2122.

Dev (Julie’s professor in graduate school) went through school talking about his summers working in the greenhouse on LV-492. He made out to be quite lucrative, and so Julie jumped at the opportunity to learn and make a lot of money alongside the professor she respects and admires. Of course, the work turns out to be very tedious, and no one is really interested in research. This place is just a hub that plants pass through, and it’s all about keeping them stable. much to Julie’s frustration Dev is caught up in the bureaucracy of it all, forgetting that he was once passionate about his work. He’s here to collect a paycheck, and Julie feels betrayed and let down.

So, botanist Julie works the night shift alone in a remote greenhouse facility on planet LV-492, with just the outpost's dog, Maggie, for company. She radios her colleague Dev and expresses suspicion after discovering an unexpected cargo of soil, pointing out Maggie's peculiar interest in the containers. Dev rejects Julie's worries, despite the fact that there is no record of any soil samples being sent, and instructs her to go back to work. Julie wraps the mystery containers to keep any potential contaminants from spilling before going about her chores, using her headphones to listen to her music.

Julie finds one of the dirt barrels has turned over and is now open later that night, and when she removes her headphones, she learns the facility's containment alarm is ringing, but she is unable to reach the door before it seals, keeping her within. She tries to call Dev to get him to override the lockout, but the main power goes out, rendering the radio useless and the area only dimly lit by emergency lighting.

She goes to check on Maggie after hearing her crying nearby; while searching, she slips in a thick slime on the greenhouse floor and discovers a trail leading back to the overturned barrel. She digs deeper and discovers the source of the slime to be an open, egg-like object hiding in the earth.

The radio comes back to life just long enough for Dev to tell Julie that he's going to try to remove the lockdown by rebooting the facility's power, but before she can tell him to wait, the environment goes completely dark. Julie discovers a little scurrying creature in the greenhouse with her after recovering a lantern. When she hears Maggie scuffling with the organism in the darkness, she desperately tries to pry open the access door with a trowel.

Julie grabs a shovel and goes in pursuit of Maggie, whose growls have turned into excruciating yelps as she tries to open the door. Maggie's frantic barking alerts her to the Facehugger hidden in the ceiling above, which she finds amidst the plants, seemingly unhurt. Maggie sets upon it and vanishes once more into the gloom, just as Julie attempts to knock the leaping thing away with the shovel.

The electricity and lights come back on as Julie follows their trail, and she soon finds the Facehugger lying wounded on the floor. She uses the shovel to split it in half before it can rebound. Maggie's writhing body is nearby, the skin of her face peeled away, revealing her to be a Synthetic. When Dev arrives on the scene and inquires about what transpired, Julie answers, "Maggie did her job." Before slamming the shovel into her body and destroying her, she thanks the injured android for saving her life.

When Julie and Dev leave the greenhouse, they discover a disturbing reality about their goal. After the greenhouse facility is overtaken by kiande amedha, Julie and Dev retreat into LV-492's deep natural forest, which would also show whether the Egg found in the soil sample was picked up accidentally or placed there on purpose.