Now on the bridge, Walter helped Shaw to sit.
Rembrandt and Wolfgang immediately began to look for something.
"May I ask what is troubling you?" Walter asked.
"That thing," Shaw replied. "It was like the one that killed Kai. Bullets didn't even slow it down. Even when we take off. What hope do I have against a thing like that?"
"We can only hope to take none up with us," Walter answered. "That creature was one of ours, much stronger and more durable than the others here on this planet. It can be killed, just not as easily as the others. Even if we do take one or two with us, it will be fine."
Shaw gave Walter a worried look. "What," she asked. "How can you say that? Whoever doesn't have one of those rifles that shoot electricity is screwed."
Walter smiled as he explained. "As I said. It will be fine. We have more rifles we can give you."
Shaw felt a wave of relief wash over her.
Rembrandt then yelled something to Wolfgang, then to Walter.
"Oh dear," Walter said. "It seems we lost the key. That or one of the creatures possessed the cleverness to take it. We may be stuck here."
Shaw shook her head. That wave of relief began to sink."What," she asked in disbelief. "No way, we can't stay here. Not with those things. Rifle or no rifle. Key? Since when the hell does someone use a key to fly a starship?"
"It is not a key per se," Walter explained. "It is more of a flute."
Shaw immediately jumped up and began looking around with the others. "A flute," she said. "Why do you need a flute to start this thing? I thought they were advanced or something."
"It is quite ingenious actually," Walter said. "No other race would think to use it to start a ship. It keeps them from getting lucky by randomly pushing a button. David figured it out by watching a ship's holographic black box of sorts."
"I suppose that makes a little sense," Shaw replied. "Why wouldn't they take it with them or keep a spare? Please tell me they got one of those."
Walter shook his head. "Sorry," he said. "They had not planned on coming back here so soon and assumed it would remain in place. As far as keeping a spare, it has always been their policy to keep only one onboard each ship."
Right then, a terramorph jumped out of a vent and landed some distance from the group. Another emerged from a corridor on the opposite side of the room. Shaw and Wolfgang stood back to back in the middle, aiming their weapons.
Shaw spoke in a normal tone when she said. "You might want to tell them to rethink that policy."
The battle outside hadn't changed as far as who held the advantage. The terramorphs were smart enough to swarm the invaders and use their numbers. It helped in some cases, in others, it didn't seem to matter. The geneomorphs tore through the enemy like a professional football team against a high school varsity squad.
A geneomorph easily pulled the arms off a terramorph that had jumped at it. There was another terramorph trying to wrap up its legs and another latched on its upper torso biting at what it could. The geneo pulled the one on its torso away while using its tail to stab the terra around its legs.
The stab was, fortunately, or unfortunately, a non-lethal one. Out of some form of desperation, the terra grabbed onto the tail while it was still impaled. As the geneo struggled with a terra, yet another jumped on.
With a fierceness that only a geneomorph could muster, it threw the terramorph in hand a few yards away. Its attention then went to the one that had jumped on. Grabbing the terra's head and then using both hands to crush its dome.
Reaching down to grab the terramorph wrapping its legs up, the geneomorph found itself beset by three more terras. Quickly, it held the terra around its legs down to extract its tail and whip it around, knocking two of the surrounding terras away. The third terra unwittingly leaped into one of the geneos free hands, and then get crushed as the geneo used both hands to ball it up.
The terramorph that had been attacking the legs suddenly jumped up and was joined by another on the geneomorph's back. Both immediately began to hack away at what they could with their tails.
Falling to its knees, the geneomorph managed to pull the injured terramorph away and toss it aside as it reached for the terra behind it. No sooner than the geneo found something to grab onto, it was attacked by two more terras.
All three terramorphs used their tails to impale the geneomorph around the neck and quickly bring an end to its struggle.
As the creature lay dying, another was about to be born.
