CHAPTER FOUR
The next morning, we were suiting up to go back. Millburn and Fifield were still missing and we had lost contact with them during the storm. Even after the weather had cleared up, there had been no reaching them.
"This is what Charlie would've wanted," I heard Shaw mutter to herself.
Charlie Holloway had been given a quick burial before we set off and although Elizabeth wasn't crying anymore, I knew that she must've still been in turmoil. She was an admirably strong and determined woman. I could only hope that she would have a little more self-preservation than her counterpart.
Once we arrived, we went down different tunnels, both in hopes to find our two missing crew mate and to discover what else this place had to offer. There were plenty of small rooms that looked to be living quarters. There didn't seem to be anything personalised in them. Almost everything was the same dull shades. The items were mostly small, necessities, but nothing we could properly identify.
When we went further, we entered what appeared to be the control room. It was a round panel of buttons and several large seats situated around it. David wandered over curiously, but something else caught my eye.
I walked over to several pods tucked in a corner. Several of them were opened, revealing empty beds. The last was closed and peering through the transparent cover, I saw a chilling face.
"Is that…?" Shaw breathed in disbelief. She touched the cover with shaky hands, tears glistening in her eyes. "Charlie would've loved to see this…"
I stared at what I assumed was Shaw's Engineers. Or rather… just Engineer. There was only one and I wondered if it was the only one left. It looked masculine. Its face was sculpted like marble with a skin tone to match it, but there was a blue-tinge to its pallor.
Whatever it was, Shaw was excited to awaken the creature, but David quickly stopped her, saying that we weren't ready, yet. What he meant to say was that father wasn't present and we couldn't start without him.
Eventually, we were able to move Shaw away from the slumbering Engineer and re-entered the corridors where we tried to dissect its culture. What did beings like the Engineer like? What language did they speak? What did they eat?
My covered fingers grazed the designs engraved into the walls. It looked to be of a completely different language that even David didn't understand, but from the way he stared at them, I reckoned that it was only in a matter of time before he became fluent with it.
After seeing Holloway become infected, albeit on purpose, I knew that anyone could end up the same way here. The parasites could be anywhere – everywhere.
While the others seemed to be absorbed with the writings on the walls, I rounded the corner and stopped at what I saw. It was as dark as the rest of this place, but the most obvious bit was the humanoid lump on the ground. "David…" I had taken one step forward, but thought better of it. "David!"
He was by my side in a moment, staring at the spot I was pointing at. We cautiously walked towards the form that was nearly hidden by the black urns – same as the ones that David had taken back on board.
"Is that…?" Once we got closer, I noticed the familiar suit. "Fifield?" I tried. "Millburn?" It didn't more or reply.
David turned the body over with his feet and the horrific face lulled towards me. Millburn had a look of pure terror frozen on his pale face. His mouth was wide open with… something still in there. It was an off white colour and shaped like a snake. I noted the tear in his suit and wondered how it could've pierced it. The suits were made of high quality material. Father wouldn't have settled for anything less.
"Something burst out from here." David fingered the darkened dip that originated from his chest. I could see bits of bone sticking out. "Where could it have gone?"
My eyes darted around me. Indeed, where had it gone? If it had been strong enough to rip the suit, I didn't want it anywhere near me.
"Come, we should go back and see where Fifield went." David grabbed on to my arm and led me out of the large room. IF even he was leaving, I was definitely worried. "We found Millburn," he told them. "Fifield is still missing, but – "
Shaw suddenly bent over, clutching her stomach in pain.
"Ms. Shaw?" David frowned at her.
"S-sorry… Must've eaten something that disagreed with me," she stuttered. Pain was still in her eyes as I looked warily at her. "Let's go back. It's getting late."
That was very uncharacteristic of her. Typically, she would be the one protesting to stay despite the dangers.
"Wait, you said you found Millburn?" Sheppard asked.
"He's dead," I told him. "And I don't want to stay here anymore. Something is very wrong with this place. Whatever lives here is hostile."
I saw the flashes of fear in their eyes, including the look of uncertainty on Shaw's face.
"Let's go," I ordered, not wishing to stay here a moment longer. They were going to have to deal with me staying in the ship after this.
The ride back was silent. I sat beside David who kept glancing back at Elizabeth Shaw from the rear-view mirror. I wondered if he had a hand on the scientist's sudden discomfort. It was something I was going to have to ask him later.
When the ship came into view, we quickly filled in, while Elizabeth slinked off to where I assumed was the Med Bay.
