Dark Mother is a 2017 short story written by David Farland, published by Titan Books as part of the anthology Aliens: Bug Hunt. Set concurrently with Aliens, it reveals the final hours of Carter Burke at Hadley's Hope, including his capture by the Xenomorphs and his imprisonment inside the Hive at the colony's Atmosphere Processing Plant, as well as shedding light on his unhappy upbringing.
Plot[]
Having locked Ripley and her fellow Colonial Marines in the Operations Center at Hadley's Hope, Burke attempts to flee the area. However, he's ambushed by a Xenomorph Drone and knocked unconscious.
Sensing that he is being carried, Burke dreams about his youth, remembering how he used to suffer from bed-wetting and how his mother used to carry him to the bath to wash him, making no attempt to mask her disgust. Coming to, Burke realizes he is being carried by the Drone and manages to control his fear. Desperate, he attempts to reason with the creature, but it simply slams Burke against the wall to knock him out once more.
Burke awakens cocooned inside the Hive within the Atmosphere Processor, surrounded by the corpses of the colonists who served as hosts before him. He sees the Queen laying eggs in an adjacent chamber, once of which is brought before him by a Drone. He again tries to bargain with the Xenomorph, pointing out that, as a senior employee of Weyland-Yutani, he can get them anything they may desire. The Drone ignores him, placing an egg before Burke. As he awaits the inevitable, Burke realizes that his plan to smuggle a Xenomorph back through ICC quarantine could still succeed — with him carrying the embryo himself. Hoping to have the embryonic Xenomorph surgically removed once he reaches Earth, Burke allows the Facehugger to subdue him.
Burke again remembers his youth, this time recalling how he once saw his mother being raped by a man in his parents' apartment. When he finally plucked up the courage to tell his father, he is stunned to learn that his father was well aware. In fact, his father openly admits to using his talents as a plastic surgeon to alter his wife's appearance so that she might lure wealthy or influential men into sexually assaulting her, recording the attacks, and then blackmailing those responsible. The young Burke is horrified by this revelation.
Burke awakes and hears evidence of Ripley's raid on the Hive. He manages to break out of his cocoon, desperate to reach a ship before the Atmosphere Processor melts down and before the Chestburster inside him can emerge. Making his way through the disintegrating station, Burke finally reaches the landing pad, only to discover Ripley and the others have already left aboard the backup Cheyenne dropship. Defeated, he falls to his knees and dies as the Chestburster tears its way out of his chest, moments before the Atmosphere Processor detonates in a blinding explosion.
Goofs[]
- Original printings of the book include numerous errors in this story, including editor's notes seemingly left within the text, and a jump from Burke being cocooned to him being free without his escape ever being explained. He also mysteriously acquires a grenade without explanation (hinting at the deleted scene cut from Aliens where Ripley hands him one).
- At one point, Ripley is misspelt "Ridley", thereby creating a metafictional (albeit presumably unintentional) link to Ridley Scott, the director of Alien.
- The gestation of the Xenomorph chestburster is incredibly quick in this story, likely ranging from only one to two hours. This reason was why the original deleted scene featuring a cocooned Burke from the film was ultimately cut.
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