[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
Gently she disengaged herself from Newt, who slept on, oblivious to
adult obsessions with time. Ripley made sure the small jacket was pulled
up snugly around the girl's chin before turning to crawl out from
beneath the cot. As she turned to roll, she caught another glimpse of
the rest of the Med lab- and froze.
194
The row of stasis cylinders stood just inside the doorway that led
toward the rest of Hadley central. Two of them were dark, their tops
hinged open, the stasis fields quiescent. Both were empty.
Hardly daring to breathe, she tried to see into every dark corner, under
every counter and piece of freestanding equipment. Unable to move, she
frantically tried to assess the situation as she nudged the girl
sleeping behind her with her left hand.
?Newt,?she whispered. Could the things sense sound waves? They had no
visible ears, no obvious organs of hearing, but who could tell how
primitive alien senses interpreted their environment? ?Newt, wake up.?
?What?"The girl rolled over and rubbed sleepily at her eyes. ?Ripley?
Where are-?
?Shssh!?She put a finger to her lips. ?Don't move. We're in trouble.?
The girl's eyes widened. She responded with a single nod, now as
Page 137
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
wide-awake and alert as her adult protector. Ripley didn't have to tell
her a second time to be quiet. During her solitary nightmare sojourn
deep within the conduits and service ducts that honeycombed the colony,
the first thing Newt had learned was the survival value of silence.
Ripley pointed to the sprung stasis tubes. Newt saw and nodded again.
She didn't so much as whimper.
They lay close to each other and listened in the darkness. Listened for
sounds of movement, watching for lethal lowslung shapes skittering
across the polished floor. The compact space heater hummed efficiently
nearby.
Ripley took a deep breath, swallowed, and started to move. Reaching up,
she grabbed the springs that lined the underside of the cot and began
trying to push it away from the wall. The squeal of metal as the legs
scraped across the floor was jarringly loud in the stillness.
When the gap between bed rail and wall was wide enough, she cautiously
slid herself up, keeping her back pressed against
195
195
the wall. With her right hand she reached across the mattress for the
pulse-rifle. Her fingers groped among the sheets and blanket.
The pulse-rifle was gone.
Her eyes cleared the rim of the bed. Surely she'd left it lying there in
the middle of the mattress! A faint hint of movement caught her
attention, and her head snapped around to the left. As it did so,
something that was all legs and vileness jumped at her from its perch on
the foot of the bed. She uttered a startled, mewling cry of pure terror
and ducked back down. Horny talons clutched at her hair as the loathsome
shape struck the wall where her head had been a moment earlier. It slid,
fighting for a grip while simultaneously searching for the vulnerable
face that had shown itself a second ago.
Rolling like mad and digging her bare fingers into the springs, Ripley
slammed the cot backward, pinning the teratoid against the wall only
centimeters above her face. Its legs twitched and writhed with maniacal
ferocity while the muscular tail banged against springs and wall like a
demented python. It emitted a shrill, piercing noise, a cross between a
squeal and a hiss.
Ripley heaved Newt across the floor and, in a frenzied scramble, rolled
out after her. Once clear, she put both hands against the side of the
cot and shoved harder against the imprisoned facehugger. Timing her move
carefully, she flipped the cot and managed to trap it underneath one of
the metal rails.
Clutching Newt close to her, she backed away from the overturned bed.
Her eyes were in constant motion, darting from shadow to cupboard,
searching out every corner. The whole lab area was fraught with fatal
promise. As they retreated, the facehugger, displaying terrifying
strength for something so small, shoved the bulk of the bed off its body
and scuttled away beneath a bank of cabinets. Its multiple legs were a
blur of motion.
Page 138
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
196
ALAN DEAN FOSTER
Trying to keep to the center of the room as much as possible, Ripley [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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Gently she disengaged herself from Newt, who slept on, oblivious to
adult obsessions with time. Ripley made sure the small jacket was pulled
up snugly around the girl's chin before turning to crawl out from
beneath the cot. As she turned to roll, she caught another glimpse of
the rest of the Med lab- and froze.
194
The row of stasis cylinders stood just inside the doorway that led
toward the rest of Hadley central. Two of them were dark, their tops
hinged open, the stasis fields quiescent. Both were empty.
Hardly daring to breathe, she tried to see into every dark corner, under
every counter and piece of freestanding equipment. Unable to move, she
frantically tried to assess the situation as she nudged the girl
sleeping behind her with her left hand.
?Newt,?she whispered. Could the things sense sound waves? They had no
visible ears, no obvious organs of hearing, but who could tell how
primitive alien senses interpreted their environment? ?Newt, wake up.?
?What?"The girl rolled over and rubbed sleepily at her eyes. ?Ripley?
Where are-?
?Shssh!?She put a finger to her lips. ?Don't move. We're in trouble.?
The girl's eyes widened. She responded with a single nod, now as
Page 137
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
wide-awake and alert as her adult protector. Ripley didn't have to tell
her a second time to be quiet. During her solitary nightmare sojourn
deep within the conduits and service ducts that honeycombed the colony,
the first thing Newt had learned was the survival value of silence.
Ripley pointed to the sprung stasis tubes. Newt saw and nodded again.
She didn't so much as whimper.
They lay close to each other and listened in the darkness. Listened for
sounds of movement, watching for lethal lowslung shapes skittering
across the polished floor. The compact space heater hummed efficiently
nearby.
Ripley took a deep breath, swallowed, and started to move. Reaching up,
she grabbed the springs that lined the underside of the cot and began
trying to push it away from the wall. The squeal of metal as the legs
scraped across the floor was jarringly loud in the stillness.
When the gap between bed rail and wall was wide enough, she cautiously
slid herself up, keeping her back pressed against
195
195
the wall. With her right hand she reached across the mattress for the
pulse-rifle. Her fingers groped among the sheets and blanket.
The pulse-rifle was gone.
Her eyes cleared the rim of the bed. Surely she'd left it lying there in
the middle of the mattress! A faint hint of movement caught her
attention, and her head snapped around to the left. As it did so,
something that was all legs and vileness jumped at her from its perch on
the foot of the bed. She uttered a startled, mewling cry of pure terror
and ducked back down. Horny talons clutched at her hair as the loathsome
shape struck the wall where her head had been a moment earlier. It slid,
fighting for a grip while simultaneously searching for the vulnerable
face that had shown itself a second ago.
Rolling like mad and digging her bare fingers into the springs, Ripley
slammed the cot backward, pinning the teratoid against the wall only
centimeters above her face. Its legs twitched and writhed with maniacal
ferocity while the muscular tail banged against springs and wall like a
demented python. It emitted a shrill, piercing noise, a cross between a
squeal and a hiss.
Ripley heaved Newt across the floor and, in a frenzied scramble, rolled
out after her. Once clear, she put both hands against the side of the
cot and shoved harder against the imprisoned facehugger. Timing her move
carefully, she flipped the cot and managed to trap it underneath one of
the metal rails.
Clutching Newt close to her, she backed away from the overturned bed.
Her eyes were in constant motion, darting from shadow to cupboard,
searching out every corner. The whole lab area was fraught with fatal
promise. As they retreated, the facehugger, displaying terrifying
strength for something so small, shoved the bulk of the bed off its body
and scuttled away beneath a bank of cabinets. Its multiple legs were a
blur of motion.
Page 138
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
196
ALAN DEAN FOSTER
Trying to keep to the center of the room as much as possible, Ripley [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]