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Chapter 6

Sometime as the pair slept, the klaxons once again began to wail, and a voice sounded over the intercom warning of a prisoner escape.

"Should we do something?" Erebus asked

"Fuck no. I'm too fucking tired. I couldn't move if the ship was going to blow up." George mumbled in response. And he meant it. He needed this rest, and he absolutely could not do anything more to help his comrades. It had been too long since he'd had a proper sleep, and his long ordeal over the past several days had rendered him completely exhausted.

Erebus pulled him closer, pressing around him defensively. "Ok. Whatever it is, I'll be here to protect you."

The marine smiled, and promptly passed out again.

---

George awoke the next day to the warm, tender embrace that he had come to know and welcome. He snuggled deeper into the arms of his new partner, feeling his naked body press up against Erebus's. He sighed happily, still not fully conscious. The warm, soft skin of the xenomorph pressed against his form gently, lulling him into a soft ease.

But, after all, he was in the military, and they had instilled in George a certain respect for timetables and punctuality. As long as he could feel the rumble of the ship beneath him, he knew in his bones that there was something to be done. There was always something to be done.

With a heavy, if not entirely unhappy sigh, he heaved himself out of Erebus's arms and sat up in the bed. He looked down at his companion, and in a moment of clarity felt… odd.

Swinging his legs over the side of the bed, George sat there, thinking. 'What the fuck did I do last night? Well that's an easy question dumbass: I had sex with a xenomorph… And I liked it.' He contemplated this. 'Holy shit.'

He felt the bed shift as the monster behind him stirred, and the medic turned around to find Erebus sitting up.

The creature turned his dome to face the medic. "Good morning, my mate."

George smiled bashfully and blushed, looking at the floor momentarily.

Erebus was silent for a moment, then whispered "You're upset. Is it with me? Did I do something wrong when we mated?"

"No! No… I just…" George made a sound that should been a laugh, but came out more like a huff. "It's just so strange. The more I think about it, the stranger it gets. You're a xenomorph, and I'm a human. We've been hunting and killing each other for over a century. We're mortal enemies. And last night we fucked. I had my fingers up your rear, and you sucked me off.

"And it's not just that. When most humans look at you, they see a creature. An animal. Something to fear and run away from and kill. I used to too. But now… I don't. Something has fundamentally changed about the way I perceive you." George reached up and ran a hand along the side of the xenomorph's dome, starting at the front and then sliding it back. "You don't scare me anymore. Your face is so familiar. I can see very small detail, how the exact shape and position of your features sets you apart from others of your kind. And your face is like a person's now. I can see the intelligence and grace that you intentionally put into each and every one of your actions. I can see the thought that goes into every word you say."

George was going to continue, but was cut off by Erebus spreading his arms and enveloping the marine in a firm, loving hug.

"I can see it for you too." The xeno said over George's shoulder. "I always could though. I never had any illusions about the intelligence of your kind as a whole. Even if individual members can be incredibly stupid."

"Thank you."

They held each other for over a minute, listening to their heartbeats.

Erebus pulled away first, his hand trailing down to hold George's. "Hey, do you…" he trailed off and made a show of turning his dome to face somewhere else, as if he was embarrassed.

"Go on." The medic prompted. It was unlike his friend to be so bashful.

"Do you want to have sex again, right now?" The xeno asked hesitantly.

George tried to find a way of saying 'no' which wouldn't sound harsh to his inexperienced partner. "Are you horny again already?"

"Yeah... Actually, never mind, I'm sorry for asking."

"Don't be sorry! It's fine to ask." George encouraged. "Tell me what's the matter."

"I… I…" Erebus actually stuttered, which hadn't happened for over 24 hours.

The human gently rested a hand on the xeno's leg, smiling kindly and innocently. "Erebus, just tell me what's wrong. We're good friends. You can trust me."

"I don't want to be a bother to you!" Erebus blurted. "I don't want to make a nuisance of myself or ask for too much. You've been so good to me, but I know that around humans I can't just raise my tail if I want to be bred or openly court with whoever I want to fuck. And we certainly can't just stop what we're doing at any time so that we can have sex. Not just you, but me and whoever else I am attracted to or is attracted to me. I don't- I just don't know anything. You're all so different from xenomorphs; I barely know how to act." He brought his fist down on the bed, not hard enough to damage anything, but with enough force to punctuate his distress.

George smiled good-naturedly. "Erebus, that's all totally fine. Everyone has to learn how to act at some point in their lives. Humans spend most of their lives trying to adapt to the people around them. But you've got a pair of advantages that most people don't."

Erebus cocked his dome to the side. "What are they?"

"Firstly, you're going through this process in a society that's in the middle of a revolution; so what counts as 'normal behavior' has already gone right out the window. That gives you a lot of breathing room to explore society's boundaries. Secondly, you're a xenomorph which comes with a whole load of perks. People are going to give you even more breathing room, because they'll understand that you're new to human society, and so of course you'll be going through this process. Add to that that you're really intelligent, and you'll adapt in no time. Plus you're big and dangerous and everybody is afraid of you, so even if you do do something wrong, I bet nobody's going to voice their complaint."

George said that last part as a joke, but Erebus didn't seem to find it very funny.

"I don't want to scare good people. I want good people to like me."

"In time, they will. But first they have to get to know you."

"How will that happen?"

"Well, you've got an advantage there too. You're the first xenomorph to help a human instead of helping his hive, the first to display fully sentient behavior, the first to speak meaningfully with a human, the first to be honest-to-goodness friends with a human, not to mention the fact that you carried a wounded soldier to safety, helped rescue a civilian, negotiated our peaceful departure with the rest of the xenomorphs, which probably saved all our lives. And then on top of all that, on the very same day you accompanied a marine to an enemy vessel and proceeded to force it to surrender intact, which not only saved our ship, but struck a blow against the corporate forces and secured a new ship for the revolution."

"People have become famous for a lot less. I suspect that if you're not already, the moment we disembark on Steele you are going to be a media sensation. I have a friend who's a reporter for the Daily Worker, and he'll be the first to tell you that this is the kind of story reporters will kill for. Action, heroism, sensationalism. You'll be on talk shows, and every reporter within a thousand light years is going to want an interview with you. You'll have every opportunity to show how much of a good, respectable person you are. Within three weeks, everyone in the entire galaxy will know your name and your story!"

"Is that a good thing?" Erebus interjected to ask. "Will all that interest in me ever go away? It seems like it'd get exhausting after a while. I want to settle down and live peacefully with you after the war is over."

George paused. "That's… a good point. I honestly don't know."

Now that Erebus had pumped the brakes on his enthusiasm a little, George had to admit that there were a lot of things about this situation that he didn't know. And some of them made him uncomfortable.

"I think you're right to be cautious." The medic said slowly, looking up at his friend. "The revolutionary government will probably want to make a media spectacle out of you. The propaganda value of this would be through the roof. I can already see the posters; you and me holding a billowing red flag, looking up at it hopefully, smiling with revolutionary zeal. Taglines like: 'Our cause is so righteous, even the xenomorphs embrace it'. You'd make a wonderful figurehead."

"Is that a bad thing?" Erebus asked earnestly.

"It's… something. Maybe good, maybe bad. Maybe both."

"And maybe…" The xeno teasingly poked his human in the arm. "… I want to be a figurehead. I want to help you. I want to make Weyland-Yutani hurt."

"That… warrants another conversation, for another time. There's a difference between wanting to help a friend and wanting to hurt an enemy."

"What's the difference?" Erebus insisted "I can help my friends and hurt the enemy by fighting against the corporations."

"Because you don't know what you're fighting for yet!" George protested loudly, silencing the xeno with a stern look. "I won't let you fight with us until you understand what we're fighting for. That's final. I won't let you."

"Why not?" The alien demanded testily.

George sighed. "Do you know what the word 'socialism' means?"

"No."

"How about 'capitalism', 'communism', 'fascism', 'democracy', 'dictatorship', or 'religion'? Do you know what any of those words mean?"

"No."

"That's why not. Because when people don't know what exactly they're fighting for, bad shit happens." Images of death camps, children with assault rifles, and 'witches' being burned at the stake flashed through the medic's mind. He imagined Erebus falling for any of those movements and shivered.

The xeno must have registered George's discomfort, because he suddenly became very quiet. "You're serious about this." He whispered.

"I am. Just…" George looked Erebus square in the face with a dead serious expression. "Just don't take it for granted that me and my comrades are the good guys. Please. Keep your mind open, and keep asking questions."

"I will." Erebus replied solemnly.

He and the human stared at each other for a few seconds, then the xeno began to smile.

"What is it?"

"You didn't use the right grammar." Erebus giggled "You said 'me and my comrades' and not 'my comrades and I'." Mimicking George's voice, he said "You need to work on your grammar."

"So I did." George smiled, glad to have the mood lightened. "And hey, listen. About the other thing you said, about inconveniencing me by asking for sex? Don't worry about it. It'll only inconvenience me if other people hear it. But if you want sex, just ask. There's a good chance I'll say yes. Don't be worried about me rejecting you. If I don't want to have sex at a certain time, then I'll probably want to later. Just be patient."

"Thank you." Erebus said, smiling. He bumped George's forehead fondly, and the human bumped him back.

"And I'm sure you know that there are times you shouldn't ask, like if we're around other people or I'm upset."

"Got it."

George scooted over to Erebus so that they could sit next to each other on the mattress, and they held hands tenderly, basking in the relative shared quiet between them.

It didn't take long before he noticed the xeno looking down towards his genitals, which were still bared to the world since he hadn't yet gotten dressed. Wordlessly, he spread his legs a bit and smiled up at the alien, nodding encouragingly when his companion tentatively reached out with a spindly black hand.

The long black fingers gently caressed George's limp penis, toying with it playfully as it began to swell and harden.

"While we're on the subject of sex, how about we set up some ground rules for that, and for touching each other in general?" George suggested.

"Ok, go ahead." Erebus encouraged, glancing up from his ministrations to look George directly in the face.

"First rule of all sex and touching, no means no, and stop means stop. That goes for me and you. If I don't feel like having sex, then don't try to force me or coerce me. That's no. Stop means that if I tell you to stop what you're doing, then you'll stop immediately. Understand?"

"Yes."

