Alien: Isolation (1st POV Ripley Edition)

#15

Finally, Anesidora.

The ship that brought all the trouble to Sevastopol.

The ship in which Marlow may be at this very moment with the kidnapped Taylor.

A ship that is probably full of monsters and their little spider-like offspring.

I sigh and go into the darkness that attracts me. Will it swallow me?

Ricardo informs me that the relationship will end soon due to the distance. Understandably. The more advanced technology that the WYs use is not available to the public I guess. But whatever.

Careful, I move through the interior of the ship. It is very dark and only my flashlight illuminates it.

Apparently there is not enough electricity. So...I have to activate the generators in the engine room to go full blast. That's my first assignment.

Ahh!

At least slowly, I entered the dark chamber where I saw two large dark oblong figures, familiar, in an attack pose...

The light works here because it flashed and illuminated the scene.

And look!

They're not monsters, just pieces of machinery. Very much like the creatures of a nightmare, but nothing like that.

I calm down quickly so as not to get myself into unnecessary trouble. Because if something is lurking in the corridor behind...

Despite the caution, the ship appears to be mostly empty. From what? Everything. There are no corpses either. No lighting. Not much equipment either. Only corridors, dark, empty, deserted. But after I crank the generators up to max and the lights above me turn on, I hear a familiar voice. Marlow.

- Ripley. Welcome to Anesidor. Do you want to join my crew? There are many empty seats.

I can't tell him anything because we're not on the same radio link and he knows it. He's talking to me right now on the ship's loudspeaker.

- Taylor is here, right now. You're looking for her, aren't you? Come and find me. I have a surprise for you.

Honestly, I grin. I don't really have much concern or sympathy for Taylor. She played a vicious role for the WY who want to get their hands on the creature and its bio-sample. Why would they do that? And why not? Because of bio-weapons, chemical preparations, solvents for engineering purposes or battle poisons like no one has ever seen before... Yes, all these horrible possibilities are made possible by Taylor if it is her will. Maybe she's just stubborn and thinks she's doing her job, not bothering with morals and ethics and consequences, but I can't do that. I can't ignore the effects of a space creature, not after I've met him face to face many times.

As if understanding my concerns, Marlow comes back on the loudspeaker. He clearly loves the sound of his own voice.

- Ripley. Your mother encountered this being. Shit, maybe she's done with his species. If she was here with me, she would help me. I'm sure of that.

He paused.

- My wife Foster. I tried to save her. I did everything to make it happen. It was stupid of me. Stupid. And that's why the following will happen. Either we prevent and destroy any evidence of this species' existence, or suffer the consequences. Because when a being makes contact, we've lost. And that's why I won't allow it. Not at all.

Only you talk, Marlow. I will find you and save you Taylor. Although I understand him, I do not sympathize because he behaves dangerously and murderously and who knows who he plans to destroy on his way to destroying evidence of...

Oh shit! He's probably planning to ram Anesidora into Sevastopol and destroy them both! Possible!

***

Caution was in order. While moving towards the part of the engine room with the fusion engines, which is a separate compartment, and where Marlow and Taylor are probably located, she came across several chambers. Dark, semi-dark, some full of equipment, some hospital beds, and one full of boxes.

And then, look! A squeal and the box in front of me began to roll. The creature lunged at me.

The flamethrower did its job. I didn't even blink, and the thing was already fried. I continued on without the slightest hesitation.

The last corridors towards the fusion engines were somewhat unstable and seemed to descend, into some valley of the ship, let's say. Trembling, evaporation...a very unpleasant experience of this place has remained in my memory forever.

And then, there.

Behind the glass I had a sight to see!

Marlow has Taylor in his sights. At the same time, he is doing something with the ship's engines, and he tells me to go to the console and check the data. I have no choice and I do it.

And then it becomes clear to me. My mother. Her audio message. So everything becomes clear to me. She survived the creature, but none of her crew did. The ship Nostromo was destroyed, and she is floating somewhere in space, having survived even in hibernation. The universe is vast and I'll probably never meet her, but at least this is something. I can even move on with my life if I survive these horrible events. I'm out of breath and crying, but I feel incomparably better. I learned what was important to me. In a way, everything else becomes much easier for me now.

Good thing I pulled myself together because chaos ensued.

Marlow spoke. Yes, I guessed. He admitted that he intended to overload the engines and ram Avesidora into Sevastopol and destroy them both. All this so that no one, especially WY, would find out about the existence and location of the monster that makes life more difficult for all of us.

Taylor protested, saying there were more men on Sevastopol, but Marlow was adamant. He threatened her with a gun and continued talking. However, he made a mistake.

At one point he turned his back on her. While he was mentioning his wife, she knocked him unconscious with a machinist's tool. Then together we tried to prevent overheating of the fusion engines. It wasn't easy, but we almost succeeded. Almost. Taylor activated the consoles on her side and I deactivated them on mine. But Marlow, the bastard, somehow made the system unstable. Even though his plan to ram Anesidore into Sevastopol obviously failed, somehow he still managed to create a disaster.

Anesidore's engines heated up and a chain reaction began. Fires, explosions of wiring from compartment to compartment, starting from the engine room.

In one impossible moment, Taylor flew into the glass from the force of the miniature explosion. One hard hit, and she was definitely dead. I screamed in horror, but nothing could help her.

Faster than ever before, I ran through the ship while everything around me was falling apart. Eventually, even the artificial gravity broke down, so I managed to reach my emergency medical shuttle with the last of my strength. I broke away at the last minute.

Sevastopol, even the refuge of countless monsters, was now my only salvation. It was a fast and tense trip.

Docking at the miniature dock, I heard a muffled hum and something like an earthquake. Remains of Anesidore? Rest in peace, Marlow and Taylor. Even though you were finished, you were lucky not to be finished off by a grey-headed hissing inhuman monster.

And me? For me, unfortunately, that possibility is still generously open.