room. He took off his shoes and laid down in the small bed barely able to fit him. In hindsight, today was a great day. He had made considerable progress in improving him and Damon’s respect and quality of life. He honestly found the day sort of fun until he reflected on its end.

Why’d Damon push away? Did I do something? Why was Travis acting weird, he never acts weird.. I feel I missed something.. Did I do something wrong?!

Thomas thought as he checked the small clock in the wall, 9:07 PM. He figured it’d be best he went to sleep sooner than later, and closed his eyes.
_______________________________________________________

Damon - 8:45 PM

“Bright and early, except, it’ll be the same amount of illumination so just early I suppose.” Thomas assured him.

“Alright.” Damon responded still not wanting their time together to end. He figured since Thomas wanted to hug him before, he’d want to now. In a bout of courage, Damon took one step into Thomas and wrapped his arms around him tight. He hugged him from behind and squeezed gently yet affectionately. He felt Thomas squeeze back on his arms and lean into him causing a deep relaxation. His mind drifted for a second as he enjoyed the moment. He didn’t want to let go of Thomas, he wanted to be by his side. His mind fell down a rabbit hole of happy thoughts as he lost contact with the situation. This all abruptly stopped when he felt something he didn’t expect at that moment. He knew the feeling well, and recognized it instantly, but this was not normal for this time, now. He reacted and pushed Thomas away, falling to the floor. Tucking his legs in and wrapping his tail around himself in embarrassment. Thomas looked back at him, and he felt his heart hurt with shame expecting him to have known.

“Is everything ok?” Thomas asked.

Damon looked up at him, “Yeah, yeah. Just really super tired, that’s all.” he instinctively responded.

I know I don’t want you to, but please leave..

“Well, I’ll see you in the morning.” Thomas eventually said.

“See ya.” Damon tried to sound normal.

Damon watched as Thomas and Travis left the lab from the other side of the glass, he was alone again. Still though, in embarrassment, he kept his legs tucked in and tail wrapped round in an effort to hide his erection. It happened so fast, and Damon had no idea why, especially then. His biology hid any sexual organs so they weren’t perceivable from the outside unless of course, they were aroused. It was extremely embarrassing to him thinking about this, luckily, it seemed no one noticed. Damon curled up into his normal sleeping position and attempted to quiet his mind. It was just random, he told himself, I just need to redirect my mind. He eventually went to sleep, happy with how the day went and hoping to move on from that minor embarrassment. Could he though?

Chapter 11: Testing

Chapter Text

12:05 PM - Tucker

It had been a long day aboard the cargo ship that left the station at LV-560 for Tucker. He had spent an hour trying to reassure the pilot that nothing went wrong back during their leave. She was skeptical as the ship door didn’t close until they were in the station airlock and there was no goodbye over the radio. It was routine for the station to radio “goodbye” to her when leaving and having not heard it concerned her. Of course, Tucker couldn’t tell her that he had switched off the comms during their departure knowing they’d make her ground the ship. He turned it back on once a safe distance away from the station and eventually she accepted the oddities. Tucker was upset Thomas had to jump to save the escape and he hoped nothing horrible was happening to him or his odd friend which started all this. He couldn’t do anything about it now. Now he could only hold up his promise.

Once in space, Tucker had been figuring out where to send the message exposing the facility on LV-560. The message he would send would include the data they found as evidence along with a request for intervention. This intervention would have to come as soon as possible if he wanted to give Thomas any chance. Who knows what Travis had planned for them, only one can assume it’s not pleasant. Knowing it had to end as soon as possible, that narrowed the search down significantly. There was one station in particular nearby that had a chance of making it to LV-560 within 1 month depending on many variables. What ship they used, how long it took to leave, and how serious they saw the situation were all variables that could affect how long it’d be before they got there. Either way, it was the best option for the next closest would be double that time. Now having chosen where to send the message, he turned on the mic and began recording.

Tucker spoke in a strong, serious tone, “Nova station, this is the UACV cargo ship Eclipse, and I am reporting dangerous illegal activity nearby. A Weyland Yutani station on LV-560 is researching on Xenomorph test subjects immorally. This violates the Moral Experimentation Code and is permitted to shut down. I’m sending all the evidence required to prove these claims and must stress that this needs to be shut down as soon as possible.”, there was a female voice in the background yelling something out which couldn’t be made out exactly from the transmission and Tucker continued more rapidly, “What? I’ll be up in a second! Please take into strong consideration that the Xenomorph subject is NOT hos-”

Silence.. A robotic voice soon followed, “Transmission end.”.

_______________________________________________________

7 days later - 1:23 PM - Thomas

The past 7 days had been rinse and repeat for Thomas and Damon. The same type of experiment in slightly different ways only broken up by eating and certain break periods where the scientists didn’t have anything more for them to do. It was better than the experiments they had been doing, and they got to hang out with each other for extensive periods of time now with Thomas not leaving the cell often for Travis’s convenience. With all this time together, they became even closer talking about anything from human science to their current situation. With time however, stressed talk of their situation became less frequent as they grew accustomed to it. This doesn’t mean they didn’t let their guard down, but simply tried to relax a little more. They now were sitting down in the cell, waiting for instruction from Travis and tossing a small ball back and forth. This was a request from Thomas who wanted something to do while waiting, even if it was just passing a ball. Testing was just about to resume now that they were done eating and Travis was setting up the next experiment.

Randomly, Thomas held the ball and questioned Damon, “Wait, you have like a small mouth.. in your mouth right?” Thomas asked curiously.

Damon opened his jaws revealing the inner maw that slowly protruded out. This brought a smile from his curious friend, “That I do.” he responded.

“Well, how do you eat? Like do you eat with your main mouth or the small one? Or do they both eat at the same time? Wait, but then, would that mean your small mouth would get hungry? No wait, that doesn’t make sense..” Thomas pondered out loud.

The Xeno chuckled at Thomas’s extreme curiosity, which Thomas was beginning to get used to the way he laughed in a mix of hissing exhales, “Kinda both really, you could say they work together, why?”.

“I- Cuz it’s- you’re interesting. And I was curious.” Thomas explained.

“Well, if I wasn’t interesting then why’d all these people be studying me?” Damon said with a grin.

“I mean, yeah, but I have like, different-”

“I know, I’m playing with you.” Damon interrupted.

Thomas huffed in amusem*nt, “Hey, last ni-”.

“Alright, you two ready, great. So we’ve established Damon’s ability to communicate with Thomas using dialogue, however, he’s not able to hear, or Thomas can’t communicate with him using internal dialogue. Now, we are going to experiment a little with ways to fix that. However, first we must understand the extent of Damon’s ability.” Travis said, cutting off their conversation.

Thomas looked at Damon who shrugged, “Ok, what’s the plan?” he asked.

A few minutes later Thomas was out of the cell now on the furthest end of the lab. Travis whispered something to the mic which was an instruction for Damon to tell Thomas what to do. This would show Damon was able to communicate with Thomas and through multiple different scenarios, they hoped to understand possible limitations.

Damon spoke to Thomas soon after, “He wants you to say five?”.

“Ok, five.” Thomas said plainly.

This went on for a while until Travis felt satisfied and got tired of both of them complaining even if he couldn’t hear Damon. The tests were now complete for the day to give the team time to create more, and Thomas had taken a quick stop by the recreation room on this level. It was small compared to the one on ground level, but still had some things of interest he wanted to sneak to Damon. Once back in the lab he grabbed the clipboard Travis filled out while they were testing today before going to enter the cell.

Travis noticed Thomas going back into Damon’s cell, “Oh, you probably don’t need to anymore today, we’re done testing.”.

Thomas looked back at him, “I know.” and entered the small airlock-style room. After a moment, the second door opened and he entered the cell moving toward Damon.

“So, how’d the testing go?” Damon asked.

“Let’s find out.” Thomas said, pulling up the clipboard he took.

“Oo, ok.” Damon expressed as they both read the paper attached.

“X-1 (Damon) telepathy test 10 notes:
- Barriers don’t seem to have a great effect on the telepathy, unless distance is equally increased.
- Max distance of accurate communication as of now seems to be approximately 15.6 meters (51.2 feet). Beyond that, communication deteriorated rapidly.
- Electromagnetic waves seem to disrupt their communication, could this mean X-1 is using some sort of electromagnetic wave to communicate?
- Need to find out what X-1 is doing scientifically to create this telepathy, having the development department make some resonant mass antennas to attempt to find possible electromagnetic waves to be the cause.”

“Huh.” Thomas said, “Well, they still are stubborn to use the name ‘X-1’ aren’t they.”.

“Yeah, I don’t care for the way it sounds.” Damon commented.

“I get that.. What do you think?”.

Damon shrugged, “I don’t know, I’m not sure how it works and I don’t really care all that much. I’m able to talk to you, and that’s all that matters right? It works.”.

“Eh, yeah. You have a point,” Thomas said as Damon began to walk over to the glass to observe the busy lab, “I’m- I’m sorry Damon.”.

Damon looked over his shoulder, “About what?”.

Thomas lowered the clipboard, “That we- I didn’t get you outta here by now.. I really thought we could’ve.. We should’ve tried to-”.

Damon stopped him, “It doesn’t matter now, all we can do is wait on your friend. He’ll come, I have a feeling this isn’t what the rest of our lives look like.” he said optimistically.

It surprised Thomas how optimistic a Xenomorph can be, especially knowing his life. It was really refreshing for Thomas who has had a more negative realistic view for the past few years. He gave a smile to Damon, “You’re right, we’ll get through this. You’re very optimistic for a Xenomorph.”.

“Optimistic?”

“Yeah, like you have a positive outlook, it’s nice.” Thomas explained.

“What’s the point in sulking over something we have very little control over right now.” Damon stated.

Thomas gave a nod and brought up the clipboard once more to investigate anything they missed. He found a few other papers attached, and upon further inspection he saw something frightening. He froze as his brain processed what exactly it meant, and there was no optimistic outlook for this. There was a transmission log, printed out to use as a reminder and because lots of scientists liked having everything related to their research in hard copy. Thomas didn’t realize this clipboard was more than just a few test results. The log read:

“Caller: ‘When is Weyland Yutani arriving? I’m not studying telepathy forever.’

Receiver: ‘It takes time to travel to the frontier, you’ll have to wait a little longer. The Weyland Yutani ship is en route and carries your requested cargo.’

Caller: ‘And the other subject is female right?’

Receiver: ‘How am I supposed to know Travis? Historically, Xenomorphs don’t have genders and I couldn’t find whatever hive X-1 came from, you’re gonna have to work with what you got. I mean we could turn around and look some more, but you didn’t give us much of a time frame if you remember.’

Caller: ‘No no, We’ll see what happens regardless. I need that ship here for more than just a mate. I need to move to a better suited location to really test this effectively.’

Receiver: ‘You’ve made that clear, Weyland Yutani security is on board. Now I gotta get back to more important things than you. Let me know when the ship arrives.’

Caller: ‘Ok.’

Transmission end”

Oh my god.. He’s, He can’t.. Thomas thought as he looked up at Damon, who was innocently observing the busy lab, Travis wants to breed Xenomorphs? Damon? Oh f*ck.. What the f- Was he ever interested in the telepathy? Weyland Yutani wants Xenomorphs.. I don’t know why, but if they think they could breed them.. Him.. Can Damon really breed?

Thomas had never thought of it much until now, and he didn’t have any more time to think about it at the moment as Travis spoke through the mic, “Thomas, why do you have my clipboard? Come on out, get out, let's call it for today.”.

Thomas’s brain instantly visualized two different paths he could take. He could call Travis out right now, say what his true intentions are for Damon’s future. Or he could hide that he found out, and try to maintain the happy yet delicate balance they have currently. Thomas thought about which would be best for him, which would be best for Damon, and made his decision after a second or two.

He smiled at Travis, even forcing a slight chuckle, “Don’t you think we deserve to see the results of the last 4 hours of our lives?” he asked.

Travis sighed, “Ok fine, I’ll tell you next time, but don’t take my research without my knowing. Now, go ahead and get out.”.

Thomas let out a breath of relief, and started for the door, “Ok.. I’ll see you tomorrow Damon.”.

Damon looked at Thomas, feeling something off, a sense of stress. This only stressed himself out the more he thought about it, “See you tomorrow.” he responded.

Thomas then went through the usual routine of going to his chamber to sleep and trying to look on the bright side. However, this night was different, annoying because he couldn’t fall asleep. He laid in bed for over an hour just trying to sleep, but all his mind did was wander. That transmission log indicated a few points of bad news that swirled about his head as he attempted to make sense of them. First, and worst, Travis had plans to try and breed Damon with another Xeno apparently on its way here. There could be many treacherous aspects of this.

Best case, Damon and the new Xeno hit it off, but literally any other outcome is bad.. How does he know the new alien won’t attack Damon? It seemed like the other Xeno wasn’t confirmed to be a female anyway. God.. When was the last time Damon interacted with another Xeno..?

That last thought had a wave of sadness wash over him, he suddenly felt a pang of deep sympathy for Damon. What effect does that have on a Xenomorph or one of any species being separated for so long, isolated. Thomas began to wonder if that’s why Damon seemed so attached to him after only knowing him for a relatively shorter time. He didn’t have anyone else, then again, did Thomas? He had made a few friends on the station like Tucker, who turned out to be pretty cool, but he didn’t have anyone else who really cared. Maybe that’s why he found himself attached to Damon so quickly instead of his previous excuse of trying to do something right despite what he was told. His mind fell down this rabbit hole until he attempted to refocus on what he learned from the transmission log.

Ok so, Weyland Yutani has a ship coming here, with ‘security’.. Why? This is a Weyland station. Didn’t Tucker say something about a divide between Victoria and Travis before the ship? I’m surprised I haven’t seen her yet.. So if they come, who are the station guards gonna be loyal to? And then add the authorities hopefully sent by Tucker.. This has a chance of getting ugly.

The thoughts wouldn’t stop keeping him awake, so he decided to get up and get some water in hopes of resetting. Out of his room and down the hall, he found the small common area with food and water plus a couple chairs and tables. Being this late, no one was around and the place was very dimly lit by energy efficient lights. Pouring himself a glass and downing it, he felt better.

“Thomas? Are you up?”

The sound frightened him, causing him to turn around rapidly to investigate the source. It took a moment to realize it was Damon. Looking down the halls, he didn’t see anyone so he made his way to the lab. The room was dark, also lit only by a dim light near the cell. Thomas made his way over and sat down in the comfy chair near the mic. Damon was sitting down near the wall, laying against it on his side.

“What are you doing up?” Damon asked.

Thomas turned on the mic, “Couldn’t sleep well..”.

“Oh, me neither, this metal floor isn’t the most comfortable despite what you may think.” Damon sarcastically commented.

Thomas chuckled, “Man, I didn’t even think of that.. You should get a bed or mattress or something.”.

Damon shrugged, “Oh well.”.

Thomas couldn’t go in if he wanted as Travis was now locking the doors when not present with some password he didn’t know. Thomas sighed, “Soo, I have some concerning news actually.”. Damon looked up at him with interest so he continued, “There was another paper on that clipboard and it seems Travis has.. Other plans for you.”.

Damon’s look turned to a visible concern, “What other plans?”.

“It seems he’s more interested in your reproduction possibilities over your telepathy..” Thomas said softly yet sorrowly.

Damon looked down, “What does that mean exactly?”.

“That log said there was a Weyland Yutani cargo ship coming here with- another Xenomorph aboard. I don’t know when it is slated to arrive, but it seems Travis wants to.. He-” Thomas struggled to explain it to Damon, he felt so helpless.

“I get it.. I- understand.. Haven’t seen any others.. In a long time I suppose.” Damon solemnly said.

“Is that something you want? Do you want to meet er- be with other Xenomorphs?” Thomas asked, his voice almost broke thinking about the topic and how Damon might respond.

Damon took a long breath, “I’m not sure.. I- don’t know.”.

Thomas could feel Damon’s confusion and uncertainty, so he didn’t press it anymore. “Well, I just wanted you to know that, to hopefully be more prepared. Until then, we’ll need to stay entertained.” Thomas said, looking at the Xeno.

Damon looked up at him, “Thanks for telling me,” he then co*cked his head, “What do you mean entertained?” he asked.

Thomas then reached down and pulled out a deck of cards he swiped from the common area earlier. “You wanna learn a game?”.

Damon got up to his feet and walked over to the glass, “A game?”.

Thomas smiled at the lift in the mood, “You ever heard of poker?”.