"And that goes in reverse too." George said seriously. He knew that although he was physically weaker, he currently held intellectual power over Erebus. But that wasn't power he wanted to have. "If ever, and I do mean this, ever I ask for sex and you don't want it, then you do not have to give it to me. Don't feel obligated to, or like you're inconveniencing me. If you don't want sex, then that's valid; we don't have it. And if I'm ever doing something to you that makes you uncomfortable or hurts, then tell me to stop."

He leaned in close to Erebus and whispered "Nothing would inconvenience me more than emotionally or physically hurting you. If you don't want sex, tell me. If you don't like what I'm doing, tell me. I'll stop. Don't feel obligated to keep going."

"Ok. Thank you." The xeno said gratefully. "I will."

"Good. Now let's move on to touching. Do you know what the word 'grope' means?"

"No."

"It means to feel someone sexually. The connotation is that it's also unwanted, but the word doesn't necessarily always have that connotation. In this sense, I'm just using it to mean sexually touching someone. When we're alone in our room here, you can grope and touch me as you please, with a few exceptions. If I'm upset or don't want to, then please don't. And while you can certainly touch and caress my genitals, please be very gentle. They're delicate and sensitive. The same goes for my ass. Feel it up all you like, but give me fair warning if you want to put your fingers inside me; I might not be clean, or need lubricant."

"I will, I promise." Erebus said dutifully. "And the same things mostly apply to me too. I like having my genitals touched, but be gentle. There's a reason they're usually inside my slit. You can rub my dorsal lobes too. Feel free to play around under my tail, but tell me if you're going to push inside. Not to discourage you from doing it though, since it does feel very good." The xeno finished teasingly.

"Don't worry, I'm not discouraged at all." George teased back. He gave Erebus a hug, which the alien immediately returned.

Despite having had his gaze locked on George's face for their entire conversation, Erebus hadn't stopped playing with the marine's cock, and by now it had become fully erect.

George gently took hold of the xeno's arm and pushed it away.

Erebus made a disappointed whine.

"I'm saving it for later, ok? We've got some stuff to do first." George reassured him.

"Stuff like what?" Erebus asked curiously.

"Well," The marine stood up and stretched, before walking over to the dresser and rifling around inside "we still need to get you tested for sexually transmitted diseases, which should be pretty simple. We can go and ask Dr. Anderson for some tests."

"You're trying to keep our sex a secret, right?" Erebus clarified.

"Yeah."

"Wouldn't asking the doctor for some tests make him suspicious?"

George laughed. "No, it would not. Because he is such a nutter that he wouldn’t even think about us possibly having sex. I can tell you exactly how the interaction will go. I'll walk up to him, ask him for the tests, and he'll say something to the effect of 'Fascinating. I wonder if they work on xenomorphs. You guys go find out.' And sex won't even occur to him. Plus, who'd guess that we're in a relationship? No one, because when people think of xenomorphs, they don't think sexy thoughts. They think 'Oh shit, time to run away'."

"If you say so…"

"C'mon Erebus, trust me!"

There was rustling behind him, and the marine felt the alien's arms curl around and embrace him. "I'll always trust you, George." The xeno whispered.

George kissed him on the arm, then gently wiggled free and continued to pick out clothes from the dresser.

When he had finished putting on his khakis, George turned around to see Erebus intently looking him up and down.

"What is it?"

"Can I have something to wear?" The xeno asked curiously.

"I don't think I have anything that would fit you. I've only got another pair of khakis and my dress uniform, which are too small, and they wouldn't go over your dorsal lobes or your tail anyway."

"Oh…" Erebus trailed off, sounding rather disappointed.

George, now dressed, retrieved Meyer's cane, as his ankle still smarted when he put weight on it. He then limped over to the intercom and pressed the button to connect him to the bridge. "Bridge crew, this is George Canner."

A couple seconds went by, before Meyer's voice responded "Good morning Private Canner! Feeling better?"

"Yes, comrade corporal."

"What can we do for you up here?"

"Erebus and I are about to leave our quarters. I request that a ship-wide announcement be made to inform the crew that a xenomorph will be out an about with me, and to remind them that he is a friendly."

"Acknowledged. Please stand by."

There was silence for a few seconds, before the ship-wide speakers came on, relaying Meyer's notice. "Attention to all personal. Private George Canner and the xenomorph known as Erebus will now be on deck. You are reminded that the xenomorph is not hostile; I repeat, not hostile, and to refrain from attacking him. As you were."

"Satisfactory?" Meyers asked through the bedroom's intercom.

"Very much, comrade corporal. Thank you."

Meyers rang off, as did George.

"Does that human ever sleep?" Erebus asked.

"No." George answered, totally serious.

The medic then left the room and headed for the elevator, with Erebus in tow.

"So, why do you want to wear anything anyway?" He asked as they walked down the hall. "It's not like you get cold or have anything to hide."

"I want to be like you; like a human. Humans wear clothes."

"Humans wear clothes because they're useful to us. They help regulate body temperature and signify social status at a glance. You can regulate your body temperature with your dorsal lobes, and your social status is already clear just by looking at you." George explained as he trotted down the grand staircase towards the lift.

"Is it? What is my social status?"

"Xenomorph."

"That's not what social status is. Even in xenomorph hives we have a defined social hierarchy; you described it to me while we were still on the base, remember? When we had that really long conversation that started with assault rifles? Xenomorphs have drones, warriors, praetorians, and finally the queen. Calling my social position "xenomorph" is about as accurate as calling yours "human". Obviously you are a human, but that's a description of your species, not your positon in the social hierarchy of said species."

"I think I wanna go talk to Barns. Whenever I make throwaway remarks to him, he doesn't devote an entire ramble to disproving them." George muttered jokingly as they stepped into the lift.

"Then don't make throwaway remarks, silly." Erebus whacked the back of George's leg with the flat of his tail teasingly.

The medic smiled at his companion, then pressed a button on the control panel.

The grates slid shut, and the lift began to descend.

"Hungry?" George asked.

"Yeah. Do you have food?"

"Not on me, but before we go to Dr. Anderson I was thinking that we could stop in the mess hall and get some food."

"What is a 'mess hall'? A hall where you make a mess?"

George laughed. "No, it's a military version of a cafeteria. It's a place where humans in the military go to eat."

"What's the military?"

The lift stopped and the grating slid open again, the pair stepping out and walking down the hall.

George paused. 'Have I really gone this long without explaining that to him?' "The military is a branch of government that deals with fighting the militaries of other governments."

"Like how the warriors in a hive fight for their queen?"

"Yeah, like that. I'm a warrior for the revolutionary government."

Erebus smiled. "That's cute."

"How so?"

"Because to me you're so small and weak, calling yourself a warrior is cute. It'd be like a mouse telling you that he's a warrior."

"I don't think the difference in our strength is that extreme…"

The arms of his companion closed around George as the xenomorph lifted him up into the air with practiced ease, cradling him nonchalantly against his chest. "I think it is." The xeno cooed.

George smiled up at him fondly. "Point taken. Now put me down."

Erebus did so, and they continued their walk.

"So where is the mess hall?"

George pointed at a doorway 20 meters down the hall. "That's it there."

Erebus inhaled deeply. "I smell food."

"I'm not sure what time it is, but the cooks are usually in there making food for the next meal."

"Cooks?"

"Cooks are humans who make food for other humans. They perform the act of cooking, which is the act of preparing food to be eaten. They're also called 'chefs'."

"How does food need to be 'prepared'? Can't you just eat it?"

At this moment, Barns popped out of the mess hall, spotted them, and approached at a jog, smiling widely.

"Hey George! How ya feelin'?"

George and Barns stopped in front of each other, while Erebus kept walking.

"Hungry now; talk later." The xeno muttered.

"I'm feeling better, thanks." The medic said, watching with slight apprehension as Erebus continued toward the mess hall.

"Not much one for conversation, is he?" Barns murmured, lowering his voice so that the alien couldn't hear. "Gave me the ole' cold shoulder."

"I like you, and I like talking to you Barns. But I'm hungry." The xeno called back down the hall. "And I can still hear you just fine." He giggled.

The other marine went white. Looking at George, he grit his teeth. "You're a bit unsettling Erebus, you know that right?" Barns responded.

"Know it and love it." The xeno laughed as he walked into the mess hall.

"Jesus, how long did it take him to learn English again? He's already a pro!"

"About 48 hours."

"Christ! That fucker picks stuff up quick! You know, it took just six minutes to teach him how to operate an assault rifle. Four to teach him about explosives."

George shrugged, "That's occurred to me too. My theory is that since xenos mature so rapidly, they have to be very adept at learning, so that by the time they're fully grown they can utilize their body and their surroundings to the best effect."

"Cool, so would that-"

A blood-curdling scream ripped through the air; and neither George nor Barns had to track its origin to figure out where it came from. Without a word, they both took off running towards the mess hall.

They entered, only to find it empty. Of course, at this hour their comrades wouldn't be here; they'd be on duty or exercising Something nagged at George's mind, but he pushed it down, knowing that right now he had something more important to do. The big doors leading to the kitchen were standing open, and the human pair raced through them, only to find a scene which neither had been expecting.

The kitchen was a rather conservatively sized room, with a couple rows of counters in the middle and refrigerators, stoves, and ovens lining the walls.

Given the food assortment, which was a variety of meats and vegetables, it appeared that they had been in the middle of preparing lunch.

Aside from the marines and Erebus, there were three other people in the room. One of them was the ship's cook; Chef Cookie, which was what everyone called him because his real name, Beauchesne, was too hard to pronounce and no-one particularly cared enough to learn how. That, and because he made excellent scones when the time and ingredients could be found.

The other two people were Cookie's assistants, Andrea and Martín. They were all engaged in various desperate acts.

Andrea was desperately spamming the "call" button on the kitchen's intercom panel, trying to summon help, and Martín was desperately searching through a knife drawer, trying to find the biggest one.

Cookie himself had picked up a particularly hefty saucepan, and was desperately swinging it at the intruder in his kitchen.

Standing in the middle of all of this was Erebus, clutching a large, bloody steak in one hand, and deep-throating a baguette with the other.

"Erebus!!" George screamed "What the fuck are you doing?!"

The xeno bit off the bread in his mouth and started chewing it, looking down at George nonchalantly "Wah?" He mumbled around his mouthful.

Chef Cookie whacked the alien in the side as hard as he could with the pan, which just bounced off his ribs.

"Hmm?" Erebus looked down at the chef curiously.

