Alien: Covenant 2: Part 14

************ Face Off *************

- Dark side of the Moon -

It was just she and he, Daniels and Weyland. She had asked Vickers to have a face-to-face meeting with the man (whose brilliance had led to countless inventions and also to the Exploratory/Colonization missions of both Prometheus and the Covenant). Still, was this truly the guy who WAS that genius? Things had become so abstract that Daniels wasn't sure if the man sitting before her was real, or a duplicate (an android sent out into space as his representative)? However, she meant to find out.

The Terraforming Officer knew of what had occurred on Prometheus. She had read the files on the ship, even the undisclosed ones. She had hacked her way in and retrieved the restricted data. She knew that the mission had been compromised and that all souls aboard had perished.

However, it wasn't until the Covenant had received and then followed a signal in space that it was realized that there had been survivors. David, the android: that soulless and treacherous robot was the only one walking and talking when they had arrived. However, it had been revealed to Daniels that Dr. Elizabeth Shaw had survived also. Only to be used as a test subject for the droid's devious bio experiments. This had her considering that besides she and Tennessee, who other on the Covenant was actually human?

If Weyland had covertly placed himself onboard that ship (Prometheus) then who on earth had he left behind?

Daniels remembered attending lectures and conferences that he had given (while covertly he was possibly aboard Prometheus). So the question was, had it really been him on earth, or a hologram, or an android? Had the scientist/inventor remained on our planet, or had he hitched a ride on the exploratory vessel in an attempt to discover "The Fountain of Youth"?

When Daniels thought about it the question "why" came to mind. Why would Weyland risk himself by taking the chance of venturing out into space, out into the unknown? He had a daughter, Vickers, and a son David, who could send coded signals back informing him of what had been found? Too, he could send an android stand-in for himself if something went wrong and the mission became lost. That made more sense.

Weyland was a man of mystery. He was much like our own lunar satellite before humankind had actually settled there. To the public his face was always bright, shiny and approachable, while the backside remained unknown. Only if one was able to travel around to the opposite side of the moon could one really find out what was back there. And so the like, if one could only get beyond Weyland's facade, could they really know the truth.

No, Weyland was a smart man. He only gambled when he knew the odds were impossibly in his favor.

Daniels considered: This whole mission had become warped. It had turned into something bizarre, surreal, and unrecognizable. Their training on earth had encompassed the bizarre, the unknown, and the unexplained. They had been taught how to face it all. However, that was supposed to be things that they might encounter, what might be uncovered. It was not supposed to include something that was already aboard ship (space exploration was dangerous enough without deceit and deception. They had all been screened for space-dementia).

This mission of colonizing Origae-6 had become an "off-the-charts" mess, and she didn't like it.

** Will the Real Peter Weyland Please Stand Up **

"So Mr. Weyland, are you real?"

The man sitting across from her in the conference room of the Covenant gave her a little smile. However, it was one of those veiled smiles, one that didn't reveal a thing.

"I'm as real as you are Mrs. Branson," came his answer. That told her nothing. He threw in a bonus...

"...My condolences for the loss of your husband. It was tragic." That softened her up a bit, but it didn't get him off the hook.

Daniels picked her coffee cup up from the table.

"This is real Mr. Weyland, as real as you and I sitting here. But yet again it isn't real, it's a thing. Do you understand my meaning?"

His smile didn't change. And if he told her that..."He did not understand. That she would have to explain herself better"... She would consider that to be her answer.

For a moment he said nothing. He just sat there. And then he said...

"Come with me Mrs. Daniels."

Weyland stood, and then he walked over to the wall, the wall that was a part of the hull. On the opposite side Danny knew that there was nothing but the vacuum of space. He pressed a button. Panels shifted and slid apart, it opened like glass doors onto a patio. This revealed the darkness of the cosmos, the void of the galaxy. There were little spots out there, dots of light. It was an amazing sight and, one that she loved.

"Is this real Daniels...Danny? Is what you're seeing something you can touch, feel...talk to?"

She did not know how to answer.

"Your question answers itself," he said.

She turned and looked at him. His smile seemed to have broadened a bit. She felt stupid. Why, why had she attempted to challenge him with a trap? He was smarter than that. Her attempt at devising a question that would lead to the truth had failed. This was not going to be easy. No, Mr. Peter Weyland, even as an android, was going to be a hard nut to crack.

"I would like to see Tennessee," she said.

Weyland's smile didn't change.

"He'll arrive shortly," he said. "Shall we sit?"

************** Tennessee **************

Five minutes later the door to the Conference room opened and in walked the only other surviving human crew-member of the Covenant.

"TENNESSEE...!"

Daniels rushed over and gave him a big hug. Looking past him she could see that Vickers had arrived too.

"...So heartwarming to see such a reunion," the woman voiced in her cynical manner.

(Whether Vickers was an android or not, she was still as cold as ice, and still an asshole)

The four sat at the table. Now it was time to get down to some answers.

"So Mr. Weyland, the last thing I remember was David putting me under. How long was I in hypersleep?"

"Well out here in space there are no sunrises or sunsets, as you know. However by "Mother's" calculation you were in the capsule twenty-seven days."

"Twenty-seven days, is that all?"

"I'm afraid so."

"Then why was I awakened? We are still on track to Origae-6 aren't we?"

Vickers stepped in...

"Yes, Daniels we are still headed towards our destination."

"Why then?"

"Well there is an issue," Weyland said. "After David took command he erased some of the Terraforming data. I'm thinking that he was of the mindset that he wasn't going to need it. Upon arrival he could continue his experiments remaining on the ship here, and he had a unlimited supply of test subjects."

"Sorry to say but that's wrong," Tennessee spoke up.

Weyland looked over at the man.

"Mr. Tenn..., who names their child Tennessee anyway?"

Maybe it was his way of picking a fight, or just putting the man in his place, but Tennessee did not engage.

"Well sir, my meaning is only that there IS a limited supply of colonists. And they are going to have to breathe and also eat."

"I see your point," Weyland said. "However the whole idea of Origae-6 is to colonize. That means making babies. And using the colonists David could accomplish that on ship. he could land without having to step outside. He didn't need to start a farming colony. So you see, he had an unlimited source."

Daniels felt sick. Even if Weyland and Vickers and any of the other colonists aboard were androids, it was good that they had stopped that synthetic beast.

"Well, I am happy that our extinction has been avoided," Daniels said. "I would hate to think of anyone becoming his test rat, me included."

"Test rat?" Weyland looked at her. "You were never going to be his test rat Danny. He's in love with you."

End Part 14