Alien

'What can we put under it?' Ash was considering the problem with his usual detachment, though fully aware that in a few minutes the Nostromo might be hulled. That would mean sealing all compartments until the destruction could be repaired. And it could be worse. A large amount of critical hyperdrive circuitry ran through the main hull. If the liquid ruined it, it was quite possible the resulting damage might be beyond the meager capability of the ship's engineering staff to repair. Much of that circuitry was integral to the ship's construction and not designed to be worked on outside of a major zero-gee shipyard.

No one offered any suggestions as to what they might employ to catch the steady leak.

Below, Parker and Ripley moved cautiously along the narrower, darker confines of C corridor. Their attention remained fixed to the ceiling.

'Don't get under it,' Parker warned. 'If it can eat through deck alloy like that, I don't care to think what it could do to your pretty face.'

'Don't worry. I'll take good care of my pretty face. You watch out for your own.'

'Seems to be losing some activity.' Dallas peered at the hole in the floor, hardly daring to hope.

Brett and Ash stood opposite, crouching over the dark depression in the deck. Ash fished a stylus from one of his tunic pockets, probed the hole. The outer metal lining of the writing instrument bubbled weakly, looking like carbonated quicksilver. The bubbling stopped, petering out after barely marring the shiny finish. The science officer continued to poke at the hole. Instead of slipping through, the stylus met resistance.

'It's not passing more than three centimetres in. The liquid's stopped penetrating.'

Below, Parker glanced over at Ripley in the dim light. 'See anything?'

They continued to scan the ceiling. Beneath their feet lay a small service crawlway, and beyond that, the Nostromo's primary hull. After that, there was only the atmosphere of an unknown planet.

'Nothing,' she finally replied. 'Keep an eye out. I'll go see what's happening above.' She turned, sprinted down the corridor toward the stairs.

Her first sight was of the others all crouching over the hole in the deck. 'What's going on? It hasn't come through yet.'

'I think it's lost steam.' Ash knelt over the pitted metal. 'Either the continuous reactions with the alloys have diluted its strength, or else it simply loses its caustic potential after a certain period of time. In any case, it no longer seems to be active.'

Ripley moved to check the still-smoking hole in the deck for herself. 'Could the alloy be stronger inside this deck than above? Maybe the stuffs corroding the deck horizontally now, looking for another weak place where it can eat downward.'

Ash shook his head. 'I don't think so. From what little I remember about ship construction, the principal decks and hull of the Nostromo are all composed of the same material. No, I think it's reasonable to assume the fluid is no longer dangerous.'

He started to put his stylus back in his pocket, still holding it by the unmarred end. At the last moment, he thought better of the idea, continued to let it dangle loosely from one hand.

Ripley noticed the hesitation, smirked at him. 'If it's no longer dangerous, why not put it back in your shirt?'

'There's no need to act recklessly. Plenty of time after I've run tests and made certain the substance is truly no longer active. Just because it can't eat through deck alloy any more doesn't mean it couldn't give you a helluva burn.'

'What do you think the stuff is?' Dallas's gaze travelled from the tiny crater in the deck to the hole in the ceiling overhead. 'I've never seen anything that could cut through hull alloy like that. Not with that kind of speed.'

'I've never seen anything like it myself,' the science officer confessed. 'Certain highly refined varieties of molecular acid are tremendously powerful, but they generally will act only on certain specific materials. They have restricted general applications.

'On the other hand, this stuff appears to be a universal corrosive. We've already watched it demonstrate its ability to eat through several very different substances with equal facility. Or indifference, if you prefer. Hull alloy, surgical gloves, the medical pallet, infirmary bedding; it went through all of them with equal ease.'

'And that damned thing uses it for blood. One tough son-of-a-bitch little monster.' Brett spoke of the hand-shaped alien with respect, despite his feelings toward it.

'We don't know for a fact that it uses it for blood.' Ash's mind was functioning overtime under the pressure of the situation. 'It might be a component of a separate circulatory system, designed to lubricate the creature's insides. Or it might comprise part of a protective inner layer, a sort of liquid, defensive endothelium. It might be no more than the creature's counterpart of our own lymph fluid.?

'Wonderful defensive mechanism, though,' Dallas observed. 'You don't dare kill it.'

'Not on board a sealed ship, anyway.' Ripley made the interesting point quietly.

'That's so,' Ash conceded. ' We could take Kane outside, where the creature's fluids couldn't damage the Nostromo, and try cutting it off, except that we're fairly certain it's the only thing keeping him alive.'

'Once we cut it off him and got that tube out of his throat, we could feed him oxygen.' Ripley pressed the thought. 'A thermal wrap would keep him warm. For that matter, we could set up an air tent with a ground seal. Let the liquid drip onto the ground below it.'

'Not a bad idea,' admitted Ash, 'save for two things.' Ripley waited impatiently. 'First, as we've already discussed, removing the creature forcibly might result in a fatal interruption of life-sustaining action. The shock alone could kill Kane.

'Second, we have no guarantee that, upon being sufficiently injured, the creature might not react by Spraying that liquid all over itself and everything else in sight. That would be a defensive reaction fully in keeping with the fluid's destructive and protective qualities.' He paused long enough to let the image dominate everyone's mind.

'Even if whoever was doing the actual cutting could somehow escape serious injury from the flying liquid, I would not care to be the one responsible for what would be left of Kane's face. Or head.'

'All right.' Ripley sounded a bit resentful. 'So maybe it wasn't such a brilliant idea. What do you suggest instead?' She jerked a thumb toward the infirmary above. 'Trying to haul him all the way home with that thing sitting on his skull?'

'I see no danger in that.' Ash was unimpressed by her sarcasm. 'As long as his vital signs remain stable, I consider that a viable alternative. If they show signs of failing, naturally we'll have to try something else. But at this time I have to say that I think removing the creature forcibly presents greater potential for injury to Kane than it does improvement.'

A new face appeared at the top of the nearby companionway. 'Still no sign of the stuff. It's stopped bleeding?' Parker switched his gaze from the sullen Ripley to Dallas.

'Yeah. After it ate through two levels.' He was still a bit stunned by the potency of the alien fluid.

Ripley came to life, looked around. 'We're all down here. What about Kane? No one's watching him. . or the alien.'

There was a concerted rush for the stairs.

Dallas was the first one back at the infirmary. A quick glance inside showed him that nothing had changed. Kane still lay as they'd left him, immobile on the platform, the alien secured to his face.

Dallas was angry at himself. He'd acted like a damn kid. The liquid had demonstrated unexpected and dangerous properties, sure, but hardly enough to justify the total panic that had ensued. He should first have delegated one or two members of the crew to remain behind and keep an eye on the creature.

Fortunately, nothing had changed during their absence. The thing hadn't moved, nor, from the looks of it, had Kane. From now on, regardless of any problem that might arise elsewhere, there would be someone assigned to the infirmary at all times. The situation was serious enough without offering the alien the opportunity to do things unobserved,