"Would everyone please calm down?!" George shouted, "This isn't-"

Martín finally found the knife he was looking for, a large, hefty, and particularly brutal looking meat-cleaver. Raising it over his shoulder, he chucked it at Erebus with all of his not-inconsiderable strength.

The heavy knife sailed through the air, spinning lazily as it flew towards its big, black target.

It indeed found its target, but landed dull-edge first and just bounced off harmlessly, rebounding back and knocking a large pot off its burner, which then tipped over and spilled, chucks of meat, slices of vegetables, and a thick broth pouring out and smothering the countertop and stove.

"Mon Dieu! My stew!" Cookie cried in dismay.

"See Martín," Barns said, "this is why no-one ever accepts your challenges to knife-throwing competitions. We're not afraid of losing, we're afraid of winning and hurting your feelings, but I guess the cat's out of the bag now."

Martín gave Barns a 'What in the galaxy makes you think now is the right time for this?' look.

Cookie dropped his saucepan and rushed to right his overturned stew, setting upright on a clean section of countertop. "You great stupid beast, look what you've done to my kitchen!" He yelled, turning to glare at Erebus.

"EVERYBODY SHUT UP!!!" George shouted.

The room went silent as all eyes (and a dome) turned to him.

"Thank you. Now would someone please just tell me what's going on in here?"

"Ze creature invaded my kitchen, and proceeded to help itself to my pantry!" Cookie announced in his heavy French accent, glaring sullenly at Erebus.

The xeno stopped chewing. "Oh, was I not supposed to eat this?" He asked, looking down at the bread and meat in his hands.

"No, you were not." George admonished, "You were supposed to ask for food, or preferably just wait for us to catch up to you. And then we would get food together."

Erebus looked at the floor and whimpered "I'm sorry." He tried to hand the meat and saliva-coated baguette back to Cookie, who flinched away and gave the items a look of disgust.

"You… you keep zem." The chef muttered.

"Ok then!" Erebus beamed at him. He then turned and looked at George "See, problem solved."

"Oh no! No no no no! Zis problem ez not solved!" Cookie interjected "My kitchen is a mess! A disaster!" He pointed an accusatory finger at Erebus. "And it ez your fault!"

At this moment, the doors to the kitchen burst open an a squad of heavily armed security personal bust in, panting heavily. "We came as fast…" The commanding officer looked around the room in bewilderment, "… as… we… could… Um, is there a problem here?"

"Yes!" Cookie announced.

"No! No there is not!" George shouted over him.

"Uh… what?" The officer and his squad looked confused.

"There was a problem, but it's been solved now. Everything is fine." Barns assured the officer.

"Everyzing ez not fine…" The chef muttered, crossing his arms.

"Everything is fine." Barns insisted. "Please stand down and return to your posts."

"Um…" The lead officer took another look around the room. "Ok then…" He and the others walked slowly back out of the kitchen, the doors swinging shut behind them.

George stared after them for a second, then said "Now that that's out of the way…" He turned to look at Cookie and his assistants. "Look, I'm sorry that Erebus made a mess. He's new to our world, and he doesn't really get how society works yet. We're teaching him. If you'll just give us some food, then we'll get out of your hair.

Cookie looked between George and Erebus a few times, then sighed and hung his head. "Fine. Andrea! Get a loaf of bread; I don't care what kind, and a pork chop and put them on a platter for ze alien. Martín! Clean up zis mess you 'av made with your stupid knife antics."

The chef then took a ladle and scooped out three bowlfuls of stew. Setting them on the platter as well, he handed it to George. "There. Now get out of my kitchen, or ze next meal I serve you will have reactor waste in it!"

Thanking Cookie graciously, George and Barns retreated from the kitchen, Barns practically dragging Erebus along with them.

When they were back in the mess hall, George set down the platter and turned to Erebus with a stern look on his face. "What was that? What the heck did you do in there?" He demanded.

The xeno whimpered and looked at the ground. "I smelled food, so I followed the scent. I didn't know I wasn't supposed to eat it. I'm sorry."

"… It's ok." George leaned in and gave Erebus a hug. "I should've explained it to you. It's my fault."

"It's mine." Erebus insisted gently. "I should've asked you. Of course getting food would be different in a human spaceship than in a xenomorph hive."

They pulled away from each other, smiling.

Barns looked on with an amused expression. "You two have got something, you know that? It's like you were made for each other." He smiled even wider, and then joked "Why don't you guys just get a room already?"

Under normal circumstances, George would've laughed at this; maybe even half-jokingly flirted with the other person Barns was talking about, just to scope out possible interest but leave some deniability just in case. He wasn't one to turn down a good lay, after all. But these were hardly normal circumstances.

'Oh Barns, if only you knew the half of it.'

But then Erebus opened his mouth "What does it mean to 'get a room'?"

The other marine laughed again, unaware of the significance of this question. "When two people like each other a lot, or are just really horny, they'll go someplace alone, usually to an empty hotel room-" Barns paused momentarily "A hotel is a place where people can rent rooms. Don't ask me what renting is, you'll get me off track. Basically a hotel is a place where people can have a room for a little while. And if two people 'get a room', in the metaphorical sense, that means that they're going someplace private to have sex."

Erebus did not respond to this. Instead he fell uncharacteristically silent.

Barns sat there expectantly, waiting for a reply for several long, uncomfortable seconds. "What's the matter chatterbox? Finally run out of questions?" He asked.

"I guess so." George interjected "He usually just stops talking when he doesn't have anything more to say." Without giving Erebus a chance to jump in and contradict him, George changed the subject and asked "So what was with the prisoner escape thing I heard in bed last night?"

They sat down at the end of one of the long tables that filled the cafeteria, George setting down the platter of food. Erebus tucked in immediately, tearing his way through the bread and meat as his companions continued talking.

"It was Calegary; fucking snake. He escaped."

Erebus froze. Pointedly biting down on the food in his mouth and loudly swallowing, the xeno looked up at Barns with an unreadable expression on his face. "Calegary escaped?"

"Yeah."

The xeno's lips curled into a snarl, showing his long, gleaming teeth. "We should have killed him."

"I felt like telling that to Meyers, but I also felt like not getting blown out an airlock, so I kept my mouth shut."

George put his head in his hands. "How did this happen?"

"He jumped the guard who showed up to give him food and water, and then escaped in the long-range shuttle. He jumped to light-speed before we could stop him."

The medic gently clenched at his hair. This was frustrating, but at least it wasn't catastrophic.

Erebus though seemed completely infuriated. "We should have killed him! You should have let me kill him!"

"Meyers was taking the moral high-road; it was out of our control!" Barns protested.

The xeno crossed his arms. "We should have killed him."

"Yes, Erebus, we know." George muttered. "You've said it enough."

"Hmph."

Barns retrieved his stew from the tray and began to leisurely spoon it into his mouth.

"Are you just done talking then?" Erebus demanded.

"What more is there to say?" Barns mumbled.

"Are we going to chase him?"

"No. We don't even know where he went, and at light-speed we can't track him or even shoot at him if we somehow miraculously caught up; our projectiles would leave the warp-field around our ship and immediately slow back down to a high fraction of the speed of light; possibly crashing back into us in the process."

"… I don't know what any of that means, but we should still-"

"No, we shouldn't." Barns interrupted. "Whatever you think we should do, we shouldn't be doing it. This war is a lot bigger than one man; it isn't worth our time to try and catch him."

"Why not?" The xeno asked indignantly.

George and Barns exchanged looks.

"How do I explain this…" George murmured, turning to face Erebus. "Wars aren't usually personal. We're fighting for a much bigger goal than revenge against one person."

"But Calegary is important to the enemy." Erebus protested.

"But not as important as other people and places. We have to rank our priorities."

Barns looked at Erebus curiously "Why are you fixating so much on Calegary?"

Erebus slowly turned his head to look Barns straight in the face. "He hurt me. He hurt me and my kin. He cut us open and made us do mean, cruel, and painful things over and over again. All we knew was pain and isolation." The xeno's lips twitched, then he smiled. An expression he must have picked up from Birknow, because this was definitely not a normal smile. It wasn't kind, or even voyeuristic. It was demented. It was much too wide to be genuine, all the xenomorph's teeth bared and on full display. A very strange sound emanated from the creature's throat; a twisted, warbling giggle which was just as demented as the smile. "I just want to make him understand." Erebus said in an off-pitch, singsong voice. "To teach him empathy. And when I'm done, he'll never hurt anyone ever again."

Barns looked supremely uncomfortable. Erebus was staring at him very intently, and even though the xeno didn't have any eyes, the marine was unable to hold his gaze. He looked away and coughed awkwardly. "Oh."

George stared down into his soup, trying to think of something to say that would break the ensuing awkward silence.

Thankfully, Erebus seemed to be done talking. He began chowing down on his food again as Barns looked back up at George.

No one said anything. It was hard to think of something to say after a speech like that. How did you follow-up something so unhinged?

The xeno certainly seemed unconcerned with the weight and implications of what he had just said, and continued eating without any apparent concern for it. He stuffed the rest of the meat down his throat, then stuck his inner mouth into the stew and slurped it up in a matter of seconds, before polishing off the remainder of the bread. It had taken him perhaps a minute to consume a meal which George and Barns hadn't even started on yet.

"Can I have more bread?" Erebus asked calmly.

"Uh… sure." George said. He got up and walked back to the kitchen.

Inside, Cookie and his assistants had cleaned up the mess and were once again hard at work making lunch. They all looked up apprehensively when George entered.

"Hey, can we have another loaf? Erebus ate all of the last one."

Cookie stared at him in disbelief. "Ze creature ate an entire loaf? In five minutes?!"

"Yup. And all the meat and stew too. But he just wants more bread."

The chef pursed his lips. "Andrea, please get a stale loaf from yesterday."

His assistant complied, pulling an older hunk of bread from the leftover pantry.

Cookie took it from her and then tossed it to George. "Here. Ze monster may feast on zat."

The medic rolled his eyes, but took what he had been given. Leaving the kitchen again, he walked back over to where Barns and Erebus were sitting in uncomfortable silence.

"Here." George handed the loaf to the xeno. "It's old, but it's what they gave me."

Erebus accepted it unquestioningly and promptly took a huge bite out of it.

There was a painfully loud crunch as the alien's teeth hit the loaf; as if he had bitten into a massive crouton. George and Barns flinched instinctively, the medic vividly imagining his teeth shattering.

