Advent/Terminus

A group of treasure hunters have headed out to an uncharted planet to seek riches. At this particular planet, there lays an unexplored pyramid made by ancient alien races. Many teams have already mysteriously disappeared inside. But this expedition is different, because joining the team is Zorn, the only know survivor of a chest-burster, and thus is mostly android. Also along with the team is a camera man recording the story for big money. The core team includes a husband and wife. At first the road is smooth sailing because it has been cleaned out by previous explores. Finally the reach a room that had been sealed shut. Upon opening it they see the remains of all the previous expeditions. Suddenly an alien attacks and kills the wife and the reaming three retreat to get more guns. They begin the fight and the humans get the upper hand, until greed sets in. While Zorn is pinned by the alien, the husband begins looting the coffins instead of aiding Zorn. He finds himself a nice face-hugger surprise but luckily fights it off. On the other hand, Zorn who was left to struggle the alien snaps the alien’s neck. But, the acid blood falls right on top of Zorn leading to is unpleasant demise. While the cameraman is filming this, the husband makes his great escape so he does not have to split the findings. The cameraman, feeling anger that the husband would leave him, knocked him unconscious. The face-hugger quickly found its new host. The cameraman makes it back to the ship, only to find an alien waiting inside to spell his demise. Shortly after, a new exploring ship lands at the pyramid to seek it fortunes and eliminate any other explores that might interfere with their gold.

Summary:

As the final chapters of the alien omnibus collection this story serves as a quick summary of the downfall of man and how the alien infestation has become as much of a part of society as human sinfulness. As the story clearly shows, greed and money are the roots of all evil. People willing let other die in order to get a better profit. The cameraman wanted to see gory and action scenes because they would sell better. The public wanted to see horror and pain. This is the human condition: a corrupted society a war, pain, and greed. In some places, believe in God has vanished. More troublesome than the aliens themselves are the people that make androids attack others or breed/capture aliens to allow them to do harm to others.  In this world, some believe that the aliens are the wrath of God played out to punish the sins of mankind.  I believe that the authors of these tales also wished for the reader to see that no matter how gruesome the aliens might be, humans can still be crueler. Yet, all hope is not lost. There are some redeeming people, just not in this tale. The aliens are a reflection of the sinful nature of humans.

Salvation

One day a ship crash lands on an bare planet.  Hicks is the "sole" survivor from an escape pod along with Captain Foss who is in bad condition. Hicks is a very religious man, praying in monologues for God to have mercy on his sole and safe him, even though he as done many sins and begins this tale that lead to the destruction. Hicks was a member of the Nova Maru with Foss, Stutz, Lee, Boyd, and Dean. There mission was to drop off some cargo in a backwater planet. But suddenly the ship goes in critical condition. Foss begins to freak out and runs the the only escape pod with Hicks because he knows a great evil was in the cargo. Unfortunately, the Nova Maru also fall upon the planet. And with it, the alien cargo. Foss went mad know death was certain and tried to kill Hicks, but Hicks got the upper hand and ended his life. After a long period of lamenting to the Lord, Hicks set out from the coast where the escape pod landed and into the forest to find the remains of the Nova Maru to signal for help. He took stops to honor the Sabbath  but ended up kill a native monkey for fear it was the alien.  One day in the jungle, Hicks appears to see an angel. The angel turned out to be Dean, a survivor from the crash. Dean promises to escort him to the Nova Maru, but on their way they see the alien. Problem was, it was not just one. They had to race through the forest until a waterfall secured their escape after jumping off. Dean know that the aliens were part of the cargo brought to this planet for "company purposes". Hicks began to fall in love with her, even lusting after her body but told himself that is must be a test of God. With one more push through the forest they got the the Nova Maru. Hicks tripped over Boyd's dead body and fall into the alien hive where the Queen slept where Hicks said he saw Hell itself. Up above he heard Dean continue to fight on the way to the control room. Mustering his strength, Hicks climbed out and followed. Upon entering the room he saw Dean's eye laying on the floor. Coming closer he noticed the unthinkable: Dean was an android. Dean begged Hicks to tie her tubes because she was leaking out and slowing dying. But Hicks did not trust the machine and demanding to know why the aliens were brought here. Dean says the aliens were brought her behind the military's back to make an alien reserve so further research and bio-weapons could be made. Dean then promised an increase in pay if he saved her and remained alive, for if he died the whole planet became "finders-keepers". Hicks got mad and killed her. He made his way through the hive on the Nova Maru ruins to the self-destruct sequence. He intended to kill all the aliens and himself. A few days later, in space above the ruins on the planet, the St. Peter vessel comes to see the distress signal. All life on the planet is destroyed and so St. Peter leaves to continue to spread the word of God to other parts of the galaxy.