I pulled David to the side before he could be engaged in anything and crossed my arms. "Well? What is wrong with Dr. Shaw?"
He smiled. "Nothing that I've done, but I had been hoping."
"Elaborate, David. I don't want any more secrets from you." I glared at him. HE had the tendency of lying by omission.
"When I infected Charlie Holloway, I had anticipated them becoming intimate. Humans seem to do it on a daily basis." His eyes darkened at me. "What would happen if Ms. Shaw becomes pregnant?"
"What?! So you've impregnated Elizabeth?!" I exclaimed, unable to hold back the shock.
"Not I, I assure you. Charlie Holloway did all the work there." He smiled smugly and I was tempted to slap I off his face.
"I can't stop my mission for you, Cassandra," he told me. "But I can make sure that none of this will ever harm you."
I knew he was trying, but I just hated seeing him do all this for the old man. "You know… I'm apparently supposed to be the protector here."
He chuckled. "Of course. I will be in your small, capable hands."
I glared at him.
He was not funny.
"Now, if you'll excuse me. Dr. Shaw may need some medical assistance. Would you like to join me?" He offered me his hand, but I turned my head. I really wanted nothing to do with it.
He dropped his hand and clasped them behind his back. "Then I shall see you tonight if you still wish to see me."
"Yeah…" I mumbled my weakness.
When the door closed behind him, I stripped down and collapsed on to the bed. Several emotions raged within me. I was angry at father, frustrated at David, worried about Elizabeth, and frightened of what her pregnancy could mean.
I didn't want a random, murderous alien roaming the ship. I didn't want to be another casualty to this ridiculous expedition. Didn't the deaths of both Millburn and Holloway worry anyone else? Did it ever occur to father that he could die an even earlier death with this pursuit?
I got up and paced.
What were they doing, now? If she was truly pregnant, would David assist with the abortion or was he going to try to convince her to keep it? I wanted to believe that he would do what was best for us as a whole, but David's thought process didn't fall into the same logic as real human beings. He may look the part, but he was still a synthetic, programmed with specific goals. He was open-minded while working with tunnel vision. It was difficult trying to predict his decisions.
Once my thoughts became too much, I ran down the corridors in search of the synthetic.. It didn't take me long to spot him alone in the Med Bay, analysing a monitor with rapt attention.
"Where is she?" I asked him, knowing that she must've been here earlier. There was no other reason for him to sit here otherwise.
"I left her for a moment and she disappeared." HE swirled his chair around. "Come, look at this."
I leaned over, but was quickly pulled into his lap.
"Look at this." His lips were brushing my ear, making it difficult to concentrate on where his fingers were pointing. "She had intercourse with Dr. Holloway approximately ten hours ago, but the scan shows that she's already at least three months pregnant if it was a human baby."
"But it's not," I whispered. "And by now, it may be developed enough for an immature birth." The realisation made me pale in worry.
"Yes. I believe that in just a few hours, it would come to full term," he agreed. "Taking it out now could mean that there is a sixty percent chance of its survival."
And he was just going to let it happen.
His hand travelled up my body to cup my breasts, but I slapped them away. "Stop it, I'm angry with you," I hissed, trying to get up, but he resumed his hand on my hips. "David, I said – "
"Then let's have make up sex," he stated.
I froze. "What? Where did that come from?"
"The internet is an interesting place. I have learned much from all of its sources." He tapped his head. "Now, shall we move over to the scanner there?"
I hated myself for giving in, or I did after it was over. There really wasn't too much thinking when he had me laying on my stomach on the bed of the cold machine.
As I laid on the hard surface, David suddenly stood up. "Get up, your father wishes to see us."
I rolled my eyes. Not again… "I'm not going back there."
He smiled, then proceeded to pick me up and began to carry me to where father had been residing in secret.
"Wait! Let me…" I wiggled in his arms, trying to get the robe to cover me properly. Everyone was going to know!
He continued on forward despite my protests.
I patted down my hair and proceeded to do the same for his blonde locks and hoped that that was enough. Father was the last person I wanted to know that I had been fraternising with his perfect creation.
When we arrived, I was relieved to find the old man too pre-occupied with being dressed to notice my own presentation. I did, however, note that Shaw now had bandages around her abdomen. The offspring was gone, but where did it go?
"Good, all of you, follow me." Peter Weyland motioned us out. He didn't even spare me a glance as Shaw – still in a daze stumbled behind him.
David put me on my feet and we both quickly suited up, while he caught me up on what was going on.