Erebus didn't seem to care though, and just kept crunching away at the hard, stale bread. About a third of the way through, he switched from taking bites to gnawing on it in short bursts like a buzz saw, spraying crumbs everywhere as he did.

The two marines watched in morbid fascination as the xeno proceeded to polish off the rest of the loaf and then lick the flour off his fingers when he was done.

"Wow." Barns said. "Just wow. You're like a garbage disposal."

Erebus looked at him curiously "What's that?"

"It's a place where humans put food that they don't want to eat. It makes the food into… smaller pieces, I guess, and then makes it go away." Barns explained.

The xeno cocked his head "You have so much food you can just waste some? That's amazing! No one must ever be hungry in human society!"

Barns laughed at this.

"Some of us have enough." George explained. "The middle classes and rich do. But out here in the colonies we mostly have to eat whatever is on the table. Most of our food was sent back to the core worlds to feed them before the revolution. But now we have a lot more to ourselves."

"What are the core worlds?"

"The core worlds were the first to be colonized and developed. Humans originated on a planet called Earth, and then we spread outward through the galaxy. Earth is at the approximate center of charted space, with the core worlds surrounding it. Much further out is us, the colonies. We make raw materials, by digging up minerals and farming for food, and then send those resources back to the core worlds to be processed and made into things, some of which they then sell back to us."

"Things like what?"

"Oh, lots of stuff. Spaceships like this one, furniture like this table, fancy jewelry, etc."

"What does it mean to 'wage'?" Erebus asked suddenly, changing the subject.

"… What?"

"I asked you yesterday, but you didn't tell me. I asked a lot of other questions which you didn't answer yesterday."

"Oh." George glanced forlornly at Barns, who returned the look. They could tell they were going to be there for a while.

---

"Ok, is that all the questions you have for now?" George asked.

Erebus lifted his chin thoughtfully for a moment, then nodded.

They had been sitting at that same table for an hour, George and Barns answering every question that had sprung to the xeno's mind.

"Can I have more bread?" The alien asked. He had eaten two additional loaves while they'd been talking.

Barns gawked "How are you still hungry?"

"I'm not, it just tastes really good."

"You can't have any more bread. I'm already worried about what it might do to you, and that's notwithstanding that we need that food for ourselves. If you're not hungry, you don't need to eat." George said firmly.

"Aww." Erebus sounded disappointed, but quickly brightened up. "Can we go to Dr. Anderson and get the tests now?"

"Tests?" Barns asked.

"Yeah, Erebus and I were going to go get some work done with Dr. Anderson. He is a very unique xenomorph after all. He warrants study." George answered vaguely. He was concerned that the alien wouldn't like the way he was talking about him. It was very similar to the way that Anderson had been speaking just before Erebus had snapped and lashed out.

But Erebus didn't seem bothered at all.

"Sure. I have other duties to attend to anyways, so I guess I'll see ya both later." Barns smiled and left the mess hall, his footsteps receding down the corridor as others replaced them, crewmembers beginning to trickle in for lunch. Not his comrades, but good people who he normally got along with.

There it was again, that unpleasant feeling of their judgment, blocking out the unpleasant nagging in his brain. George could sense their stares boring into him. "Come on Erebus." He murmured, leading the xeno out of the room.

'It wouldn't be so bad if everyone didn't act so antisocial.' The medic thought as a female technician skirted around the pair in a wide arc. 'Why can't they just act polite? Erebus is a person just as much as I am.' George then realized that, while this was true, no one else knew the alien like he did. No one else had been trapped with one for two days, had healed one when it was sick, had taught one how to talk and think like a human. For that matter, no one had ever had sex with a xeno either.

With this new context in mind, George calmed down a bit. 'Of course they're avoiding us.' He reasoned, 'No one else knows Erebus like I do. It'll take some time for them to start thinking of him differently.'

They turned and walked down the hall towards the lift. The trickle of crew towards the mess hall was still slow, so George decided to ask Erebus a question.

"Hey, back in the mess hall, when I was talking about studying you, were you upset? You didn't like it when Anderson talked that way about you yesterday."

"I wasn't upset." Erebus replied. "I knew you were lying to Barns. And even if you weren't, then I still wouldn't be upset. I trust you. If you are curious about me, then I know you'll try to find things out in ways that won't hurt me."

"Ahh… Yeah, about that." George murmured nervously, "Some of the tests might hurt, just a bit."

Erebus stopped dead, turning his dome to face George with an unrecognizable expression on his face. He was baring his teeth, but it wasn't a snarl or a smile. It almost looked like he was gritting them together as if in pain or frustration, but that wasn't quite it either.

"How much will it hurt?" The alien asked quietly.

"Not much! I promise!" The medic said loudly, ignoring the looks he was getting from the people walking past.

"Describe the tests."

"Uh, well, we might need to stick a few needles in you." George scratched the back of his neck. "Actually, that might be problematic too. A lot of human tests use blood, but that's obviously not an option for you."

"So then what will we do?" Erebus asked curiously. He didn't seem terribly fazed about the needles.

"I dunno. I'm just a general practitioner, not a sexologist. We'll ask Anderson."

They continued walking.

"Honestly, I'm surprised you aren't more concerned about the possibility of getting hurt, what with the needles and stuff."

"Humans take these tests so they can have sex and feel good. Obviously they won't hurt very much, or you wouldn't take them." The xeno replied clinically. Lower his voice, he murmured "And it'll be worth it for what it will allow us to do together."

George blushed, looking down at his feet so that no one walking by would notice. But they would be too distracted by Erebus to take notice anyway.

They entered the lift, and George pressed the button for the center deck, where the medical ward was.

"You were ashamed in the hallway. When I talked secretly about sex." Erebus murmured. "Was I not secret enough? Could other humans hear me and know that we had sex?" This thought seemed to cause him considerable distress. "I'm sorry George! I didn't mean to! I shouldn't have been talking about it at all, I-"

"Erebus! Calm down!" The medic shouted over his companion.

The xenomorph quieted. Even though he was a good 30cm taller than the human at least, the way Erebus looked at George in that moment was downright meek.

"You haven't done anything wrong. No one else has figured it out."

Erebus audibly sighed in relief, an action which George found ever-so-slightly unnerving. The humanness of the xenomorph sometimes caught even him off-guard.

"Then…" The xeno straightened back up. "Why were you embarrassed? You were embarrassed this morning too, when I called you my mate. You explained it to me, sort of, but I didn't really understand."

The lift arrived at their deck and the doors slid open.

George and Erebus stepped out, the human looking around to see if anyone was about.

No one was.

"So, Erebus." George scratched his neck again. "I guess I haven't done a good job of explaining this, but sex is a lot more… restricted, in human society than it apparently is in a xenomorph hive. You talk about it like it's normal to fuck every few hours, but humans don't do that. Sex is not usually ok to talk about. And that's not your fault!" He protested, seeing the downcast look on Erebus's face. "You're not the problem. I'm the problem. I was raised in this culture, so naturally whenever I talk about sex with you, especially in a public place, no matter how discreetly, I feel a bit uncomfortable. It'll get better as we do it more and I get to know you better, but as long as we're in public it'll make me feel awkward."

Erebus looked down at George thoughtfully. "Human society is very confusing." He said finally. "You have so much food you can waste it, but some people are still hungry. You work together, but also fight against each other. You like to have sex, but hate talking about it."

George laughed. "Yeah, we're a big giant mess of contradictions." He hugged the xeno, who hugged back. "Thanks for trying to understand."

"I'm having fun. I like learning about humans. I'm studying you just as much as you're studying me."

George smiled again. "Come on big guy, let's get you tested."

They walked into the medical ward proper, and were greeted at the doorway by Dr. Anderson.

"Ah, George and Erebus!" He said warmly, holding his arms out in front of him as if he were going to embrace them. "What can I help you with?"

Irrespective of how he sounded, Anderson still looked pretty beat-up. He had a new pair of glasses, but his black eye was still there and he had a ball of cotton taped over his nose.

"You're sounding very chipper today doctor." George commented. "What's going on?"

"Well, even if Erebus won't let me examine him, I still managed to calculate his approximate median strength by taking into account my body mass, the distance he flung me, and the apparent effort he exerted while doing so. It's not a very accurate measurement, but still, it was a most enjoyable exercise!" He was grinning, despite his apparent injuries.

"It's good my temper helped you." Erebus said, smiling. "I'm sorry that I hurt you yesterday. You frightened me."

Anderson clapped his hands together once. "Well, yes. It's alright. In hindsight I can see where I made my error. It was rather silly of my to ask you, who had been trapped in a laboratory your whole life, to submit to another round of experiments while the only human you knew left your side. It was terribly inconsiderate of me."

George frowned. He knew this game. Anderson wasn't lying, but still, this was sincerity with a purpose. He would still very much want to examine Erebus up-close, and if he thought he could get that via apologizing and making nice, then of course he would.

"We actually came here to talk to you about that." George said. "Erebus and I talked it over, and he's had a change of heart. He'd really like to contribute to science some."

Anderson looked overjoyed. "Oh goodness, a dream come true! Come, follow me!"

He led them into one of the medical suites and instructed Erebus to sit down on the table, which the xenomorph reluctantly did.

George could tell that the alien was having second thoughts. His movements were slow, and his expression was neutral.

"What should we do first?" The doctor asked, sounding very much like a child on Christmas morning with too many presents to open.

"I was personally curious as to whether or not STD tests would work on a xenomorph." George suggested nonchalantly. "It would demonstrate how similar Erebus's specific biology is to our own, and would tell us if he has an traditionally human diseases. If his host was infected, I would like to see if that passed on to him. Plus the tests do most of the chemistry for me, so that's a plus."

"Of course! A simple place to start, which we can build off of. Fascinating!"

"But," George added, "any tests which require a blood sample obviously aren't an option. Could we work around that?"

"Pah. Of course I can work around it. I can make do perfectly well with a sample of spinal fluid and some sperm. We can take care of the spinal fluid here, and then I can fetch a fluid sample bottle for Erebus to donate to in private." The doctor bustled out of the room, leaving George and Erebus alone for a moment.

"You ok?" The human asked quietly.

"Yeah. Just nervous. I don't know what spinal fluid is. It's probably inside of me, right? How is he going to get it out? With a needle?"