Analysis: This is the story of a religious man trying to cope with the evils in the world and his own heart. In his fear he killed Foss and a native monkey. He saw how money lead the company to attempt to kill every native of the planet with the aliens. His faith was tested at every turn, and end the end he sacrificed himself to stop the evil of the company profiting from their crimes. This story shows all to clear how money is the root of all evil. First, Captain Foss underwent this dangerous venture for the money he would receive. But when things went sour he escaped to save his own life, and thus his money. The other people were just expendable food. Second, the company itself, in order to keep a supply of bio-weapons research, punished an innocent planet to die to all the alien.
This story also shows the evil of technology. Hicks becomes terrified and outraged at Dean when he finds out she is an android. First, he is upset because he was deceived. Secondly, he felt he was in love with the machine that could not express love. Dean was only in it because it was an order from the company to save property. She was not an angel  like he believed at first her to insure his well being. The author attempts to point out that technology can allow humans to get away with evil actions and program androids to fool and manipulate humans as expendable resources.  It is a crime against God since humans attempt to create life even though they can never feel love or other emotions. Yet at the same time, the author makes Dean say she is dying as if she does have feelings, but in her final words she turns to making it an order on behalf of the company instead of a moral right to save her. 

Sacrifice

A woman, Ann McKay, survives a traumatic crash landing on an unknown planet. All her crew is dead. Luckily, she stumbles upon a remote village plagued with fear and misery. A monster has been hunting the villagers for years, making all the villagers fear everything. John Masters takes Ann McKay into his home since the other villagers are suspicious of her. John Masters is a heavy drunk who wants to marry Ann. Yet even though John tried to protect Ann from the villagers, they were upset that no marines had come to aid the colony from the monster. So Ann stands up as a priest for the village to the shock of the people for in this time the religious are hard to find after the plague of aliens on Earth.  One night, Ann sees a group of villagers sneak out into the forest and perform a ritual of sorts. Once they leave Ann notices that they left a baby on the alter. It did not take long to learn that it was a sacrifice for the alien nearby, as Ann learned when it attacked her. As she runs away the alien attacks the village, killing many. Meanwhile Ann loses the child in the forest after falling down a waterfall. Returning to the village, Ann is attack for her treason in stopping the sacrifice. John takes the blame for her and decides to show her the town secret: an artificial human reproduction machine. Using genetic creations that only last a few hours they can sacrifice to keep the alien fed so it does not attack the village. Ann does not like this waste of life, no matter how it is created. Therefore, she takes the place of the next sacrificed armed and ready to single-handily defeat the alien. Luckily her bravery shock the town just when the fight turned sour the villagers came to help out by luring the alien into a pitfall trap. But as the alien falls into the spikes it pulls Ann down with its tail. But Ann does not fear it, instead she pulls out a frag grenade to kill the alien and almost herself. In the darkness she remembered the alien that kill her mother years ago that lead her to hide in the church and become a priest. She awakes blind, and John Master promises to take her hand in marriage and lead her through the darkness.