They then spent hours into the night playing simple poker with imaginary bets and amounts of money. This exercise actually helped Damon understand a little about what money is and how it can work. He loved learning something fun and entertaining, compared to what he usually learns, this was lighthearted. Thomas would draw his cards and prop them up on the glass facing away from himself so he couldn’t see them but Damon could. Thomas had a great time teaching the Xeno of the various combinations and workings of the game. By the end of their night, Damon was fully on board with the game even starting to win some hands. The night drew on and when they both grew tired, they talked, having random conversations like usual. Nothing ominous or stressful, just normal conversation. It almost felt like nothing bad was there, or coming. After a while, they fell asleep in each other's company regardless of how comfortable they were, they were together.

Chapter 12: A Dream's Shadow

Chapter Text

2 weeks after the previous chapter..

1:03 PM - Thomas

“Anything?” Travis asked, impatient and checking his watch.

Thomas opened his eyes, “No, same as the last 28 times you tried. You ever think that Damon’s telepathy can’t be recreated?” he asked.

“That’d make me feel even more special.” Damon playfully commented, joyfully watching from behind the glass.

Travis sighed, “Ok fine, rework it again, come back in.. I don’t know, an hour.”.

This was the 3rd day of attempting to recreate Damon’s voice in Thomas’s head, and the 3rd day of successive failure. Nothing crazy had happened in the past 2 weeks, just mild experimentation and Thomas hanging out with Damon. He had learned how to play poker, solitaire, and Thomas’s favorite to play with him, charades. There was something amusing watching a Xenomorph try to act out something for Thomas to guess. It was something which never failed to make either of them smile. Currently, Thomas was on the outside of the cell, near the mic in front of the window. Travis got a call right after they concluded this round of experiments and rather quickly he left the room. Thomas didn’t really care what he was doing and just talked with Damon waiting for whatever was planned next. This was pretty much what the last couple weeks had been.

“Ok, so, this’ll seem like a random question but do you get headaches? Like, pains in your head.” Thomas asked.

Damon looked at him, lost as to why he would ask this, “Um, yeah?”.

“Huh, where does it hurt? Like throughout your whole er- dome?”

“Well, that depends I guess..” Damon started.

“On?” Thomas pondered further.

“Only you make me question my own biology Thomas.. Let me think.” Damon toyed, never having really put much thought into it.

During the quick silence of Damon formulating his answer, Thomas noticed something off or at least abnormal. There was very little talking compared to usual for the busy lab. He turned around and found only a few scientists left in the room which wasn’t normal. During the day, this room was always full of them performing tests and whatever that he knew he’d never understand.

Thomas stood up from the rolly chair, “That’s different, where’d everyone go?”.

Damon sounded concerned, “What?”.

Suddenly, the door opened and in came over a dozen suited up armed soldiers fashioned with W-Y logos. They moved into the space, not drawing their guns but having them at the ready, ordering everyone left to leave. Thomas looked back at Damon who looked just as confused. These soldiers did not look like the ordinary station guards under Victoria based on their uniforms.

One of the soldiers spoke up to him, “You are relieved of your position temporarily, now leave the lab.”.

Thomas was confused for a moment before remembering the transmission log he saw 2 weeks ago. Each soldier had the W-Y patch on their vests confirming they were from the company. Thomas stood straight and spoke to the soldier in a serious tone, “What are you guys doing here? Are you here for Damon?” he asked knowing that they surely were.

The soldier adjusted their gun, “Don’t make this harder for us, please leave the lab now.”.

Before Thomas could respond, Travis spoke out from behind them, “No no, we’ll take him as well. That’s the guy I was talking about, Thomas.”.

The soldiers accepted this and disregarded him as they moved about the room gathering various equipment and storage containers. Thomas stood near the window into Damon’s cell, unsure of what to do. He looked toward Travis, “Um, hey, what the hell’s going on?”.

Travis walked away from the soldier he was talking to, “Alright, look, so this place is not suited for proper research on X.. Damon. This means we must move to a better facility and we need your cooperation to communicate with him. If you and him transport with no issues then no one gets hurt and all is good.” he explained.

Thomas was still concerned, “Ok, but how are you gonna move him,” he said gesturing to the Xenomorph in the cell behind, “and how is Victoria fine with all this? Is the research on him gonna be the same as here?”.

Travis had a look of annoyance wash over him, “We need to move a Xenomorph who we failed to synthesize out a tranquilizer for, but luckily, Weyland officer Jordan over there had an alternative idea. We need to get him to the ground floor where there is a nice and safe ca- er- portable holding cell essentially. That cell can’t fit down here, so we need him to walk upstairs peacefully with your help.”.

Thomas’s confusion was overcome by sudden suspicion, “And what else will change?” he asked in a straight faced serious tone seeing that Travis was avoiding the questions he asked.

Travis thought for a second, “There will be some minor changes to the study, but ultimately, it will be similar if not better than here. Ok?”.

Thomas knew of course that he wanted to try and breed Damon for Weyland, something Damon didn’t seem quite interested in. Thomas pressed further, “What. Changes. He deserves to know, right?”.

Before Travis could speak, a soldier from behind spoke out, “Everything is ready, we need to get moving.”.

Travis’s expression instantly turned to one of impatience and anger, “Are you going to cooperate or not?” he asked.

Thomas attempted to hold his ground, “Tell me what you-” Thomas’s voice was cut off by Travis grabbing him and raising a pistol to his head.

Travis, having taken full control of the situation, kept the gun to his head, “I’m done wasting time with you. You’ll cooperate, and get this Xenomorph to the cage on the ground floor, or neither of you will make it outta here alive! Got it?”.

Thomas let out an involuntary, “Ok, ok.” trying to calm down the situation.

Travis then looked to Damon, allowing Thomas to see him as well. He was up on the glass, claws attempting to dig into the clear barrier, he was furious. He gave a good punch on the reinforced glass managing to create a small crack while his tail flailed around behind. He may not have known exactly what was pressed to Thomas’s head, but he knew it was a weapon and dangerous.

Damon shouted before Travis did, “Thomas! What is going on?! What is that?!”.

Thomas raised his hand in a forced calming gesture as he couldn’t answer because Travis now had the mic, “Damon. Listen to me. I know you care for Thomas, right? I’ve seen you two these past weeks. You wouldn’t want him to die, especially due to YOUR actions, right? So here’s the deal, you will be escorted willingly to the ground floor and peacefully go into the cage waiting for you there. IF you make one single move I don’t like, I’ll kill your friend here and you will also die from a rain of bullets before you could kill one of us, so how bout it?” Travis commanded. He sounded psychotic and almost in desperation at this moment.

Damon heard all of it and paused, “Thomas?” he started in a sorrowful voice, “I don’t know what to do.. What do I do?” he asked, looking at him.

Thomas reached for the mic and Travis let him speak into it, “It’s- Just.. Just do what he says.. Be peaceful, please.. This isn’t the end Damon.” Thomas said in fear.

Damon looked into Thomas’s eyes. He saw a fear in them, one which hurt his heart to witness, “Ok.. Ok..” he eventually said.

Thomas relayed the message to Travis, “He says ok.”.

“Splendid, now follow. Ready everyone.” Travis said, pressing the door button, opening the inner door for Damon to enter. Once the Xenomorph disappeared from the cell, he opened the second and final door. The metal hissed as it opened, and all the soldiers kept their guns raised at the entrance. The red light from the small air-lock style room loomed behind the alien figure. From this angle, Damon looked utterly terrifying, but the thought was thrown by Thomas who held full faith in his friend. He had to. The pitch black figure shifted, moving one leg out of the small red room and placing the clawed foot down upon the metal flooring with a loud thump. Having to duck slightly under the frame, the Xenomorph now stood over the squad of Weyland soldiers. His tail dragged out as he took a step into the lab, looking around the 20 some soldiers aiming at him. There was a moment he thought of taking them all on, but then his sight landed on Thomas. The pistol against his head was the focus of Damon’s vision for a second before he calmed down and began walking behind the 10 soldiers in front reluctantly. The 10 moved with 7 of them looking, and aiming, back at the alien. Travis and Thomas were behind him moving with the rest of the soldiers. The silent walk felt like forever until they finally came out the stairwell onto the ground floor. Once they emerged into the familiar space to Thomas, the people up here saw the alien they never knew existed before now and ran. Some yelled, some just ran, and some stood watching the walk in awe or fear or both. This told Thomas something about this whole procedure.

Victoria doesn’t know, does she?

Thomas thought as a soldier opened the clear cage meant for Damon and by the looks of it, this wasn’t something he could crack with one punch. It was heavily supported by metal and had four wheels for moving the structure. Damon paused and gave a look to Thomas who sighed at the sight, giving a nod. The Xeno then gingerly stepped into the cage and the door was closed behind him. Thomas felt bad and partly guilty as it was him who indirectly forced Damon into this position. The strong glass allowed both Damon to see out and anyone to see him inside. The Weyland soldiers were in a hurry to get moving, not wasting any time getting Thomas to follow kindly. They walked at a rapid pace, the consistent rolling sound of the hard rubber wheels under Damon’s new cage among the many boots on the metal floor were the only sounds. They’d get the occasional passerby who had no idea what was going on and reacted in whatever way came to them in the moment. None of it felt right to Thomas. As they entered the immensely large hangar through a representatively large door, he heard a shout from behind, “Stop!”. Turning around, there stood Victoria holding a gun backed by at least half the station’s security personnel of around 30 guards. Surely more were coming, and this confirmed Thomas’s suspicion that Travis was trying to leave Victoria without her knowing. All of them stood on the metal path in the ship hangar, the path was filled with various metal crates of cargo. They were so close, the Weyland ship was nearby, docked at one of the 3 docking stations in the huge hangar. The hangar was by far the largest room in the station as it had to be big enough to hold ships.

The Weyland squad stopped, looking back at Victoria and her armed forces while she spoke up first, “What is going on here Travis?”, even though she most definitely knew.

Travis stepped up, not far as the guards around her threatened their guns, “Victoria, I am moving my research elsewhere. Weyland Yutani has come to pick me up. Don’t worry, you’ll get another objective from them, just not including me.” Travis said sternly.

“You can’t leave. You can’t take X-1!”, she scoffed when she saw Thomas, “You lying son of a bitch, why the f*ck is he still alive?! You said he died!” Victoria gestured to Thomas who silently watched the scene.

Travis sighed, “You are no longer in the correct state of mind to support my research effectively, I wish you the best of luck and goodbye.” he stated, beginning to walk.

“Correct state of mind?! You don’t have the authority! Stop!” Victoria shouted and her guards lifted their guns causing the Weyland soldiers to do the same, “I won’t ask again.”.

Travis was clearly infuriated, “What? You want me to spell it out for you? You know, all those years of doing your research should’ve made it obvious. I know why you wanted this particular Xenomorph, I know why you wanted to research ways to injure, harm, incapacitate Xenomorphs, THIS Xenomorph, the list goes on.” he paused and looked her in the eyes, “You’re a burden to science Victoria, MY science.”.

“This has nothing to do with that! X-1 happened to be the easiest Xenomorph to obtain. I was following orders!” Victoria snapped.

“Really? You’d say the hive X-1 came from killing your husband never affected your desire to torture him and call it research? Yeah we found some discoveries, but they’ll pale in comparison to what I’m about to do.” Travis confidently argued.

Victoria snarled, “You mother- This is MY station, these are MY resources, X-1 is MY property. He stays here! And- and then I’ll accept your leave. I’ll just find someone better anyway.”.

This hit Travis’s ego causing a fury inside him, “I’m the best you’ve ever had! You won’t get better, and you won’t get X-1! Now let us leave!”. The increase in tension had both sides pointing their guns at each other, the echoes resonating off the large chamber after any voice or movement was sounded out.

One of the W-Y soldiers next to Travis approached saying, “Ma’am, we have orders from Weyland, X-1 is in our possession now.” he tried to reason.

“Over my dead body, you aren’t leaving here with X-1.” Victoria stated.

At this moment the large airlock doors above them for ships began to split open and over the intercom a voice informed, “Incoming ship, docking at bay 2.”. This was unexpected and paused the argument briefly as everyone watched the ship lower in the extraordinary room toward an empty spot to dock at. It was docking adjacent to the Weyland ship, but even a random visit from an early cargo ship wouldn’t stop the heated argument. While Victoria and Travis got at each other with their guards in a standoff, Thomas observed the docking ship closer. It had weapons on the side and in a moment, Thomas knew what it was. It wasn’t an early cargo ship, it was military. A sudden rush of excitement and cheer filled him as he anticipated the government soldiers to break this up and take him with Damon away from this place. Soon enough, a squad of soldiers came off the military ship following a decorated officer who walked over to the commotion. Thomas sighed in relief knowing this would end finally, after so long.

Tucker! Thank god you got to somebody. Finally something good!

“You have no right to take X-1 after disobeying my direct orders countless times! I have yet to see any official Weyland orders for this nonsense.” Victoria yelled.

“The corporation wants me to move elsewhere, you can’t say no!” Travis responded, the yelling causing the rising tension between the armed station guards and Weyland soldiers.

The yelling also distracted the two sides from seeing the military squad approach until the officer interjected, “What the hell is going on here?!” he shouted in an authoritative voice to get their attention.

The shout threw everyone on edge and half of the Weyland guys aimed at the military who drew back. Victoria’s guards did the same but luckily no one shot and now, the three sides stood in a standoff. The officer broke the brief silence right away, “Whoa whoa! Everyone, lower your god damned weapons now! This station is under investigation by the UACM, stand the f*ck down and you may not be arrested for this bull sh*t.”.

No one moved, unsure who to listen to. Victoria spoke up in a remarkably soft voice compared to a few seconds ago, “Officer, this is my station, and currently they are trying to steal from me so would you please arrest them.”.

Travis quickly jumped in to change the narrative, “Um no, this is property of Weyland Yutani, not you. You have no authority over it- him- whatever.”.

The officer interrupted, “I don’t give a- him? What the f*ck!?” he expressed drawing his pistol at the cage Damon was in upon noticing it, “What the f*ck it that thing doing here?!”.

Victoria beat Travis to it once again, “That is my test subject and they are trying to steal it from me!”.

Travis once again followed up, “Absolutely not! That Xenomorph is under Weyland Yutani and is being moved to a better suited station than this sh*t show!”.

Victoria looked at him, “No! X-1 stays here!”.

The officer looked at both of them, “Under UACM law, Xenomorph aliens are to be exterminated immediately so sorry but neither of you will get it. Now back off from the cage!”

Suddenly Travis and Victoria agreed on something as they both said, “Not happening!”.

Thomas’s relief drained away instantly, leaving him panicking to find some way out of this. He scanned through possibilities in his mind and found nothing. The officer’s voice broke him out of his rapid deep thought.

“I order you to back off from the cage and put down the f*cking weapons right now!” The officer yelled.

Travis tried to explain, “Under Weyland-”.

“I don’t give a rat’s ass about your god damned company, no one’s above the law. I’m only asking once more, put down the guns now!” The officer warned, his soldiers aiming at the two other sides.

Both Travis and Victoria gave menacing looks and refused to move a muscle but after a moment, the station guards behind Victoria lowered their weapons. Once they did so, some of the Weyland guys did as well despite Travis practically fuming. They had realized that this was the law and there was nothing they could do against them legally. The officer walked past them toward the cage, his soldiers keeping the other two sides at gunpoint.

“That’s more like it.” he said confidently.

Thomas stepped in front of the officer before he made it to the cage and Damon shouted at him, “Thomas! What are you doing?!” whipping his tail around the small, cramped space he was trapped in.

The officer looked down at Thomas with impatience, “Officer, listen to me! Damon er- this Xenomorph isn’t like the others! He’s not dangerous, you gotta believe me!” Thomas pleaded.

The officer shoved past him, lining up with the door of the cage, leaving some distance saying, “Yeah right, when pigs fly, move aside.”.

Thomas jumped back to him, “I swear, I swear! He won’t hurt you! I- I can Prove it! Let me show you, please! Just let me!” he pleaded, his eyes beginning to water in helplessness.

“Who the hell are you?” the officer commanded while his guys got in position to open the cage door.

“I- I erm- I’m Thomas, site engineer. I’m telling you officer, I spent time in the same room as this Xenomorph, he’s not dangerous! Let me prove it! Just-” Thomas begged the officer, feeling helpless and finding it hard to stand.

Damon yelled in the background of Thomas’s mind, “What’s going on?! Thomas?! Please, please please, Thomas!” the Xeno pleaded.

“Which one of these f*ckers you with huh? The Station? Weyland? I don’t care, move, I’m not risking lives for a stupid ploy.” The officer shoved Thomas to the side, causing him to fall down.

Time slowed to an infinite fraction for Thomas who looked at Damon continually yelling in the back of his mind. He sounded so fearful. So helpless. Thomas couldn’t help him. He failed. He looked at the officer who raised his revolver at the cage door and pulled back the hammer. The soldiers grabbed at the door mechanism to the cage and the officer counted down.

“Three!” the officer yelled out. Travis clenched his fist and Victoria looked with a furious glare. Thomas’s heart stopped.