"Spinal fluid is the liquid that's in your spine." George reached up and pressed a pair of fingers against the center of the xeno's back, dragging them up the ridge of bones hidden under the skin. "These hard bits here are your spine. There's fluid inside. There's an STD called syphilis that can infect in there, and that's what Anderson and I will be looking for in your tests. Don't worry, I really don't think we'll find anything. I'm just playing it safe."

"Ok, so how is he going to get the fluid out of my spine?"

"With a needle. Don't worry, it won't hurt at all."

Erebus was silent for a moment. "The scientists hurt me with needles. They would poke me with them all over my body, and I couldn't even scream." He began to shiver. "I'm scared George. I know what I said earlier, but…"

"Oh…" The human leaned in and embraced his friend. "I'm sorry. We don't have to do this if you don't want to. I'll just make up some bullshit on the fly to make Anderson think that he can't stick a needle in you."

"No. I want this. It's worth it."

"Just to have sex with me? Erebus, you don't have to-"

"Not just that. I want to learn. Learn about myself and how I work and what my inside parts do. This seems like a good way."

George smiled. "You'd make a great scientist."

The xeno shrugged. "No. I'm just really horny and I want to know why." He grinned at his own joke.

Anderson walked back in with a hypodermic needle. It wasn't very imposing; just a small glass syringe a few centimeters long, paired with a needle which was a few centimeters longer and tapered so much at its tip you could barely see the point.

"My blood melts things and will hurt you." Erebus warned.

Anderson smiled gently. "I am aware. This equipment was made with your kind in mind. In case a facehugger or such ever got on board, we could safely sedate and then kill it with poisons injected with a needle like this. It's acid-resistant, and sharp enough to get through a xenomorph's tough outer skin. The sharpness has the added effect of making it so that you'll barely be able to feel it.

Erebus looked incredulous. "You're not going to poison me, are you?"

"Of course not! Just draw a little fluid from your spine. It won't take a minute."

"I hope not. A minute seems like a very long time to have a needle jabbed in me."

Anderson rolled his eyes. He walked over to stand next to Erebus, looking at the xeno's neck intently.

The alien whined softly, reaching out for George's hand and squeezing it, like a child about to get a flu shot.

"It'll be ok." The medic murmured, resting his free hand on his companion's shoulder.

"Ah, here…" Anderson located the spot he was looking for, and began to sterilize it, wiping it down with an alcohol rub and preparing an acid-resistant bandage.

Erebus had begun to shiver, and George worried that Anderson might not be able to complete his work if the xeno couldn't hold still. So he did the only thing he knew which would make the alien calm down. He closed his eyes and gently pressed their foreheads together, humming softly.

Erebus immediately relaxed, and began purring back.

George couldn't see Anderson like this, but he could hear when the doctor turned around and then stopped moving. There was a long second of silence in which the medic was acutely aware of how the other human must be gawking at him, but he didn't care.

A couple slow, quiet footsteps sounded and then there was another period of silence.

It was broken when Erebus squeaked softly, tensing his muscles but otherwise remaining still.

And then it was over. "Ok, you can open your eyes now." Anderson said calmly.

George did so, and saw the doctor holding up a syringe of transparent liquid as his other hand pressed the bandage against the xenomorph's neck, fixing it in place over the almost microscopic hole that the needle had left.

"I got the spinal fluid sample."

Erebus gently reached up and touched the bandage on his neck. "I could barely feel that." He said, awestruck.

"Modern medicine is a miracle." George laughed.

"Hardly." Anderson responded clinically, "Modern medicine is a science. Science produces better results and standards of living for mankind. The more science we have applied to the universe, the more we can bend it to suit our needs."

Erebus looked at the doctor curiously. "Can you explain that more? It sounds interesting."

"At a later date, perhaps. At the moment I need to get this precious vial into a freezer for preservation, and then I'll fetch you a sample cup." Anderson briskly bustled out of the room with the syringe.

"What does he mean 'sample cup'? What is 'sperm'?" Erebus asked curiously.

George sighed heavily, bowing his head to stare at the floor. He saw a box of latex exam gloves in an alcove in the wall, and pulled a pair out, stuffing them into his pocket. "Sperm is the white stuff in semen. You know, cum, that white stuff that comes out of us when we have sex like we did last night. We're going to need to, uh, extract some of that."

Erebus smiled voyeuristically. "How are you going to do that?"

"I think you can guess. Same as I was doing last night." George smiled too, the though not at all unattractive. "Shh! He's coming back!"

The doctor strode back in, carrying a little orange cup with a white screw-on cap. "Here." He said, handing it to George. "You and Erebus go back to your room and…" He fumbled for words, "fill it up, I suppose. As to how you do that, I leave it up to you."

Erebus got up from the table and Anderson walked them to the elevator, enthusing about all the benefits the xeno would bring to modern science. The alien just smiled bemusedly and walked along, listing to the doctor ramble with patience and interest.

The pair stepped into the lift, Erebus waving goodbye to Anderson as the grates slid shut between them, and the elevator took them back up to the living area.

George and Erebus walked back to their room, the human locking the door behind them after they had entered.

The xeno looked at him curiously "What were those things you took in the laboratory? The white ones you hid in your pocket?"

"Oh, these?" George pulled out the gloves. "They're latex gloves. Doctors use them to examine a patient; they keep our hands clean."

Erebus put two and two together and grinned. "You're going to jack me off, aren't you?"

George smiled.

Erebus smiled back. "Are we going to do it right here?" He asked, his cock sliding out of his slit.

"No, actually. We're going to do it in the bathroom." George led his friend into the small, white tiled room. "Here, hop in the tub and get down on all-fours. It'll be more comfortable if you're on your hands and knees."

"Ok…" Erebus seemed a bit hesitant, but did as he was told. "Are you going to give me a shower again?"

"No, I mean, not until we're done. Your orgasms are so large and explosive that I tend to need to clean up after you."

Erebus giggled. "I can make them smaller if you want."

"You can?"

"Yeah. I don't know why, but I can kinda control how large they are. How much do you want?"

"Just a couple small spurts, enough to fill the cup."

George was fascinated by the xeno's unique biology. His friend seemed to have a large amount of conscious control over his bodily processes, much greater control than a human or most other animals, certainly.

"Ok." Erebus fell silent for a moment as his testicles emerged from his slit and dropped down between his legs. They twitched and then swelled slightly. "I think I have about the right amount. What now?"

"Now," George said dirtily, "I milk you." He pulled on one of the gloves, snapping the latex around his wrist. He'd had a kink for latex gloves as long as he could remember, but he'd gotten used to suppressing it. Medical school would have been torture if he'd gotten a hard-on every time he had to put some on.

As he snapped the glove around his wrist though, he noticed that Erebus's cock bobbed and dribbled pre-cum copiously on the bottom of the tub.

The xeno himself looked confused by this, bending his head down between his arms to look at his penis, as if thinking 'what the heck?' Then he looked back up at George.

The two stared at each other for a long moment, then the human quickly snapped on the other glove as noisily as he could.

The xenocock slapped up against the alien's belly, dribbling even more of the clear, sticky liquid.

Erebus stared at George. George stared at Erebus.

Finally, the human said "Erebus, I think you might have a kink."

If the xeno could have blinked he probably would have. "What's a kink?"

"It's when a usually non-sexual thing turns you on."

"What is 'getting turned on'?"

"Being horny; wanting to have sex. A lot of people get turned on by feet; that's a kink. Personally I don't get it, but still. I think you might have a latex glove kink."

Erebus was silent for a moment. "What exactly does that mean?"

"It means that this-" George snapped the glove against his wrist again, prompting the alien's cock to spurt more pre-cum "turns you on."

"Is that normal? Is it bad?"

"Yes to the first and no to the second. A lot of people have kinks; the most common one is feet, like I mentioned earlier. It just means that there's one more thing which makes you want to have sex. If you learn how to manage it, you'll be just fine."

"Hmm." Erebus hummed thoughtfully, his once-erect cock now hanging flaccidly between his legs, apparently forgotten about. "Do you have any kinks?"

George considered. Aww hell, he'd already had sex with a xenomorph; might as well tell him the rest. "Yeah. Several, actually. Latex gloves is one for me too."

The alien smiled. "Another thing we have in common." He purred happily.

George chuckled. "Yeah. Now let's get some sperm out of you."

The xeno's cock near instantly hardened again, the light dribble of pre-cum resuming. Resting his front half on his fore-arms so that his rump was elevated, Erebus looked over at George and said "Could you put your fingers in my tailhole? I want to know how the gloves feel inside me."

"Sure, but I'll need to get something for that."

George went to the cabinet under the sink and reached into the very back, pulling out a bottle of water-based lubricant. Walking back over to Erebus, he set the bottle down on the rim of the tub.

"What's that?" The xeno asked curiously.

"Lube. Without water to smooth the passage even just a little bit, I suspect getting my fingers into your anus would be pretty hard, so I'll need this to make your rear slippery enough to get into."

"Ok, go right ahead." Erebus raised his tail invitingly.

Popping the top off the bottle, George squeezed a generous squirt of lubricant onto his left hand, the viscous, transparent substance dripping between his fingers. Moving his hand to Erebus's anal slit, he began to rub his fingers around it, gently smearing the cool gel over the opening.

The xenomorph shuddered at the sensation, before letting out a low hiss of pleasure as the teasing fingers pressed inward, spreading his rear entrance as a gloved finger delved into his depths. The hiss abruptly turned into a moan as George's finger pressed up against his prostate. The xeno's cock spurted precum.

The human added another finger and then began to slowly thrust them in and out of Erebus's tailhole, stretching the ring inside his anal slit gently.

"Oooooh…" The xenomorph groaned loudly, clenching his fists and beginning to move his hips back and forth to meet the fingers as they thrust into him.

George felt the alien clench his rear, dragging himself along his gloved fingers. "Like how they feel?"

"Oh… oh yes! I don't know why, but they're so good!"

George reached his other hand over and took a hold of his friend's member, before beginning to stroke it up and down in a milking motion. He could feel the hard ridges circling it, and the outline of the patterns on the bottom of the cock faintly pressed against his fingers. He stopped stroking to squeeze the alien's knot gently.

"Ooh, ooooooh…" The xenomorph was reduced to moans and whimpers, his cock leaking pre in a steady stream now, dribbling all over the orange collection cup.

