Sam was leaning on the tank again, trying to look into the window. The blue liquid was making it hard to tell what was inside, but looking at the dimensions of the tank and the location of the window it wasn’t hard to guess. When he concentrated on where the head should be, he wasn’t shocked to see two eyes staring back at him.
“What’s in the tanks?” Sam’s question caught all of their attention. “Because I’m willing to bet that you guys work on a lot more than just analyzing The Waves.”
“What’s in the tank is not important right now.” said the Professor, deflecting.
Ripley gave him yet another look, only this time, it was in disagreement. “Q... everything in here is important. I think you should tell them.”
The Professor sighed, in obvious disagreement. He hesitated for a moment before answering and nodded his head reluctantly. “I’ve got a better idea... Why don’t we show them?”
Ripley nodded and walked over to the tank. She pulled a lever, and a flushing sound erupted. Sam noticed that the blue liquid was decreasing in the tank and could now clearly see that there was a person inside. When the flushing finished, Ripley replaced the lever and pushed a big yellow button which let steam out of the tank.
“You might want to step aside.”
Sam followed Ripley’s instruction. As soon as he was out of the way, the tank did a ninety-degree horizontal flip so that it was parallel with the floor. The tank was now reminiscent of a morgue table- albeit enclosed in some high-tech chamber. Ripley then unlocked the tank and eased the lid open all the way back. Inside the tank was a woman. She was strikingly beautiful and without clothes. And she was also notably dead.
Sarah looked like she was about to be sick; Doug was doing his best not to stare at the woman; Eduardo was beginning to pray in Spanish again; while Selena and Sam were the only ones to maintain their composure. Sam noticed the round, metal plug point in the center of her chest.
“We call her Sommer,” explained Ripley. “She used to be a pscybotic.”
“I’m sorry,” said Selena. “Did you say... used to be? What, did it get a makeover or something? Get some work done?”
“Selena,” said Sarah, barely able to get the words out. Her face was now a light shade of green.
“What?” Selena responded, sarcastically. “She said it used to be a pscybotic which I don’t quite understand. Aren’t they supposed to be dead humans?”
“They are. When I say that she was a pscybotic, it’s because she’s been reprogrammed.”
“Reprogrammed.’ It was Sam who sounded skeptical this time. “You’ve actually reprogrammed her?”
“Well we’ve tried to,” said the Professor. “But something is wrong. We keep doing something wrong.”
“Wrong how?” said Sam.
The Professor sighed. “We don’t know. When we test our theories, she starts out fine, takes our orders but then she turns into something else. A full blown pscybotic. We then have no choice but to use E.M.P. which shuts her down – theoretically killing her.”
“I don’t get it,” said Doug. “Why try to bring it back to life? Why try to reprogram it? Did you guys suddenly feel like going all Terminator 2/ Robocop all of a sudden? I mean, what was the end game?”
“Can’t you guess?” said Ripley. “We wanted to use one of their own against them.”
Doug gave her a blank expression. “That’s what I just said.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. In Terminator 2, John Conner from the future reprogrammed a terminator to come back and protect his younger self.”
Ripley rolled her eyes.
“Well in her defense,” added Selena, “nobody knew what the hell you were talking about. That movie came out like twenty years before any of us were born.”
“Actually it was ten years, you royal princess of darkness.”
“Oh, that’s low, slime-ball.”
Doug bit his tongue trying not to respond. He smiled at her.
“Like I was saying,” continued Ripley, “we wanted to use her as a prototype to fight the other pscybotics.”
“She fascinating to you?” asked Sarah in a vain attempt to crack a joke. She’d noticed Sam starring at her chest.
Sam looked up. “What? No. No, no. I was just looking at this thing in the center of her chest. It looks like a plug point.”
“That’s exactly what it is,’ said the Professor. “The pscybotics have these implanted into their chests when they are first awakened after death. It’s the way that ARTIS connects itself to the dead humans to tap into their nervous system.”
Selena laughed out loud. “You make us sound like computers, ready to be hard-wired or hacked.”
“Well essentially we are,” said the Professor.
Sam listened to them talk vaguely as he concentrated on the plug point. His hand stretched out to her body, lightly brushing its skin as his finger touched the cold metal.
“Wait, Sam don’t touch that. You’ll set off the—”
But it was too late. Sam pressed down on the metal plug, accidentally pushing a hidden button. As soon as he lifted his hand in shock, the pscybotic came to life. Its eyes shot open and its chest contracted. It must have been through this process of being awakened quite a few times because it reacted immediately.
It threw its arms out, knocking Ripley and Sam across the room. Selena backed into Doug so hard that they both fell – her landing in Doug’s grasp. Eduardo was at its feet next to the Professor who dived, knocking him to the ground. The pscybotic sat up then jumped to its feet and immediately started running for the door. Somebody beat her to the punch as the door slammed shut.
“RIPLEY! THE REMOTE!” shouted one of the other white coats.
