CHAPTER THIRTEEN
David had been pleasantly surprised to find the humans wandering around his planet. Upon interacting with them, they immediately blurted out everything that had happened.
He had actually forgotten about the music he left playing on the ship. It had been there to calm Cassandra. Afterwards, it seemed completely insignificant.
He brought them into their home, making sure none of them were going to harm Cassandra. Unfortunately, he hadn't expected Walter to catch her attention. The irritation that filled his senses made him wish that he could rip the other synthetic's head off.
Cassandra only needed him.
Eventually, they all dug into the refreshments he had prepared for them. Everything had been handled with care. He made sure that it was all perfect to prove to the others that their Walter was really only a copy, not an upgrade.
David was perfection. He accomplished everything efficiently and accurately. There was nothing that could replace him. Nothing.
He watched everyone interact, joining in only when something was directed at him. These humans were foolish. He couldn't believe that they had wandered down to a foreign planet with no form of protection. None of them had a helmet on. Had they not advanced at all in the decade that passed?
Even though he thought Cassandra to be over cautious back then, at least she had survival instinct. This bunch was completely naïve, but that only made things easier for him. He didn't need any of their brains. He only needed a warm, viable host.
His eyes flickered over to Cassandra and Daniels. His brunette was smiling at something the other woman said. Did she miss the human interactions? Had he not been enough for her?
He saw her peek beneath her long lashes to look over at him and her lips curved higher. No, she was still his. No one could take her from him.
"I'll go freshen up a little, if you guys don't mind," Rosenthal stood up, stretching. "Thank you for the food. It was delicious."
There was a wave of agreements and he bowed his head at them as they walked by. He followed them up to the corridors where they all split up. Where should he go? He wasn't worried about them finding anything they shouldn't. The rooms were always locked. Both he and Cassandra were the only ones who knew how to get in. There was no reason not to be cautious.
He could see several of the Xenomorphs weaving in and out of the shadows. They weren't going to act until she was okay with it, so there was no reason for him to worry about them, either. Instead, eh went about doing his own thing. He was down in one of his rooms when a loud thud and screech alerted him that something was wrong.
His first thought went to the Xenomorphs. The high pitched cry was reminiscent of them, but not identical. What created the noise?
Upon his investigations, he found an interesting sight. There was a pale creature hovering over Rosenthal's mangled body. It paid him no mind as he walked towards it, so he deliberately stepped on a broken piece of the sink.
It immediately turned and hissed at him.
He smiled. "It's alright. I'm not here to hurt you." He extended his hand towards it when it made no moves to attack him. "What a fascinating beauty you are…"
He had never been able to directly create something so magnificent with the parasites, so he assumed that this one must've come from a host. The people on the Covenant had lost several of their own. One must've gotten infected, but not by the eggs.
He knew of the spores that still resided in the ground after he released them to rid most of the Engineers. They must've been active and these helmetless humans inhaled it in. He was glad that he had kept Cassandra from wandering too much before he transformation.
"Come here. Let me have a look at you." Not long after he said that, a green beam appeared on the creature's head. His eyes widened. "No, don't – !"
Several bullets flew past him, sinking deep into the creature's head. Chris Oram still had his gun aimed at the poor thing when he turned around to glare at him.
"Why did you do that? I was getting through to it. There was no reason to kill it," David hissed.
"The monster killed Rosie!" Oram argued.
"It was hungry. It didn't know any better." This man had decided his fate the moment he killed the creature.
"You knew this place wasn't safe. Why didn't you tell us?!" Oram accused.
David narrowed his eyes. "This place is perfectly safe for us. Cassandra and I have been living here for the past decade."
Oram shook his head. "Ten years… Cassandra Vickers née Weyland was twenty-two when she left on the expedition. She doesn't look like she's in her thirties. She looks identical to what she did when you all left. The only difference is her hair colour. I doubt it's the air. Something else happened to her. I've done my research. I know when something is wrong. Unless she's been in hypersleep the entire time, she should not look like that!" He, now, had his gun pointed at David who calmly regarded him. "So tell me what the fuck is going on?!"
David sighed. "If you must know, I have found the key to immortality."
"What?" Oram looked at him in disbelief. "That's impossible. How?"
"Why don't I show you?" He smiled, slowly walking down the stairs. He didn't have to turn around to know that Oram was following him. Humans were always so obsessed with living forever.
