Ripley didn't care about being popular, or if people liked her. There was the job, and you weren't there to make friends. If you did along the way, so be it, but you didn't let that get in the way of doing the job you were hired for. That's why Brett and Parker didn't like her; she'd been so by the book then. It's why Dallas and Kane did; she was their subordinate. It worked out in the end. But she tried not to take anything for granted.
Her throat didn't hurt now, but what if it took time? What if the symptoms were different from victim to victim? What if she had that Queen gestating inside of her right now. Ripley tried to give Hicks a lopsided smile in return, but it was strained. Her face hurt. She pressed the pads of her fingers between her rib cage. She pushed herself to her feet and began to pace.
"What if I've already got it inside me?" She'd been in the tube last thing she remembered, but she wasn't in it and it was nowhere to be seen when she arrived in Asgard. She couldn't be sure, and she didn't want to put this planet in danger. "She could kill this whole planet like that, Hicks. I have to be sure."