By SCSPIEKER - Dec. 31, 1969 Cargo handler Alex Gonzales presses his face to the tiny window, waiting for something-- anything-- to come into view. To let him know if he should be running, or fighting, or both. Behind him, in various stages of readiness, the others await. Sato's tracker continues to make itself heard, pinpointing the location of the two objects moving straight up the hall. Any second now. "Alex..." someone tries to warn. But the moment passes harmlessly. Now, instead of craning his neck to the left while peeking through the tiny window set in the door, Alex is now looking to his right. Whoever walked past him was just a blur, but it looked to him like a couple of the guys from the science lab. They're on their way forward, into the cryo lab. Alex mutters as much to his fellows. "Open the door, now!" officer Beaudreaux barks, pushing toward the sealed hatch. "I'm going to arrest them myself!" [Gonzales] "Jumping out half-cocked is a good way to get yourself killed," he says as he begins to turn the wheel and open the door. "Better let someone watch your back." [Healy] Healy, relieved that the movement in the corridor was just a couple of morons, steps away from the ladder and over towards the (hopefully) soon-to-be-openned door. "I'll go with Mina to arrest those two, maybe some of you should secure the corridor? I'm not keen about leaving this room unguarded too, that ladder is our fastest and best way up to the umbilical." Healy takes her walkie talkie off her belt and examines the settings, "Is this going going to get through the hull of the Korea?" She twiddles the dials for the best signal she can get and tries the box out, "Rodina, we've located some of the science team, what's the status on your end?" "Don't argue with me! Open the door!" Beaudreaux shouts. Patwardhan stands beside her, a look of intense worry on her face. "Open it," she chimes. Schabowski kicks into action, not entirely sure that the cop's tone of voice is warranted. If only for their own safety, he knows that the sooner they can get in touch with the science team and anyone else who might still be on this ship, the sooner they can lock the nightmare up behind them. He makes quick work of the control panel's plastic cover, dropping it to the floor without concern for its delicate corners. Another tool comes off his belt, and he probes the tangle of wires. "Shine a light, someone..." he says. "I think I've got it. Sato, what does that motion tracker read now?" Of course, Nobushige hasn't let his eyes wander off the small readout screen. Those two science team members are now, "About 20 meters to the fore, probably in the cryo bay." A hiss fills the small room, accompanied by a slight electronic sound. Schabowski steps away from the door and gently presses a single button. The wheel spins on its own, and the door slides away from the jamb. Beyond is the open corridor, with plenty of light. The door to the cryo bay is closed, but the status indicator overhead is green. It should open on contact. All seems quiet and surreal. [Healy] Healy shakes the walkie talkie in her hand as though doing that would clear up the transmission, "Well, that's a dead stick." Healy looks out into the corridor and down towards the closed cryo bay door, "Mina and I should go down there first, at least they know us and we won't startle them so much." Healy moves out into the corridor and starts heading towards the door, her weapon kept at a relaxed low-ready. [Sato] Healy looks out into the corridor and down towards the closed cryo bay door, "Mina and I should go down there first, at least they know us and we won't startle them so much." "Be careful.", Sato says to Healy. "Those overrides on the anchor and doors didn't happen by accident, the science team doesn't want any visitors.". Sato then turns to Booths. "Did you ever go in that cryo bay, Booths? What would they be after in there?", asks Sato. [Booths] "OH shit!" Booths begins to bully his way forward. "They found that f*cking colonial in the rigged-up icebox!" "C'mon move your asses!" The look on Booths' face says it all: he's seriously pissed off again. A slight grimace as he moves. It maybe that the painkillers are running out again. "Patty, you and 'Bowski keep this end covered for now." Remembering something, Booths stops his semi-wild rush for the door, and stops. Holding the pulser one handed, he reaches into a pocket and pulls out the VP70, all but pressing it into his 'Bowski's hands. "Not a word, civy. That's to put you out of your misery, if they storm this place." Booths resumes his patrol postition grip. "Now let move, before those assholes do anymore damage." And he resumes the rush into the ship." [Gonzales] Alex nodded as he stepped back from the door, scowling at the two female cops as they file past. He waves Sato along with a jerk of his rifle, then moves out last of the advancing group, keeping his back to the rest of the group and facing backwards as they advance. He can barely be heard muttering about egg-heads and the stupid things they do. "Hey, marine," Mina drawls. "Just who do you think is in charge here?" She pushes past him, but even his limp doesn't slow him down. She and Healy are the first to the cryo bay's starboard hatch, followed by Booths and Patwardhan with their heavy weapons at the ready. Sato and Schabowski fill