Alien 3 Read Free Page A

of descending metal. It glowed softly and the air around it screamed as it fell.
    He gazed at the place where it had struck the ocean, pausing before resuming his walk.
    Halfway up the beach he checked his chronometre, then turned and began to retrace his steps. Occasionally he glanced out to sea. Seeing nothing, he expected to find nothing. So the limp form which appeared on the sand ahead of him was a surprise. He increased his pace slightly and bent over the body as wavelets lapped around his feet. For the first time his blood began to race slightly. The body was that of a woman, and she was still alive. He rolled her over onto her back.
    Stared down into Ripley’s unconscious, salt-streaked face.
    He looked up, but the beach still belonged to him alone.
    Him, and this utterly unexpected new arrival. Leaving her to go for help would mean delaying treatment which might save her life, not to mention exposing her to the small but still enthusiastic predators which inhabited parts of Fiorina.
    Lifting her beneath her arms, he heaved once and managed to get her torso around his shoulders. Legs straining, he lifted.
    With the woman on his shoulders and back he headed slowly toward the weather lock from which he’d emerged earlier.
    Inside he paused to catch his breath, then continued on toward the bug wash. Three prisoners who’d been working outside were busy delousing, naked beneath the hot, steady spray that mixed water with disinfectant. As medical officer, Clemens carried a certain amount of authority. He used it now.
    ‘Listen up!’ The men turned to regard him curiously.
    Clemens interacted infrequently with the prisoners except for those who sought him out for sick call. Their initial indifference vanished as soon as they spotted the body hanging from his shoulders. ‘An EEV’s come down.’ They exchanged glances. ‘Don’t just stand there,’ he snapped, trying to divert their attention from his burden. ‘Get out on the beach. There may be others. And notify Andrews.’
    They hesitated, then began to move. As they exited the wash and began grabbing at their clothes, they stared at the woman Clemens carried. He didn’t dare set her down.

II

    Andrews didn’t like working the Communicator. Every use went down in his permanent record. Deep-space communication was expensive and he was expected to make use of the device only when absolutely and unavoidably necessary. It might develop that his judgment would not agree with that of some slick-assed bonehead back at headquarters, in which case his accumulated pay might be docked, or he might be denied a promotion. All without a chance to defend himself, because by the time he made it out of the hellhole that was Fiorina and back home, the cretin who’d docked him would probably be long since dead or retired.
    Hell, why was he worrying? Everyone he’d ever known would be dead by the time he got back home. That didn’t render him any less anxious to make that oft-anticipated journey.
    So he did his rotten job as best he could and hoped that his rotten employers would eventually take note of his skill and professionalism and offer early retirement, except that now a rotten, unforeseen difficulty had arisen with the sole intent of complicating his life. Andrews harbored an intense dislike for the unforeseen. One of the few compensations of his job was its unremitting predictability.

    Until now. And it compelled him to make use of the Communicator. Angrily he hammered the keys.

    FURY 361—CLASS C PRISON UNIT—IRIS 12037154.
    REPORT EEV UNIT 2650 CRASH
    OCCUPANTS - BISHOP MODEL ANDROID,

    INACTIVE HICKS, CPL. —ES

    MARINES—L55321—DOA RIPLEY,

    LT.—CO SVC.-B515617—

SURVIVOR UNIDENTIFIED
    JUVENILE FEMALE—DOA
    REQUEST EMERG. EVAC. SOONEST POSSIBLE—
    AWAIT RESPONSE SUPT. ANDREWS M51021.
    [Time delay transmis 1844—Fiorina]
    Clemens had dragged the woman out of the water and had hustled her up to the facility as quickly as possible. So quickly that her