George resumed milking him, increasing his pace as it became clear that the alien was nearing orgasm. He stopped teasing the xeno's hole and zeroed in on his prostate directly, fingering and squeezing it with aggressive motions of his fingers.

Erebus let out a short, muffled screech, then blew his load, which promptly knocked over the small collection cup.

"Ack!" George pulled his fingers out so he could right the cup, and managed to catch the final spurt squarely inside it. Looking his friend in the face with a serious expression, he said "I thought you said that you could control the volume. That was way more cum than the cup could have held."

"I said 'kinda'." The xeno defended himself, looking back at George with a half-smirk. "Are you still feeling insecure that my loads are bigger than yours?"

"I am not insecure about that." George huffed out. He paused, then smirked back. "Just cock-size." He stuck out his tongue playfully, and Erebus stuck his out in return.

"So did we get enough cum in the cup?"

"Yeah, this should be plenty for the lab." George stood and walked over to the sink. Taking some tissue paper, he wiped the pre and cum off the sides of the container until it was clean, then screwed the cap on. Glancing back at Erebus, he said "Oh, and if Anderson asks about the specifics of how we got it, just stay quiet and let me talk, and then agree with what I say, ok?"

"Ok." Erebus replied dutifully.

George smiled at him, and then very deliberately took off his gloves, making sure to make as much noise with them as possible.

Erebus started after them as the human tossed them into the trash.

"George," he began as the human walked over to him an knelt down again outside the tub, "why do I have a kink for gloves?"

The medic paused for a moment, then sighed and shrugged. "We; humans, don't know, exactly. We're still not entirely sure how people's brains work, and sexology is a rather underappreciated area of research. Right now there's a number of theories about how kinks work, but none of them have been definitely proven. The one I go with because it makes the most sense to me is that kinks are formed from associations we make when we're young. Like, if you're a kid and a doctor examines your feet and them immediately examines your privates afterward, you might grow to associate the two and get a foot-fetish. At least that's my understanding. I can find a book on the subject when we get to Steele, if you'd like."

"Ok, I think I would like that." Erebus smiled.

George smiled back. "Ok, I'll do that. Ready for a bath now?"

"Will the water come out of that thing up there?" Erebus looked up at the showerhead

"Yeah, but it won't hurt."

"Ok. I'm ready."

George turned on the water and waited for it to get warm, before pulling up the pin on the bathtub spigot.

Water sprayed down from the showerhead and pelted the xeno gently. He looked directly up into the stream, not so afraid now, and in fact seemed to revel in it a little bit. He giggled.

George rolled up his sleeves and went to work with the cake of soap, clearing away the evidence of their fun. He removed the lube from under the xeno's tail, then cleaned off his cock and knot, and finished by gently scrubbing the floor of the tub to remove the last dregs of cum that hadn't been washed away.

Erebus watched the suds curiously as they went down the drain. "So, where does the water go?"

George looked at where Erebus was looking. "Well, on a space ship it goes to be cleaned and then recycled. This water coming out of the shower was urine, soap-suds, dishwater, and discarded drinks a few hours ago."

The xeno looked up at the showerhead and then cocked his head to the side. "We use water to clean ourselves, so how do you clean water? By adding more water?"

"No, that's called dilution. We clean water by straining it through a filter to remove larger particles, then we add chemicals to remove smaller contaminants."

"What is a filter? What are chemicals? What are contaminants?"

"Oh boy… Listen, Erebus. I know I told you to keep asking questions, and it's great that you are, but can they wait for a little while? Once we get to Steele I'll have access to a whole bunch of books and stuff that I can use to teach you about all this."

"Ok… what are books?"

George paused. Had he really not explained what those were yet?

Reaching over to turn off the water, he said "Books are those rectangular things that we saw a few of back on the base. You can open them and they have thin, flexible, white sheets inside called paper. Remember the symbols on your watch?"

Erebus nodded.

"There are a lot more of those, and if you put them together in the right order, you can make words on the paper that you can read and interpret meaning from."

To George's surprise, Erebus seemed much more comfortable with this idea than he thought he'd be.

"I think I understand." Erebus said slowly. "There were symbols on the walls of the base, and on the light-cubes. The scientists would look at them and react to them. But I didn't know what they meant. Red was usually bad though. They didn't like red."

George had started toweling Erebus off, but paused when he heard that "Light cubes?"

"You know, those cube-shaped things that have light coming out of one of their sides?"

"Oh, you mean computers!"

Erebus cocked his head. "What do computers do?"

"They… compute. They solve problems, I guess. It's hard to explain without first teaching you about numbers, math, and written language." George shrugged. "Sorry."

"It's fine." Erebus reassured him. "But you're going to have to teach me soon. I don't think I'll be able to learn much more without knowing math and reading."

"Yeah, you can't really, honestly. I'll have to get on that. But for now let's go give this stuff to Anderson."

When they returned to the medical ward, they found the good doctor sitting in his office, looking intently at his computer. He looked up as they entered, his eyes focusing on the little orange sample cup filled with white liquid. "You actually got it." He sounded like he was having trouble comprehending that fact. He smiled in a rather bashful way, looking down at his desk and huffing with laughter. "How did you even get it?"

"As it turns out, Erebus already knew how to masturbate." George said, trying to sound nonchalant and unsuspicious. "So I just told him to get some of his sperm into the cup, and then he went into the bathroom and closed the door, and a few minutes later he came out with it."

"That's interesting." Anderson looked up at Erebus, who stared back down at him impassively and silently. "This would heavily imply that xenomorphs have sex for pleasure and not just to reproduce; like other higher organisms. More evidence hinting at true sapience."

"It's almost like we're intelligent." Erebus said flatly.

"Indeed." Anderson smiled in a way that ran the line between genuine and condescending, forcing George to resist the urge to face-palm. The doctor was quite bright, really, but when it came to social graces he often came up short.

But still, not mouthing off to a xenomorph was not a complex idea.

"So doctor, will you be needing my help to process the samples?" The medic asked, moving the conversation along to a less contentious point.

"That would be appreciated. You've known the specimen for the longest amount of time of anyone on this vessel, so if we encounter any irregularities you'd be best able to explain them."

"Well, technically Thomas has been around them longer-"

"Who's Thomas?" Anderson demanded, cutting him off.

"He's one of the two survivors we rescued from the base, the other being Dr. Calegary. Meyers had him detained when we first got back on board the Hermes.

Without a word, the doctor got to his feet and walked over to the switchboard in the wall of his office. "Bridge? I'd like to secure the immediate release of a prisoner named Thomas into my custody."

"What?" A voice from the other end crackled back. "Why? What could you possibly need him for?"

"Science!" Anderson announced grandly.

"… That doesn't qualify as a valid-"

The doctor turned off the switchboard. "Come with me." He said to the pair opposite him.

Together they descended into the lower levels of the ship, where the makeshift brig had been set up in a couple of spare supply closets in a dimly lit maintenance corridor. It wasn't nearly as comfortable down here as it was further up; there was no carpet on the grated metal floor, and the walls were solid bulkheads of steel, not wood paneling. Pipes snaked along the walls, vibrating gently with the thrum of pumps and pressurized substances.

Two guards sat in folding chairs crammed to one side of the narrow corridor, one facing toward the approaching group and one facing away as they chatted idly. Upon seeing the xenomorph, the guard facing them fell silent and went a bit pale, his expression becoming tight-lipped. The other turned around to see what his companion was looking at, and let out a yelp when he saw the approaching creature, jumping up from the chair and retreating several paces further down the hall.

"Doctor." The guard who was still sitting promptly stood and saluted.

"Comrade." The word and the warm tone in which it was said seemed alien coming from Anderson's mouth.

"What can we help you with?" The guard asked, glancing up at Erebus nervously.

"I need your prisoner; Thomas."

There was a pause.

"We haven't been authorized to release him from custody, doctor."

"You aren't releasing him from custody, just transferring him into the custody of George and I. We'll make sure he doesn't make any dashes for it."

"What exactly do you need him for?"

This time Anderson approached the issue with more tact. "Thomas has been exposed to the xenomorphs for an extended time frame. It would be wise to screen him for possible impregnation. I suspect the hatchling would be far less friendly than Erebus here."

The guards went white. "Do you really think… We haven't noticed any signs of illness, and it's been longer than it usually takes for hatching to occur."

"In case the existence of Erebus hasn't convinced you of this fact, the xenomorphs encountered on RP404 are of a particularly unusual variety. It's much better to be safe than sorry, no?"

One of the guards subtly moved a hand up to clutch at his stomach nervously, and the other turned a shade paler. "Yes, of course. Will we need to accompany you, in case hatching begins to occur during testing?"

"No, I do not think that will be necessary. All I need it the patient."

The guard in the rear turned away to unlock one of the closet doors, disappearing inside for a moment to reappear with a rather bedraggled looking Thomas.

The young scientist immediately brightened up upon seeing George and Erebus. "Hey guys! How's it going?"

"It is going well." Erebus replied, proudly showing off his proper grammar usage. He extended his arms as if to hug the researcher, who hesitated for a moment, before smiling and going for it. Their embrace was short, but touching.

The two guards looked on with expressions of distaste.

"So-" Tom broke off the hug. "-what do you guys need me for? Am I being released?"

"Temporarily, into our custody." Anderson informed him curtly. "I am the ship's chief medical officer, Doctor Anderson. I have reason to believe that you might have been impregnated with a xenomorph embryo."

Thomas went even whiter than the guards had. "Really? I haven't been face-hugged, I swear! I was never even touched by one of those monsters!" He paused, and glanced up at Erebus apologetically.

"Nevertheless, I feel it safer to make sure. You needn't worry; if you current physical condition is any indication, should you in fact be pregnant it's still early enough to safely abort the embryo."

This did not appear to comfort Thomas much, but George put his arm over his shoulder and gently prompted him to start walking down the corridor with them as they departed the brig.

"When should we expect him back?" One of the guard called after them.

"When the testing is finished." Anderson replied vaguely.

"Do you really think I could have been impregnated?" Thomas whimpered as they walked away. "George, I promise, I was never even touched by a xenomorph, let alone face-hugged. Except for Erebus, I guess, but still; physical contact isn't enough to-"

"Tom, calm down." George whispered into his ear once they were out of sight of the guards. "We're not actually concerned about the possibility of you being impregnated. That's just a ploy. We're going to be running some tests on samples of Erebus's DNA, and Anderson wants you there because you've been around the xenomorphs longer than anyone else on this ship, and he thinks you might help to explain any irregularities we find."