in their spots, leaving Gonzales as the sole defender to the rear. Finding the door sealed, Mina begins to pound on the door, yelling through the window at the two science techs inside. She can see them hunched over one of the cryo tubes, helping the disoriented colonist into a sitting position. He looks unusually pale, but his eyes are open and alive. "Open this door, dammit!" she shouts at them. Then Mina turns to Schabowski, ordering him again to work his technological wizardry on the door controls. She reserves an accusatory look for Patwardhan. "We'll deal with you back on Rodina." Meaning, of course, that Aishwarya stands a good chance of court martial after failing to report the possibility of a survivor aboard Korea. Healy takes the opportunity to peek through the window while Chris does what he does best. Now the scientists have been startled by the pounding on the door, and are working quickly to get the half-naked man to his feet. There are strange dark rings around his eyes, and his breathing appears to be labored. The look on his face is one of pained confusion, as if suffering from some internal ache. [Schabowski] Just before shredding the final control circuit wiring, Chris takes a peek through the window, where Healy has been watching attentively. "Poor guy," he says. "Look at his face. I wonder what happened? Probably hit his head on the way out of the freezer." With a hiss, the door releases its hydraulic pressure, and the lock is severed. Mina's free hand works quickly to spin the wheel, and with Healy's help, the three of them push the door. For the scientists, it's as if Big Brother has barged in on a perfectly legitimate conspiracy. "Hey! What is this?" cries one of the techs, holding out his hands to show his passive nature, stepping toward Mina and the others in a deliberate attempt to stop them from interfering. The younger scientist is helping the retching colonist toward a bench on the near wall, where he collapses into a coughing fit, falling straight to the cold polyformed floor. [Booths] Booths decides that he is going to do something about the bitch lieutenant. As far as he's concerned, this is still a military operation as long as he's alive. They've already disobeyed him. Maybe his next action will make them take notice. As soon as the pacifist egghead steps in front of the group, Booths shoulders his way forward, jostling past the cops in as rough a manner as possible. With a sneer of contempt, Booths swings the rifle around, and jams the butt of the pulser straight into the tech's stomach. He doesn't stop long enough to watch him double over. Instead, he rolls over him. "What are you doing?" Chris shouts. Straightening and moving forward relentlessly, Booths clicks off the rifle's safety and aims it squarely at the chest of the retching colonial. Immediately, the scientist that had been attending him leads out of the way, cowering by one of the freezers. "You idiot no-brainers," he slurs. His trigger finger tightens. The frightened, tortured colonist named Sherman thrashes about on the floor as if in epileptic seizure. The others can only watch for a moment in stunned disbelief. "Help him!" plead the scientists. "Kill him!" Patwardhan shouts. She uses her flamethrower's muzzle to carve a path through any that might be standing in her way. Sato and Schabowski have moved safely out of her path, but Healy and Beaudreaux are both caught in the middle. But she's not being let through without a traffic stop. Mina, realizing that Aishwarya is trying to hide her own failures, turns and wraps her hand into her once-pretty, now alien-clawed, face. The marine medtech crumples under the single-punch assault, and suddenly the civilians in the room can clearly see that there's some division in the opinion over just who is in charge. Sherman screeches! He arches his back, and spits up blood. The room is filled with an odd, over-loud belch. Booths' nose wrinkles at a very unusual, acid smell, almost retches himself... [Gonzales] "What the...?" Gonzales mutters. He edges his way backwards into the room as the shouting match ensues. His eyes go wide at Booths drawing in on the colonist, but then narrow in anger when Patwardhan gets slugged by the chick cop. Still, he flicks his attention between the door and the colonist, trying to keep what passes for Rodina food down in his stomach as he waits for the outcome. Grimly, he knows that he'd side with Booths and the marines. "Somebody put the guy out for Chrissakes!" he yells into the din of the room. [Healy] Healy stares in shock as everything starts to go to hell in a handbasket around her. She flinches when Mina strikes the marine, shouting, "Jesus! Mina!?" Healy is wracked with confusion. What could the marines have seen here to make them so afraid of this dying man? Surely it couldn't be some kind of coverup, there were too many Rodinians here for it to work. "Fuck it," Healy swears to herself. She slings her rifle and runs up, trying to grab Mina around the arms in a half-nelson hold, dragging her away from the action. Patwardhan gets in a cheap kick. Healy tries to control the situation with raised voice. "Mina! Christ, they know what they're doing!" Healy doesn't bother finishing the sentence aloud. I hope. [Booths] Aishwarya hurls insults at Mina, while the techs try to hold her down. Healy's