Analysis:
In a time a trial, faith in God is tested. Most people have given up on God in a feeling that he has left them to suffer the wrath of the alien. The few left that believe in God believe that the aliens are the divine punishment sent to punish the wicked. Ann saw the alien as the devil and evil in the world. That devil turned the village into a wreck. They sunk into sacrificing human lives to appease that devil. Ann refused to sacrifice another's live when she could use her own and in the end she saved the village.
Similar this story speaks on many aspect on today. While it does show the evil that could come from cloning and genetic modification it is not trying to argue against this in this particular instance. Instead this story points that giving up any human life for another is wrong. Ann takes actions for her own sake. Likewise, each man should bare the responsibility for his own actions, not stand and allow others to bare your cross. Stand up for what you believe in.

Rogue

Time has passed and now Royal Jelly is commercially available. Even though great fear towards the aliens remains, a new economy strives on them. But in this act, the people have forgotten that the aliens were once the predators and not the prey. The story picks up with a routine alien harvest quest. A team goes into a hive and collects a life sample for a buyer to study. Weapons have improved to allow and protect against the acid blood, so the collect goes without a hitch. Pilot Joyce takes the task of delivering the captured alien to a research facility in space.Upon arriving, a brief stay is required to repair the ship. At the station she meets Mr. John Kray who is an up and coming scientist. He warns her to get out of this space in so far in deep space. After turmoil begins, the two go into hiding. The director of the facility, Kleist, has been up to some dark secrets and played a role in the ship delay after delivering the alien. He planed to use the marines escorting the alien as lab rats and host. Through tricks and commands he gets a party killed by the aliens on board to advance his "construction" of an alpha male alien. Note that before the alien hives are controlled by a single Queen, and the drones have no "gender" but can become a queen to fill the role. Kleist dreamed of making a alpha male that could control the queen and the other aliens, but at the same time have more reason so that it will obey humans. He succeeded in making this alien king and finds, much to the the joy of one of the marines, that the king alien does not kill on instinct. In fact, the king spared the life of the frightened marine. Kleist attempts to introduce the king to the hive, but instead they start fighting and the king kill all the normal aliens. On their death the Queen alien issues a challenge (the queen can sense the loss of her own, and thus made a piercing cry from deep within the research facility). The king broke out of his holding cell and began searching for the queen, laying waste to all in his path. During this time, Joyce and Kray attempt to seek past the guards now taking the remaining marines into custody. Before their escape, Joyce rescues her friend Jason from from the path of the king alien now on the loose. Finally the king alien reaches the queen, with Kleist following behind to see the king dominate over the queen. Yet the queen is stronger and begins to win. Kleist runs up as if he could do any damage only to be mutilated by the queen after her victory. With his dying move he activates a sound bomb. This is a device made at emits at such a high frequency to cripple the aliens, yet people cannot hear.  Luckily, the sound bomb gives Joyce and company just enough time to escape to an escape pod and survive, while the rest of the station turns into yet another alien hive.

Analysis:
This story shows the acts of a mad scientist who believed he could be god. Kleist sacrificed people to make his ends but in the end sought his own demise. In modern times today people fear these types of scientist, which explains the fear and debates surrounding stem cell research and cloning. Some see this type of research as dangerous to mankind if used the wrong way while other might see it ethically wrong to attempt to be God by creating life. Kleist found out the hard way that nature finds a way to overcome any created limits upon it. This is the same as modern day virus and bacteria that have modified over time to withstand current medicines. But i believe the main question this story poses to the reader is how much is too much scientific research? When is it needed?
The author might have seen that anything that tried to take Gods role (or simply the natural order of the universe) away was too far. This involved all the problems that went wrong. Robotic humans once again turned on humans due to programs from an evil mastermind. The created king alien could not remain bound yet lost in the end to the natural order of things. All through the facility, technology failed at critical times resulting in loss of life (events planed by Kleist to collect his victims).
Yet there is another idea that comes through this story. Perhaps it not the research that is bad. The attempt to be God is not evil, but it is the pride and human shortcomings that is. Kleist was the man that turned machines and research to bite man in the rear, and end the end cost him his life. But if a good man was to use the knowledge much different results might have transpired. Kleist main reason for his death was he ran to fight a queen alien with the believe that his created alien could not lose. This is pride. This pride brought him to ruin. Joyce and Kray were not prideful of their acts as people and thus in the end survived the dooms day events.
Note that is story is not saying that humans are all bad. Yes Kleist fail to human desires,  but Joyce, Kray, and Jason have redeem qualities of trust. Even though humans might naturally fall, with the help of others they can be lifted up and be good. Humans are best when together, not alone.