“I’M ON IT!” Ripley was on her feet, struggling with her pocket. She was busy taking something out of it when all of a sudden the pscybotic leaped through the air and tackled her to the floor again.
She tried to grab Ripley’s leg, but Ripley kicked it off. The pscybotic then jumped on top of her and tried to strangle her. Ripley tried to twist her arm, but it was too strong. Ripley tried to slide her weight from underneath the pscybotic and was surprised when she managed to slip right through. She then kicked the pscybotic’s knee from under her, causing the pscybotic to slip underneath its own weight.
It wasn’t long until Ripley understood how she was able to fight the pscybotic. She was still slippery from the blue liquid! Being naked wasn’t exactly helping the pscybotic’s case. Ripley got to her feet and quicker launched her foot into a kick which landed squarely on the pscybotic’s chin. The pscybotic was thrown backward.
“Yeah,” said a pompous Ripley, “steel-tipped boot doesn’t taste too good does it!?”
As if the pscybotic could understand, it stood up and came for her. Ripley took up a fighting stance and landed another round-house kick to the back of the pscybotic’s neck. When it stood up again, she went for another, but the pscybotic was picking up the pattern. It grabbed Ripley’s leg just before it made contact with her head. Ripley was forced to jump into the air and use her other foot to kick the pscybotic’s face.
Ripley and the pscybotic got to their feet at the same time. Ripley grabbed a metal chair that was close by and swung it as hard as she could. When it made contact with the pscybotic, the pscybotic only flinched. Not to be outdone, Ripley swung the chair again... and again, and again. She’d swung it five times before the pscybotic grabbed it from her hands and bent it like it were aluminium and chucked into the corner.
“RIPLEY!” shouted the professor. “THE REMOTE! THE REMOTE! USE THE REMOTE!”
Ripley didn’t need to be told again. She fished a device out of her pocket, which was no bigger than the remote control for an automated gate. She was about to press a red button, when the pscybotic jumped up and launched both her feet at Ripley sending Ripley slamming against a wall.
“Ripley!” shouted a concerned Sam. He ran over to her, but realized his mistake half way to her, when the pscybotic suddenly turned to Sarah. “Sarah! SARAH! RUN!”
Ripley saw what was happening and reached for the device which had fallen just out of arm's length. She watched as Sam ran straight for the pscybotic which was now three feet from Sarah. He launched himself off the ground, slamming hard into it. Ripley, who still had the wind knocked out of her, reached with all her might, grabbed the remote and pressed the red button before the pscybotic landed a punch on him.
“Sam!” said Sarah. She was now crying, too overwhelmed to say anything else.
“What’s in the tanks?” Sam’s question caught all of their attention. “Because I’m willing to bet that you guys work on a lot more than just analyzing The Waves.”
“What’s in the tank is not important right now.” said the Professor, deflecting.
Ripley gave him yet another look, only this time, it was in disagreement. “Q... everything in here is important. I think you should tell them.”
The Professor sighed, in obvious disagreement. He hesitated for a moment before answering and nodded his head reluctantly. “I’ve got a better idea... Why don’t we show them?”
Ripley nodded and walked over to the tank. She pulled a lever, and a flushing sound erupted. Sam noticed that the blue liquid was decreasing in the tank and could now clearly see that there was a person inside. When the flushing finished, Ripley replaced the lever and pushed a big yellow button which let steam out of the tank.
“You might want to step aside.”
Sam followed Ripley’s instruction. As soon as he was out of the way, the tank did a ninety-degree horizontal flip so that it was parallel with the floor. The tank was now reminiscent of a morgue table- albeit enclosed in some high-tech chamber. Ripley then unlocked the tank and eased the lid open all the way back. Inside the tank was a woman. She was strikingly beautiful and without clothes. And she was also notably dead.
Sarah looked like she was about to be sick; Doug was doing his best not to stare at the woman; Eduardo was beginning to pray in Spanish again; while Selena and Sam were the only ones to maintain their composure. Sam noticed the round, metal plug point in the center of her chest.
“We call her Sommer,” explained Ripley. “She used to be a pscybotic.”
“I’m sorry,” said Selena. “Did you say... used to be? What, did it get a makeover or something? Get some work done?”
“Selena,” said Sarah, barely able to get the words out. Her face was now a light shade of green.
“What?” Selena responded, sarcastically. “She said it used to be a pscybotic which I don’t quite understand. Aren’t they supposed to be dead humans?”
“They are. When I say that she was a pscybotic, it’s because she’s been reprogrammed.”
“Reprogrammed.’ It was Sam who sounded skeptical this time. “You’ve actually reprogrammed her?”
“Well we’ve tried to,” said the Professor. “But something is wrong. We keep doing something wrong.”
“Wrong how?” said Sam.
The Professor sighed. “We don’t know. When we test our theories, she starts out fine, takes our orders but then she turns into something else. A full blown pscybotic. We then have no choice but to use E.M.P. which shuts her down – theoretically killing her.”