After we had returned from the first visit here, Shaw and Holloway had showed us what they had found, while David hid away the black urn. They took the decapitated head and removed the helmet, revealing something that looked human, but wasn't. The skin tone was all wrong – stark white with an almost bluish undertone. The features were preserved perfectly with little signs of decay. What happened to it after, I didn't know. I hadn't stayed long enough to see what they had done with it and I really didn't want to see the pale-faced humanoid, again, but I assumed that David had showed it to father and now, he was over-exciting his frail, black heart.
"Father – " Meredith spoke up, but she, too, was ignored.
He was already too far gone. Once he set his mind on something, no one would be able to convince him otherwise. We all followed him to the carrier where David drove us back to the temple- like caverns. I had a bad feeling about it. Nothing good ever came out of that place, but father could not be deterred.
My eyes slid over to David who looked as excited as father. If we survived this, he was going to have a lot to make up for.
The march through the temple was nerve wracking.
Sure, it was fine and safe while it was in hyper sleep, but I knew that father would want to wake it up for questioning.
I lagged behind when we entered the final door. Father made a beeline towards the pod. He gazed at it with such wonderment. He truly believed that these Engineers could reverse the damage done by time and grant him immortality. I couldn't decide whether I felt disgusted or sympathetic for his naivety. For someone so intelligent – because even I couldn't deny that he was a genius – he was also so gullible and narrow-minded. It was baffling.
Perhaps I just didn't know him well enough. It wouldn't surprise e. Not only did I not have the… honour of spending copious amount of time with him, he was generally a very closed off person who was rather paranoid about people stealing his ideas.
"Cassandra." I turned to David. He as standing beside the pod, looking at me. He wanted me to be ready for what came next, but that wasn't going to happen. I was never going to be ready.
Why couldn't I be more like Meredith? She was unfaltering with her decisions. She always knew what she wanted. She was actually more like father than she'd ever admit. She was also not here, wondering if this Engineer was going to kill her.
Shaking away my thoughts, I nodded at David before father reprimanded him.
His fingers ran along the console and danced on the alien buttons. They lit up one by one and then, the transparent cover slid away.
I held my breath as its oddly sculpted face twitched. It was barely noticeable at first, but soon, its eyes snapped open and it sat up, pulling the tubes that connected it to the pod out of its body. The tubes all fell limply to the side, while it – he? – rolled to his knees on the floor.
"Ask it something, David," Elizabeth whispered, gazing at the Engineer in disbelief.
I took a step back. Its pitch black eyes snapped to me briefly, robbing me of my breath.
"Tell him about us and how we came, just as he asked," father ordered David, snatching the Engineer's attention away from me.
"Ask it where it came from and what those things are!" Shaw cut in. "It killed our people. It killed his people. What is it?" Her voice was pained as she remembered how Charlie died.
Father brushed off her inquiries. They didn't matter if they had nothing to do with his pursuits, but she continued on, shouting at David. Did she really think that he was going to listen to her over father's – his creator's – orders?
"Shut her up!" father shouted. "Shoot her if you have to!"
Of course, now that he found what he came here to find, everyone but David was expendable. Why was I even here? To protect David? Did he really think I'd be able to do something like that? It had to be some façade for something else. I just couldn't figure out what it was, yet.
Even with a gun in hand, I didn't look particularly threatening, especially in front of the Engineer's towering form. I was really nothing more than a child in this situation. What did father have planned for me and not Meredith? Unless she planned for her to survive this in case he didn't… In that case, my purpose was to die for nothing.
"Go on, David," father rasped, gesturing to the creature. He seemed to be having a difficult time containing his excitement.
David opened his mouth and the strange dialect flowed from his lips. It was guttural – rough, yet intriguing. I liked languages. This was probably the only part of the expedition I liked it I wasn't fearing for my life.
Looking at the Engineer, I saw what was akin to curiosity on his face as he watched David speak to him.
For a split second, I truly thought it was going to be alright after all. IN the next second, David's head was pulled off his body and all I could do was gape in horror as it bashed father with the beheaded synthetic.
Ford, from beside me, took a step forward, but before the gun could be fired, she was flung back. I heard the sickening crunch of her spine snapping. She wasn't going to be able to nurse that back to health…
I watched the Engineer kill everyone around me. Shaw had ran away not long after the massacre started. I was the only one left and there was an odd sense of anticipation that filled me. I couldn't quite understand it.
All this time, I wanted to leave here because I didn't want to die on this God-forsaken planet. I wanted to go back home – to Earth. But what was really there waiting for me? All I ever had was my music – my art. A new temptation filled me. What if…
"Run, Cassandra."