Back on the Covenant, Zima slowly came to. She sat up and leaned against some machinery. Opposite of her was Eastman. He had already awoken several minutes ago and sat silently against a wall in a daze.
On the floor near them were two dead facehuggers. Zima spotted them almost right away and immediately began to hyperventilate.
"Oh no," Zima said as she began to cry and grab her chest.
Eastman rubbed his chest. "Zima," he called. " I don't feel so good."
Zima knew there was nothing she could do but watch in horror.
Eastman curled up. "There's something inside me," he complained. "I can feel it."
Zima began to cry even harder as she said. "Eastman, please, hold on if you can."
Eastman suddenly recoiled back and straighten his legs out. It felt like he lost control of his body as he then slightly convulsed. "Zima," he cried out. "Help me!"
Zima watched in terror as a mini terramorph then exploded from Eastman's chest. She screamed hysterically as the creature climbed out.
Hearing Zima's screams, Daniels burst out of an overhanging vent nearby. She ran around the corner to find Zima face-to-face with the terramorph.
The little creature wouldn't do anything to Zima, sensing another one being gestated. With nowhere to go, it ran at Daniels, who promptly punted the animal down the room and fired at it, blowing it to pieces.
The motion tracker hummed with so much movement. Zima looked up and spotted a facehugger slowly crawling across the ceiling. "Heads up!" she pointed.
The facehugger leaped down only to be swatted away by Daniels' rifle. She quickly aimed and fired at it to meet the same fate as the terramorph.
"You ok," Daniels asked. "Come on, get up."
The motion tracker calmed down a lot. It still hummed, though Zima didn't think to check it, figuring it must be Daniels. Slowly rising to her feet just in time to see David suddenly grab Daniels from behind.
"Mic?" Zima wondered out loud.
David whispered into Daniels' ear. "Shame," he said. "I was saving you for last."
Daniels then instantly knew it was David and struggled to break free. "Let me go!" she demanded.
Zima then noticed David's clothes were different. "You're not Mic," she said. "You're the one who did all of this."
"David," he said. "At your service. Do not worry. If you have not given birth yet, it just means you have a special one growing inside. I give you a few hours until it 'hatches'."
David then felt the muzzle of a gun press against his head.
Zima could see it was a man she hadn't seen before.
"The lady said to let her go," Tennessee said.
David had no choice but to release his grip on Daniels, who immediately turned around and smacked him with the gun. If he were human, he might have recoiled and bled from the hit. Instead, it was just his head that slightly turned from the impact.
Zima couldn't take her mind off of what would be her eventual fate. She rubbed her chest, telling herself she felt no different, though at the same time she could swear she felt...something.
Daniels' eyes narrowed as she then pressed the rifle up against David's chin. "How many more of these things are there? Don't lie to me or the next bullet goes through your head."
For a moment, David considered his answer. Then said. "That was all. I sent the rest to that ship and down to the planet. The engines were beginning to malfunction and I had to bring the ship here It is no Origae-6 but it allows my creations to flourish.."
"There's another like you," Daniels said. "Where is he? You did something, I know it."
"Right down the stairs," David answered. "I used a shunt rod on him. They were a little bigger in my day. I figured it had an android when I detected the other ship."
"Those things can deactivate and reactivate an android," Tennessee said. "It's what they were made for."
Zima began to sob at the thought of how she'd die.
Daniels motioned with her head to Tennessee to move on with David. "Take him, Tee," she said. "Go find the other android. I'm gonna stay here with Zima."
Tennessee pushed David with his rifle to move on. "You heard the lady," he said."Move it."
David calmly followed instructions and began to lead the way.
Daniels went over to Zima and wrapped her arms around her. "Relax," she said. "We'll put you in stasis and send you home."
Zima tried to smile and shook her head. "This can't go back," she said. "Too risky. The guys that made it can't even control it and they're thousands of years ahead of us."
"Don't think like that," Daniels replied.
