XenoMorphic Jim: Taking Stock

Unending BE - episode 662060

Jim turned still and silent, her senses on high alert. Jim knew what sort of movie Alien was, having seen it and its sequels and prequels - even the ones that weren't considered to be in continuity anymore - and had no desire to be taken off guard.

Great idea, Jim. Scream out in shock at your transformation when you're in a sci-fi horror movie. Let's just attract the scary monsters that bite into peoples' heads or use them as breeding stock. Can I even be breeding stock at this point? Nevermind, calm down and be silent.

After several tense seconds of waiting, Jim relaxed. She kept her breathing at a controlled, calm rate, then decided it would be a good idea to take stock. Something like this never happened in the movies, after all.

First, Jim closed her eyes. Okay, I apparently have eyelids. She opened them again, then raised her hands to examine them. The good news was that, like proper human hands, these were dexterous, and clearly could be used for manipulating tools and other objects. They were definitely not human, however, as they had six fingers - two thumbs and four regular fingers, all roughly symmetrical. No webbing between them, however.

Next, Jim gingerly felt at her head with her hands. The jaws certainly felt human, with soft skin and kissable lips. No exposed tendons, or whatever the xenomorph had, but no sign of any sort of body hair either. Right about where the cheekbones were, however, was something hard. It seemed to extend around all over the upper part of her head, and left her with no visible nose. Ears, however, were present, though they were small. As Jim examined himself further, she found herself thinking that the dome was almost like a fancy bicycle helmet, with a blunted tip extending from the back of her cranium and concealing her eyes. Protection against the elements and less phallic than in the films. Weird.

Cranial examination over, Jim moved on to the rest of her body. Her shoulders were covered in a hard material, likely similar to whatever covered the upper part of her head. It still had enough give to let her roll her shoulders and rock them, however. The same material covered her lower arms and parts of her hands, making her think of medieval gauntlets, The fingers themselves were bare, as were her palms, and the exposed flesh was a pale bluish-grey to compliment the black-colored material. Her fingernails looked more like claws than nails, however, and were black like the hard stuff on her body.

Mesoskeleton! I have a partial mesoskeleton! Hah! All those hours on the Internet scouring wikis was actually worth something!

In any case, the partial mesoskeleton continued on her outer thighs, as well as most of her lower legs and feet. Her soles were exposed, and her feet had sharp claws of their own. Plantigrade like a human and some portrayals of the xenomorph, rather than digitigrade. And as she'd previously realized, she had a rather pleasant hourglass figure, proper womanly hips and a very nice pair of breasts. FF cup, perky with fair-sized nipples. Nice. And last but not least, a long segmented tail ending in a small barb. Said tail was even long enough to curl around her to aid in her self-examination.

Damn. I look like someone mixed a xenomorph with a porn star. Jim then idly opened her mouth and stuck out her tongue, then waved it about. Okay, tongue confirmed, no apparent inner jaw. Now, that acid I spat earlier, was that innate, or was that some side effect of my metamorphosis? With a shrug, she spat idly on a nearby metal wall, then waited a couple seconds. No burning, no acrid smell. Gonna call that inconclusive for now.

With self-examination out of the way, Jim now turned her attention to her surroundings. Hallway, dim lighting, smooth walls, so she wasn't in a hive. She must've skittered away from it while she was still a chestburster. But why do that? And furthermore, why did she change like this?

Okay Jim, deep breaths. Critical thinking. There's a hive. Ergo, odds are good that there's a queen. Ergo, there's probably other, proper xenomorphs running around. The wikis speculate that the xenos might be telepathic, or at least that the queens are. They also speculate that the xenos track things via pheromones.

That's when Jim's sense of smell kicked in. She could practically see the scent trail leading from where she stood back to the vent that she'd forced her way out of in the wall. Logically, said trail led back to the hive. Also logically, another xenomorph could follow said trail, assuming they were inclined towards doing so. She could also sense other scent trails, though what they meant was anyone's guess.

Okay, that's the pheromones. What about telepathy?

Deep breath through the mouth, in and out, focus the mind...and nadda.

Well crap. Okay Jim, let's assume the xenos will treat you as breeding stock, and avoid them if possible.

1. Jim quickly encounters someone whom they know.
2. *Jim quickly encounters some human soldiers. (Colonial Marines, United Systems Military, mercenaries, take your pick)
3. Jim quickly encounters a xenomorph.
4. Jim quickly encounters a Yautja (aka a Predator).
5. Something else happens.