Harvest Part II

Trapped on the alien home world, nightfall quickly approaches, as so the aliens. Luckily, the three (Gill the synth, Dr. Mayakovsky, and Julian) have a special device that releases an alien pheromone to stay “invisible” to the aliens. This device was tested on Mac, the dog, earlier and worked. The problem is it only last for three hours. Gill request for rescue, but with the military ship Lancelot in orbit the help will not arrive in time. Therefore, Dr. Mayakovsky suggests going straight through the hive to find Norbert, the robotic alien, and follow his trail to the abandoned ship he cleared out. And so they run through, all the while Dr. Mayakovsky fighting the urge to take the Royal Jelly of his to enter his traced state of bliss, but he refuses in order that he can stay with Julian. They device works, the alien walk right beside the team but do nothing to them. Finally Dr. Mayakovsky finds Norbert, who is badly beaten up but still slightly functional.  And the discover was at a good moment, for the devices soon run out and the aliens begin to swarm. Norbert once again sacrifices himself to stop the majority while the team runs to the abandoned ship just outside. They make it but at grave cost: Gill loses an arm (but being a syth it is not much a problem), Julian is burned by the acid blood, and the Lancelot is landing.  Dr. Mayakovsky has a plan. Fighting his own urge, he gives a small amount of Royal Jelly to Julian to ease her pain, and then he reprograms Gills. The Captain Potter of the Lancelot demands that the team surrender the ship to him. Not wanting to start a fight yet, Dr. Mayakovsky plays innocent and request medical aid. The military men march towards the ship, but the alien horde stops the advance. Now Captain Potter is furious and Dr. Mayakovsky has the advantage. He sends Gill, since he is a syth programmed to not harm humans, to negotiate. The aliens do not attack for Gill is infused with Royal Jelly now making him smell like one of their own. Captain Potter refused to make a negation, all he wants is the Royal Jelly stored on board the their ship. With no further talk to be made, Dr. Mayakovsky commands Gill to execute his final orders. Within Gills wrist is a trigger for a bomb stored inside him. His explosion breaches the haul and the perimeter force field. Without a second delay the aliens take advantage and swarm in. But hope has not yet arrived. The aliens have also begun to breach Dr. Mayakovsky’s ship and Julian is still injured. He takes Julian in his arms and promises to escape his world together with her this time. Together embrace and drink the Royal Jelly, sending them to the state of bliss. All the while the aliens bust in and take their life. But alien do not always kill right away, some they keep alive for breeding host. And so all the while they are in their trace, a baby alien comes to live inside them.

Analysis:

From the beginning, Dr. Mayakovsky sought the Royal Jelly escape the world into a moment of bliss. But in the end, what he really wanted was to be in the embrace of the woman he loved and to be with her. He was no longer afraid of death. In addition, in his reprogramming of Gill, Gill awakes to some minor human emotions as well, such as love. Gill’s sacrifice was his own decision, not a forced command, in order to protect Julian.  The tricked work so well because Captain Potter believed that human emotions could only be found in humans, not machines, nor that they could have free will. Technology and science claim to understand the world, but consistently new things are being discovered.  First, the alien robot could not match the scent of the alien hive, even though all science said it would. Second, Gill “awoke” to emotions and free will (syth are not permitted to let a human come to harm). While these are sci-fi, they reflect the reality of the world. Science is always changing and trying to prove or disprove things. What do you believe in when everything you thought you knew is now a lie?

