Blue herself is overseeing the station's Xenomorph research, obsensibly to forward Weyland-Yutani's longstanding desire to weaponize the species. But Blue has her own motives, seeing the unique physiology of the aliens as a means to cure her degenerative illness. But things take a turn for the worst when the arrival of a malicious auditor sets in motion a series of events that quickly turns the Cold Forge into a bloodbath.
Much like the Out of the Shadows trilogy, The Cold Forge is an Adaptation Expansion that ties in more closely with the existing film canon than previous Alien novels have.
The novels provide examples of the following tropes:
- Admiring the Abomination: Dorian thinks the Xenomorphs are exquisite, actually at one point hoping they've broken containment just so he can see what they'll do. As the novel goes on, he identifies with the "Snatchers" more and more, even attempting to emulate them when he directly kills another person for the first time.
- Ambiguous Situation:
- It is never stated where exactly the Xenomorph specimens on the Cold Forge came from. The novel is set in the same year as Aliens, around which time the only known Xenomorphs in the galaxy were on LV-426. However, all available specimens were wiped out, courtesy of Ellen Ripley, before Weyland-Yutani could perform a proper investigation.
- No one ever finds out who let the Xenomorphs out of their kennels. The action would have required physical output to perform, and only Blue has the clearance to do so. Yet we know from her internal dialogue that she had nothing to do with it. By the end of the story, it's made clear that opposing people in Weyland-Yutani had inserted secret programming back when Cold Forge was first built... including the things necessary to command or outright hijack Marcus, whom would be in a position to use or otherwise fake the clearance required to open the kennels.
- Arch-Enemy: Dorian and Blue eventually end up seeing each other as this. Dorian takes a pretty instant disliking to her, and Blue doesn't particularly care for him. As the situation spirals more and more out of control, the only thing that can distract Dorian from making his escape is killing Blue, because he feels he needs to kill her, personally. Blue, after seeing Dorian beat Anne and leave her to get eaten by a Xenomorph, decides that killing Dorian is her only goal besides getting her sample and getting off the station.
- Black Site: RB-232, "The Cold Forge", is a top secret Weyland-Yutani research outpost working on cutting edge research projects to make the Company lots of money. It also costs a lot of money, which is why Dorian Sudler is coming, to make sure the investment is worth it.
- Cut Lex Luthor a Check: Blue is tasked by Weyland-Yutani to investigate ways to control the Xenomorphs and use them as shock troops. She's not pursuing this, she's looking into the ways they exchange genetic information, believing it's the key to curing not only her genetic disorder, but any genetic disorder. She has to keep this work secret because if the Company finds out, they'll fire her. Because such a massive medical breakthrough is clearly nowhere near as useful or profitable as monsters on a leash.
- Establishing Character Moment: When we're first introduced to Dorian, he's ruminating about a doctor who pesters him about not smoking, musing that maybe he should fuck her before he leaves, then deciding not to, since he has authority over her. Not because he has any qualms abusing his authority, but because it might make him look bad. Then, in his job as an "auditor," he notes she's costing the Company money because of some lawsuits, so decides to fire her. . . two weeks after he's left. The fact that she pestered him about his smoking makes him notice her name, and he admits to some satisfaction that he gets to fire her in not-quite retaliation, and decides he will try and sleep with her. Then she comes on to him, and he's suddenly not interested because he's not in control, reprimands her and changes her cause of firing (still to happen in two weeks) to basically "sexual harassment." And with that, we learn everything we need to know about Dorian Sudler: a petty jerk who enjoys flexing his power.
- Evil Is Petty: Dorian is an "Auditor," going around to Weyland-Yutani facilities, finding people who are not cost-effective, and getting rid of them. While he does fire people for cause, he does take joy in trimming the dead weight, since the more money he saves the bigger his bonus is, and does take some personal delight when he gets to fire someone who annoyed him personally. In the opening chapter, he decides to fire a doctor who nags him about his smoking because she's been involved in lawsuits that cost the Company money. When he meets Blue, she does not show him what he considers to be the proper respect, but concludes he can't fire her for that because it'll make him look weak. But he will find a reason to fire her.
- Evil vs. Evil: While the Seegson corporation may not have the list of crimes Weyland-Yutani does, it's only for Seegson being comparatively lacking in scope. They sabotage the Cold Forge to destroy the station, the WY projects in development, and to kill all the scientists, save for Blue. Because these "material and human resources," as the Seegson reps put it, are valuable enough to WY that their loss will hurt the Company enough for Seegson to buy a seat at Weyland-Yutani's table. They're even prepared to let Blue die unless she gets the the plagiarus praepotens sample she was after. Their goal isn't to bring down Weyland-Yutani, and certainly not for any moral reasons. . . Seegson wants to be invited to the same party, and doesn't seem to care how much blood has to be spilled to earn that invite.
- Incompatible Orientation: Zig-Zagged. Anne and Blue had a rather intense physical relationship, but Blue was piloting the male android Marcus. Anne doesn't really like women that way. But the real deal-breaker for Anne was the relationship getting more serious, Blue wanting Anne to be with her without Marcus, and Anne couldn't handle Blue's rapidly deteriorating health.
- Mythology Gag:
- The novel borrows a few concepts from Alien: Isolation, with characters having to hide from the Xenomorphs loose on the station and attempting to set up fortified areas where they can regroup and attempt to find a way to un-fuck the situation. Much attention is paid to remaining quiet and out of sight, hiding under tables or in lockers and air vents is given focus, and at least one attempt to distract a Xenomorph by throwing a flare is made.
- As the novel progresses, Dorian begins to mirror General Thomas AW Spears. Both consider the Aliens beautiful, pure expressions of their ideals, identify with the Xenomorphs more than their fellow humans, and believe the Xenomorphs should recognize them as one of their own.
- No Challenge Equals No Satisfaction: Dorian's main character trait. He likes his job, because going through "line items" in the Company's ledgers and cutting costs (that is, firing people who aren't productive enough or costing the Company more than they're worth) is a challenging exercise, and the more money he saves the bigger his bonuses are. He likes seducing women, twisting them around to make a bad decision (sleeping with him) because he enjoys the challenge of breaking through their resistance. But if a woman comes on to him, he immediately loses interest. He's also utterly disdainful of the Company higher-ups who use their position to coerce women into sleeping with them under threat of punishment or promise of promotion, not because he has any moral objections to workplace sexual harassment, but because he considers using power in that way to be too easy, a cheat employed by those who aren't as awesomely manly as Dorian is.
- Robosexual: Both Blue and Dorian wonder if Anne has a fetish for synthetics. Anne and Blue had a relationship with Blue piloting Marcus' synthetic body, and Dorian notes he deliberately cultivates a synthetic look. Anne reveals in a later chapter she was known as "synth-lover" in high school, indicating she really does have a fetish for artificial people.
- The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: As the story reaches its climax, Dorian begins to think this of Blue, his internal monologue stating he'd think it terribly unfitting for her to die due to a hull breach or random act of Xenomorph. He has to be involved in her death in some way, ideally face-to-face.