attention is divided between restraining her fellow officer, and the madness taking place just to her right. With his rifle aimed at the colonist's chest, watching a lump rise through the flesh, Booths decides for them. "No!" Mina screams, her voice muted by pulse rifle fire, deafening in the confines of the cryo bay. Finished with his duty, he raises the rifle slowly, and lets his eyes meet Patwardhan's. The side of her face is already swollen, but there's no weakness in her eyes or the set of her jaw. She would have done it herself. The others sit in stunned silence. Blood runs down the white walls, forms a pool around the body. Nothing moves. The parasite is dead. Sherman's chest begins to emit an even fouler smell, that of dissolved flesh, as white smoke slowly rises through the shattered remains of the torso. The hiss of the unseen creature's blood dripping through the body, through the floor, down through the structure, mingles with the violin-string ringing in their ears. [Booths] Booths nods slowly, hefting the rifle one handed, drawing out the large kukri for the first time. An ancient weapon, some sort of curved aboriginal machete, it had been strapped to his leg the entire time he was on the Korea. I flashes in the unnatural white light of the cryo bay. Sherman's body is a stain in the room, an untouchable place of bad memory, bad action, bad luck. The corpse continues to sizzle, reeking, filling the room with acrid white smoke. Booth aims the blade's point at the cowering tech. "Stay right there, shit-for-brains," he grates. He turns toward the others, brows lowered, eyes shining with suppressed fury. The kukri taps against his thigh. "Striking a member of the armed services is a federal offense, lieutenant," he says, mocking the whole process. "And you never were in charge here." "Fuck you," comes the expected reply. Her voice is strained and throaty, full of rage. She wipes away spittle from her lip, red face bleached. The room had been quiet, full of sunken emotion. Now the anger's rising again, and Beaudreaux's quick to begin laying blame. "You going to shoot me, too?" she challenges bitterly. "Touch her again and I'll skin you myself!" thunders the marine. Booths has become a tyrant, pushing his way to this moment. It seemed only a matter of time. The problem was solved, but the questions multiplied. "This can't be happening," moans one of the techs. Patwardhan steps around the argument, gently approaching Sherman. The ruin of his ribcage lay open for all to see, the terrible destruction of man's weapons clear as day. Red blood stains everything, impossibly vivid against creamy-white tile. Her flamethrower sags at her side. She seems small, beaten, just a skeleton in a jumpsuit. Schabowski forces himself to watch. As the medtech stands over the colonist, he sees her cheeks wrinkle, eyes pressing shut, tears flowing. Unmistakable grief, and he almost shares it, but he can hardly give it deserved consideration over the screaming being traded. [Sato] Sato backs away from the corpse, unsure if whatever disease or problem the man had is contagious. He intones his calm opinion, lost in the attack-rebuttal that continues to flow between Booths and Beaudreaux. "She didn't know what was going on, man. None of us did. Let's just get out of here," he says, staring at the corpse. "Where are the other members of your team?" he asks the techs, without pausing. "What were your objectives, exactly?" His voice is cold and clinical. Surgical, even. "The engine core... um, low... lowest deck," blurts the younger tech. "We didn't see any... god... uh, any aliens." He spins, bends, barfs into the open freezer. [Healy] Healy's seen enough. She ignores Sato, standing between Mina and the crazed marine. She allows a sideways glance into the meat that's left of Sherman, dissolving by layers as the acid does its work. She read the disks, read everything she could find on the aliens from the Gaines' reports, knew that this internal parasite form had killed another colonist aboard Korea. It would certainly have killed Sherman. "This doesn't make sense," she says. "The colonists' files described a 'hand-shaped' organism, implanting one 'egg' into the victim. If it takes one human host to make one alien, even if they infected the rest of the crew... that's five, right?... seven... We should only be dealing with seven of them. Where did all those things on the Gaines come from?" "The marines," Schabowski suggests. "How many, Booths? Uh, nevermind. But that would account for a few, right?" "No, before that. When they first went in, the transcript showed that they fought at least a dozen aliens already onboard. There shouldn't be more than seven, well, maybe ten or so if any marines were... Sorry." "The colonists might be wrong. Maybe it's not one-for-one. Maybe they can produce several offspring from a single host. I saw those files myself, and they were ambiguous about that. This species could have all kinds of ways of reproducing. We just don't know," Chris shrugs his shoulders. Healy conjects, "They might be able to reproduce with a dead host. Use them over and over." The thought is especially ugly. She doesn't let it linger, changes gears right away. "We'd better get the science team together and get back to the Rodina. And stop by the medlab to check for any... possible infection."