“Two!” another shout. Damon smacked the side of the glass cage while the station and Weyland guards stood watching the scene unsure what to do. It was the military after all, they outranked both of them in the end.

“One!” The officer yelled again. Thomas looked at Damon and the past months flashed through his mind. Him meeting Damon accidentally, sneaking down to see him every night and how excited he was doing so, the conversations of both their curiosities, poker, testing, hugging, how he felt when with Damon. He broke, he couldn’t take it anymore, his eyes letting a stream of tears flow down. He saw himself do nothing for his brother, let him leave, let him die, his fault his fault his fault!

“Open!” The soldiers yanked the door, pulling the sheet of metal down and exposing Damon.

No no no no. Not again, no, I can’t.

“NO!” Thomas screamed as he propelled himself at the officer, grabbing the revolver before he could shoot Damon. He struggled to point it away from Damon, now exposed, but he did. Both hands on the barrel of the gun, he tried to pull it away from the officer who tucked it in, pulling Thomas and the struggle instantly ceased. A shot rang out, echoing throughout the large hanger followed by an impossible silence. Thomas weakly held the barrel of the revolver pointed into his chest, the smoke still emitting from the weapon. Blood bled through Thomas’s shirt onto his hands and the barrel of the gun as he stared at the officer in shock. His hearing was muffled both from the shot and the shock rocking throughout his body. Pure adrenaline kept him standing, but within a second, he felt the pain in his chest flair up as his blood spread across his shirt. Still staring into the officer’s eyes, Thomas heard another shot ring out and a millisecond later the officer’s head jolted. His eyes fell back and his body dropped to the floor at Thomas’s feet leaving him standing there alone in shock. Thomas looked over, Travis’s pistol aimed at him, smoke coming out the barrel after having shot the officer in the head. The world spun and within seconds more shots, gunfire echoed throughout the hangar. Each side shooting at the other while Thomas in the center fell backward landing on the cold metal grate of the hangar path. Bullets streaked the air above him as the crossfire exchanged. He weakly put one hand to his wound in his chest, the blood having soaked his shirt and hand. He laid there on his back, watching the bullets fly above. Was this his end? Would he die for a Xenomorph? For some reason beyond him, he was content. No one had cared for him anymore and he got to go out saving the first one who did since the incident so many years ago. It felt like a lifetime ago now. His vision blurred, breaths slowed, head felt loopy and eventually he felt his body move with great force. It was an indescribable experience as he felt his body move as if he wasn’t in control, merely watching helplessly. He couldn’t see, he felt so tired. Yet he moved so fast, constantly adjusted roughly. Before he knew it, he passed out.

_______________________________________________________

Damon

Damon didn’t process what had happened until the second shot killed the officer. He was prepared to die, or at least as much as one can be. Once Thomas fell back, it hit him just what had happened.

“NOOO!” Damon shouted, not one person hearing him, filled with rage. He leaped out of the cage just as the firefight began, slashing his claws through the one soldier near him who didn’t get shot in the first volley of bullets. Thanks to the chaos, all the guards and soldiers weren’t even thinking about him when bullets were flying. He slid on the metal floor, digging in his claws to leap to cover knowing the bullets were dangerous. He jumped across to a large crate a couple Weyland soldiers were using as cover, not that their allegiance mattered to him. He flung his tail straight into the chest of one while pouncing on the other, in a second his inner mouth shot out as fast as their guns piercing a rough hole into the soldier’s head. Removing his tail tip from the chest of the first soldier, he spotted Thomas near the middle of the crossfire laying on his back. Damon threw the heavy metal crate at the people firing over Thomas, causing them to take a moment to adjust their cover. That’s all he needed.

Damon dove over to Thomas, scooping him up over his shoulder and making no hesitation to escape within two seconds, but where? He couldn’t stay on the station, he had to get out of here, so he made a dash for the nearest ship, the Weyland ship. Using the various crates for cover, and the distraction of the soldiers shooting each other, he crossed the battle zone. Taking a deep graze on his second leg segment by crossfire, he made it to the ship. Flying into the space, he scanned the room, empty thanks to the fight outside. He was lost in the unknown, cramped space, frantically trying to find someone to help Thomas, currently bleeding out on his shoulder. He figured he’d have to persuade them to do so one way or another. Picking a hall to run down, he looked in every room that opened up to him. Eventually, one door opened revealing a Weyland soldier who stood there staring at the Xenomorph. The guy was in shock at the sight, which luckily for Damon, made it easy to get rid of his weapon. With one tail swipe, the guy's weapon was sliding across the floor and Damon dug his claws into the chest of the soldier. He threw the body down and adjusted Thomas on his shoulder which reminded him of the urgency in getting him to someone who won’t shoot both of them right away. Damon turned to leave the room but was stopped by a voice.

“Uh, Damon?” the unfamiliar voice spoke.

Damon looked back and saw a cell, much different than his own back in the station. It had bars and looked much smaller than the one he knew. Inside it however were two people, a male and a female. Damon didn’t recognize them but how could they know his name?

His pause and investigation of the person in the cell allowed the guy to press on, “Thomas?” he said in disbelief upon seeing who Damon was carrying, “Holy f*ck! Damon! Tha- That’s you right? I- I’m Tucker. I was friends with Thomas- oh my..” He expressed, just realizing Thomas was hurt, blood running down the Xenomorph’s arm, “Is he hurt?”.

Damon was surprised and caught off guard, he knew Tucker was one who helped him but he had never seen the guy before. Tucker? Thomas did talk of him.. Could he? He could help! He needs to help.

Once Damon thought about it, he reached with his free hand and grabbed the lock holding the door in place. With one full strength yank, he pulled off the metal bind and Tucker was free. Tucker hesitantly stepped out of the cage toward the Xeno and the female pilot behind him yelled out, “What the f*ck! Why? H- How, what?”.

Tucker held out his hand, open palm and said in a soft, yet fearful voice, “Damon, is this really you?”. Of course if this wasn’t Damon, then he feared the worst but determined it was his best and really only option. Damon lifted his hand, matching Tucker’s and he let out a gasp of relief. “Oh thank god.. Thomas is hurt, Thomas is hurt! We have to get him to the medbay right away!”. With a new determination carrying him, he turned to the female pilot watching in awe, “Ok. Sofia, if you want to get outta here alive, I need you to listen to me. Go take control of the bridge and uh- Damon will be up as soon as possible, most of the guards should be gone as we heard over the radio that guy had.” He gestured to the now dead guard Damon had just killed, “Umm.. Ok, first me and Damon will get to the medbay and once we have the on board doctor helping Thomas, Damon will come up and help get control of the bridge. Wait for him and once you can, get us outta here ok. Does that sound good?” Tucker rapidly said half confidently.

Sofia was shocked and in fear of losing her life which compelled her to be on board for the plan enough after comprehending what he said, “Ok, ok. How do you know the doctor will help?” she asked.

“Oh he will.” Tucker stated before running up to the dead guard and grabbed his guns, “Here, take this.” he said tossing the rifle to Sofia who only kinda knew how to use it and stashed the pistol for himself.

Sofia frantically stopped them from leaving, “Wait wait! I have never used a gun before.”.

Tucker thought for a second, “You don’t need to, just look like you do. Remember, wait for Damon!” he said leaving the holding cell.

Damon followed Tucker close behind as they both ran through the halls of the ship. When they passed near the entrance to the ship, he could still hear the gunfire outside which meant they still had time. Signs explaining directions to everything accompanied the narrow halls as the two frantically ran past. Tucker followed the signs finding the medbay and ran into the room with Damon right behind. Getting his pistol at the ready just in case, he got the attention of the doctor who was typing something behind a small desk in the corner.

He yelled out, “Damon. On the table. You! You need to help him. Please, get over here!”.

The doctor didn’t say anything but a yelp upon seeing both of them but mainly Damon, and complied only saying, “Oh my- Ok ok, what’s er- wrong?!”.

The doctor jumped up and moved to the table Damon rested Thomas on. He began investigating Thomas who was now on the table, trying his best to ignore the Xenomorph hovering right over them. The doctor was scared sick and afraid to say anything with a Xeno watching him. Yes he was compelled to help anyone who needed it but this was so crazy to him. Damon had been acting on adrenaline and now that he had a moment to think, he was worried sick. He couldn’t imagine Thomas dying, his life without him.

You can’t die, you can’t die! Thomas please.. I need you!

He yelled, yet no one could hear him or his pain. Tucker looked at him, “Damon you have to go help Sofia take the bridge so we can leave before the fighting stops. Otherwise this’ll all be for nothing! Go, I’ll watch him, I promise.” he explained.

Damon didn’t fully trust Tucker having not met him before but he also realized why they needed to leave. Reluctantly he found a vent cover in the room, and entered the crawl space barely able to fit him. His sleek body and movements allowed him to make his way through though. While he left he heard the doctor begin asking questions, most likely more comfortable without a Xenomorph in the room.

He asked, “What happened?! Where was he injured? Who are you- Why was there a Xeno-”.

Tucker needed to assure the doctor helped so he simply said, “I don’t know, I wasn’t there.. But if he doesn’t live then it’ll be very hard to convince that Xenomorph back there not to kill you..”.

Damon both felt pride and sadness about that. He felt pride as he was so intimidating to people but also felt sadness as he struck so much unwanted fear in people he didn't want to. He was following the voices which echoed down the vents throughout the ship hoping they would lead him to the bridge. His mind kept getting dragged down by the thought of Thomas, but once he closed in on the bridge he was able to use that to fuel himself.

This must be the bridge thing, this is where everyone else on the ship is.. Hopefully this won’t take long.

Damon thought as he counted the armed soldiers in the room from a vent embedded in the roof. He didn’t necessarily want to kill anyone, but he also knew they’d kill him if he hesitated. This as well as Thomas’s life was on the line. He cleared his mind and forced the vent below him to give way, dropping onto the unsuspecting soldier. A simple, quick slash was all he needed to do to render the soldier dead. Lunging into the pair of soldiers nearby, he took them down within seconds leaving only 2 more. Damon looked up, finding the remaining soldiers who drew their guns and began shooting. Diving for cover behind some electrical equipment and took a second to think. While thinking he was jump scared by shots ringing out beyond his cover and upon looking over it, he saw the two soldiers drop to the ground. Sofia, the pilot, had surprised herself by firing on the soldiers and rendering them incapacitated. Damon just remembered she was supposed to help him take control of the room.

He watched as she broke her shock and aimed at the crew members, “Ok, calm down everyone, please. I don’t want to hurt anyone else, we just need to leave right now, and no one else needs to get hurt.” she explained.

Their attention was distracted by Damon standing nearby, “Ok ok, whatever you need!” they spoke out quickly.

Damon watched over them while Sofia moved to the various technical panels he didn’t understand. She pressed a few buttons and pulled some switches causing the ship to begin shaking violently. She closed all the outside doors and began boosting the thrusters effectively driving the ship into the large airlock above. The vehicle creaked as it scraped a little on the sides due to Sofia never driving a ship exactly like this before. Once they entered the airlock, she started the procedure to open the next door when the first one closed. Sofia didn’t wait any longer than she needed and within a minute, they were exiting LV-560’s atmosphere and left the station behind.

Once things settled down, Sofia was able to figure out how to put the ship on auto pilot for the nearest public port. This took a minute of her examining the mapping system to locate the nearest station’s coordinates. She looked to Damon for the first time since they cleared the room, “Uh er- um, Damon, right? I- Can you understand me?” She asked hesitantly, trying not to sound too terrified. Damon gave her a nod, about the only communication he could achieve at the moment, and she continued awkwardly, “Ok.. Well Imma take the crew to the brig, er- thanks.. For helping with.. This.”.

With Sofia taking care of the crew members by escorting them to the brig, Damon ran back to the medbay. He couldn’t get Thomas off his mind, he needed to see if he was alright. After a moment of relocating the medbay, Damon found it and entered with a sense of dread. Inside, Thomas was still on the table but had a machine with tubes on his chest. The doctor was looking at something on the monitor in the corner of the room. Tucker was sitting near Thomas and noticed right away when Damon entered.

Tucker spoke right when Damon entered the room, “I felt the ship launch! Did it work, are we clear?”. He paused when Damon gave him a faint nod, not taking his eyes or dome off Thomas, “Oh, right.. everything's fine Damon. Thomas is alive.. however hurt. The doctor here had to attach this- thing to him to clear out the blood filling his lungs. But he should be fine in time.”. Damon continued to stare at Thomas lying still, “I’ll leave you with him I guess, I’m gonna go check on the bridge, and doctor, thank you for helping but I need you to come with me. I’m just taking you to the brig as assurance you won’t do anything stupid. We just want to get to the nearest station and leave. Please, we don’t plan on harming you or anyone else as long as you don’t harm us." Tucker explained, trying to convince the doctor of their good intentions.

The doctor, still afraid of the Xeno, spoke softly, “Ok, I understand. So you're not Weyland Yutani?” he asked as they began leaving the room.

Tucker started explaining the whole situation to him starting with, “Yeah.. We aren’t. Those asses are the reason this whole thing started actually…” The medbay door hissed shut, cutting off Damon’s hearing of their conversation.

Now that they both left the medbay, leaving Damon alone in the room with Thomas, an ominous silence filled the space. Damon took two steps and sat down beside his unconscious friend in a chair way too small for his size, but that didn’t matter. He was now for the first time since Thomas was shot, completely alone with him. Damon had nothing to occupy his mind now that they miraculously escaped leading him to have to settle in with the situation. It had dawned on him just how lucky he was to have found Tucker and Sofia though he never heard of her before. For a moment he wondered why they were on this Weyland Yutani ship in the first place. After his second of thinking about it though, he figured it was a question for later. His attention and dreadful worry was reserved for Thomas at the moment. He just sat in that chair barely able to fit him, leaning over and resting his large dome on Thomas’s stomach, feeling his light breathing.

Damon spoke to Thomas, if anyone were around, they’d not be able to hear him but he still spoke sorrowfully, “Remember how we would talk and you’d help me imagine the vast world beyond the cell I’d known all my life. We did it. We are off the station. Look at us Thomas, we made it, kinda.. You gave me so much hope and it actually paid off..” His tone changed to a more upset frustration, “Thomas.. Why would you do that?! For me? Really?! Really?... I- Thomas I- I need you to wake up, please. You helped me dream of a life I never knew existed, so tell me.. How could I live it without you?”.

Chapter 13: Solaris

Chapter Text

A muffed cacophony of distress, emotion, instruction and more cloud Damon’s mind as he recovers from a sudden blast. The harsh force which threw him over 20 feet had caused the interconnected communication between him and his hive to falter. This muffled communication didn’t consist of words or necessarily an alphabetical language but more like a communication of feelings and instincts. His vision was hazy no matter how hard he focused his mind but regardless, he attempted to stand. Able to get his feet under him, he rose up to a limped standing position. After a minute of testing his movement capabilities, he was able to move around but still suffered from lack of effective communication with the rest of his hive as well as a rough headache. Confused at what was happening, he crawled down into one of the many exit tunnels to regroup at the main entrance of the hive. Eventually he emerged into the cool air the hive protected him from, high winds and heavy rain made the surface undesirable to reside on for too long. Aside from the harsh weather, the ground on the surface was covered in jagged rock compared to the smooth stone of his hive. Damon began making his way to the main entrance of his hive, hoping that would get him back to the rest of them and tell him what had happened. There had been some cave-ins over the years he had lived there, but this was so abrupt and without warning. A second of locating the main entrance later and he jumped down into the space, partly protected from the harsh weather.

He heard a yell come from behind him, but failed to turn around in time to see the soldier readying his prototype weapon. He was too busy staring at the dead Xenomorph, mutilated by bullet holes to think properly. He had never seen another member of his hive so brutally killed before, and this would be the last member of his hive he would ever see again. Damon was slightly different from the rest of his hive mates in that he was a bit more curious and intelligent thinking compared to the others. Aside from that, he also displayed a grand amount of emotion, more so than the others. The other Xenos accepted their situation and life when Damon accepted it but showed little interest in more. By the time he did turn around, he saw a charged net flying at him. He was so taken back to understand the situation, whether from the effect of the blast or seeing his dead hive member, and collapsed under the electric net. The shock throughout his body rendered him paralyzed and unable to think straight as his complex thoughts screamed at him from all sides. The net had stopped its intolerable shock after a minute but Damon still felt it resonating within him. A quick flash to the shocking of his cell when Thomas came in to help him flew by before continuing in the hive. All he could remember was human figures standing over him followed by a cage surrounding his existence. He felt himself shrink into the cage ever changing in structure but not significance to him. Many faces, all wanting to hurt him, to study him. His knowledge of greater things than just his hive grew exponentially yet he felt so insignificant. A step for beings who had more power than him to use. His whole life didn’t have any meaning but this…

The abstract dream was obliterated when Damon heard a groan causing him to wake from the nightmare abruptly. He had been laying by Thomas’s side long enough in the silence to have fallen asleep. It was hard for humans to know if he was sleeping or not as he possessed no eyelids to refer to. Damon, still waking, finally realized what had woken him up. Thomas had raised his hand to his head not opening his eyes yet as he began to regain consciousness. Damon jolted up with a sudden burst of energy, standing over his friend and anticipating his eyes to open. Thomas took a moment of coming to before opening his eyes, but when he did the first thing he saw was the extremely large Xenomorph standing right over him. The domed head was looking at him with a burning stare, but Thomas didn’t have a moment to think about it all. Before he could even begin to react, Damon jumped at him with open arms, embracing Thomas fully. At the moment it may not have registered that that was Damon for Thomas, but once he felt the familiar embrace of the alien, he relaxed.

