ALIEN: Isolation

Axel

Amanda eventually found her way through the maze of wreckage, which ended at a large door, the same kind that she had entered the corridor through. On it, was a large orange bit of metal, shaped more or less like a lower case 't', and was roughly the size of your average ten year old.

The object, Ripley knew to be, was a megnetic lock, used to manually lock doors usually in case of an emergency. She wasn't surprised; she'd seen a couple about the place.

Ripley opened a small orange flap in the centre of the lock. Underneath the flap was a smooth metal surface, on top of which, sat a bolt. Ripley looked at her jack, and figured it could undo it. Ripley started using the wrench end of her jack, and began to twist the bolt.

The bolt eventually fell off the lock. Ripley then pulled a lever at the top of the lock upwards, before pressing a button directly underneath it. She then pulled the lock, and it came off the door.

A green light on the large door flashed, and it opened a few seconds later. The door opened up into another large room.

It was large, and rectangular in shape, about the same size as the spaceflight terminal. To her left was an internal two storey building, of which she could only see windows on the second floor. Ripley wasn't really in the mood for exploring though, so she cut a beeline to the door at the end of the room.

Ripley slowly walked up to the door, which had the same kind of lock on it as the previous one.

Amanda was just about to begin the unlocking process, when all of a sudden, she felt something pressing up against her head.

Something cold.

Something tubular.

Something made of metal.

'Stay. Still,' she heard a Scottish sounding voice say behind her. 

'Okay,' Ripley said, terrified.

'Now turn around,' said the voice. Ripley noticed the feeling on the back of her head had stopped, and she turned around, very slowly. Before her was a man, clasping a revolver. He was bald, and wearing an orange and black jumper, with black pants, a blue t-shirt underneath, as well as dog tags around his neck.

'C'MON!' he yelled at her, getting her to hurry up. After Ripley stopped turning around, with her hands up, the man instantly snatched the jack away from her.

'I'm Ripley,' she said slowly.

'Where'd ya come from, Ripley,' the man said, unconvinced. The guy was nuts, Ripley thought. He looked a wreck, and was sweating profusely.

'Off station,' she said, her voice trembling. 'A ship.'

'A ship!,' the man spat back sarcastically. 'There's no ships here!'

'There are now,' Amanda replied, slowly gaining more confidence with the strange, greatly fidgety man before her.

'Well,' the man said laughing a little. 'That's good news, coz things are not so good here.' 

Amanda could tell that he obviously didn't believe her. Something pretty bad had happened, according to the man.

'Something blew just now,' he said. 'Rocked this whole place.' The man was continuously darting around, never staying in the same place.

Ripley looked down. 'Yeah,' she said. 'I saw it.'

'But lady,' chuckled the man. 'That's the least of our problems,' he said shaking his head, and smiling a terrified, fake smile.

'Here?' she asked. 'Yeah,' said the man. 'Something's on the station,' he said, looking around.

'Something you wouldn't believe,' he hissed, as though he was trying to keep all of what he said a secret.

'Like what?' asked ripley, her head bending to one side, intrigued.

'A killer,' the man replied. 'Ya get it,' he whispered, quickly making his way to Ripley again, sticking his gun right underneath Amanda's chin.

'Oh-okay,' she said loudly, her head snapping back up, staring wide eyed at the gun pressed against her face. 'Okay.'

'What's your name?' she asked. The man hesitated a little, taking the gun from her face. 'Axel,' he said eventually.

'I was boarding with two colleagues,' Ripley said, letting Axel know how she got on, as a sort of reassurance that she wasn't lying to him. 'Spacewalking. We got seperated by the blast.' Ripley looked Axel dead in the eye. 'Can you help me find them?'

Axel looked down, considering the option. 'Why?' he asked. 'Because you seem to know your way around,' replied Ripley. 'No, no, WHY?' Axel yelled. 'What's in it for me?' he hissed.

'A place on the ship,' Ripley said, without hesitating. Axel lowered his weapon, and leaned forward.

'But how do I know I can trust you?' he said. Ripley lowered her arms and stepped forward, sensing she was no longer in immediate danger.

'I need to find Comms,' she said. 'I need to contact my ship.'

Axel looked down at the jack, before holding it out towards Ripley. She went to grab it, but Axel didn't let go.

'This is your lucky day,' he said, before letting go of the jack, letting Ripley take it back.