Alien Breed

“I’m not invincible,” I say. “If the bullet entered my body, it would have weakened me. A few shots, and he could have killed me.”

She exhales, long and depressed. “You took that risk just so you could take me here?”

I think about what she said. For a long while, there’s silence.

Irritated, she raises her voice. “Hello? I’m talking to you.”

I tell her the truth. “I didn’t save you just so I could have you,” I admit.

“Then why?”

“I couldn’t watch him kill you,” I say.

My maker’s made one mistake. When they made me, they gave me the ability to learn empathy. If they wanted a weapon, they should hav

e cut that part out.

Zakar was made differently, but I’m a breeder. I live to spill seed. And I need empathy to procreate.

She raises her eyes, glaring into mine. For the first time, she doesn’t flinch. “Thank you,” she says. “I guess...”

I glance at the exit to the stairs. “That man, Fassbender has hurt your crew,” I say. “He will search for us, too.”

She swallows. A vein on her neck shows how fast her pulse raises. That man worries her more than I do.

She’s beginning to understand. There are bad men out there. They seek only to destroy.

I point toward the staircase. “If you want to leave, be my guest. But they’ll be looking for you.”

I’m the only shot she has left, and she knows it.

“Fassbender betrayed us,” she mutters. “He knew about you from day one.”

“It was a suicide mission. After your crew dies, they will send others. They will die, as well,” I say. “And when Zakar leaves to Earth, he’ll ravage the planet like a parasite.”

He wasn’t designed to create life. He was designed to destroy it. I guess we’re the perfect fucking duo.

She stands. “If he gets to Earth, our armies will kill him. You said it yourself. You’re not invincible.”

I shake my head. She cannot understand the complexity of the situation. “Zakar cannot die.”

“But--”

“He was the last alien they could create, and his synthesis was more powerful than any scientist could have hoped for. But they didn’t have the proper weapons to subdue him. Every bullet that hit him, his body encapsulated. Nothing could destroy him,” I say.

“Nothing?” she asks.

I pause. “There is one thing that affects him that does not affect me,” I say.

She takes my hand, squeezing, but within seconds, she pulls away. “Please. For my sake, tell me.”

“Noises,” I say. “He has a keen ear.”

“Noises,” she repeats.

“Not just any noises. Certain frequencies seem to hurt him,” I say, recalling an instance where he was at his most vulnerable.

I tell her. “When we escaped, we went to disrupt the network to Discovery Base and home planet. When we reached the inside, the alarms went off. Zakar went berserk. He cut the cables to the power, but I’ve always wondered what would have happened if he didn’t.”