After a minute of enjoying the hug Thomas weakly spoke, muffled by Damon’s body, “I’m happy to see you too Damon but I’d like to breathe now.” he said with a laugh.

Damon reluctantly backed off just enough to allow Thomas the necessary room to breathe, still leaning in rather close, “I- Thomas I- I thought you were- Dead.” Damon rapidly admitted amongst his relief.

Thomas rested his hand on Damon's shoulder recalling the movement he felt after falling to the ground, “And whose fault is it I’m not eh?” he asked with a smile, knowing the only one who could’ve possibly saved him was Damon. No questions of their situation had come to Thomas as his mind was immediately ripped away from any worry by the kind Xeno.

It was a weird feeling, one Damon wasn’t quite familiar with which filled him in response to this question. He felt proud but there was a sense of warming which filled his face that he didn’t quite understand. Ultimately, he was happy Thomas was ok.

Thomas’s smile faded when questions began to flow through his head, “Wait.. W- Where are we?! What happened?! Are we in danger?!” he rapidly asked as his breathing intensified.

Damon rested his hand on Thomas’s chest, feeling him relax under the comfort, “We’re fine, we’re fine. Don’t worry. During the shooting I grabbed you and ran to the nearest flying machine and.. By some miracle we escaped.” Damon explained.

Thomas took in a deep breath of confusion almost buying into the idea this was a dream, “Oh my- H- How?” He said, attempting to stand off the table in fear something wasn’t right.

“Whoa whoa, take it easy Thomas. You were just shot by a thing.” Damon said lightly holding him from jumping off the table. Once he succeeded in stopping Thomas, they both sat next to each other on the table, shoulder to shoulder.

Thomas turned to the Xeno and he did the same, “So.. we’re safe?” he asked, the thought just beginning to sink in.

Damon gently grabbed Thomas’s head with both of his large hands to focus both of their attention on each other, “We’re safe Thomas, we made it out.” Damon said with a hint of excitement.

Thomas suddenly jumped at Damon, wrapping his arms around the alien and pulling them into a hug, “Holy sh*t! Thank you. Thank you Damon. You saved me.. How could I ever repay you?” he said, finally beginning to accept it wasn’t a dream.

Damon’s soul was filled with pure joy from the hug and happiness of Thomas, it almost hurt his chest the strength of the feeling, “Well you can start by showing me this world you’ve talked about all this time. I was starting to think you made it up.” Damon toyed.

Gradually pulling back from the hug, Thomas replied, “Ho, well you’re in for a surprise. You have such a large universe to explore and I’d be honored to show you it, sir Damon.” Thomas stated.

“Sir? Pff, humble me, please.. I mean, how hard do you think it’ll be to convince other people I don’t want to hurt anyone? Do you think they’ll listen?” Damon asked with a tinge of serious concern hitting him.

Thomas’s smile diminished for a second, “Well, we’ll have to wait and see really.. B- But I know they’ll come around to see you for who I see you as. I’m sure of it.”.

“Which is?” Damon asked instinctively.

Thomas didn’t take a moment to think, he stared down the Xeno, “A caring, way too intelligent Xenomorph that is better than most the people out there and I’ll be damned if I let anyone see otherwise.” he seriously stated.

Damon couldn’t think of a response to that, he was taken back by the compliment. His face felt increasingly warm again, he had never felt it before and didn’t know what it meant, but he was flattered. There was a moment of silence that came right after that, one which caused a tunnel vision between both of them. For a moment they both looked at each other not saying a word yet not uncomfortable, just relishing in the feeling of success. It was what felt like a longer period of time than it was, staring into each other. As Damon analyzed Thomas’s complex human face displaying so much emotion, his mind delved elsewhere. He thought down a rabbit hole about Thomas, mostly reflecting on their friendship up to this point. A wave of emotion fell upon him he didn’t quite understand, which was becoming a common occurrence around Thomas, things he didn’t understand. His thoughts were derailing from control and explored certain ideas regarding Thomas all within 3 seconds of intimately staring at him. There was something so uncontrollably captivating about Thomas’s kindness to him which pushed his mind to have so much care for him, and that care was starting to evolve in this moment.

Damon’s descending thoughts were brought back to reality by Thomas’s slightly awkward chuckle and breaking of eye contact. He looked off to the side saying, “I um, I’ve never felt so free in my life, it’s nice.”.

Damon quickly pulled together his sprawling mind and looked in the same direction at the blank wall as if it were a fascinating piece of art, “Me neither.” he said plainly while burying his thoughts.

Just then the medbay door hissed open drawing both their attention to Tucker standing in the doorway. His face was relaxed until his eyes landed on Thomas sitting up on the table, “Holy sh*t you're ok!” he exclaimed running up to Thomas, “Uh- how you doing? Are you hurting or anything? How do you feel?”.

Thomas was completely surprised to say the least about his unexpected friend appearing before him, “Wha- ye- yeah, I’m doing fine but, wh- why the- Why are you here? What happened? That’s it! I knew I was still in a dream..” Thomas exasperated, waving his arms weakly.

Tucker exhaled with a laugh, “Nope, just a rather thick brush of luck. I got away, thanks to you, and contacted the nearest UACM base but before I could finish my transmission, a Weyland ship had jammed us. They boarded and took me and Sofia, the pilot of the cargo ship, saying we were spreading classified information. Why did they care? Well, it seems looking for outside help wasn’t just our idea because that Weyland ship which intercepted us was coming to the station. We learned that from the now deceased guard to our holding cell. The rest is history, we got to the station, something happened causing most of the soldiers to leave and then Damon found us while looking for help for you. I can hardly believe it.”.

Thomas let out a laugh, “Wow, that could have been soo much worse. Wait, so who is piloting? Is there anyone on the ship besides us?”.

Tucker sat down in a metal chair next to the table, “Well, Sofia is piloting currently and since this ship isn’t too large, there wasn’t much crew. Any personnel we found who didn’t try to kill us instantly, we have in the brig.”.

Thomas had a sigh of relief, “Ok. Wh- where are we going?”.

“We are on course for the nearest station and should arrive in I don’t know maybe a day, little over. We were pretty far out for any public stations.” Tucker informed.

Thomas smiled, “Wow, we actually escaped.. and all I needed to do was get shot..” he plainly stated in realization.

“I’m excited.” Damon said with a toothy grin like someone waiting to open a present, “Not for the getting shot part, but the ‘we escaped part’.”.

Thomas gave a smile back at Damon’s excitement and before more conversation could occur, the intercom came on with Sofia’s voice, “Hey Tucker, could you come to the bridge?”.

Thomas slowly stood up from the table while Damon helped him until he could stand alone. When they began to walk to the bridge together, Thomas pulled Tucker back, “Hey, I need your thoughts on something.” he asked.

“What’s up?” Tucker asked.

“We are going to a public station right?”

“Yes, why?”

Thomas looked ahead at Damon walking up in front of them, “How the hell are we gonna introduce him in a way that won’t cause panic getting us and definitely him killed by station authorities? I mean what the f*ck are we gonna do?! I’m kinda freaking out about it.”.

Tucker took a deep breath, “I- I’m not sure. After the incident on Sevastopol station a while ago, people’s nightmares are filled with Xenomorphs on stations like these.”

“Yeah..” Thomas admitted.

Tucker noticed Thomas’s great distress over the subject, “Hey, look, we’ll figure it out alright. We got like, a day to think.”.

Thomas sighed, “Ok.. Just let me know if you come up with anything alright.”.

“You know I will.”.

With that, they all entered the bridge filled with panels of controls only Sofia had a chance at understanding. A large window spanned across the front wall displaying the vast emptiness of space outside. Millions of tiny white dots scattered across the black space in a beauty no man could replicate. Sofia was standing, looking out across the scene until everyone entered.

She turned around and was surprised to see Thomas up and moving, “Oh! Glad you're doing fine. I’m Sofia, been flyin’ this thing. Nice to see ya movin around.”

“What’s up?” Tucker asked.

She sat back in a swivel chair, “Ok, I got docking permission at Solaris station but I think we are going to want to discuss exactly what to do when we get there. People are probably gonna want to know why a Weyland ship is docking with 3 non-Weyland people leaving and not to mention a- Xenomorph..” She explained, still not really comfortable around Damon.

Damon looked at Thomas, “Sorry..”.

“Stop it, it’s not your fault. We’ll figure it out.” Thomas said with a reassuring look to Damon.

Sofia went wide eyed in confusion, “Um.. I- sorry, did I miss something or can- did you just-” she tried to ask.

Tucker cut her off, “Oh yeah, forgot to mention, he can- talk to the Xenomorph, like, telepathically or something I don’t know.”.

Thomas shrugged and Sofia exhaled saying, “Well I guess if he’s not killing me then how hard is to believe he can talk..” she said taking just a moment to reflect on that statement then moving on, “Anyway.. We still need a plan.”.

“Why don’t we just dock and leave with the crowd, before anyone could question us. We have no ties to the ship and if we time it right, it’ll look like we just came from some other ship in the dock. I doubt authorities will come to question the ship crew right when we dock.” Tucker said.

“Well, it could work but there’s two problems. One, we’ll need a plan for Damon, but we can work on that separately. Two, what of the crew locked in the brig?” Thomas asked.

Tucker thought for a moment then visually looked as if he got an idea, “I think I can convince them to leave us out of the story. They stay on the ship when we dock, we sneak away into the crowd before authorities get to the ship and then they tell exactly what happened but without including us. It’s easy, there was a conflict between everyone at the station leading to an emergency leaving here.”.

“A sound idea, it may actually work if you could convince them to play along.” Sofia commented.

Thomas sat down, already mentally exhausted, “And what about Damon.. Him just showing up at the docks is probably not gonna go right.”.

Nobody said anything, nobody had any ideas. The room was quiet for a good minute until Tucker finally said, “I’m gonna go work on those crew members, keep thinking.” and left the bridge.

Sofia then turned to put her attention into controlling the ship. Thomas sensed the dull mood and looked to Damon, “Man, if you weren’t so big we could just throw a coat on ya and call it a day.” he said with a smile.

Damon looked up at him, “Well I didn’t choose to be 8 feet tall.. It has really proven to be an inconvenience.” he said sitting down on the metal floor.

“Oh come on, I like your height.” Thomas said before changing the subject rather quickly, “I- it looks- never mind.. Um, how comfortable are you climbing through vents?” he asked.

Damon caught Thomas’s odd change but didn’t question it, “Well, I’ve done it in the past. I actually did it here earlier, I find it interesting to be able to travel without anyone knowing I am. Basically, I don’t hate it but I don’t love it, it’s just- efficient.” he said matter of fact.

Thomas let out a deep breath, “well sadly, you may have to when we get to Solaris. If we can’t come up with a way to introduce you right then and there then we may have to hide you until the best time. Do you understand? I really hate to have you hidden, it must not feel great.. But we really don’t have many options.” Thomas sympathetically explained.

“I get it, kinda. You’re the expert in this, and I trust you.” Damon didn’t like to give up his control over anything but he did trust Thomas who would know better than him in this instance.

Thomas on the other hand felt honored by Damon’s trust, something which isn’t easily given. He understood that. “I’m honored Damon, and hey, can’t be much worse than that intolerable cell right?” he played.

“You aren’t wrong.” Damon stated.

Time passed with Thomas and Damon bouncing ideas around while sitting on the bridge. Sofia focused on the controls, whether she was needed there or just trying to ignore Damon was unknown. It was expected that she would take a while to fully trust Damon won’t kill her. Human instinct and a lifetime of literally everyone saying how dangerous Xenomorphs are will do that to you. The mood was much bleaker than when Thomas woke earlier. Eventually they ran out of time; Solaris station was close enough to be within sight and Sofia was already starting the docking procedures. Luckily most ships had at least similar controls and autopilots. It’s a lot harder to make mistakes when a computer does these complex and intricate controls. As the ship closed the distance between it and the station, Tucker came up.

“Alright, the crew is willing to omit our involvement in their explanation of what happened.” Tucker confidently said as he entered the bridge.

Thomas looked up suspiciously, “Um, how?” he asked.

“Let’s just say I found a pretty good assurance they won’t say anything about us.”.

Sofia interjected, “Ok, well lets hope you’re right about that because we are beginning docking in 3 or so minutes.”.

“Ok, I’ll go let them out of the brig right now. You guys get ready to depart, we need to leave right away before the station guards come asking questions. Did you figure out what to do with him?” Tucker asked, gesturing to Damon.

“Yeah, we’ll just have to go with the vent plan.” Thomas responded and with that, Tucker left back down for the brig. Thomas looked at Damon, “Ok, so you need to just get into the vents as quickly and quietly as possible once you emerge in the storage room. I helped engineer stations like these a while ago, most of the vents should run directly overhead to all the halls and rooms. Just follow where we go and I’ll let you know when it’s safe to come out. If you get lost at all, don’t worry. Um.. Just come back here when the station goes to sleep and then I’ll meet you, ok?” Thomas explained to the Xeno.

Damon nodded confidently, “Will do.”.

Thomas sighed, “I’m sorry it has to be like this, we’ll figure it out as soon as possible, alright?” he said, feeling guilty.

Damon rested his hand on Thomas’s shoulder, “I know.” he said before getting up and leaving for the vents near the connection path. The connection path was a tunnel which extended to attach with an airlock and dock a ship to a station or other ship. There he could exit the ship without anyone seeing him as the connection path to the station has a hollow space under the floor which leads to a large storage room for liquids. Normally, this is how ships refuel on fuel and other necessary liquids. Damon would appear in this storage room which was unlikely to have anyone in it. With any luck, he could find a vent access and simply find and follow Thomas with the others from above where no one can see him. It was a temporary solution to get out of the ship and buy time for a better, more permanent one. Damon had entered into the ship’s hollow space under the connection path, prepared to follow it to the station once it’s extended. Thomas, Sofia and Tucker, after he had released the crew members, gathered at the connection path entrance. In a short moment, the ship shook and had stopped moving entirely. Just after that, the extendable tunnel reached out and connected with the station. Once everything was all clear, the three opened the door and walked down the small path.

They stopped just before the last door leading into the station dock, “Alright, yall ready?” Thomas asked.

All the response he got was a nod of approval and Damon’s voice in his head saying, “Yes.”.

Apparently he could hear Thomas from below prompting him to say one last comment, “We’ll stay by the docks as long as possible so you can find us in the vents ok?”.

“Got it.” Damon replied.

They then opened the door and trying to be quick as well as not suspicious, they moved for the crowd of people. Solaris station was pretty big based on just the docks alone. There were well over 15 docking locations in this section and who knows how many in the station total. Unlike the station back on LV-560, this one had a more efficient system of just connecting ships to it via those connection tunnels instead of storing them completely inside. They had to store the ships completely inside on LV-560 due to the harsh and unpredictable weather that shrouded the planet.

The docks had fantastically large windows embedded in the slanted roof over the docking area. Through these windows you could see ships floating about in the void surrounded by the endless white dots of stars in the far distance. A voice over the intercom echoed down the large space giving important information for news, acceptance to the station and more. The line of docking stations along one wall while the opposite one was full of small stores and services for people just arriving. Large signs, most of them lit up, displayed each of the many shops spanning down the wall. Many people were moving about in every direction as there were at least three different large passenger ships able to carry over 300 people docked currently in this section along with many other smaller ones. Station authorities were moving from ship to ship, understaffed and not caring enough to move fast. The only security Thomas, Tucker and Sofia had to get through were metal detectors. Without triggering them, they moved to blend into the crowd and find a spot to gather their thoughts while waiting for Damon. Soon, they found a hall leading into the station from the docks and right inside it was a quieter corner sporting a vent overhead. The space was out of the way from the moving crowds in the docks and allowed them to relax a little. They waited under the vent cover and analyzed their situation.

They all let out a sigh and Tucker spoke looking out along the crowds passing by, “Well, long as we don’t get in trouble, no one should ask or care what ship we arrived on.” he stated optimistically.

