Aliens: Earth Hive is a novel written by Steve Perry which adapts the first Aliens comic book series written by Mark Verheiden, Earth Hive reveals the origins of the Xenomorph infestation of Earth in the late 22nd century. It was published in September 1, 1992. Earth Hive is the first novel in the Aliens "Book" trilogy, followed by Nightmare Asylum and concluding with The Female War.
Publisher's Summary[]
Wilks is a space marine with a near-fatal flaw: he had a heart. Billie was a child, the only survivor of a far-flung colony outpost. Thrown together in the last hellish night of an alien invasion, Billie and Wilks helped each other get out alive.
Thirteen years later Wilks is in prison, and Billie lives in a mental institution, the nightmare memories of the massacre at Rim seared into her mind. Now the government has tapped Wilks to lead an expedition to the aliens' home planet to bring back a live alien. But the competition on Earth to develop the aliens as a new weapons system is brutal. When Wilks's team departs on their mission, a trained assassin trails them. And what follows is no less then guerrilla warfare on the aliens planet-- and alien conquest on Earth!
Plot[]
The story opens with a group of young girls camping. One of them is the main character; her name is Billie. The girls are exchanging scary ghost stories and are trying to come up with the best one to scare their friends.
Finally, one of the girls begins to describe the Xenomorphs in graphic detail, despite her never having seen one or heard of one. One of the girls says that the story makes her feel sick, and in turn is the folly of the other two's jokes. As the story of the Nightmare Bugs continues the little girl who complained about being sick to her stomach begins to go into a seizure-like state. She goes into convulsions and then her abdomen ruptures. A chestburster emerges and scrambles for freedom. It bites Billie's other friend in the neck and kills her. Billie feels the same pain in her chest then...
Billie wakes up in a mental hospital, you finds out that she has been having this nightmare for as long as she can remember. Billie is one of the two survivors of a colony world called Rim which was decimated by Xenomorphs. Every one on the colony, including her friends and family, is dead. The only other survivor, a member of the Colonial Marines named Wilks, is in prison for unspecified reasons and cannot take them anymore. To suppress the nightmares, the hospital reglarly sedates her.
Cpl. Wilks is being held in prison for having seen the Xenomorphs. He is called to a "parole" hearing, rather unexpectedly, and is confronted by Doctor Orona. Orona is funding an "expedition" to the Xenomorph's homeworld and needs the help and experience of any one who has been in close proximity to the aliens. Upon being released Wilks is given the rank of Sergeant and is tasked with putting together an elite team of marines to participate in the expedition.
As he is organizing the team Wilks also breaks Billie out of the mental hospital. Billie, who is convinced that she is crazy and all of the nightmares are fake, is shocked to see the real Wilks. The moment is bittersweet for Billie. On the one hand, she isn't crazy after all, and on the other, everything she remembered actually happened.
Sgt. Wilks, who is now second in command of the expedition, begins to evaluate the training of the marines. He also requests heavy weaponry but is denied because the officer in charge says that they are unnecessary and will damage the specimens.
Soon the ill-prepared, ill-experienced, an ill-equipped team of marines embarks on their journey. It becomes apparent that there is a sabotuer on board when some of the marines end up dead or missing. Then when all else seems to be going wrong, their ship is captured by a ruthless business man out to retrieve an alien sample. The marines are used as cannon fodder to coax out the aliens when they reach their home world.
Billie and Wilks manage to take back the ship and save a few marines, but it comes at a price. Only two of the marines and one crewman make it back aboard their ship.
While all of that was going on, Earth fell into anarchy. An outbreak of alien hives begins appearing all over the world. The humans quickly respond to the new threat with initial success! But after some time the aliens begin to adapt to human tactics and the tide turns in the aliens' favor. Dr. Orana, the man who attempted to save the Earth with the aliens, is cornered in his office by a sea of aliens. With no hope of escape he commits suicide by shooting himself in the head.
By the time Billie, Wilks and the other survivors make it back to Earth it is too late. They get separated with the surviving crewman and one of the few marines is shot by a crazed general. Billie, Wilks, and Bueller (the android/Marine) make it to the last ship capable of escaping Earth's atmosphere and make a speedy escape. The story closes with them going into cryo-sleep and waiting for rescue.