CHAPTER TWELVE
"David!" My eyes were wide. My heart raced in a way that it hadn't for the past decade. "There are intruders on our land!"
He kissed my temple. 'Stay here. I will go see who it is." He retrieved the clothes he had weaved and brushed his hair out of his face. 'It had grown to his shoulders. A little ratty. I really didn't like it, but he refused to let me cut it off. How stubborn. "I'll be back short. Please, wait for me here, while I gauge their level of hostility."
"Be careful," I whispered, pulled him to my lips.
I smiled. He was always thinking of my safety, even now, when there was very little that could harm me. Or perhaps I had simply grown complacent. With no threats here, I felt invincible, but I knew that I wasn't. We both knew it from the start.
I also knew that David wasn't invincible, either. As he was gone, I began to wonder if he was going to be alright. I couldn't feel him like I did with everyone else, so I called to my children to watch out for him.
They observed the scene in perfect camouflage. Their dark bodies melted into the shadows. I could feel them ready to attack if anything went wrong.
Fortunately, it wasn't needed. When I heard David return with the visitors, I quickly got dressed and went out to greet them.
They were a handful of humans. I never thought I was ever going to see any, again.
"Everyone, this is Cassandra. She is the lone survivor of the Prometheus." Other than him, obviously
"Wow…" I heard a dark-haired man mumble.
I smiled at them. "Hello." I really didn't know how to react. It had been over a decade since I had any human interaction. There was David, of course, and he was close, but our relationship made the interactions different. I could hardly go up to those people and greet them with a passionate kiss.
They cautiously came closer, introducing themselves. Rosie, Dan, Chris, Cole, Dani, Tennessee. Suddenly, it felt as if there were more than just a handful of them. It was almost overwhelming with their presence all in front of me.
I froze when I saw the last of their crew. "Hello, I'm Walter." He smiled softly at me, but all I could do was stare.
He was almost physically identical to David. The only difference was the head of short, brown hair. IN fact, he was exactly how David looked when he was first introduced to the world. It wasn't long before he began to dye his hair blonde.
I swallowed.
Walter was just a synthetic. It really shouldn't have surprised me that they looked alike. Father had left his legacy behind. Of course, it'd be picked up by his executives. His ideas were one of a kind.
"Hello, Walter," I finally replied, casting a look at David.
"You are the daughter of Peter Weyland," he said. "If the others knew you were still alive, you would be inheriting the company."
I hadn't even thought about that. "It's best if I didn't. I really don't have any interest in it. In my hands, I'd probably run it to the ground and that would be a waste."
"The photo of the three of you is in the lobby. You were all remembered to be the finest travellers. No one really knew if you'd made it or not." He gazed at me as if I was some sort of idol and it made me uncomfortable. "But whatever happened to your hair? Is it the air? Perhaps the food?"
"Well… " What was I going to say? I couldn't just tell them what David had done to me. Perhaps it was best if I could move the conversation elsewhere. "Things didn't turn out the way anyone expected," I sighed. "The En – "
"Cassandra," David interrupted me. "Perhaps our guests would like to freshen up or have some food to warm their bellies."
I nodded in relief. "Good idea." I didn't miss the way he put his arm around my waist as we led them to the dining room. We had redecorated most of the stronghold to meet our needs, but some of the rooms remained as they were to preserve some of the culture, while others were used for David's experiments. The rest were very reminiscent to how our home on Earth had looked with very alien furniture. We had made a pretty nice home for ourselves. Granted, David did most of the work with my verbal input.
"This is quite impressive," Daniels breathed, looking around in wonder.
"Please, have a seat." I gestured to the table. "David will fetch us some refreshments. We've been blessed with year after year of good harvests."
They all sat down, dropping their equipment beneath their chairs. I noticed that none of them had a helmet on when they entered. Had they lost them? It did look as if they had encountered some troubles. When I asked, they all shrugged.
"This planet… We thought it was like Earth. I guess we should've been more cautious about what else w were going to find. This place had the possibility of being colonised, but…" Tennessee shook his head. "What the Hell attacked us?!"
I tilted my head. Attacked? I knew that none of my children had done it. What else lived among us? It had to be something new or from very far away because David had travelled quite a bit over the years and he never mentioned anything. We also hadn't encountered anything hostile before – other than the Engineers. "What do you mean? What happened?
"No clue. One moment it was fine, the next, Tom got sick and then our ship blew up. It was horrible! My wife, Maggie, she was on the… I listened to her die and there was nothing I could've done to save her!" I could hear the devastation in his voice. It brought back memories of my own sister's last moments. His story wasn't that different from mine, but he still had most of his friends. He still had a ship waiting for him up there. He still had a purpose – to find Origae-6.
"I'm sorry," I told him. "I really don't know what you're talking about."
"The storm is really picking up, isn't it?" Cole mumbled, breaking up the tension that had fallen over the table. "Is it always like this?"
"Not always. The seasons aren't unlike the ones on Earth," I told them. "But the dry seasons are drier and the wet seasons are wetter. Other than that, the weather has been kind to us."
David walked in with several trays balanced perfectly on his arms. He set them softly on to the table in front of us. "I hope you enjoy what I've prepared."
There was jam and bread; fruits and vegetables. Everything was fresh and beautiful.
"Thank you." Daniels smiled at him.
They all dug in as if it was going to be their last meals, with absolutely no reservation. I actually wondered if David had spiked it somehow. I really wouldn't put it past him.