Sofia leaned against the wall, “Oh my god! I wasn’t confident we’d get out of that. Who knows what Weyland would’ve done with us, I’ve heard some.. Stories.” she trailed off.

Tucker turned back to her, “I- I’m sorry to have dragged you into this Sofia. I needed to do what’s right, I’m sure you understand, but either way, I’m sorry. You didn’t need to go through this and thank you for being on board the whole way. If you ever need anything, we’re here.” Tucker apologetically explained. He must have felt some degree of guilt being the reason Sofia was dragged into their situation.

She shrugged it off, “Tucker, you already apologized plenty back on the ship. It was scary at the moment but, definitely the most excitement I’ve had in my life. I mean.. I gotta admit, now that most concerns for that are out of the way, I’m increasingly curious about this Xenomorph.. friend.” A sense of concern hit her, “He is nice right? We didn’t just bring like the most deadly alien species onto a crowded station who isn’t nice right?” she questioned seriously.

Thomas stepped in, “I have talked with him for the past, I don’t know, month? Anyway, I was in the same room as him, we all were. If he wasn’t nice, then I think we would’ve known by now at the least.” he stated equally as serious.

This seemed to calm her down and even Tucker to an extent, “So what’s the plan now?” Tucker generally questioned.

Thomas spoke up, “I don’t want to hold you guys back because of Damon. If you want to get outta here or live without this.. stress, then please, go. I’ll figure it out on my own if need be. My plan was to just get a small place on this station to reside until I can get Damon accepted by society somehow.. That- sounds much harder when saying it out loud..”.

“Don’t be ridiculous Thomas, I want to see the looks on peoples faces when they see Damon isn’t what they think. I mean, imagine it!” Tucker stated, with a comforting grin.

Sofia spoke up before Thomas could respond, “I would enjoy to stay in the loop. Like he said, Damon is erm- intriguing to say the least.”.

Thomas smiled, “Glad to hear it, we’ll need all the help we can get.” he happily said, “I still have a decent amount of money to my name which should support me till I- we can figure out Damon. Once he finds us, we need to get a cheap living space for the moment. Could you actually go find one while we wait?” Thomas asked.

Sofia snapped her fingers, “Oh! I run shipments here all the time, I have a few places in mind that could suit our.. Needs.” she said, happy to offer her knowledge.

“Alright,” Tucker began, “Sofia and I will go find a place to stay while you wait for Damon. We’ll meet you back here, ok?”.

Thomas slid down the smooth metal wall, “Sounds like a plan, thanks guys. It means a lot to me. I hope Damon’s alright.” he said, genuinely worried.

With that, Tucker and Sofia left to go find somewhere he could stay with Damon. They were free from the cruel testing now, yes, but now they were in a much more stressful situation. A much more real one. They were isolated at the Weyland station and now they were thrown into a situation they were lost in how to handle. Everything regarding Damon’s introduction to society had to be done without flaw. One mistake, and they may never get people to see Damon right. The many sounds of the crowds, station noises, intercoms and electrical equipment all fell muffled to Thomas’s ears as he thought of the situation from different perspectives, retreating into his mind.

This rambling thought was cut off by something hitting Thomas's arm as he sat along the hall. His eyes instinctively found the spot and inspected it. Upon touching the liquid resting on his arm, a clear substance and rather thick, he looked for the source. After not seeing any possible one around, his vision gazed slowly up to the roof. There, right above him, was the vent cover and from within starred a black silhouette. Another drop of saliva dripped from the abyss above right down onto Thomas's cheek causing him to flinch at it.

At that moment, he felt a comforting feeling followed by a familiar voice wash over him, “Rawr.” Damon said in a playful voice before switching to an apologetic one, “Wait, I- I’m sorry, did that hit you?” Damon asked, kind of laughing with a low hiss under his breath.

Thomas instantly stood looking up at Damon, “Oh thank God you're ok! I was worried there for a second.. How are you doing?” he asked, trying to not look insane to anyone who happened to be passing him.

“You were worried?”

“I- Well, yeah..” Thomas said, looking out toward the people walking about the docks.

“Well, it wasn't so bad. Just very noisy from up here with all the sounds echoing so much, and kinda hot. You have that to thank for my saliva.. you know.” Damon explained.

“I'm sorry, we'll get you out as soon as possible. Tucker and Sofia are finding a place for us to stay right now.” Thomas informed him.

Damon rested his chin on the vent cover allowing Thomas to see his bottom jaw just barely but not to where anyone else could unless close by, “You don't have to apologize for everything Thomas. To be honest, I'm having fun in this new environment, there's something so interesting about seeing everyone and them not seeing or even knowing of me. Do you get that feeling?”.

Thomas leaned back against the wall, out of the way of Damon’s saliva drippage, “Not really, no.”. He began to wipe away the drop of saliva on his cheek and investigated the liquid on his fingers, “This comes from your mouth?” he asked curiously.

“Not exclusively, but yes. Why?”.

“It's just thicker and slicker than I would’ve thought, and smells very.. oh how do I put this.. eh, masculine?” Thomas pondered.

“Is that bad?” Damon asked cautiously.

Thomas forced his mind off the subject and wiped the liquid off on his shirt, “No no, just unique.” Thomas said, taking a glance up at Damon with a smile.

Before they could say anything else, Tucker came back saying, “Hey, we found a good spot, please tell me Damon found you.”.

Thomas sighed in relief, “Oh thank you, yeah he's right up there.” He gestured to the vent.

Tucker gave the vent a look and a slight wave which felt awkward, “Good, are you ready?”.

“Yeah, Damon?”

“Right behind- well, above you.” Damon said, adjusting himself.

Thomas gave a chuckle and they began walking down the halls, frequently checking above to make sure Damon was still with them. There were sometimes where the vent would turn somewhere the halls didn’t and they’d have to navigate through like a maze, but it was mostly uninterrupted. Solaris station was quite large housing many different places to rent a living space in. The halls were accompanied by advertisem*nts and directions to everything a society needed. It was weird for Thomas to be somewhere besides LV-560 as he’d been there for so long. There was much more entertainment here such as restaurants or places to play games such as pool and more. However overwhelming it was, there was no doubt it was an upgrade. Soon enough, they made it to some low level apartment complex deep in the station. It wasn’t run down or trashed, but definitely lower income than any of the other living spaces on station. It was further from the entertainment and spent no cost in dazzling the place up. They met up with Sofia who was waiting in the dull lobby of the complex. After meeting up, Thomas found the cheapest apartment to rent available and got it. All those years on LV-560, he hadn't spent much of his income and didn’t have to pay for his living space as he never upgraded it. In hindsight, he was glad for it.

Once Thomas had gotten the key to his room, he turned back to Sofia and Tucker, “You get what you pay for on Solaris I guess.”. Thomas looked his friends in the eyes, “Thank you guys so much, I don’t know what I’d do without you. Well, I’d probably be dead but, you know.” he said sincerely.

“No problem, I feel I’m in this with you and besides, I want to help.” Tucker said, waving his hands.

Sofia chuckled, leaning against the wall, “Awe hell. f*ck it, if yall will allow me, I’ve already stolen a ship with you all, I’ll be around if you need it.” she said with a smile.

“Here, you get settled with your friend above,” Tucker said adjusting his jacket, “and I am gonna go find a place to crash for the time being. Then, how bout I come find you once I do, and we can work on this Damon predicament.”.

Thomas held his fist out, “Sounds like a plan.”.

Tucker completed the fist bump saying, “See you later then.”.

With that, Sofia and Tucker left the complex, leaving Thomas in the lobby while Damon abruptly spoke from above, “I like them.” he stated.

Thomas looked up, not realizing he was watching, “Yeah, they’re pretty cool. Come on, let's go to the room.” he said. Upon turning to find his room, the receptionist gave him a concerned look to which he simply said, “What?” as he passed her and went down the hall.

The metal door to the room opened with the key and revealed a small, but respectable living room. It was furnished with the bare minimum of a half decent couch accompanied by an equally half decent coffee table. The walls were metal, like almost every wall on the station, but did have a coat of faint blue paint over them. There was a screen embedded in the wall opposite of the couch for a TV and a softer than metal rug sprawled out across the center of the living room. Upon entering and closing the door behind him, he saw the kitchen. A modest connection to the living room with the basic cooking equipment and fridge. From the living room, there were two more doors. One led to a surprisingly larger bathroom with a decent shower and the rest of the essentials. The other door opened to the bedroom, just a little smaller than the living room. The one bed was a decent size and dressers flanked it on each side. A sad, yet oddly comforting painting hung opposite of the bed in an effort to give someone the idea they were looking out a window. It depicted a vast field of grass, city in the distance, horses running past and the sun rising into the great blue sky.

Thomas stood in the living room and called up to the large vent above him, “Damon, you can come down now.”.

The vent cover in the ceiling burst open, falling to the ground and with it, Damon. He crashed to the floor with a thud and quickly stood. “That was on purpose.” he stated, standing in the middle of the room on top of the vent cover. Fully standing up in the room, his dome came closer to hitting the roof but was still a comfortable distance away. Thomas gave him a look but couldn’t hold back an amused smile and Damon changed his previous statement, “Ok, well I didn't know how much pressure to put on the cover.”.

Thomas just laughed, “You dork. So? How do you like it?” he asked, gesturing to the room.

Damon looked around with a grin, “It definitely beats the cell, that's for sure.” he said investigating the space, “It’s.. weird not being in a cell or surrounded by people who would kill me. It’s.. wow..” he looked at Thomas, smiling so wide his inner mouth peaked out a little, “We did it! We did it! I can’t believe it!” he shouted.

Thomas joined in the celebration, “Yeah! We did it! It’s f*cking incredible! ” he said ecstatically.

They both jumped to each other for a hug, and upon contact Thomas was almost knocked over from Damon’s force. They pulled each other in close, not because they needed to prove to some scientists they were friends, not because Thomas had just woken from the dead, but because they were happy. They had finally not been in a situation where their lives could end in a moment. Damon had never felt such happiness ever, even before being held in a cell, in all his life. On the other hand, Thomas also hadn’t felt such a happiness in a very long time, and he felt content with his life in this moment. For both of them, this moment was incomprehensibly important and impactful.

Damon finally said, after hugging for a good moment in the middle of the room, “Thank you Thomas, thank you.”.

A little spark in Thomas’s heart lit up at Damon’s genuine thankfulness. He felt the happy burn in his chest influx with each beat from his heart, bringing an uncontrollable sense of accomplishment and acknowledgement. It felt like his heart fluttered in joy and he soaked in the feeling until he let his thoughts go a little too far. At once he looked internally and forced the uncontrolled feeling of joy back a little and stabilized himself before speaking. He gently pulled away from Damon looking up at him, “Thank YOU, Damon. I haven’t felt this happy in a long time, so thank you for giving my life a good meaning.”.

Damon smiled down on him, his unique, toothy grin so contrasted with the smooth blackness of his skin. Without eyes, Damon couldn’t show as much emotion and it may be hard for one to discern whether that smile was of happy or malicious intent. This wasn’t the case for Thomas, there was something inside him which told him what Damon felt. Just a small little hint aided by visual cues almost as if that voice in his head he made out as Damon’s, was more than just a voice. Almost as if behind it were some remnant of his feelings or emotions.

“Well, I’ll bet you are hungry after all that, I know I am.” Thomas said.

Damon put his hand to his stomach, “You have no idea.”.

Thomas laughed saying, “Ok, well how bout I go get us some food before you eat someone.” he played.

Damon didn’t get it, “I wouldn’t eat anyone! Unless they deserved it..”.

“I know Damon.” Thomas said with a smile as he looked at himself in the mirror above the kitchen counter. Mirrors were often used in the place of windows when windows couldn’t be used. “Gosh, I really need new clothes. My blood stained shirt doesn’t really look or smell great..” Thomas stated.

Damon was confused, “Well, if you don't like them, then why not just take them off. Why wear them?” he asked plainly.

Thomas was completely taken back by this comment, “Wha- You don't- I can’t just.. take my clothes off er- in front of- others.” he said, suppressing the idea of him taking his clothes off in front of Damon. His cheeks felt warm suddenly.

Damon co*cked his head and rested his hands on his hips, “Well, why not?” he asked, curious if there was something culturally he was missing, which of course there was.

Thomas looked away from his dome, “It's just- erm, human culture to wear clothes in public.”.

Damon put his alien hand to his chin, breathing out a short hiss, “Hm, I'm not wearing clothes, should I?” he asked genuinely.

For a split second, Thomas glanced down to the Xenomorph's crotch then he quickly snapped away in realization. It was crazy Thomas had never even once questioned or looked toward Damon’s crotch, considering he had no clothes on after all. Even though it was a quick look, he saw no genitalia which he had to admit was interesting. “Ok, well.. I am gonna go get some food and new clothes real quick. You stay here and just relax, is that ok?” Thomas asked, moving to the front door.

“Ok, just relax.” Damon said as he watched Thomas leave the room and plopped down on the couch. Hm, I hope I didn’t do anything wrong.. He sorta seemed uncomfortable.. oo, but this is comfortable! He thought as he laid down on the cushion in a fashion which suited his body.

Thomas, after locking the door, walked down the hall thinking. Oh my gosh.. What am I thinking.. Where did that even come from?.. But, why was there no- I thought he was male? You know what? It doesn’t matter! It doesn’t matter! I can’t be thinking this.. I just gotta focus on getting him introduced right to society. Thomas thought, clearing his mind. It was going to be a hard task to introduce him and he had no idea where to start. He was so hung up on that introduction that he forgot he was living with a Xenomorph who had zero clue what anything was. A Xenomorph who was completely depending on him to survive. Was he in over his head? There’s only one way to find out. By trying his damndest.

Chapter 14: A New Life

Chapter Text

The Xenomorph stared at the hamburger in his hand, feeling the texture of the bun under his fingers. Damon inspected the food for a good minute, looking under the bun and showing a degree of interest in each aspect of the sandwich. “Smells very different from the food I know. It smells.. good, though I’m struggling to figure out what this is.” he said, poking the bun to watch the bread rise again.

Thomas, who had been staring at him for the past few minutes while he inspected the burger, laughed, “Dude, just eat it already. It’s meat on bread, but this meat is cooked more than the sh*t they gave you back in the lab.” Thomas said with a hint of hatred for that place.

Damon shrugged and began eating the burger. Before Thomas could take his second bite, Damon had already eaten his entire burger. He looked up to Thomas, “Is there anymore?” he asked innocently, the shredded remains of the sandwich in his hand.

Thomas smiled, “Yeah I figured you’d want a few. I knew you’d like it.” he said, handing the Xeno more.

Damon was stunned by how good they tasted compared to his previous diet of practically raw meat thrown to the floor. “They are as good as you described! Thank you, I don’t think I’ve ever had food like this..” Damon said, content with his burger, trying to savor the taste of this one and not swallow it whole.

They finished their food, enjoying each other's company over random conversation. Thomas turned on the TV to give Damon something to watch, even if it was just news. He began making a list of ways to introduce Damon to society while sitting on the couch with him. He was growing more and more worried with the whole subject as it was taking up his entire mind. The paper he had gotten for listing their possibilities and ideas was a mess of scribbled out options and frantic notes. He had been at it, almost in silence for a good 45 minutes, zoned in on his thought process.

Damon, fully immersed in the news on TV, asked Thomas while watching it, “Hey, what’s an epidemic?” he asked curiously.

Thomas had been blocking out the noise of the TV to think better, “It’s like, an outbreak of a disease somewhere. Though I can never remember the difference between that and a pandemic..” He trailed off for a second before going back to looking at his paper. “Wait, why?” he asked after the question finally made its way to him.

Damon kept looking at the visuals on TV, fascinated, “The person in the TV says epidemics are declining. If they are a disease then.. Is that- good?” he guessed.

Thomas took the opportunity to look away from his paper to check the screen showing a reporter in front of some statistics then to Damon, “Um, yeah. Definitely a good thing. No one likes diseases.” he said, making himself chuckle. Damon had such an innocence about him when asking questions like that. It was that innocence that drove Thomas so strongly now down the path to give Damon a better life. He took a moment, looking at the Xeno’s face which was staring in awe at the electric screen displaying things he didn’t completely understand. Thomas, after a moment of staring, caught his mind seeing the Xenomorph as cute. He had never seen Damon like this before, but something just clicked in his perception of him. Why does he kinda look cute? He looked back down to his paper but couldn’t stop his mind from describing Damon that way.

I really need to focus on this, I can’t be thinking.. I mean, it’s just a simple description right? It's not a bad thought that way I guess.. Whatever.. Thomas thought, trying to get back into his brainstorm.