Another point you can see from this story is the personification of Consequentialist, Perfectionist, and Deontological viewpoints of ethics.  Gill can be seen as the Consequentialist, at least in the beginning. For a syth, he is governed by the three rules of robotics: do not harm a human or allow a human to become harmed, it must obey all commands unless in conflict with first, it must protect its existence unless conflict with previous laws. Because of this, a syth looks for the best for the most good. If anyone has to die, Gill wants to least death. When Dr. Mayakovsky plans to go into the hive, Gill follows only because the storm and potential of waiting in the open is slimmer than going through the hive. His plans are rational and goal-oriented: save and protect his human master. Dr. Mayakovsky plays the role of the Deontological view. His focus is inter-personal relationships. He reprograms Gil to be free from the laws and have free will because everyone should be free to choice. His goals were universal; he wanted to live and be happy (which he did thanks to the Royal Jelly) and wished this upon his robotic creations which he considered his own family. Julian can be seen as the Perfectionist. Her original mission in coming to Dr. Mayakovsky was to find a reliable source of obtaining Royal Jelly. She trained herself daily in avoiding and escaping from Norbert, which also dueled as allowing him to learn the nature of the aliens.  This can be evidence of her strife to perfect herself to the best that she could be, and to be a hero in the world by returning with Royal Jelly. Her goal in this world is a worthy cause, the plagues of mankind have grown stronger and the Royal Jelly can help people be happy, or save lives, or other various uses when applied to science. In the end, no theory is better than the other, as seen that each person dies in his or her own noble way. Gill dies saving the most important people to him, and Dr. Mayakovsky and Julian die in a loving embrace in bliss.

Harvest Part I

The story opens up with a lady being chased by an alien, only to find out that the alien is under the command of Doctor Stan Mayakovsky. Doctor Mayakovsky is a scientist that is renowned for his invention of Ari, the robotic ant, which he used to infiltrate the ant hive to study ants in their natural habitat. Similar, his research has made him believe that the Xenomorphs are similar to the ant, and has created a robotic Xenomorph in hopes it can be expected into the hive. The problem: Doctor Mayakovsky suffers from cancer. There still is no cure. But there is a way to escape, the Royal Jelly from the Queen in its pure form (XenoZip is modified) is a consciousness-altering drug used to escape the pain. Julian Lish finds Doctor Mayakovsky and offers him a way to collect as much Royal Jelly as he desires, use the robotic alien to sneak into the alien hive. During their research and planning of the expedition to set the alien into a real hive, the two fall in love, sharing the same love for science and robotics. Finally, a crew is assembled to embark to the alien home world. The crew is introduced to Norbert, the robotic alien, that is at the will and command of Doctor Mayakovsky. Everything goes without a hitch, the crew land and another team explores some debris in space, an empty ship. Doctor Mayakovsky and Julian, still on the mothership, load Norbert into an escape pod and send him down the the surface. Accompany Norbert is Mac, the dog. On Mac's collar is a special device that releases pheromones that mask the dogs presences from the aliens, or so the hope for the experiment is before people enter. On the surface, Norbert has a chance encounter with another mission group collection Royal jelly. Norbert is ordered to kill the all and claim the jelly for himself. The mission crew is quickly defeated as they were stranding waiting for the backup of the Lancelot., a military ship. After the ship is cleared out, the collar on Mac is turned off. Mac is quickly found by the aliens and dragged to the hive, allowing Norbert to follow. Norbert went all the way to the Queen but the Queen did not recognize the scent. Thus Norbert was attack on command by the elite guards, which earlier paid no attention to him. Doctor Mayakovsky is sadden by the lost and prepares to go down to the surface to get the remains of Norbert back and pilot the other mission ship back to the mothership. Then suddenly the mothership is attacked by the Lancelot, and escaping to the surface is a priority one. Before they know it, Julian and Stan are trapped on the surface with the syth, Gill.