Thomas blinked. "Then why did he tell the guards…?"

"Because the bridge wouldn't let him take you otherwise, and he's a little hard-headed."

"Oh." Thomas went silent. Then he looked at Anderson. "I don't want to help you."

The doctor stopped dead. Slowly, he turned around to face the younger scientist, a sneer of dislike already spreading across his face. "What did you say?"

"I don't want to help you do anything related to xenomorphs." Thomas said firmly, crossing his arms. "That's where my old boss fucked up, and he got hundreds of innocent people killed, not to mention the extreme ethics violations that come with all aspects of testing on xenomorphs. I'm not making the same fuck-ups he did. I won't help you."

"Then you can go right back into the cell I just got you out of."

Thomas grimaced, but stayed his course. "Fine by me, though you might have to explain to the guards why I'm back so soon."

Anderson rolled his eyes. "Alright, fine, I guess I'll just walk you up to the lab, and then walk you right back down here."

"All right then, let's go."

George and Erebus stood by impassively. On one hand, the medic agreed with what Tom was saying; experimenting on xenos was dangerous, and was officially illegal for good reason. On the other, the xeno that was actually being tested on was friendly, the only thing being examined was his DNA and bodily fluids, neither of which were dangerous in this case, and all of this was basically essential if he and Erebus ever wanted a relationship that went further than handjobs.

Sighing loudly, George said "Tom, can you come with me a second?"

The younger scientist looked back at him. "You can't seriously be on board with this, George. You saw what they did down there, you know how stupid this is."

"I know, I know. Just humor me, will you?"

Thomas rolled his eyes, but ultimately huffed out an exasperated "Fine."

George beckoned him into and alcove off the main hall, where they could talk in semi-privacy.

"I know, ok, Tom? I am aware of how bad of an idea this kind of thing usually is." George said, before the other man had a chance to open his mouth.

"So why is this time any different?"

"A number of reasons. Erebus isn't going to break out and murder anybody, we're not going to be torturing him, we're not going to try and weaponize him, and he's already consented to it. Come on, man."

Thomas narrowed his eyes. "This is personal to you in some way, isn't it? Otherwise you wouldn't be so invested.

It was, that was true, but George had no intention of telling Tom that it was because he wanted to get laid by an alien. So instead he said "I guess that's true, but it's not for me, it's for Erebus. He wants to know how his body works, and this is the best way to teach him. And as his friend, I'm trying to help."

Thomas sighed and leaned against the wall, pinching the bridge of his nose and closing his eyes in an expression of exasperation. "Just… just tell me one thing. What exactly about Erebus are we going to be testing?"

"I mean, technically Anderson will be doing most of the actual testing, we're just going to be standing there and answering his questions."

"I know! Just answer my question."

"We've told you, just running some experiments on his DNA samples."

"And those samples are?"

Without hesitating, George said. "Spinal fluid and sperm."

Something happened behind Thomas's eyes. George could see the gears turning behind them as he started putting the disparate pieces together. There was a spark of recognition, and then nothing.

Without pause, Thomas continued "Oh. Well… ok, I guess. That seems harmless enough."

"So you'll help then?"

"I'll stand around and answer questions, and maybe help if I'm interested." Tom smiled.

George saw through the smile. He didn't like where this was going. Thomas wasn't malicious in nature, so far as he could tell, but he was curious and very intelligent. Despite his apparent kindness towards both George and Erebus, and his passive acceptance of the fact that they had fooled around back on the base, it was still impossible to know how he would react to knowing that a human and a xenomorph were in a sexual relationship.

Despite himself, he smiled back. "Good. Thanks Tom." He gave the other man a hug, a genuine gesture despite his unease.

They returned to Anderson and Erebus, and together they returned to the lab the way they had come. On their way up in the lift, something occurred to George: 'Shit, the tests we're going to be performing are explicitly STD tests anyhow. Unless Thomas is fucking around in some far corner of the room, he'll know immediately what they are.'

As it turned out, this bit of foresight wasn't far in advance of the revelation, because as soon as the lift reached the medical level and they stepped out, Anderson turned to Thomas and started talking. "So we're going to be performing STD tests today. Do you know how those work?"

Thomas shrugged. "On a purely chemical level, yes. I'm not really aware of the specifics of them though. Why are we doing those first?"

"It's a simple way to test if, at a very basic level, human physiology and xenomorph physiology are compatible. Aside from the blood of course, which is why we're not testing that. Previous tests done in this area have turned out negative; as in the physiologies were too far removed to be comparable. So I'd like to see if Erebus, a more… human xenomorph, might buck that trend."

'Don't tell him whose idea it was, don't tell him whose idea it was…'

"It was actually George's idea to begin with."

'You ass!'

"I'm not surprised, he's a pretty intelligent guy." Thomas smiled at him calmly. "It's a good idea to find a constant like that. Bacterium and viruses wouldn't change unrecognizably from person to person, but the tests will only send back results if the substances being tested are recognizably human, or at least close enough to fool the machine. Otherwise it'll spit the stuff right back out."

"That's the thought process I had." George lied as the lift came to a stop and they all went back to the medical section. "Either it'll be similar enough to fool the machines and the chemical tests, or it won't. If it isn't, then we'll know Erebus is more like the other xenos than he is like us. What do you think about all this, Erebus?" The medic invited him to comment.

"I think it sounds interesting, but I have no idea what it means."

"Here, let me try to explain." George said as they walked into the medical laboratory, which was basically identical in structure to the others they'd been in; rows of sterile tables, machines along the walls, etc. 'Gotta love standardized construction techniques' the medic thought to himself.

George, Thomas and Erebus started to walk over to a tall-ish machine to the right, but Anderson took Tom by the arm and instead steered him over towards the ultra-sound machine sitting in the left corner of the room.

As the younger scientist started blathering out that he wasn't impregnated and that this was pointless, Anderson cut him off. "Look, it's not that I don't believe you, it's that I did tell the guard I'd do this, and I'd look rather ridiculous if we came back and a chest-burster came popping out of you right then and there. I'm sure you understand." The doctor smiled in that condescending way of his, and Thomas shut his mouth and scowled back grumpily.

Anderson sat him down on a stool and instructed Tom to take off his t-shirt so that he could pass the transducer over his belly and chest. Thomas sighed, but did as he was told.

George, being both a medical student and a soldier, knew how to occupy himself and not stare at partially or fully naked people.

Erebus did not. He gazed shamelessly at Thomas's bare torso, which the researcher noticed and was apparently amused by. "C'mon George, look at me, will you? Erebus is certainly enjoying the show." Despite his previous annoyance at Anderson's pushiness, the scientist was smiling humorously now.

"No thank you, comrade." George said nonchalantly, making eye contact and ensuring that his gaze didn't wander south. "I've already seen plenty of naked men over the course of my life, and I don't need another half of one to fill me in. Besides, I'm on duty, and fun is against regulation."

Tom fell silent for a moment as the doctor scanned him with the transducer, everyone staring at the screen as the resulting image flickered into focus. Nothing there but guts and bone.

There was a general sense of relief; a small relief, but relief nonetheless.

"Ok, so, this is how the testing works…" George led Erebus over to the original machine as Thomas put his shirt back on. "You put the tubes in these labeled holes here, and then you push the rack the holes are in into the machine, and it starts up and makes a ton of noise, and analyzes the chemical, bacterial, and viral composition of the samples. Then it puts the results on this screen up here, and we see if you've got any nasty bugs in you."

Erebus looked down at himself. "I don't think I have any insects inside of me. I think my blood would kill them."

Thomas laughed from behind them.

"Bugs is another way to say germs; viruses or bacteria that make people sick."

"Oh, ok. It's another euphemism."

"Exactly."

The other two men came to stand beside them, Anderson brushing George aside so that he could slot the two vials of liquid into the marked holes in the machine.

"Is that what xenomorph sperm looks like?" Thomas asked.

"It is indeed." Anderson replied.

"I thought it'd be black and kinda oily."

"Surprises abound." Anderson pushed some buttons, and the machine whirred to life, making a rather loud grinding noise.

"Is it broken?" Erebus asked, putting his hands over the sides of his dome as if trying to block out the noise.

"No, medical machines just make a lot of noise for no apparent reason." George said, half serious and half joking.

The device made a series of clunking noises, and the whirring got louder, accompanied by a high whining sound.

"It's extracting the samples and running them through the tests now." Anderson explained to them, which wasn't really necessary since George was trained as a doctor and Thomas was a biochemist, but at least it was helpful for Erebus. "Moment of truth…"

George maintained a neutral expression, still remaining hopeful that this would work and he would know if Erebus was safe to mate with.

Thomas sat on one of the adjacent counters and casually crossed his fingers, while singling his ultimate disinvestment with a bored countenance.

Anderson merely stared at the screen intently

Erebus, appearing bored with the entire situation, started turning his head in several directions so as to look around the room and further examine his surroundings.

The whirring suddenly stopped. The machine beeped a few times, and then the screen lit up as letters and numbers started to scrawl across it.

"Samples accepted." It wasn't obvious in the way he said it, but it was clear Anderson was excited due to the way his eyebrows rose a good fourth of an inch. "The machine thinks you're human enough that its tests will work."

George stepped forward so as to read the screen more closely, and despite Thomas's apparent indifference, he could hear the younger researcher's clothes rustling as he leaned forward to see better himself.

"All the tests came back successfully." Anderson murmured, the tiniest hint of awe in his voice. "Apparently, Erebus is the most human-like xenomorph to ever be tested. He's managed to fool the machine into thinking that he is a homo sapiens, or at least that his fluids belong to one. Oh, and I guess he's technically free of STDs too, according to the machine." He actually waved his hand at this, as if brushing away an annoying afterthought. "Still, I'd like to run a few more tests, focusing on saliva and urine, just to be sure."

Together they spent the next hour doing so, and recording all the results. Thomas only helped begrudgingly at first, but eventually became interested enough to aid them without complaint. Most of the tests came back valid, and all of the valid ones were negative. Erebus was worried at first, until George explained that negative tests were a good thing, despite the confusing terminology.

Erebus then proceeded to bitch about how stupid scientific language was compared with regular language for several minutes, until he had exhausted his limited vocabulary.