Thomas looked back to his paper and a minute later, Damon spoke again, “Weyland Yutani. Isn’t that the thing that was the reason I was held captive?” Damon asked in a disapproving voice.

Thomas, still analyzing his paper said, “Yup, that’d be them.”.

“Hm, well, I don’t like them very much.” Damon stated with confidence in his opinion.

“Ha, you and me both.. Wait. Why are they on the news?” Thomas asked, looking up to the screen. It was showing a press conference with a head of Weyland Yutani on a podium addressing a crowd of people. It looked like they were on a planet, but hard to tell which one. The guy was neatly dressed and held a supernatural confidence around him, even when being questioned by various people from the crowd.

The head on the TV spoke out to the crowd once they ceased their talking, “I’m aware of the rumors coming out of LV-560, but rest assured, we are looking into what exactly happened. We have the situation under full control.”

One in the crowd shouted out, “Is it true there was a Xenomorph alien on that station?” they questioned. Apparently rumors had already spread, or existed beforehand, of Damon’s existence there. That company has had some suspicious events surrounding it for a while. Either way, the head didn’t seem to like the question.

They adjusted their stance, “There was no Xenomorph at that station, and the public has nothing to worry about. Based on initial investigations, there seems to have been an airlock failure in the hangar. We mourn the many station staff who were killed in the incident.” After saying that, they began walking off the podium while the crowd asked more questions.

Thomas sighed in a feeling of defeat, “How are we gonna convince anyone you’re not a killer? Everyone has their mind made up.. They’re scared, and fear brings out the worst in people. Damon,” Thomas said looking to the Xeno’s dome which looked back at him, “I’m scared.” he said, struggling to keep full composure.

Damon could easily sense Thomas’s fear, especially now that he wasn’t trying to hide it. He rested his arm around Thomas's neck to comfort him, pulling him into a close side hug. “It’s gonna be fine Thomas, I know you’ll figure it out.” he reassured him. Damon held so much gratitude toward Thomas, and hated seeing him upset. Seeing him upset, would upset Damon. A complicated system of emotions pulling and pushing one another and as much as it hurt him, Damon loved it. He wanted nothing more but to comfort his friend at the moment.

Thomas leaned into the alien chest, the unstoppable wave of security and comfort working against his fear. He let out a long breath, “But what if I can’t? Maybe.. Maybe I can’t.. Maybe- you would be safer somewhere else.” Thomas said regretfully.

Damon was confused, “Where else could I possibly be more safe than with you?” he asked almost angrily.

Thomas sighed into Damon’s body, “W- You need- a place where Xenomorphs are accepted.. A hive.. Your hive.. I could find it and..” Thomas said, trying not to show how much he hated saying that, but it felt like it was a valid option he should bring up. Thomas felt Damon’s breath catch through the sharp rise in his chest at that before he interjected.

“...no.”.

Thomas closed his eyes, “But what if-”.

Damon cut him off, “No. I’m not going back to any hive. I’m not going back to my life before. I’m not leaving you.” Damon said, emotionally taken back by the latter statement. He felt the warmth from Thomas’s skin in contact with his naturally cooler skin in comparison. It lulled him.

“I don’t want- I can’t be the reason you die. I don’t know if-” Thomas said, fidgeting with his fingers.

Damon held a strong voice, “Thomas, I’d rather die trying to be something more than just a Xenomorph with you, then spend the rest of my life in some cave with others like me.” he stated confidently.

This calmed Thomas down significantly, and he sat in Damon’s embrace after a moment and said, “Ok.”.

They sat there for a while together, watching the TV in a peaceful silence. The news had switched to a jumble of random commercials advertising anything from new coffee machines to a new line of communication antennas for ships. For the first time since he made it, Thomas didn’t even think about the paper packed with his ideas. He let his soul feel comforted and safe under Damon’s strong, alien arm. The oddly satisfying slickness and texture of Damon’s skin pressed against his neck and the side of his face.

Damon broke the silence, “I still don’t understand how this thing works.” he said with a smile knowing Thomas would explain it to him. This was almost always a way to get Thomas in a good mood, and Damon couldn’t lie to himself, he loved hearing his explanations.

Thomas cleared his throat, “Ok. I’m no expert, but I know that this screen is basically just a bunch of tiny pixels or uh- squares. Those squares light up in a specific color to create an image and multiple images stringed together make a video. I think that’s kinda how it works.”.

Damon huffed, “How do you come up with that?”.

After a second, Thomas found his response, “Centuries and centuries of ideas followed by trial and error.”. A knock sounded through the apartment coming from the front door. Thomas rose up out from under Damon’s arm, and walked to the door. He opened it to reveal Tucker on the other side, also dressed in some new clothes. Thomas shouted, “Hey! Wasn’t sure I’d see you for a few days at least.”.

Tucker laughed, “Well, I found a great place to stay for a bit and wanted to check in on ya. You know, make sure you're getting settled in alright.” he said, entering the apartment and closing the door.

“That’s great! We’re getting used to it, was just watching some TV and having to explain everything to Damon.” Thomas said with a smile.

“Hey, not everything!” Damon played, knowing it may well have been.

Thomas sat down at the table separating the small kitchen from the living room and Tucker followed. Damon continued watching the TV as Tucker began, “Ha, well, you’re probably gonna have to get used to that. How are you settling in?”.

Thomas looked off toward Damon for a second who was still distracted by the TV and talked in a lower voice, “Yeah. not bad. He’s just so.. How do I say it, innocent. Ignorant. I really just wanna do right by him.” he said in a sympathetic tone.

Tucker took a look at Damon, “Well, I kinda see it, but you definitely have a very different view of him. I still have to tell myself he won’t kill me when I see him.” Tucker said, turning back toward Thomas.

Thomas did the same, looking back at Tucker, “I’d like to thank-”.

Tucker cut him off, “Nope, no more thanking. I’ve gotten enough thanks from you.” he said, playfully serious.

Thomas simply smiled, “Well, how is your place?” he asked.

Tucker leaned back in the metal chair, “It’s actually nicer than my place back on LV-560.”.

“I believe that.. Did you see the news? That Weyland head who was addressing what happened?” Thomas asked.

Tucker took a serious look about him, “What? Wh- What did they say? Anything about us?!.. Or him?” he said, gesturing to Damon.

“No no, just giving a cover up story and saying that they were looking into its cause. Though, apparently there were rumors regarding Damon..” Thomas explained, trailing off in thought for a moment before shaking his head.

Tucker picked up on the behavior, “Well, it doesn’t seem there is any link tying us to what happened, I’m sure we’ll be fine.”.

Thomas, upon thinking about that statement, looked up to Tucker, “What did you tell those crew members to keep them from including us in their story of what happened? That is just, well, a link.” he asked.

“I tried to reason with them, and explain our situation, but that didn’t seem to be enough. Once I knew I was running out of time, I- pointed out that we have a Xenomorph which.. Could find them in the case they told people about us.” Tucker solemnly said, “I- I know Damon wouldn’t. But I needed assurance and with little time..”.

Thomas looked down, “I understand. I’m sure he would.”.

Tucker checked his watch in the brief moment of pause, “I really need to get back to my place and finish my job application for the military. They’re probably wondering why I never showed up. Considering I couldn’t use ‘Weyland Yutani kidnapping me’ as an excuse, I’ll have to just come up with some random reason.” Tucker explained, standing up.

Thomas walked with him, “Yeah, that’s probably for the best. Let me know how that goes.”.

Tucker turned around to face Thomas, “How bout you meet me for lunch tomorrow? At that small deli place we passed coming here.” he proposed.

“Oh! Yeah, sounds like a plan.” Thomas said.

Tucker smiled, “Great, see ya then. Bye Damon!” he said, waving over Thomas to the alien sitting on his couch.

Damon waved back, “Goodbye Tucker!” he excitedly said, yet still distracted by the wonders of the TV.

Thomas gladly repeated, “He says goodbye.”.

Tucker chuckled at that and left the apartment, leaving Thomas and Damon alone once more. With the door closed and locked, Thomas sat back down next to the Xenomorph to look at his paper of ideas with a new attitude, a more positive one he hoped. Before he did so, he looked at Damon, “Wow, you really enjoy watching that, don’t you?” Thomas asked.

Damon looked away, down to Thomas sitting right next to him, “It truly is fascinating. Sorry if I seem overly distracted by it, I just love hearing all the words and seeing all the images I don’t understand.” Damon explained, sounding really passionate about the topic.

Thomas co*cked his head, “If you don’t understand them, then why?”.

Damon playfully punched Thomas’s shoulder, “Because it shows just how much more there is for you to teach me!” he played, though being completely serious.

Thomas couldn’t help but laugh at the comment and enjoy the moment. He sighed a heavy breath, “You’re lucky I really enjoy showing you things, the way you-” Thomas abruptly stopped himself from going further, “I, better get back to thinking.” he said, moving to analyze the papers of thoughts drawn out across interconnecting ideas. Some better than others, none good enough, yet.

Damon looked over to Thomas who was looking at the papers intently, “the way I?” he asked, not sure if he was missing something.

Thomas didn’t look at him, “Nothing, lost my train of thought.” he responded.

Damon accepted the response and looked back to the TV to take in everything being displayed in. They spent the next few hours sitting there, only talking sometimes mostly about stuff Damon would see on TV. Thomas had written down many possible ways to introduce Damon, but struggled to feel comfortable with any of them. No matter what they chose, there was a chance things could still go wrong, and if things went wrong.. Thomas didn’t want to think of that. He hoped to go over the few prevailing ideas with Tucker tomorrow for lunch. Perhaps he’d have a new view, a new idea, something. Thomas felt desperate, and time seemed to be against him as Damon couldn’t stay hidden forever. The day grew late as the hour was 11 PM, time on Solaris was determined by the on station time system through the clocks. This was a set time to give the station a uniform day and night schedule everyone can follow.

Thomas turned off the TV via the remote and stood, “Alright, I think it’s about time we head to bed.” he said.

Damon looked up to him, then to the black screen, then back to Thomas, “Ok..” he agreed despite wanting to watch more. He yawned, causing his inner mouth to jut out a little.

As Damon stood up from the couch, stretching his black frame, Thomas opened the door to the bedroom, “Oh.. Um, well.. Hm..” he expressed.

Damon looked over to him, still flexing his fingers, “What’s up?”.

Thomas was looking into the bedroom housing just one decent sized bed as he rented a one-person apartment. “Well, there’s just one bed.. Here, you can get the bed, I’ll take the couch till we can figure something out.”.

Damon moved to the bedroom with Thomas and looked upon the neatly made bed, “What is that?” he asked.

Thomas smiled, “Why don’t you jump on it and find out?” he suggested.

Damon looked to him as he nodded in the direction of the bed, “Ok.” he said before diving onto the mattress front first. The Xenomorph barely fit length wise on the bed, his toes hanging off the edge in the position he was in. His figure bounced on the comfy mattress instantly messing up the sheets. He laid still while Thomas’s smile grew, and eventually spoke, “wow.” was all he said.

Thomas sat on the edge to take off his socks while Damon rolled to his side, looking at him, “It's nice to see you enjoy the bed, you deserve a good place to sleep for once.” Thomas said.

Damon paused feeling around the sheets and huffed, “You always say I deserve this and that, but it doesn't feel like it.”.

Thomas looked back to him, laying there on the bed. It was a weird sight for him because he had never seen a Xenomorph in a bed before obviously and his brain told him something was off. The more human activities Damon did, the more human he seemed. Thomas just smiled at the thought and took it for a wholesome scene, “Damon, you lived a life no emotionally complex living thing should. You deserve a good life like anyone else because you earned it. f*ck, you moved me enough to break you out.. kinda. That's.. you've been wronged, misjudged, and it's high time you live a life without that.” Thomas explained, finding himself emotionally frustrated.

Damon smiled, “You see something in me I can't even see. I.. thank you for that.” he genuinely said.

Thomas rested his hand on Damon's leg, “Likewise Damon.”. There was a moment of the two looking at each other and then Thomas was hit with a sudden tension that he responded to by blinking and standing from the bed, looking away. “Well, I uh- should head to bed, pretty tired after today's ventures.” He said walking to the door.

Damon sat up, “wait! Why aren't you sleeping in the bed?” He asked.

Thomas turned, “Um.. I- it's not big enough for the two of us.” He said and sighed, “Here, let me help you with the covers.”.

Damon agreed, “Ok.” and sat up while Thomas threw the covers over him. Under the blankets, Damon felt the comfort of the sheets and exhaled deeply in a relaxation he had never imagined. He looked up to Thomas standing over him, “I like this a lot.” he plainly stated.

Thomas just smiled and began walking to the door. When he got to the doorway he turned to the Xeno feeling around under the covers, “goodnight Damon.”.

Damon looked over at him, “You sure you don't wanna sleep in the bed, it's really comfortable… I could move over?” He proposed.

Thomas sighed, “The couch should be fine.”.

Damon laid his large dome down on the pillow emitting a low hiss when doing so, “Well, if you change your mind, I'll leave some room.”.

Thomas closed the door after a second of thought, then laid down on the couch in the dark living room. The sofa was rather small and required him to adjust often just to stay comfortable. He couldn’t sleep; Thomas found himself lying awake, staring into the darkness until he finally said to himself, “f*ck this.”. He got up and walked back into the bedroom toward the bed. This isn’t a big deal dude, just a bed, he told himself repeatedly as he lifted the covers on the side of the bed Damon wasn’t on. Damon must’ve been asleep as he didn’t say anything and his soft breathing indicated just that. He snugged into the covers, feeling the presence of the Xenomorph behind him. In one way, it was ominous, in another, it was a sense of security. Either way, Thomas closed his eyes and was able to quickly fall asleep next to Damon.

Slowly coming to, feeling the sense of waking up under the covers, Thomas opened his eyes. For the first time he was able to sleep without a lingering fear of what was to come the next day. He definitely feared, but that fear was reserved for when he was awake at the least. This allowed him to get some good sleep through the night. Now he found himself on his side, facing the wall, under the blankets and Damon’s arm. The alien’s hand hung over his shoulder and Thomas could feel his shallow breaths behind him. Damon had to sleep on his side or in an upright position due to the dorsal tubes on his back. As awkward as it felt to be in the same bed as Damon, Thomas had to admit to himself that it was comforting. Part of him wanted to get up and out of bed right away, but part of him wanted to stay there, under the Xenomorph’s arm. He glanced over at the clock on the nightstand which read ‘11:29’ and dropped his head back down on the pillow. With a deep sigh he thought, Damn, guess I slept in.. I should get up soon to meet Tucker for lunch.. I’ll give it a few more minutes. With that he laid there, enjoying the stress free moment and even getting over the little awkwardness he felt when under Damon’s arm. Once it was past 111:40 however, he tried to shimmy his way out from under Damon’s arm and out of bed. Damon woke from the movement and Thomas heard his voice from behind him as he sat upright on the side of the bed.

“I see you had enough of the couch.” he smirked.

Thomas looked over his shoulder at the alien looking back, his dome still lying on the pillow, “I figured I’d take your offer after I realized the couch was too small.”.

“Did you sleep well?” Damon asked, stretching his legs under the covers.

“Very well, you?”

Damon leaned his head back into the pillow, “I don’t wanna leave this bed.”.

Thomas chuckled and turned to stand, “Well, I gotta go meet with Tucker for lunch but you can sleep some more.”.

Damon grabbed the covers and pulled them up close, “Good cuz I’m not done here.” he drowsily said, “Have fun.”.

He probably hasn’t had a good sleep in forever, let alone in a bed.. Thomas smiled at the thought, At least he seems happy.. He straightened up then headed out for the corner restaurant Tucker was talking about yesterday. He made sure to lock the door behind him and in a few minutes he found the place. It was decent sized with the glass windows peering into the various tables and chairs. Most of them were occupied by the rush of people looking for lunch from all over the station. He met up with Tucker and they talked over lunch.

Thomas started, sitting down, “Hey, so how’s the application going?”.

Tucker leaned forward to rest on the table, “Actually pretty good. They didn’t even ask about my sudden absence these past few days. Passed the tests they’ve sent me so far and last I heard, I may be shipped out to wherever they want me, to train soon-ish.” he explained, excitedly.

“That sounds great dude!” Thomas congratulated, “Glad all that has happened isn’t getting in the way..”.

Tucker shrugged, “Guess they’re desperate enough to grab up any volunteers. I heard they might be starting to draft soon in the inner planets.”.

“Really? Damn. I’ll hate to see ya go.” Thomas said, trying not to sound too sad about the subject.

Tucker pressed his lips together, “Yeah,” he began, regretfully, “I really need to get another job for my family. I’m hoping to visit them on my way to wherever they want me. I hate to leave you.. Like this, But, I really am forced.”.

Thomas raised his hand slightly, “I understand. I hope the best for you, and them. Don’t worry about me, I’ll figure it out. Gotten this far, right?”.