Analysis:

This story brings to mind the idea the old saying of understanding ants. I've heard that God sees us like we see ants. We are so much larger than the ants that in order to understand them, we would have to be an ant. Likewise, to understand God, we must be him. In this story, they want to understand the aliens by becoming the aliens.  Yet even then, with the artificial alien, they still do not completely understand. The Queen recognized the scent was incorrect. Likewise, we cannot understand God. No matter what way we try to read him, we can never fully understand. When we read the Book of Revelations, we see the apocalyptic world of the coming of Jesus. The Book has puzzled scholars for a long time, because of its vivid tales. Perhaps it is literal events that might happen, or figurative. Or maybe yet, it does not talk about a second coming like we think at all. Perhaps it is a telling of what already happened, the birth and death of Jesus bring the word to the word was the great battle that Revelations shows, and that the New Jerusalem is already here, not something that is to come. But we could never know, for we are not God. Instead we must but faith into what we believe best. Science can never open the door all the way, for even in aliens, science was still limited.

Genocide Part II

Overview:
We pick back up with Grant talking over his troubles and threats. He states that "nothing is deadlier than the enemy within" as he continues to suspect the entire crew, expect his favorite man, Corporal Henriksen. Finally the ship arrives at the alien home world  where years before a bomb was launched to kill the Queen. Without the Queen, the remaining Xenomorph should be aimlessly wondering around making an easy operation. Or that is what they thought. As the drop ship gets past the think atmosphere clouds they witness a terrific scene. A gigantic war is raging below. "Normal" Xenomorphs are clashing with a new breed of red skinned Xenomorphs. Lucky, the drop ship is equipped with special future technological. This device shots out harpoon like rods that when struck to the ground open up and make a force field between it and another device shot nearby. Doing this the area around the ship is isolated, but still infected. Therefore the soliders gear up and eliminate the aliens. To ensure safety of the ship from the acidic blood of the aliens, special weapons are used that catch the aliens like a net. The alien remains alive but immobile. Corporal Henriksen sees this downed alien and instantly shots it head off, saying that this mission is to take no prisoners. (Note that in practically all missions, if an alien can be captured they most likely are thought after, therefore this would not be an order he was given form this company.) Grant overlooks this and still praised Henriksen as the perfect soldier and doubts the rumors that arise now that he might be a synthetic. (It is common practice that every venture into space be accompanied by a "synth" or a artificial human or robot. It is not unlikely also for the higher authorities to sneak other synth in without the crew knowing.) After awhile of resting after the fight, the soldiers prepare to extend the perimeter. To do this they temporarily take down on of the force field walls, fire two new harpoon like structures and thus make the field again and clear out the remaining aliens. But things did not go so easy this time. When one of the harpoons fell it crushed an alien and its acidic blood destroyed the machine before it could activate. Before another could be loaded and fired, the aliens seized the opportunity, rushing in and killing the operator of the harpoon. Grant begins to get worried by all the lives that getting lost and demands the original wall be restored. Five marines die before the wall is restored. Grant and the other crew become grief stricken and the responsibility falls too hard on Grant. Corporal Henriksen suggested the aliens be nuked. But first the location of the Queen or hive needs to be known. Grant decides that if he is going to accept the burden and move on he is going to the front lines to restore his morality. Grant goes to get but on the special armor made for him, but when he opens the closet he notices that the armor is corrupted and burned and suddenly a facehugger lounges out at him. Major Lee happens to come by and stops the monster before it injects this eggs into Grant. Someone before the flight left had place an alien egg on-board in Grant's locker, one that Grant, the "captain" did not even know about after his own alien he brought aboard. To find the hive of the red aliens, the space ship nukes the known location of the original hive. When the Queen died the living Red Queen signals for all her hive to return, the war is over. Therefore, the marines follow the retreat of the red aliens to the hive. Taking a small crew, Grant descends into the red alien hive before the second nuke is fired to achieve his goal: Royal Jelly. The aliens seem aware of their presence and the reach the Queen's lair without trouble. But the aliens are not the problem. Corporal Henriksen turns the tables, he sabotages the mission. Unlike the rumors, Henriksen is human, but out to destroy Grant's company: Neo-Pharm. They fight back and forth dodging the Queen aliens occasional strikes. Henriksen's demise is XenoZip. To overpower Grant he overdose, and his rage and insanity picks him against the whole hive of aliens without a sense of retreat or caution of acid blood that is burning his flesh away. Grant escapes alive and on the ship back home with his Royal Jelly he reconsiders every event that happened. He believe that he will return to Earth as a better person.

