Ed. note – good thing I finally got to see the actual movie! I didn't realize the Engineer sleep pod covers were clear and you could actually see in! Made a change to how this was gonna start...
Since people are curious about a continuation, and I can actually think of a way to work the OCs in with the Prometheus crew showing up – I'll keep going.
The chair was all but asking to be sat upon, and Leo was damned if he was going to refuse that sort of offer. If nothing else, he was too big not to appreciate getting off his feet once in a while. The thing looked like an upended egg made of solid stone with one quarter cut out to make a seat, and seemed sturdy enough when Leo gave it an experimental shove. He cautiously lowered himself onto the seat, then sat back with a relieved sigh when he didn't hear any creaking. It was about time his team discovered artifacts which appeared made for someone of his people's stature and girth, rather than more evidence of Earth-human incursion.
His crewmates busied themselves examining the curious domed room. The central platform with the four coffin-like chambers and a semicircular control panel seemed like the most promising place for figuring out just what this place was for. It paid to be cautious, especially in this peculiar facility. Leo's crew had bypassed many of the doors they had found, every other one seeming to promise a worse horror behind it the further they went into the structure.
Looking over his right shoulder, Leo studied the control panel. It had partially activated when his two information technicians had set up their recording devices, globular off-white buttons flashing in a repeating pattern. While the techs debated whether to press any of them, the egg chair had slid back and turned sideways – no doubt in anticipation of the panel's operator.
"Over here!"
Leo and the rest of the crew looked toward Sena as she stood over one of the four coffin-like chambers set into the floor. "There's someone in this one and it looks functional."
"Someone or some thing?" Jagr intoned warily from near the door.
"Looks a lot like you actually," the apprentice medic replied with a grin. Jagr harrumphed and resumed keeping watch over the doorway.
Reluctantly, Leo heaved his bulk back onto his feet and headed up the ramp to see Sena's find.
The covering of the hypersleep chamber was semi-transparent, allowing the Tanissians to see its back-lit contents. A tall masculine humanoid with what appeared to be an external ribcage and a mask over his face lay inside. Pale white hands and forearms blended into the grayish, ribbed suit covering his body. At least Leo thought it was some sort of suit, but it also seemed attached like skin. Dark tubes ran from the chamber walls, attached at handspan intervals the length of his body and to the mask. Sena and Kalla crouched down for a better look at the sleeper.
"I can hear his heart beat...there, he just took a breath..." Sena whispered to her mentor. "His life signs are very close to what ours are in hypersleep."
Kalla looked up at Taran. "The controls are at the head of the chamber. Can you tell which is which?"
The raven-haired linguist peered at the symbols, then pointed out a pattern to touch. "That will start the wakeup sequence. There is no indication of how long it will take."
Leo studied the humanoid, debating whether they should spare the time now watching over the sleeper, or come back first thing in the morning to rouse him. Tanissians could take hours to come around following hypersleep stasis, and they still had to get back to their ship for the night.
No sense waiting around. If nothing else, they could carry him back to their ship – he did appear to be about the same size as the younger males in the crew.
"Open it up."
Leo gestured for the rest of his team to back up. If the sleeper proved to be aggressive, he'd sooner be the first person the being encountered. It had been many, many decades since anything with even a glimmer of intelligence tried challenging him one-on-one.
Taran keyed the sequence, then retreated with Kalla and Sena to a safe distance. The top of the chamber separated and retracted, and almost immediately the sleeper took a deep breath and his eyes fluttered open. He sat up, then peeled off the mask, revealing a shiny bald head, slight brow ridges and a straight nose. Disoriented, his eyes widened in shock as he focused on Leo. Subtle changes in the reflected light on his almost featureless dark eyes revealed darting glances at the other members of Leo's team. Predictably, the sleeper was startled by what he saw, given Leo's broad, scarred forehead, thick jowls and shaggy mane of tawny blond-brown hair, because he tried scrambling to his feet and nearly fell. The sleeper recoiled in horror as Leo easily caught him, but couldn't avoid putting his bare hands in contact with Leo's neck and shoulders.
Leo stifled a grin – this curious being reminded him of one of his sons after having too much to drink at a festival. With hair and pigmented skin he could almost pass for a teenaged Tanissian. The pale sleeper had evidently gotten over some of his fear and was tentatively pressing his fingertips into Leo's cheeks and neck. Leo smiled slightly and patted him on the cheek in turn, hoping it would soothe the frightened humanoid.
"Taran, you up for a conversation? You've been studying the runes here-is it anything we know?"
"I believe so," the younger man replied. "Its like a very, very ancient Earth language..."
Leo gently turned the still-shaky sleeper toward the linguist. Taran switched to an arcane dialect, and the sleeper quickly turned his attention to the new voice. "Do you understand me when I speak these words?"
"Who are you? Why are you here?" the sleeper quickly responded.
"We are explorers, seekers, and came to this place."
"How did you get in here without being seen?"
"You are the first we found alive."