Tucker nodded, “Yeah no, you got a point. You and Damon.. You have something real special there. I know you’ll find a way and hey, maybe I could help you, from the inside.. Reasonably, of course.”.

Thomas smiled at the offer, “Thank you.” he sighed, “I’m just really.. I don’t know what to do regarding Damon. You and me are the only ones who see him for who he is, who he can be.”.

“You convinced Sofia,” he pointed out.

“You have a point..”

Tucker leaned back, “Well, think about it legally, as boring as it is.. There’s no law I can think of preventing Xenomorphs or any aliens from becoming citizens.”.

Thomas co*cked his head at the thought, “Ok.. Citizenship, that could work. But what of the stupid order to kill any Xenos found by the government in the name of ‘security’?”.

“If Damon can get citizenship before any military asset finds him, then that would nullify it.”

“Hm,” Thomas thought, “It’s the best play I can think of. H- How would I go about doing that?” he asked.

“Well, it’s simple really. Just set up a meeting and a small council will- oh my god..” he said putting his face in his hands.

Thomas leaned forward, “What?”.

“He can’t talk. No council could grant citizenship to a Xenomorph based on your words alone. Best case, you get sent to an asylum, while Damon gets killed.” Tucker explained, frustrated.

Thomas slumped over in defeat. They spent the next 30 minutes discussing possible ways to convince people, anything. Nothing substantial was found. In an effort to slightly change the topic, Tucker asked, “How’s Damon doing?”.

Thomas laughed, “He’s in heaven over a bed right now.”.

Tucker joined the laughter, “Oh my- He’s never been in one has he?”.

“No, I woke him up this morning trying to get outta bed and he was like ‘I’m not done here’!” Thomas said, embracing the laughter.

Their brief laughter ceased eventually, “How’d yall fit in the same bed? Isn’t he like.. Much bigger than you?”.

Thomas shrugged, “It’s not too bad, he gets two thirds and I get one, ha.. That’s.. Not like, weird or anything, right? That we slept in the same bed.”.

Tucker thought for a second, “Where else you gonna sleep? I mean, you guys are so close, it’s probably only as weird as you make it.”.

Thomas sighed, “You’re right.”.

Tucker picked up on the expression, “Did something.. Happen?” he asked.

Thomas looked up, shocked at whatever Tucker might be suggesting and at the idea in general, “Wa- What? No, no.. Nothing happened. I was just.. In my head about it.”.

“I get it, your uneasiness. He is an alien like 2 times larger than you.. You gotta remember though, he doesn’t know anything about human culture or- other things. He’s remarkably ignorant.” Tucker explained.

“Yeah, you’re right. Just waking up under his arm kinda.. Threw me through a loop.” Thomas said with a chuckle.

Tucker mirrored his chuckle, “If you don’t like it, then just tell em.”.

“Yeah, thanks.” Thomas responded.

They chatted for over an hour about many different things, mostly future plans. Once they were done, they agreed to meet up again tomorrow. Thomas figured Damon would be hungry so he stopped by the deli to pick up some meat and bread. On his way back, he also grabbed a movie and music player for Damon. By midday, he made it back to their apartment, entering and calling for Damon. The Xenomorph’s tail laid across the floor from the kitchen and a second later, popped out his dome from around the corner.

He was in high spirits, “Hey, you’re back! I was just looking for something to eat.”.

Thomas’s eyes widened, “You didn’t try to operate the oven, right?”.

Damon blankly stared at him, “I’m gonna assume no.”.

Thomas laughed, “Ok, ok. I brought you some.” he said, handing him the food, “I also brought you something to watch.”.

Damon co*cked his head, “Interesting.”.

Thomas began the movie after heating up the food and sat down beside his unique friend who didn’t wait any longer to begin eating. He grabbed up his piece of paper and studied it, drawing up plans which never went anywhere. He jotted down ideas, connections, anything which could help. This went on for the first half of the movie. His mind was racing with such thoughts and he quickly lost track of his breathing. What about- no.. Maybe- no. But I could.. No.. Wrong, not gonna work, nope, stupid, wrong, wrong, wro-

“Hey?! Are you ok?” Damon said, concerned.

Taking a deep breath, Thomas put down the paper, “No, just struggling to- you know.”.

Damon rested his arm around Thomas’s shoulders, “Don’t beat yourself up about it. We have time to find a solution. How bout you help me understand what this movie’s about cuz I cannot figure out why the guy in a suit is getting chased by the other guy in a slightly nicer suit and where are those explosions coming from?” He asked with a grin at Thomas.

Thomas, for a second, thought about bringing up the awkwardness he thought he felt and talked about with Tucker regarding Damon’s arm around him, “Can you- I-”. He looked up at the Xeno dome staring back genuinely and suddenly felt no awkwardness but felt comfortable. He felt content under Damon’s arm and decided against bringing it up because he wasn’t sure he was in fact uncomfortable but perhaps over-thinking. He embraced the moment, and the temporary relief from his stress. He leaned into Damon's chest, “Well, the guy getting chased stole something from the guy chasing him.” he explained.

Damon relaxed and focused on the movie, “Ok, so he’s bad.”.

“Normally, yes. But here, he stole something so that guy doesn’t use it for bad things so he’s good.”

“Hm.. and the explosions?”

Thomas chuckled, “Dramatic effect.”.

They both spent the next two hours enjoying the movie together where most of their conversations were simply Thomas explaining stuff to Damon. There was a moment in their happiness when Thomas thought back on their relationship. Just a few months ago he was performing his mundane job under shady corporate executives. He would’ve never found Damon had he not explored that tunnel so long ago. His life now was so abstract compared to before, he barely could believe it. Upon this reflection, he looked back at his life before this all, before Damon. He felt his breath catch and realized how happy he really was in the moment, especially when compared to how he felt everyday before. It became apparent to him now, Damon needed him, and he needed Damon. His mind separated himself from the situation for a moment, This is nice, Damon is so.. No.. What am I thinking? What AM I thinking!? How could I- I can’t allow my mind to drift into fantasy, especially with Damon. That’d be.. No, that’d be completely outrageous.. Right? Yeah… Yeah…

The day grew long and their movie finished leaving Thomas to go back to brainstorming while Damon watched TV or entertained himself in some way. Thomas was laser focused on his research that he didn’t even hear the knock at the door. Damon poked him with his sharp nail, being sure not to cause any pain, “Hey, the door’s makin a sound.” he explained.

Thomas looked up, jared, “Oh.. Sorry. Here, stay here, I’ll get it.”.

“Ok.” Damon responded.

Thomas got up and moved to the door. He checked to make sure Damon wasn’t visible from there and proceeded to open it. There was a decently dressed man with a neat black beard and glasses standing there. He was breathing a little heavy but greeted Thomas instantly, “Hello, Thomas?”.

Thomas matched the hand shake and leaned against the wall, “Um.. Who’s asking?”.

The guy shifted, “I’m here on station security. I’m looking for Thomas who, by my knowledge, recently rented this apartment.” he asked.

Thomas’s expression stiffened, he took a moment to think, Uhh.. This guy is weird. “Wh- Why are you looking for him?” he asked, trying to sound casual and uninterested.

The guy cleared his throat, “Well- um.. I was simply told to look. Does a Thomas live here?” he asked, annoyed.

Thomas stalled, “Told by who?”.

The guy sighed, “We got a call to check for a Thomas who recently entered the station. I’m not sure why, not my concern. Look, I got like 15 other places I gotta check today so can ya answer me?”.

Thomas got what he needed, “Yeah, yeah- sorry. No, I believe the previous resident may have been Thomas, but like you said- I erm, just moved in so- ya know.” he made up on the spot.

The guy thought for a second, “Alright. Thanks for your time.” he mundanely said.

Thomas stopped him from leaving, “Is this something I should worry about?” he asked, taking his concern for other things and making it appear as if for this.

The guy paused, then waved his hand, “Na, no worries, probably just some corporate employee who ran away with a pen. Nothing to worry about.” he said with a smile.

Thomas could even tell it was forced, he backed into his apartment, “Alright, thank you, and good luck.”.

The guy walked off down the hall, reviewing the clipboard he held for wherever he was to go next. Thomas closed the door and moved back into the room taking a breath of relief lined with stress. “Who was that?” Damon asked, “Why was he looking for you?”.

Thomas sat back down on the couch, “Someone from security, supposedly, who got a call to look for me.” he replied.

Damon moved, adjusting his long tail so it wasn’t bunched up behind him, “Well, maybe they were looking for another Thomas?” he said sarcastically with a hint of hope.

Thomas leaned back on the cushion with a chuckle in appreciation of the joke, “There’s always a chance I guess. I’ll bet you money that Weyland called them and probably any other station they could to discreetly look for me- us before doing any actual searching themselves. That would be expensive and time consuming for them, which is slightly in our favor there.” he explained.

Damon thought for a second, “And that didn’t work, right?” he questioned with his finger on his alien chin.

“No, so we now know Weyland is looking for us, but we should have some time. Hopefully it’s enough.” Thomas said, looking off.

Damon noticed this sense of stress in Thomas, “If anyone can do it, it's you Thomas.” He stated seriously.

Thomas smiled but couldn't help but feel more pressure to figure their situation out. I have one shot at this, and not much time. Odds are against us… I better get to work.

Chapter 15: Exitium Ascensus

Chapter Text

Blackness. Shouting. A gunshot ringing out… Tears. Emptiness. Regret.

Thomas jolted awake, sitting up instantly in the bed while breathing heavily. His heart was racing as he put his head in his hands to try and calm himself down. Damon placed his large, tender black hand on Thomas’s shoulder, the long alien digits helping calm his tension. The room was dark, too dark to see anything. It had been a week since they first moved into their apartment, Thomas had spent the better part of it obsessing over what they were going to do regarding Damon. Tucker had met up with him everyday to talk things out, but they’ve made no progress. The constant stress was eating him up, and it was getting to be a strong enough emotion for Damon to feel as well.

Damon’s voice was soft despite being startled so abruptly, “Hey.. It’s ok, it’s ok.” he reassured.

Thomas took in a deep breath; this constant stress was getting to him easier than he thought, “Thanks Damon, just a bad dream. Sorry to wake you.”

Damon huffed, “No need for sorry, I was barely sleeping.” he said, holding himself up with his arm while comforting Thomas.

Thomas laid back down and faced the black Xenomorph who did the same in the black room making him practically invisible, “You weren’t?” he asked with some concern thinking Damon wasn’t sleeping well.

Damon gulped, “Um, no. I- just wasn’t so tired so I just was- watching you sleep.” he admitted, fiddling with his fingers under the covers.

Thomas rubbed his eyes, “Wh- Why?” he asked, still sleepy.

“You have been so busy and stressed these past few days and you look calm when sleeping.” he explained, “I like when you’re calm. It makes me calm.”

Thomas sighed, “I’m- sorry, I’ve just.. you know.” he said looking down, sad at the fact he was upsetting Damon unknowingly.

“I do.”

“How are you even able to see me in the dark?” Thomas asked, the question coming into his mind as he thought about how he couldn’t see Damon.

“You can’t see me?” Damon asked.

Thomas squinted, “Nope, I can’t see anything. Just black, some black, and more black. Then again.. Your skin is, well, black.”

Damon thought to himself, That’s why he’s.. Really close.. He really can’t see me? Hmm. “Well I see you just fine.” he said.

“Wow,” Thomas expressed, “That’s impressive.” he said, reaching his hand forward to find Damon. After a second his hand pressed softly into the Xeno’s chest, able to detect the rib-like pattern on it. “Found ya.” Thomas sleepily played, his eyes threatening to close any second.

Damon wasn’t expecting that and his mind lit up at the contact, Oh! He’s.. ohhh.. His hand is so- soft.. His heart picked up the pace under Thomas’s hand as his mind grew wild, Why does that- hmmm..

Thomas left his hand there for a second before removing it and snuggling into the covers, “I should get some sleep.” he said, “and so should you.”

Damon’s mind snapped back and he realized what had appeared between his legs. Racing through thought, he told Thomas: “Uh- hey, I’ll be right back. Need to go to the bathroom.”

Thomas rolled onto his back, half asleep already, “Ok, but watch your tail this time. You know you don’t like it when it touches the bowl.” he advised.

Damon quickly left the covers and crossed the room telling himself, He can’t see me, he can’t see me. He was supremely embarrassed this happened again but both times, Thomas never noticed. Locking himself in the bathroom he sat on the toilet to think. Why! Why did he? Why did I? I mean.. His hand was really soft and it did- feel.. Kinda nice.. Damon thought, his breathing picked up just thinking about it. I really shouldn’t be thinking this way, he’s got enough on his plate.. Saving me.. He smiled so wide at the thought and his heart ached in a good way which he wasn’t used to. He couldn’t help but think of Thomas a little when relieving himself before returning to bed. By the time he did come back to bed, Thomas was fast asleep and he too fell asleep rather quickly by his side.

The morning went like usual, Thomas got up first and began making breakfast. At the smell of the food, Damon always made his way out before it was done. They both sat on opposite ends of the small rectangular table separating the kitchen from the living room. The metal chair didn’t fit Damon well, but it did have an open back allowing his tail to comfortably slide through to the floor. Thomas still found it interesting watching Damon eat with the way his inner maw jutted out for the food.

Thomas broke the silence, “Hey Damon?”

Damon looked up, still chewing, “Yeah?”

It sometimes still threw Thomas off to hear Damon’s voice while not seeing his mouth move, “Would you ever want to wear clothes?” he asked.

Damon paused to think, “Hm. Well, I’m not sure. I don’t know why I would. Why do you?”

“Um. I er- people wear clothes to protect ourselves a little and to cover our body cause it’s comfortable. Was just curious if you’d ever want to.” he explained.

“Guess I wouldn’t mind trying.” he responded and continued eating.

Thomas nodded after a minute, and once he finished his significantly smaller portion of food, said: “Alright. So you know I’ve been working real hard on a way to get you into society and to be honest.. I can’t find a great way. I’m lost and out of ideas as we run out of time.” he sighed, “Do you truly want this?”

Damon paused eating and looked Thomas in the face recognizing this was suddenly an important conversation, “More than anything, well, almost anything.” Thomas made a confused face at the comment so Damon pressed on, “If there’s a chance you can get hurt.. I want our- friendship, to never end. That, I want more than anything. Honestly, this life I’m living now, ain’t so bad if that’s how it has to be.”

Thomas smiled uncontrollably, “I agree. However, there’s one option I haven't brought up yet. One we can try, but it does have some risk.”

Damon sat up straight and leaned in, excited as his tail flung behind a bit, “What?”

“We could be direct. We’ve been looking at ways to build you up and get accepted but those are too slow and have too many possible factors. The idea is in premise, we look the government straight in the face, and show them, prove them, that you deserve to be part of our world. One factor, them.” Thomas said, hyping himself up a little.

Damon looked off in thought, “I don’t understand this complex system of government but.. It does sound possible. I think it’s the best plan you’ve come up with. Least amount of chances for failure. I trust you to know what’s best and if this is it, I’m in.” he said with a cheeky grin.

Thomas picked up his plate and stood, “Great! I’ll talk to Tucker today about it and.. We’ll start as soon as possible.”

Damon continued eating, doubt beginning to fill his mind with anxiety. Possibilities, many, many possibilities. Most of them were bad, but in some, he saw a future which seemed worth the risk. Now more than ever, he was nervous. Thomas seemed convinced this was the best way, which helped Damon get on board. After they finished and cleaned up, they both watched the TV together for a while. Thomas was sitting on the couch next to the Xeno, and suddenly was hit with a regretful feeling. Damon had expressed how he disliked the stress I had felt for the past week.. This is the first time he’s been free in years and he chose to trust me this whole time. All he’s done is sit in this room for a week while I am swept up in my work.. He thought until he got an idea. Picking up the remote, he turned the TV down and looked to Damon who returned the attention, “You know what?” Thomas said, “We are gonna have a competition!”

Damon co*cked his head, “Competition? What for?”

Thomas looked at him intently, “Fun! aannd.. The winner gets to, I don’t know, have the loser do something funny of their choice. How’s that sound?”

Damon grinned, “Hmm, I’ve never played games.. Ok, I wouldn’t mind beating you in a few games.”

Thomas scoffed, “Oh, it’s on my alien friend!”. Thomas then grabbed out a piece of paper and drew a small grid on it, “Ok, here’s a classic game that’s been around forever.”

Damon inspected the grid on the paper, “Ok.. what’s so special about these lines?”

Thomas then drew an X in the center of the 3x3 grid, “It’s simple, the goal is to get three in a row and we exchange turns. Here, you now draw an O somewhere and first to get three in a row, wins.” Thomas explained.