Analysis:
Grant has a change of hearts. At first he was a very greedy, power hungry man that cared not for his workers. He funded a mission for Royal Jelly with "humanitarianism" intentions, which were nothing more than resources being found closer to home for easier money. But during the flight he begins to suspect people of ruining his mission. But he still holds his head high that he remains in power. But when trouble sticks and uncertainty  and death sink in, Grant becomes disturbed. His morality breaks. He can no longer face himself in the mirror. To redeem himself he puts himself in a lower position, he takes the front lines that he order other to do for him. He braves the hive and lives, a change man. He no longer sees people as for hire, but living breathing individuals that need to be protected. He rethinks XenoZip which in effect has harmed many people. This story shows greed and a highly life, such as the one that he had before on Earth raised by rich parents, could weaken the sense of morality or the bond a person can share to others of his kind. Similar, the Israelite of the Old Testament began to life in a highly successful economic times. The place was thriving and growing, but at the same time people started to get more impure. God calls out the be repent but countless times they continue to do bad. So what does God do? He punishes them to exile. Why? For Grant, morality returned to him in the sight of death and hardships. Afterwards he changed this ways. Similarly, when pushed out of their homeland to suffer the hardships of life, the intention was for them to return to their morality now that the safety of high ground was gone.

Genocide Part I

Overview of Genocide

The story begins on Earth years after the horrible alien invasion that threaten humanity. There are no wars, only “Goodwill Games” similar to the Olympic. The representatives try everything to get better scores, and unlike today, death in the attempt of a world record happens frequently. These are not due to violence but by people overworking themselves with the help of a new drug called XenoZip. Yet even with the Goodwill Games the military is still ever vigilant. XenoZip has also been used under the orders and watch of the military for its inhuman effects. A known side effect to the inhuman strength it provides is a nasty rage. A rage so brutal that even having been dismembered the subject still lashes out to kill everyone around him. With these stories looming behind, the story points it focus to the creator of XenoZip, Daniel Grant. In the new world the suffering economy gives big opportunities for business. Daniel Grant created “Neo-Pharm” a business that makes medicines based of the Xenomorph biology. In particular, XenoZip is created from artificial Royal Jelly. (Royal Jelly is the chemical produced by a Queen Xenomorph that surrounds the eggs; it also has healing potential for the other aliens in the hive. Unfortunately for Daniel Grant, the artificial Royal Jelly is making the human patients “go crazy”. Daniel Grant shows to be a very aggressive man almost chocking a subordinate because of the press finding out about these side effects. To save his company that he invested his life’s savings into he approaches the military for permission to voyage out the alien home world. The military allows Grant to go on the voyage, but ask that the “imperfect” product still me made for military use. They enjoy the rage and violence it creates.