My eyes snapped over to his detached head. He was staring back at me with white-milky lubricant spilling everywhere. HE was really quite a sigh for sore eyes. "What if I don't want to?"
A look that could pass for irritation crossed his face. "Run."
The Engineer was closing in with its long strides.
What if I didn't want to listen to him?
What if I was fed up with having every aspect of my life laid out before me?
"Cassandra, don't do this," he whispered.
The breath left me and I turned on my heels, racing down the tunnel. I didn't know if the Engineer was following me or not, but that was non-consequential. I didn't ever want to hear the way he begged. It was not right. David didn't beg. David got what he wanted through sheer force of will.
Besides, I didn't want to die. Of course, I didn't want to. Maybe it was one last rebellious push to gain some sort of control over my life, but what use was that if I died doing it?
I hit the side of my head to rid the thoughts. This wasn't the time. I needed to get away. I needed to live because…
Because…?
I swallowed hard. Had it always been so difficult to find a reason to be?
Suddenly, there was a violent tremour that nearly threw me off my feet. What was going on?
I hit the black wall as it began to tilt.
An earthquake?
Or…
My eyes widened. Was this some sort of ship? It'd make sense. The pods, the control console...
I had never gave it much thought before, but it made sense. This wasn't a temple – it was a ship! And the Engineer had a destination in mind with those murderous urns. Where and why?
The sound of footsteps made me leap into a room, hiding from the Engineer who was making his way down the corridor with purpose. Was he aiming to kill the rest of us?
Once he was out of sight, I backtracked to the control room where David looked up at my arrival. "Cassandra, he's going to kill them."
"I know." I picked up his head and placed it on the counter. "There's nothing I can do about that."
I pressed the button to the intercom connected to Meredith's. "You there?"
"Yes."
"Father is dead and the Engineer is probably heading your way. Be careful. They're nothing like what we imagined. If they're truly the ones who made us, I think… I think we were mistakes." Like an unplanned pregnancy.
I couldn't think of any other reason why he'd be trying to kill us. We weren't hostile. We tried to communicate. What did we do wrong? Could it be the concept of immortality? Had we offended them?
Perhaps the truth was that they weren't immortal. I heard about how the parasite had also affected the head that was brought back on board. They, too, were as mortal as the rest of us.
I sat down with my eyes closed as David began to instruct Shaw on where to go to trap the Engineer.
"Hey, Meredith?" I whispered.
"What is it?" Even my normally stone cold sister was beginning to sound a little frantic.
"If we… If we don't make it through this, I just wanted you to know that I love you and I wouldn't have wanted anyone else to be my sister." I had never told her this before. Prior to David's arrival, we only ever had each other, but even then, she had already started the path to becoming the Meredith she was today. I didn't know what must've happened to her before I was born and she never told me, but I knew that a part of her always protected me.
"I – " She began to reply, but loud static interrupted her words. I heard garbled yelling, but nothing I could make out.
I could only wait for the line to clear up, again.
"I'm scared, David."
"Why?"
"I don't want to be here when everything – everyone – is gone," I confessed. "I don't want to be alone. I don't want to see everyone die around me." Because I had a feeling that in the next hour, that could very well be reality. It was already happening. Who was even left?
"Press that button there." David motioned with his eyes.
I brushed my fingers along the white, unlit domes.
"That one."
Was it going to kill us?
"Trust me."
The dome lit up and a foreign tone weaved through the room. It was like nothing I Had ever heard before, but it was nice. It was calming.
I looked at father's motionless form. The blood on his head wasn't flowing anymore. His eyes were closed and they were never going to open again. Had he finally found peace? It was ironic that this mission for immortality was the cost of an early death.
I wanted to miss him, but I didn't know which part I was going to miss. There hadn't been any fond memories. There were barely any memories, at all.
"David, am I going to die?" I asked, looking down at my lap. Everything seemed so hopeless. "Would you be sad if I was gone?" Would anyone miss me?
Despite always adamantly wishing to be back on Earth, I couldn't even think of a single person who would miss me if I were to simply disappear.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
I didn't know where to end the chapter, so it ended up being 4k words, which is a little longer from the 3k that I always try to aim for, but I'm happy that we're slowly finishing up the canon plot for Prometheus.
Thank you Zerousy, Love Fiction 2017, Dreamer4life16, and vampgirliegirl for reviewing!
Thank you as well to everyone who has favourited and followed this story.
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