Damon took a second to figure out how to hold the pencil then proceeded to draw an O in the top middle square. After a couple games of ties, Damon finally got it down, and after attempting to predict Thomas’s moves, he cornered him in a checkmate or.. Tic-tac-toe-mate?

“My god.. How did you? You just beat me at Tic Tac Toe? You literally learned this game like 5 minutes ago!” Thomas said in awe.

Damon grinned, “It’s a game of prediction, I like it.”

Thomas was kind of proud in a weird way of him, “Ok, nice. New game. Umm, let’s try pictionary.” Thomas said as he readied a new paper.

Damon leaned back in confidence, “How does this one work?”

“The premise is that I begin drawing something and you have to guess it before I’m done. As long as I have a fair drawing, then if you don’t guess it, I get a point.” Thomas explained, “You ready?”

Damon put his hand to his chin, “I believe.”

Thomas began drawing, making sure to draw something the Xeno would know. He was 45 seconds into drawing the hamburger, being sure not to make a terribly bad depiction. Damon was throwing guesses out, “light! Hmm, vent? Door! No? Hmm, Oh wait.. Isn’t that the delicious food thing, ahh, a- what was it..” Thomas began smiling as he wrapped up the picture but before he finished, “Hamburger?” Damon guessed, not sure it was the right word.

Thomas dropped the pencil and looked at him, “You jerk! I was this close to finishing.” he said, laughing and playfully punching Damon.

Damon had a sharp, quick pang of fear he did something wrong as he interpreted Thomas’s playfulness as true emotion for a second. This emotion was so abrupt and strong, Thomas felt it. He wasn’t sure what or where the feeling came from but after a second, Damon understood the playfulness and with that, the feeling dissipated. To Damon, it was a quick misunderstanding he got past as quick as it had come, but Thomas was confused why he felt such a feeling at that moment. He decided to forget it for now and move on. Damon began drawing his picture while Thomas took guesses at the crude shape which started as a circle. As Damon filled out the space under the circle, Thomas got it, “Person?” he guessed.

Damon looked up with a smile, showing his sharp white teeth, “You got it!”

Thomas celebrated for a moment before asking: “You realize I gained a point from that right?”

Damon flexed his fingers, “Yeah, but that says that my drawing was good enough to understand. That pencil is annoying to hold.”

Thomas laughed and a couple rounds later, he had secured more points than Damon making their total games won to 1:1. They spent another hour playing quick games they made up on the spot, tracking who won each while listening to music. They played anything from who could drink a glass of water the fastest to who could balance the most food box items on top of each other. They were happy and carefree, Damon couldn’t believe it was real. In the end, Thomas had four points and Damon had seven.

Thomas sat down at the table near the kitchen while Damon stood embracing his victory, “Oh yeah!” he yelled, “What’d I tell ya!”

Thomas couldn’t help but smile despite him losing, “Yeah yeah, I’ll be sure not to pick an arm wrestling fight with someone over two feet taller than me.”. That caused Damon to laugh at the memory, “So, what do I have to do?” he asked.

Damon ceased his celebration in realization that he had to find something funny for his friend. After a moment of thinking and observing the room around, he said: “stand up please.” with a grin.

Thomas did so, facing Xeno, “Well?”

Damon picked up a marker on the table from one of their drawing games and took a moment to figure out how to hold it again. His alien digits fiddled with the small object that wasn't made for his hands. Then, with a smug grin, he pulled the marker up to Thomas’s forehead and began writing. He held back the urge not to laugh as he wrote out his words across his forehead. After a minute, Damon was done and leaned back to appreciate his work. The hissed laugh of Damon told Thomas just how much he was enjoying this.

Thomas sighed with a smile of amusem*nt, “Oh boy..”

Damon watched in self satisfaction as Thomas made his way to the mirror in the kitchen to see what was on his forehead. Once he got there, Damon came up behind him, “Soo, whatcha think?”

Thomas laughed at the “Bested by an alien” crudely written across his forehead saying: “You’re such a dork.”

Damon put his hands on his hips, “Says the one with ‘bested by an alien’ on his head.” he commented with a grin.

Before Thomas could come up with a comeback, knocks at the front door sounded out. Both Thomas and Damon were startled, stepping backwards from the door. Thomas stepped into Damon causing him to trip which in turn, tripped Thomas as well. Falling backwards, Damon’s tail whipped up in his effort not to land on his dorsal tubes. The tail flailed toward the counter, knocking off their drinks right onto them. Thomas landed in Damon’s chest while he landed on his side enough to not hit his dorsal tubes. He had hit them hard before and it was extraordinarily painful as they are so sensitive to detect an atmosphere's chemical makeup. A split second after they landed, their drinks landed on top of them, covering them both in a mix of lemonade and water. There was a moment where they both fell silent and then out of nowhere, they began hysterically laughing. It took all of his strength to climb to his feet, but Thomas made it up, still laughing. Damon moved to his knees and accepted Thomas’s hand to help him to his feet. Damon was expectedly heavy and almost dragged Thomas back down to the floor if he hadn’t grabbed onto the counter. With Damon back to his feet and them both covered in lemonade, Thomas made his way to the door, trying to suppress his chuckling. Thomas opened the door asking, “What’s up?” to the young guy on the other side.

The guy was energetic and held a clipboard saying, “Hey! You looking for a new security system? Because I got a good deal for anyone who takes this offer.”

Thomas felt his wet shirt drip a little and tried not to laugh, “Um, sorry but, we’re good thanks.”

The guy had a look of confusion, “Alright, have a good one.” he said before leaving for the next door.

Thomas retreated back into the apartment laughing to himself as he entered the kitchen again where Damon was putting the cups away. “I can’t believe we are that clumsy.” Thomas said, leaning on the counter.

Damon turned to face him, “I can, but now I’m all sticky.” he said, looking down in disappointment.

Thomas realized he was as well, “Yeah, that makes two of us. Here let's go wash up, I need to go meet Tucker soon.”

They then made their way to the bathroom and Thomas began washing the words off his forehead. Damon just stood there awkwardly for a moment before saying, “Whaaat, you’re washing that off?”

Thomas looked up at him, the words beginning to fade, “I sure ain’t going out like this.” he said laughing, “You can go ahead and shower, this might take a minute to get off.” he said looking in the mirror.

Damon took two steps toward the shower, standing in front of it, inspecting, “Ok, I know this is a shower, but I don’t know what it does exactly or how to use it.” he said while inspecting the curtain on it.

Thomas turned, “Oh, right.”. He then showed Damon how to use the shower and watched as the alien figured it out. “So, have you ever had a shower?” he asked.

Damon, watching the waterfall in awe, said: “No, it’s- captivating.”

“You’ve never had a shower? Then how the hell do you not smell awful?” he asked in surprise.

Damon shrugged, “I don’t know.”

“huh,” Thomas expressed, “Is this temperature fine?” Thomas asked.

“Yes,” he said, looking at the water.

“Then- get in and wash off.”

“Ok..” he agreed, not moving an inch.

A moment went by and Thomas asked: “Everything alright?”. It was then that he noticed the slight fidgeting Damon was doing with his hand.

“This won’t- hurt, right?” Damon asked, breathing heavier. He was drawing comparisons from this to some of the water torture methods used on him during his captivity. He was getting to himself, breaking his cool.

“No, I promise.” Thomas said, picking up on Damon’s breathing and his tail which was swaying anxiously. “Here,” he said, gently grabbing the Xenomorph forearm and hand. He then slowly guided Damon’s hand to the water and felt as both their hands entered the fall of the water. The pattering of the water drops on their hands made for a delightful sensation under the cooler liquid. Thomas watched Damon’s hand relax slowly as he held it.

Damon’s breathing became deeper and slowed as his hand entered the shower one leg at a time, “Ok, ok. This feels nice.”

Thomas helped guide the Xeno into the shower, avoiding getting himself wet, “See, it’s not here to hurt you. Are you ok?” he asked, trying to keep his eyes up even though he had no idea how Damon worked down there. His mind did wonder quickly while watching the water fall down the Xenomorph frame. His body had a natural slickness to it but Damon was borderline shiny when wet. Thomas couldn’t help but feel an attraction to the scene which shocked him.

Damon felt as the water ran down his dome and body which was enjoyable but he still felt an uncomfortableness in it. “Can you stay with me?”

“Um- uh.. How bout I stay in the bathroom and just close this curtain a little.” he said, closing the curtain which wasn’t tall enough to block the Xenomorph’s head sticking out the top.

“I can still see you so I guess this is fine.” Damon said as he began washing off.

Thomas went back to getting the words off his forehead in the sink and analyzed why he felt a little awkward but enticed at the same time. He allowed his brain to drift a little through various thoughts and play out fictional future scenarios. In most of these, he and Damon convince the government to allow Damon’s citizenship or at least safety. This exercise helped him prepare for possible scenarios that could happen but in one future his mind made up, he pictured his mouth connected with Damon’s. The image shocked him as it came up so quickly and with such strength. In a way, the image scared him, in another, brought a sense of curiosity to him. He tried to push the scene away but couldn't get it fully out of his head. He was scared to admit it, but he was aroused. took until Damon’s voice came into his head asking how to turn the water off for him to break the deep thought trance he was in.

“Just turn to the lef- right, the knob to the right.” he answered, realizing he was smiling at his thoughts. He took a moment to clear his head and reset while Damon came out of the shower.

After a short time, Damon appeared behind him with a towel, “Where do I put this?”

“Uh, just over there. I’ll be out in a minute.” he said, closing the bathroom door behind Damon as he left. Thomas then finished his shower and was glad to get out of his sticky lemonade soaked clothes. After drying off, he found no new clothes waiting for him. I swear I brought in clothes.. Must’ve left them in the bedroom I guess. He thought as he wrapped the towel around his waist and left the bathroom.

He began walking across the living room to the bedroom when out of nowhere, Damon said: “Oh, that’s what you look like under that.. Interesting.”

Thomas looked over at the Xenomorph sitting on the couch who was staring at him. It had always been hard to tell exactly where Damon was looking due to his different optical biology but Thomas had a feeling it wasn’t at his face. He felt his face warm up and couldn’t think of anything to respond to the comment.

Damon didn’t stop his stare, “I’ve just only ever seen you covered in clothes.. This is- interesting.”

Thomas felt the need to say something instead of standing there while his face became red, “Uh- ye- yeah.. Nothing much.” he said with a forced chuckle at the end.

Damon co*cked his head, “I wouldn’t say nothing, I mean, I find it- interesting, the- differences in your structure.” he said, not hiding his unique interest in Thomas’s body well.

Thomas’s heart was racing and Damon was not good at hiding anything in his voice. This was probably due to the fact that he talked telepathically which came with some emotion tied to it and that Damon has never had any practice talking with anyone let alone lying. Something wasn't as it appeared but Thomas couldn’t think about that as his face was turning red, “Well, likewise.. I’m gonna- go get changed now.” he said and moved for the bedroom hiding his face. He closed the door behind him and took a deep breath before changing. He stayed in the bedroom a few extra minutes to calm himself from being embarrassed yet slightly flattered.

Damon sat out on the couch blankly staring at the TV playing something he wasn’t focused on. He grinned to himself deviously while processing what had happened. I shouldn’t have done that.. But.. I was curious what he’d look like and- interesting.. Hmm, hopefully he doesn’t question why his clothes weren’t in there. Damon thought with an almost proud sensation about him.

Eventually, Thomas left to meet up with Tucker at a different place, a coffee shop. It was a smaller place that overlooked a large center space near the middle of the station. The area had shops lining its edges up to three stories high. In the middle stood a large replica of the station with small lights shining up upon it. It being the middle of the sation’s day, there were a lot of people moving about in this space. They sat at a small table next to the railing above the space, hearing the communal voices of many people below.

Thomas began, “Alright, so me and Damon talked today and-”

“You figured out why he has two mouths!” Tucker played.

Thomas smiled, “No.. Though now I do wanna ask him that. Anyway, we decided that the best option is to go directly to the government and tell em everything.” he explained.

Tucker leaned back and thought for a moment, “Well.. it’s risky, but does make sense.”

Thomas was pleased to hear this wasn’t immediately shot down, “I mean, we don’t have the time now that Weyland is looking for us so this seems the best option.” Thomas said, looking out over the space below.

Tucker shrugged, “You have a point. Have you ever thought.. I don’t know, to maybe not pursue.. this?” he said, gesturing to the space they were in, “It just seems so unbelievably risky and, I don’t know.. I don’t wanna see you guys dead. Damon is such a rarity and..” he trailed off.

Thomas looked down, sighed, “I have thought about that. I actually brought up bringing Damon to another hive, but he seemed to really dislike the idea. I just don’t want to waste his life, you know.”

“I get it, but you may wanna prepare for the worst. It wouldn’t hurt.” Tucker said.

Thomas took a drink, “You’re right. Things are just so.. Stressful right now. So uncertain. I feel like the world is fighting against us. There’s just so many things that could go wrong.”

Tucker looked into the crowd below, “Exitium Ascensus.” he said. Thomas looked up to him in confusion so he pressed on: “It means ‘Destruction to ascent’, the message being that with destruction comes ascent. The idea that once you find yourself or anything at the worst it can be, things can only get better. You could also see it as meaning for the best things in life to happen, some bad must occur first. I don’t know, I just find it useful in times like this.”

Thomas was surprised, “Wow, I- that’s really interesting. Where’d you learn that?”

“My mother had a way of reassuring people that I never understood.” Tucker said, taking a sip to hide his strong emotion.

Thomas felt bad for him, “I’m sorry you haven’t been able to see them for so long, I’m sure they’re proud.”

Tucker looked at Thomas, his eyes shiny, “Thanks, that- means a lot.”

Thomas wished to change the subject for Tucker, “How’s the soon to be job going?” he asked.

Tucker cleared his throat, “I actually was asked to come out to a different station for training.. Tomorrow, but if you are gonna go straight to government and present yourself then I could go with you on my way there.”

Thomas nodded, “Yeah, that’d be nice.”

Tucker took a drink himself, “I’ll try to set you up with the right contact but understand that you’ll be presenting yourself in front of a bunch of paranoid politicians. Be careful.”

Thomas smiled, “Thanks dude, we’ll prepare and when it’s time, we’ll be ready. Just swing by the apartment tomorrow when it’s time to leave.”

“Alright,” he agreed, “You ever hear from Sofia?”

Thomas shook his head, “No, but I do have her contact information still.”

“Hm, I haven’t either. Was just curious, but seriously.. you gotta find out why Damon has two mouths.” Tucker said, causing them both to laugh, “I mean come on! Or at least find out what those tube things on his back are.”

Ceasing laughter for a moment, Thomas said: “I’ll be sure to ask next time I talk with him.”. They talked more in detail about the plan tomorrow and near future for some time before Thomas found himself on his way back to the apartment. He stopped by a store to pick up another movie he figured Damon would enjoy. He seemed to enjoy action movies as the story wasn’t required to understand the action. Damon’s gonna love this, can’t wait to get home and think about something else for awhile. Then again.. We’ll need to prepare him for any sort of presentation. Thomas thought as he entered the complex and moved down the hall for his apartment. Arriving at his door, Thomas pulled out the movie to surprise Damon once he entered. He smiled, staring at the cover for a moment at the thought until his focus shifted to the floor at the base of the door. He co*cked his head and knelt down to inspect the discrepancy. A small piece of metal, cylindrical in shape, rested right before the door. Thomas picked it and inspected the jagged piece of metal figuring it must have belonged to something bigger. He looked at the door as he stood and saw the knob was broken. Suddenly his curious smile shifted to a look of fear. He was terrified as his heart sank.

Instantly, he busted open the door to reveal the trashed room. Rushing into the space, he saw the lights out, scratches upon the walls, chairs broken and knocked over. His vision lowered to the four bodies lying across the floor, blood surrounding them and the scene around. Some were thrown against the wall with scrapes across their faces while others had gashes in their frame. Three of the four wore heavy armor with rifles now all torn up while the last wore just normal clothes. Thomas then noticed the W-Y patches on their uniforms, they were with the company. They found them.

Thomas’s head spun and his brain told him he was having a nightmare. Frantically looking around the torn up apartment he yelled out, “DAMON! DAMON!? Where are you!?”. He paused in the middle of the room, noticing a hole in the floor. Acid. Acid? Acid?! Damon’s hurt?! Damon’s.. No no no.. This can’t be happening, this can’t be happening!

Thomas fell to his knees under the open vent, surrounded by corpses. Nothing but fear filled him as his mind denied the possible death of his alien friend. He couldn’t even think of the idea; it was incomprehensible. Damon was hurt and loose on a station of hundreds if not thousands of people thinking the world is out to kill him. Thomas thought as his mind slowed down to process the scene. He stared blankly yet with fear filling his eyes as his heart rate elevated along with his breathing.

“f*ck”