He led the man past the empty dungeon and unlocked the chamber just beyond it, waiting as Oram gaped at the eggs that littered the room. He had a good supply of them. The only things he was missing were hosts.
He knelt down by one of the eggs and gave it a stroke, showing that they were docile. At least, for him. They had long since found out that these eggs did not hatch unless the other was alive and did not already carry familial cells.
Oram came up beside him and only got as far as crouching down before the top of the egg began to open up. He gazed at it curiously and made to touch it when the multi-legged creature jumped out – Facehuggers, he liked to call them as they always aimed for the face. He stumbled around for a few seconds before falling flat on his back, twitching at the creature integrated itself.
Cassandra would be pleased.
And he was correct.
The moment he showed her, she had turned around and pulled him down into a deep kiss. Her pleasure was pleasing to see. In return, she had given him the news of Origae-6.
Sure, this place was great. He was able to manipulate it however he liked, but he knew that he had been too frivolous with the Engineers. He had gotten rid of them too quickly and thus, limited the potential this planet had to offer.
As soon as they ran out of hosts, he was unable to create anything bigger than a small dependent life form. He didn't want to admit defeat, but he was ready to leave this place behind.
The only problem would be transporting the Xenomorphs with them. Cassandra would break down without her family and he couldn't have that. It would immediately blow their cover. He needed these people to be blissfully unaware of the modifications he had done to her.
He kissed her and led her out of the egg chamber, leaving Oram's body behind. Already, he had a plan. There was only one way to transport a Xenomorph in. She was going to have to make do with having only one until they arrive at Origae-6.
Until then, there was a lot more planning to do and he was quickly running out of time. HE packed up everything they were going to need and as he was grabbing things, he noticed that Cassandra was holding one of her children.
It was going to be difficult getting her to leave them here. When it came down to it, who would she choose? Would she want to stay with them or leave with him? He wanted to be confident that she'd choose him, but his calculations were giving him undesirable results.
He folded her clothes neatly into the bag.
It didn't really matter in the end. She was going with him whether she wanted to or not.
"Cassandra, we shouldn't leave our guests alone for too long." Especially that synthetic. Even though he had no doubts the humans wouldn't cause any trouble, Walter was a different story. "Why don't we go look for them?"
"Give your mummy and daddy some privacy. I'll get all of you later," he heard her say to the Xenomorphs. Over the years, they had come to understand basic English, or rather, the meaning behind the words – not unlike a common house pet.
He thought he would've been able to teach them any sort of coherent language, but they relied far too heavily on the hive mind.
When it left, he felt her wrap her arms around him,. "If we leave, will they have to stay behind?"
He paused in his packing. "It will be difficult convincing the others to take them with us."
Her arms tightened. "I can't leave them, David."
He kissed her. "We'll get through this together. We've done it before and we will be alright. Trust me."
Sadly, she nodded, but he could still see the doubt in her eyes. He'd just have to convince her better.
His hands tugged away her shorts and brushed her thigh. He was able to give her what those things would never be able to.
He laid her down on the bed and knelt down between her legs, watching her stare back at him with a flushed face. "David… Now's not the ti – " She let out a breathy gasp when his tongue flicked the pink bud.
Her fingers gripped his hair, pulling his face closer. He smirked, consuming her until she was crying out his name.
"You have to be quiet, dear Cassandra," he purred, sliding up her body. "You wouldn't want the others to hear, would you? Whatever would they think?"
She whimpered, arching her back for more contact. "David, please!"
He knew she was close, but he had to make her remember who she couldn't live without. "If you don't keep quiet, I'll have to do it for you."
She shook her head.
"Good girl." And then, he thrust into her, knowing full well that the bed was banging loudly against the wall. Her stifled mews made him grin wickedly at her. "You're making so much noise. They'll all come and see how naughty you are."
"More, David!" she cried.
He placed a finger over her lips. "Shh…"
Her eyes wandered over towards the door. They widened and he immediately knew who was there. Only one other occupant could come up behind him undetected.
He burned his face into the crook of her neck, ignoring the voyeur as Cassandra let out a muffled protest.
Let him watch.
Let him envy what he could never have.
…
I stared in horror as the door opened and Walter watched us with wide eyes. I tried to tell David, but his hand remained on my mouth.
The other synthetic's eyes wandered downward to where we were joined together and a tinge of sadness washed over his face. I didn't know what brought it on, but the thought disappeared as soon as David brought me over the edge.