“I don’t get it,” said Doug. “Why try to bring it back to life? Why try to reprogram it? Did you guys suddenly feel like going all Terminator 2/ Robocop all of a sudden? I mean, what was the end game?”
“Can’t you guess?” said Ripley. “We wanted to use one of their own against them.”
Doug gave her a blank expression. “That’s what I just said.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. In Terminator 2, John Conner from the future reprogrammed a terminator to come back and protect his younger self.”
Ripley rolled her eyes.
“Well in her defense,” added Selena, “nobody knew what the hell you were talking about. That movie came out like twenty years before any of us were born.”
“Actually it was ten years, you royal princess of darkness.”
“Oh, that’s low, slime-ball.”
Doug bit his tongue trying not to respond. He smiled at her.
“Like I was saying,” continued Ripley, “we wanted to use her as a prototype to fight the other pscybotics.”
“She fascinating to you?” asked Sarah in a vain attempt to crack a joke. She’d noticed Sam starring at her chest.
Sam looked up. “What? No. No, no. I was just looking at this thing in the center of her chest. It looks like a plug point.”
“That’s exactly what it is,’ said the Professor. “The pscybotics have these implanted into their chests when they are first awakened after death. It’s the way that ARTIS connects itself to the dead humans to tap into their nervous system.”
Selena laughed out loud. “You make us sound like computers, ready to be hard-wired or hacked.”
“Well essentially we are,” said the Professor.
Sam listened to them talk vaguely as he concentrated on the plug point. His hand stretched out to her body, lightly brushing its skin as his finger touched the cold metal.
“Wait, Sam don’t touch that. You’ll set off the—”
But it was too late. Sam pressed down on the metal plug, accidentally pushing a hidden button. As soon as he lifted his hand in shock, the pscybotic came to life. Its eyes shot open and its chest contracted. It must have been through this process of being awakened quite a few times because it reacted immediately.
It threw its arms out, knocking Ripley and Sam across the room. Selena backed into Doug so hard that they both fell – her landing in Doug’s grasp. Eduardo was at its feet next to the Professor who dived, knocking him to the ground. The pscybotic sat up then jumped to its feet and immediately started running for the door. Somebody beat her to the punch as the door slammed shut.
“RIPLEY! THE REMOTE!” shouted one of the other white coats.
“I’M ON IT!” Ripley was on her feet, struggling with her pocket. She was busy taking something out of it when all of a sudden the pscybotic leaped through the air and tackled her to the floor again.
She tried to grab Ripley’s leg, but Ripley kicked it off. The pscybotic then jumped on top of her and tried to strangle her. Ripley tried to twist her arm, but it was too strong. Ripley tried to slide her weight from underneath the pscybotic and was surprised when she managed to slip right through. She then kicked the pscybotic’s knee from under her, causing the pscybotic to slip underneath its own weight.
It wasn’t long until Ripley understood how she was able to fight the pscybotic. She was still slippery from the blue liquid! Being naked wasn’t exactly helping the pscybotic’s case. Ripley got to her feet and quicker launched her foot into a kick which landed squarely on the pscybotic’s chin. The pscybotic was thrown backward.
“Yeah,” said a pompous Ripley, “steel-tipped boot doesn’t taste too good does it!?”
As if the pscybotic could understand, it stood up and came for her. Ripley took up a fighting stance and landed another round-house kick to the back of the pscybotic’s neck. When it stood up again, she went for another, but the pscybotic was picking up the pattern. It grabbed Ripley’s leg just before it made contact with her head. Ripley was forced to jump into the air and use her other foot to kick the pscybotic’s face.
Ripley and the pscybotic got to their feet at the same time. Ripley grabbed a metal chair that was close by and swung it as hard as she could. When it made contact with the pscybotic, the pscybotic only flinched. Not to be outdone, Ripley swung the chair again... and again, and again. She’d swung it five times before the pscybotic grabbed it from her hands and bent it like it were aluminium and chucked into the corner.
“RIPLEY!” shouted the professor. “THE REMOTE! THE REMOTE! USE THE REMOTE!”
Ripley didn’t need to be told again. She fished a device out of her pocket, which was no bigger than the remote control for an automated gate. She was about to press a red button, when the pscybotic jumped up and launched both her feet at Ripley sending Ripley slamming against a wall.
“Ripley!” shouted a concerned Sam. He ran over to her, but realized his mistake half way to her, when the pscybotic suddenly turned to Sarah. “Sarah! SARAH! RUN!”
Ripley saw what was happening and reached for the device which had fallen just out of arm's length. She watched as Sam ran straight for the pscybotic which was now three feet from Sarah. He launched himself off the ground, slamming hard into it. Ripley, who still had the wind knocked out of her, reached with all her might, grabbed the remote and pressed the red button before the pscybotic landed a punch on him.
“Sam!” said Sarah. She was now crying, too overwhelmed to say anything else.