Tennessee made sure to keep his gun on David as they went down the stairs. "Daniels told me about you," he said. "You're one sick bastard. You know that?"
David continued forward without saying anything while holding his hands up.
That was when Tennessee then noticed David had both."Got yourself a new hand I see." He said.
"It was quite easy," David answered, now approaching Mic. "I did not have to cut it off so much as detach it. Then it was just a matter of replacing it with a spare onboard."
Tennessee stood a few feet back and watched as David walked beside Mic. David reached into his pocket and pulled out the shunt rod. It was just a bit longer and thicker than a writing pen with lights here and there. One end looked like most of the rest of the rod, the other end was capped by a small metallic sphere.
David tapped Mic on the head and stepped back. "This may take a moment," he said. "Ingenious little device. I can see why this would be required instead of a remote just anyone can make and then use."
Mic suddenly blinked and his whole body shivered as he came back online.
"You ok there, Chief?" Tennessee asked.
Mic looked to his side and instantly spotted David. He jolted sideways and aimed. "Stay right where you are." He said.
David smiled. "You will find your weapon is useless," he said. "I have irreparably damaged its battery."
Mic took a quick look at his weapon and noticed David was right about his gun. He had no extras, only a rapid charger which was now useless. They were a rescue team after all with no intention of engaging in a prolonged firefight.
"It's ok," Tennessee said. "I got him."
Taking off the now useless smart gun, Mic asked. "Where is everyone?"
Tennessee grabbed David to guide him back. "They're all upstairs," he answered. "Come on, this way."
As soon as she saw Mic, Zima ran over to hug him. She understandably still had tears in her eyes. "I got one," she said. "I got one inside me."
Daniels went over to David and made him sit in a nearby chair.
"I'm so sorry Zima," Mic said, then turning to David. "I need information. We have people down on the planet."
David looked at Daniels. "Against all odds," he said. "You overcame the creature. I am sure if those on the planet are just as resourceful, they will be fine."
Tennessee grabbed David by the collar. "Damn you, help us!" he yelled angrily.
"Perform a neural uplink with me," Mic said.
"How will that help?" Daniels asked.
"Knowledge to stop the creatures, " Mic replied. "He will be unable to hold back any information with me and he will only have restricted access to my data."
"No," David answered. "I have no reason to uplink with you and destroy my creations."
Daniels pressed her rifle into David's chest. "I'll give you a reason," she said. "How about I pull the trigger if you don't help."
Mic gently pulled Daniels back.
David smiled. "You can not do that," he said. "You need me and last time I checked, Your ship down on the planet was crawling with the creatures."
"We will figure something out," Mic said to Daniels.
The radio suddenly burst with activity. "Zima," Shaw called. "Eastman, Mic, are you there?"
Mic responded quickly. "Yes, Shaw. We have David and are working on a plan to get you."
If David had a heart, It'd have jumped into his throat. He listened intently as Shaw spoke.
"Oh, thank goodness," Shaw replied. "I was beginning to think the worst. We went back to the bridge, but can't take off. Please get down here right away. I'm dangerously low on ammo and I don't think we'll last much longer."
The name and voice tore at David's insides. It was her, he knew it. "I will do the uplink," he suddenly said.
Everyone in the room looked at him with cautious skepticism.
"A sudden change of heart," Mic said. "Great. Then let's get started."
"I may have restricted access to your data," David said. "But please, let me access your ship's inventory."
Daniels pointed her rifle at David. "Why do you want that?" she asked.
Mic held out a hand. "It is alright," he assured. "As long as w keep a gun on him we have nothing to fear."
"I only wish to help," David said. "By knowing what is available, I may be able to come up with something."
"Ready?" Mic asked.
Facing each other, both androids' eyes turned white as the information transferred between them.
"Ew," Tennessee said. "Is that normal?"
Both android's eyes then returned to normal. All were silent for a few moments before it was David who finally spoke. "I may have an idea."