There was minimal chatter while they ate, but once they were done, a couple of them went to the root to try out their equipment again to contact their ship.
"Do you mind pointing me to the bathroom?" Rosenthal asked, getting up with a stretch. "I'm feeling pretty ick."
"Of course." David smiled at her. "Follow me."
With that, everyone took it as their queue to leave the table. I didn't mind that they were going to wander unsupervised. David had always made sure that everything valuable were locked up. The basement was definitely inaccessible to them. What could possibly go wrong?
Daniels, or Dani as she preferred to be called, was the only one to stay behind. She filled me in on everything that had happened – the deaths, the loss, the creatures. In return, I told her of my own tale of how I came to be here, the tragedy that had taken place in our search for our creators.
She never questioned about the previous residents of this planet, even though their bodies remained frozen outside. Perhaps David had already filled them in on some lie or they thought the species had already died off before we came. Whatever the case, I was glad that I didn't need to explain what had happened. I doubt that these people would react kindly to the news of genocide, but they also didn't understand. They hadn't seen those monsters kill my family!
A wave of calmness washed over me. That was right. I had a new family, now. The past was the past. I had to move on from there because everything was different here. I was different.
"Would you ever want to go back?" she asked me.
"It's something I've thought about often, but I think I've already come to terms that it will never happen," I told her.
She smiled sadly at me. "You can come with us to Origae-6, both you and David. It's not quite Earth, but we'll make it our own. T he world will have two thousand colonists. I'm sure that it's been lonely here with just the two of you."
I watched her pick up a decorative piece that David had made. "How did you end up here when you were planning to get to another planet? Did you get into an accident?"
"Something like that…" she sighed. "Our ship was hit by some sort of shockwave, damaging it quite a bit. I… I lost my husband when it happened. He was stuck in the cryopod, while it burned him. All I could do was watch. I've never felt so helpless…" Her voice cracked, but no tears fell. I admired her strength. Something about her reminded me of Elizabeth Shaw.
I hadn't thought of her for a long time. Her semi-preserved body had been locked in one of David's rooms. She had become buried in the memories that I wanted to forget.
"I'm sorry," I told her, reaching out to hesitantly pat her back. It was strange how soft she was. I had gotten so used to David's perfectly toned body and my children's tough exoskeleton. Hell, even my own skin was thicker. "I will talk to David about Origae-6. I wouldn't mind going with all of you." Truly, I didn't. As long as I was able to take my children with me.
"Sounds good."
We continued on with idle chatter, until I felt fear course through me.
It was not mine.
I quickly excused myself and went in search of my child. I found him standing by the entrance, drenched by the rain. The other four were also there. They were restless, pacing and hissing.
When I arrived, they all swarmed over to me and I held them in my arms. "Tell me what's wrong," I quietly urged them.
I wasn't able to see what he could see, but I felt every emotion that made him wary. "It's going to be okay. Whatever it is, we will deal with it." This time, it was my comfort that calmed the pack.
I kissed each of their heads and beckoned them to stay out of sight while the guests wandered.
They easily blended into the shadows and disappeared as if they were never there, but I could still feel them. With them safely hidden, I made my way down the corridors, hoping to find David.
Whatever made them anxious had to be dealt with. I assumed that this was the creature that had attacked Daniels' crew. How it came to be, I wasn't sure, but it wasn't the first time a mutation occurred outside our awareness.
Because the parasite had settled into the ground, many organisms had ended up becoming host to it. The results were unpredictable. Never had they excited such a reaction from the Xenomorph, though. They had always been at the top of the food chain.
This only started happening since they arrived here. Could they have found human hosts, but they were not like my children. These were not connected to us.
"Is something the matter?"
I turned to see David standing by the washroom. He was wiping his hands with a small towel. "David, something's happened. Out there – "
"I said it," he interrupted me. "It was different from the rest. I was hoping to gain its trust. Unfortunately, one of the humans killed it before I was able to learn anything."
From behind him, I saw a body laying on the floor in a pool of blood. I let out a groan. "David…"
"It was not me," he stated. "The creature had gotten to her first. It must've been hungry."
When he moved aside, I could see the other body slumped over. It was very similar to the Xenomorph, but this one was pale, almost white. It looked so incomplete as if it was still partially wrapped in membrane. There were more minor differences, but I couldn't look at it anymore. Disdain filled me. I didn't like it already. There better not be more roaming around, especially if they were hostile.
David kissed me. "Don't worry about them. Look at my gift for you." He took my hand and led me down the stairs and into the chamber where the eggs had rested since the last of the Engineer was used.
On the ground of the dark and damp room was Chris Oram. One of the babies had caught him. I was surprised that I hadn't felt it before, but it must've been the stress.
Despite the raging emotions, I smiled. "I can't wait until he arrives. The others will be so pleased." I wrapped my arms around David's neck, laying my head on his chest. "Daniels told me about Origae-6. It's going to be a planet like Earth – or so they think. They have two thousand colonists waiting in their ship."
"Do you wish to go?" he asked me.
"I think it's something to think about," I replied.
I could already tell that he wanted to go. This planet had already outlived its usefulness for him. There was no doubt that he wanted a hand in moulding the new world.
"Very well. I shall go clean up the mess upstairs before anyone finds them."
AUTHOR'S NOTE
Thank you Tinie nyny, Dreamer4life16, Nirvana14, Zerousy, time-twilight, Love Fiction 2017 for reviewing.
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