There also came a part during which George had to escort Erebus into a bathroom and instruct him on how to piss into a cup. Neither he nor the alien were upset or uncomfortable with this, but it occurred to George that the ease and comfort he had shown while accepting this task my raise further suspicions in Thomas's mind.

"All right then." Anderson murmured, scribbling down the last of their results onto a clipboard. "This has been most enlightening." He smiled up at Thomas. "Your services will no longer be required. I'll escort you back down to the brig."

"So now that you're done with me you'll just throw me away?" The younger researcher scowled and crossed his arms again. "Some thanks I get."

Anderson just shrugged and went back to scribbling.

"I'll have a talk with Meyers and see if he'll agree to let you out for a while." George said reassuringly. "You seem like a nice enough guy. And Erebus and I are convinced of your harmlessness; we just need to convince Meyers."

"You're a good-human." Erebus added jovially, as if he was very proud of inventing the term.

"Thanks guys. How long do you think it'll be?"

"I dunno. I'll go speak to Meyers right now if he's on the bridge."

"Ok; please hurry, I hate being locked up. I've already been trapped in a small laboratory for a week, and now I'm stuck in a closet for however long it takes us to get to Steele."

"It'll take us another week. Which is pretty quick, to be fair."

Thomas rolled his eyes. "Brilliant."

"Hey, look on the bright side: you're much less likely to get your face murdered by a xenomorph up here than you were down there."

"I dunno…" The younger researcher cast an amused glance at Erebus. "There does appear to be one running free aboard this vessel."

Erebus smiled, extending his arms and engulfing Thomas in an affectionate hug. He whispered something into the scientist's ear, and Thomas actually fully hugged him back this time, responding "Don't worry big guy; it's all forgiven now. You were just working with what you knew at the time."

George hadn't heard what Erebus had said, but he assumed it was nice. Then he began to worry that maybe Erebus was flirting with Thomas. He knew it wasn't a rational worry, since he'd had a conversation about secrecy with the xenomorph before, and the scientist's response didn't make sense if it was flirting, but he was rather concerned with keeping their relationship a secret and it had sparked off a little paranoia within him.

A few minutes later, Erebus, George, and Thomas departed the laboratory and escorted Thomas back down to the brig.

"See you in a bit, ok?" George said, patting him on the back.

"Don't sweat it, it's not as uncomfortable as it looks." The scientist reassured him. "I've got a bed, so that's a step up from my lab."

Erebus and George then rode the lift all the way up to the command deck, and made their way to the bridge to try and get an audience with Meyers to plead their case. When they arrived at the bridge though, the guard on duty informed them that Meyers had left only a short while before to return to his room and turn in for a while.

"Well, that's the end of that for the time being." George sighed as they rode the lift back down to their deck.

"Why? Why not just go ask Meyers right now to let Thomas out?"

"Because he's probably sleeping, and he'd be pretty cranky if we woke him up. This is probably the first time he's gotten any real rest for the better part of a week. And making someone mad isn't the best way to start a conversation in which you ask them to trust your judgment."

"Oh." Erebus was silent for a moment. "So, the tests said I'm not sick, right? No STDs?"

"That's correct."

"Can we mate now?"

George smiled, looking up at his friend affectionately. "Yes, Erebus, we can mate now. When we get back to our room, that's just what we'll do."

Erebus giggled delightedly, scooping the smaller human up into his arms and cradling him against his chest. "Thank you! Thank you so much, George!" He was smiling genuinely again, a phenomena that was becoming more common as time went on. The alien's joy was palpable, and when the lift doors opened he refused to set George down, instead carrying him all the way to their room. Thankfully, no one saw them.

When they got there, George made Erebus set him down. He locked the door, then led the eager xeno into the bathroom, where he apologetically explained: "Normally, humans have sex on our beds, because they're soft and comfy and easy to move around on. But sex is also really messy, and that's just normal sex without xenomorphs that cum literal buckets."

Erebus stuck his tongue out playfully, then sat down on the floor rather like a dog would.

George smiled at this display of uncharacteristic cuteness, and continued: "This wouldn't be a problem, but on board military ships we don't get to wash our sheets very often, so if we mated on the bed then it'd be damp and reek of sex, and that's not really a place we'd want to sleep. So instead we're going to do it in the bathtub."

"With the water on, like before?" Erebus looked up at the showerhead curiously.

"No, this time with the water off. Last time we just used fingers, which was fine for me because your fingers are really skinny, and was fine for you because your rear end is really stretchy and water is kind of slippery, but not really. So if we're going to be putting our cocks inside each other we're going to need lube; the slick wet stuff I put on your tailhole when we were collecting a sperm sample."

"Ok…" Erebus listened patiently.

"And also I need to teach you how to clean yourself out before sex. It was ok in the shower, because we were cleaning ourselves anyway, but if we're going to have proper sex in a bed sometime you need to know how to prepare."

Erebus stared at him blankly. "Um… ok…"

The next 30 minutes were a strange combination of awkwardness, discomfort, and humor, as George instructed Erebus in how to clean out his rear end, and then did it himself to demonstrate.

They hopped in the shower when they were done, rinsing themselves down under the warm water.

Erebus looked down curiously at the douche that George was washing off and cleaning out. "Humans must really like sex; you have so many things to use in relation to it. Lube, douches, sickness tests."

George smiled and huffed in amusement, stepping out of the tub to go put the douche back in the cabinet under the sink, and returning with the bottle of lubricant. Stepping back into the tub with Erebus, he looked up at the alien, who looked back down at him. Butterflies were fluttering around in his stomach. Was he really about to do this? Was he really about to mate with a xenomorph?

"Ready?" George asked hoarsely, his voice faltering.

"Yeah!" Erebus grinned eagerly, which then quickly turned into a frown upon hearing the tone of his friend's voice. "Are you? We don't have to do this if you don't want to." He smiled in a manner that was probably meant to be reassuring.

George considered. He wasn't really sure why he was feeling nervous now, and not when they had been fooling around last night. Somehow this felt more serious. He knew where it would ultimately lead. Before, on the base and then in the shower, he had felt that he could justify his actions by just saying that he was screwing around with the alien, out of mutual curiosity and horniness.

But this, what he was about to do, was much more serious. Here he had put in a prolonged effort into making sure his partner was ready for full-on anal and oral sex, and he was prepared to reciprocate it. The deliberateness of his actions struck him like a club to the face.

All at once, his arousal died. He leaned back against the rear of the tub, tucking his legs up to himself and wrapping his arms around them, staring at the floor silently.

He heard a quiet scuttling, and then Erebus was beside him, also sitting down in a similar position, his genitalia long since tucked back away inside of him. "What's wrong, George?"

"I don't know." The medic's voice cracked. In an instant, tears were streaming down his cheeks. "I don't… I don't know what's wrong with me! My entire squad just died, and I'm here, in a fucking bathtub, about to have sex with one of the things that killed them!"

Erebus was silent for a long while. The alien didn't extend a hand, or turn his dome to look at his companion. "I'm sorry." He whispered.

George heard the words, but didn't interpret their meaning. He was much too far down the rabbit hole now. He felt like nothing. He felt like less than nothing. Maybe it was exhaustion, or adrenaline, or pent up arousal, but somehow he had managed to avoid internalizing the fate of his squad up until this point. The slight nervousness he had felt when faced with the prospect of having sex with a xeno had just been the straw the broke the camel's back.

Every repressed emotion came flooding out in an unstoppable torrent; pain and fear and hatred and loss. So much loss. He hadn't known his comrades for very long; just a few months. But it had been all the time he had needed to grow fond of them. To laugh at Frederick's morbid comedy routines, about Waffen-SS guys and a Red Army tank battalion and the desperate battle they fought in the ruins of Pomerania to acquire a semi-ripe banana. To be aroused by Benny's constant teasing of him, how he'd go to pains to find excuses to be naked around George, to say "I'm a little busy today, but maybe tomorrow…" every single time he caught the medic looking. How Maria would fake smoking a cigarette and, in an exaggerated Italian accent, complain about "the state of cheese today".

Gone. All gone forever. He'd never talk to them again.

George had trained with them before their deployment. He'd been giddy to be a part of the club, to have an important job with important people that could win the war. His comrades had teased him and Barns about being green, but had never been mean about it. They had been so helpful; "Clean your weapon like this" or "Prepare an ambush like that". Always giving advice to the rookies.

And on the very first mission, they had all died. All except the two rookies, who had made it out just fine and dandy.

They weren't the only ones who had survived of course; Meyers and the woman had made it out. But George was too engulfed by his own swirling emotions to spare a thought for them. He barely even remembered they existed, just dim grey ghosts at the back of his mind.

He felt strong arms embrace him, but he didn't return the gesture. His eyes were squeezed shut, tears cascading down his face as he shuddered and convulsed with the force of his sorrow.

George felt himself being lifted off the floor, the arms cradling him now as they began to move. The limbs felt so stiff and cold, like they weren't even alive. After a moment of uncaring indifference, George began to writhe in the alien's grasp, not caring where he was so long as he wasn't in the monster's arms.

Erebus stumbled slightly, unable to keep a good hold on the human and unwilling to grasp him any tighter. Managing to keep the squirming man in his arms, he delivered him to the bed and gently let him down on it, the human promptly turning to face away from his erstwhile friend, still convulsing with his sobs as he lay naked, curled up into a little ball of anguish and misery.

The medic felt the bed bend and bow as the alien climbed onto it; felt an arm wrapping around his waist to pull him into a snuggle. He thrust his arm out and shoved the alien away, off the bed and onto the floor, without so much as looking at him. He didn't want to be touched by it, by that thing.

There was more silence. For all George knew, knew, Erebus might kill him now. Now that the human had both emotionally and physically shoved him back and blocked him out. The xeno might well think that George hated him, and wanted him gone.

And he'd be right to think that.

A soft click sounded from somewhere close by; the bathroom door being pulled shut. Then he heard Erebus speaking quietly from the other side of the room, from about where the switchboard was located. He couldn't make out what was being said, and he didn't think that the words were meant for him. Either way, he didn't care.

A short time later he heard the door to the stateroom open and close, then someone walked over to the bed and sat down without a word.

"It's ok to cry." Came Barns's quiet whisper. "I did too."

There were no more words spoken between them that night. Just George's anguished wailing and Barns's quiet company.

And as time wore on, Erebus slithered under the bed and curled up into a tight little ball of his own, his heart tearing itself apart with confusion, fear, and self-loathing.