                Grant sets out of his quest for Royal Jelly. He is accompanied by Major Lee, a strong woman, and Corporal Henriksen, a big, muscular, stoic man of a man. Grant admires Henriksen as a manly man and distains that Major Lee is a woman, doubting her ability to fight due to her being a woman. Grant wholeheartedly puts trust in the Corporal and only faintly in the Major. Either way, he shows them a secret. On board the ship they are growing human body parts. With the cloned torso are alien embryos kept inside. When one of the chestburster finally “hatches” the scientist overhead names it and treats it as if it were his own daughter. The plan Grant made was to take the baby alien and surrounded in the Royal Jelly. In the presence of the chemical and without the pheromones of a Queen alien to block the process, the baby alien will grow into a Queen itself. This will allow an endless source of Royal Jelly near Earth so that money making will be a lot easier and saver. Major Lee shows disgust with this plans while Corporal Henriksen remains as stoic as ever. Later an emergency breach is issued. The baby alien onboard had been brutally destroyed. When Grant reaches the lab he sees the head scientist holding the dead alien in his arms like a child, even though the blood of the alien is acidic and is slowing eating away at his suit (After years of development specials suits were made to protect against the acid, but most is very bulky and does not stop it completely). Grant begins to wonder who the traitor is. Even though Major Lee was with Grant he still suspects her. No other crew member was supposed to know, expect Corporal Henriksen. Yet even in this undoubted evidence, Grant never even thinks that he could be a traitor.

                Commentary

This reading can draw parallels to the world portrayed in Amos of the Old Testament. In the book of Amos, Amos warns the people of Israel to repent to God for they have sinned against him. Why was God angry at this chosen people? They had forsaken the poor and the needy, the widows and orphans. The rich kept getting richer and richer living in ivory fortresses. One could see this as almost the current situation in American today: a vanishing middle class. The rich make policies to get richer; the poor are cheated out of money and can do nothing to get higher. In Aliens, this is what the world is like as well. Business men have set out to rebuild the world, taking grand projects of scientific advancement. Things like XenoZip make millions of dollars. But somebody has to supply the products. Many marines are killed just to get ahold of a live alien. Many more are killed due to the side effects. There is no middle class. Only the elite wealth upper class military generals and businessmen, and the low grunts and peasants just trying to survive. Just as Amos warned that God would strike punishment for the wicked ways they lived, some people see the Aliens as the divine punishment for the wickedness of their world, as world the authors passed on the America we live in. General Lee tries to warn Grant that business with the aliens will only end in suffer for lots of soldiers, and possibly even Earth itself. But Grant refuses to listen and continues on with his plan to control the Xenomorphs

Introduction to the Alien universe

Where my story and analysis takes places is at the end of the first story arc of the Aliens comic books by Dark Horse publishing. These stories tell of the events happening across the universe after Earth is rebuilt. If you have watches the Aliens movies this takes place years after the movie series would end.

In the far future on a remote planet a group of citizens are exploring the planet outside the colony (a group of citizens and machines living in a remote area of space in order to make it habitable for other humans) when they discover an unidentified crashed spaceship. Inside was found a large nest of eggs, and when approached the eggs would open to reveal a facehugger, a parasitic organism with acid for blood that lays eggs within its victims chest. These eggs later hatch into a chest burster, name so for the act of breaking the chest open when leaving the host. The chestburster goes on to grow into a full grow alien rapidly after a few metamorphosis. These aliens became known as Xenomorphs. These creatures began to rapidly reproduce and plague the universe. A greedy company under the name of  Weyland-Yutani corporation began to invest money on capturing a live Xenomorph in hopes of using its DNA and characteristics as means to make weapons and medicines. Some major characters seen in the movie is Ripely Scott, who is created as the first person to survive an alien attack. In the end Weyland- Yutani succeeds in bring back an alien to Earth, but the foolishness of the general who thinks he can control the aliens soon gives the aliens a chance to run free and take over the Earth. In revenge for the lost of his world, Marine Wilks and his friend Billy travel to the alien homeworld and with atomic weapons destroy the hive. (The hive is where the queen alien lives, similar to a ant's hive, the queen lays the eggs.) An attack is also made against Earth, but luckily it survives and years  later people can once again re inhabit it. 
This is where my book review will begin.

Welcome

This is a test. Welcome to my first blog. I will begin coverage of Aliens in this blog and its connection to ethical and biblical issues.