I clenched my eyes closed and buckled against him, feeling the wash of liquid enter me. My own heavy breathing and the weight of his warm body were the only things I could feel.
When I opened my eyes, again, Walter was already gone. I hoped that he wasn't going to tell anyone about this. Was there any way we could stop him?
David finally removed his hand from my mouth and chuckled at the pout on my face. "Don't worry about him."
"I don't want the others to know," I told him.
"Are you ashamed of me?" He tilted his head.
"That's not it!" I protested. "I guess I'm just not used to anyone knowing. I don't want them to judge us, especially these people who may take us with them on their ship." Of course, he knew that that wasn't all. There was still a part of me that didn't want anyone to know about us because relationships with synthetics were tabooed. "I'm sorry…" I didn't want to offend him in any way. It was just something innate in me.
He smiled back at me. "Then why don't we find him? I'm sure we can convince him to keep it a secret."
I nodded and we quickly got dressed. The search for Walter hadn't been as difficult as I thought. He hadn't gone straight to the others. Instead, we noticed a door that was supposed to be locked was now cracked open. Of course, the synthetic would find a way to get in.
He had a stack of paper in his hands – David's sketches. I had seen those before. They were all very well drawn, but a bit unorthodox. I wondered if the ones of me were still in there.
I remembered laying down on his table as he sketched me out. Sometimes, he'd run the point of his writing instrument up and down my body, saying it was to catch every detail of me, but I knew he just liked to watch me squirm.
There were also drawings of Elizabeth Shaw and all the grotesque ways he'd imagine the mutation would affect the body in time. None of them were particularly accurate, but they were still beautifully drawn.
"What is this?" Walter quietly asked us as we walked in, closing the door behind us. His eyes wandered over to where Shaw's body was being kept. It was barely decayed, perhaps a side effect of the parasitic cells in her body, but her body had been peeled open with her innards displayed.
Walter took a step towards David, lightly tossing the papers back on to the table. I could see an image of myself staring back at me. My body was completely shaded in with a tail poking out. It was a perfect rendition of what I would look like as a human-Xenomorph hybrid. "These experiments… The pathogen didn't accidentally deploy, did it?"
David ran his hand on the flute that sat at the corner. I hadn't used that one for a very long time. He had made me better ones since then, but that one had always been special. I knew it was special for him, as well.
Walter looked at the instrument as if it was an artifact, but his eyes snapped back to his twin. "I'll have to arrest you for what you've done." When he moved forward to apprehend David, he bumped into a curtain, revealing the body of Elizabeth Shaw. "What – "
"There was an unfortunate incident. It is nothing you have to concern yourself with." David fixed the curtain to hide the body once more before placing the flute between his lips and weaving a haunting melody.
The music captivated Walter who closed his eyes and let out a content sigh.
"Why don't you give it a go?" David took a step forward, startling Walter. The reaction had been so human. I had never seen David caught off guard like that before.
"I – I couldn't. I'm sorry I sneaked in here, but what you've done, I have to – "
Before he could leave, David pushed him into a chair. "Here, allow me to show you." He had gotten behind the synthetic and positioned the flute. Two pairs of hands were on the small instrument, adjusting and re-adjusting.
I smiled. I knew that David had him.
"Why don't you try, now?" David let go of Walter's hand, but placed them on the other synthetic's shoulder.
Walter placed it between his lips and gave several experimental blows before the rest of the song came naturally.
It was only to be expected that he was just as skilled as David. His control was perfect, but as it were, there was nothing special to the tune. He wasn't as into the song as David and therefore, it sounded… lacking. Perhaps music wasn't his forte. His passion must've laid elsewhere.
"Wonderful…" David complimented him.
Walter slowly stood up. "Thank you." He looked as if he wanted to pursue the fact that David had conducted genocide on the Engineers, but seemed to decide otherwise. "I really should be returning to the others."
"They will be fine for a little longer." David gently held his chin and my eyes widened when their lips suddenly met. There was a split second of jealousy, but then I realised that something else was stirring at the pit of my stomach.
I never thought that I'd find something like this to be so arousing, but David had made me realise much that I never knew about myself.
Walter opened his eyes and spotted me watching them. It was as if our roles were suddenly reversed, but I didn't want to just walk away from this, so I approached them.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
Out of curiosity… Do you guys like David or Walter more? Or perhaps both?
Thank you Dreamer4life16, Lady Jensen, Zerousy, speedy-skye, MageVicky, Love Fiction 2017 for reviewing!
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