Child of the Xenomorph

4

The room was large and forbidding, the dark ribbed walls stretching above me, enclosing me in. I was slightly terrified for J'Khati's defense lesson. I hoped she wouldn't accidently rip me to shreds. It seemed that the Xenomorph's expectation regarding the resilience of human flesh was a little too high. Regardless, I shook myself and took a deep breath.

'What are we working on first?' I asked her.

'Well, your first line of defense is your claws,' she instructed. 'Hold your right arm slightly above your head and poised as if you were to slash down. WIth your left arm, hold it halfway up your body and slanted to the side, as if you were going to slash it across.'

I did as she instructed, holding my black claws above my head and across from my body. I felt a bit silly, but I figured I should listen to the master. My long black hair draped across my arms, and I had to shake my arms a few times to get it off.

"Oh, by the way, a friend of mine has opted to give you language lessons,' J'Khati added. 'Telepathy is limited to the individual Hive and its Queen and drones. Outside Hives cannot communicate telepathically with other Hives. For this reason you should learn the language. Your lessons start after this one.'

'O-Ok,' I stammered. I was pretty nervous about meeting more Xenomorphs after my last encounter, but I would survive. I hoped.

Without warning, J'Khati lunged at me, claws extended toward my gut in a killing blow. I slashed down near the front of her head, but she expertly ducked under the movement, rolling to my side. She nicked my waist, and stood up. If she had visible eyes I would've sworn she was looking down her nose at me.

'Amatuer move, but at least you didn't just stand there with your mouth open.' She lunged again, but this time I was ready. I sidestepped her, uppercutting at the same time so she couldn't duck, and landed a square hit to the underside of her jaw.

My moment of victory ended when her tail wrapped around my legs and yanked me onto the ground.

"Oof," I grunted audibly as my back slammed onto the cold ground. J'Khati slinked over me, and pressed a talon to my chest.

'You are showing more promise, but you must always be prepared. A Xenomorph soldier does not give up until they draw their last breath. We will fight for our Queen and secondly our lives, not showing mercy or second thoughts. We think of all sides, all possibilities the enemy may hold.'

'Ok, ok,' I said, annoyed. I thought my moves had been fairly good for a beginner, and a human at that, but I thought wrong.

"Nevertheless, you did land a good hit on me, and that is difficult to do. You're off to a good start.' J'Khati smiled at me, her metallic teeth glinting.

'Thanks,' I said, and pricked her back with my tail.

She yelped, and leapt off of me. I jumped to my feet, surprising myself with my own agility, and slashed my claws across her face, not enough to seriously injure but to sting. She jabbed with her tail, but I ducked, using all my weight to jump toward her chest. She bowled over, and I pinned her arms down. Before she could do anything else, I leaned down with a wicked smile, and kissed her biomechanical neck.

'A Xenomorph soldier must always be ready,' I communicated to her tauntingly.

Her jaws were agape. I let her up, and to my great surprise she was trembling.

'No one, NO one, has ever been able to do that to me,' she told me, her gravelly voice full of reverence in my mind. 'You shocked me with that blow to my jaw, yes, but that attack...I wonder what more potential you hold.'

I shrugged. 'I just did what my body told me to do.' I didn't know quite what to do with this information. I was just as agape at what I did as J'Khati was. I looked down at my own hands, so human, yet so alien at the same time. What was I?