DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. I do not own Alien/Aliens or the materials associated with the film/novels franchise. What I do own is this story in part or whole, the plot and set-up of the plot, and original characters that came with it.
The Captor, the Captive and the Captivated
1-2: Forbearance
"The bridge looks so much better than in the concept photos," Captain Jacob Branson smiles broadly as he gives the pilot's seat a feel; the cold metallic frames startles him as he sinks into it.
In that moment, the unfamiliar panels of multi-coloured buttons, screens and gears all look intimidating. Even the smell of fresh leather, unwrapped plastic covers, metallic panels and bodies seem so powerful to him. He knew then that the stirring in his stomach was of pure and utter excitement. A big smile decorates his face as he runs his hand lightly over the panels, eager to click on them and feel the ship responding to each one. It fills him with a sense of euphoria, but dinged with a dash of nausea too.
His wife, Daniels, joins him in the next seat. "I don't know… I still think it's a little—"
"Masculine?"
"Monotonous—I was going to say monotonous, Jake."
"I don't know, babe. Sparco's old red coloured seats're just not a ship's colour scheme, ya' know?"
"Well, maybe we just need some hula-lady doll or something…"
The Captain blurts a chuckle. "Like the one in T's caravan?"
"Exactly the one," she laughs back at him.
"I don't know. Just don't let Oram sees it—he'll freak out!"
"He's not that case-sensitive!"
Captain Branson smirks at that and lets out a sigh; he relaxes his shoulders and places his hands onto the armrests, looking ahead at the windshield before him. The hanger outside is filled to the brim with people pacing back and forth with equipment, but his eyes see different.
"Just think," he points out to his wife, "In a week, instead of looking at these guys, we'll be looking at space itself! It'll be like being surrounded by a thousand photos of the Hubble shots, but magnify the clarity by like ten-fold!"
Daniels sighs too. "Babe, the real deal is going to be even more impressive!"
"And I can't even begin to imagine!"
They turn to smile at one another and reach out to hold hands—even though they haven't been married too long, they still feel giddy looking at each other. Just as she leans in to kiss his cheek, they stumble back into their seats when thundering footsteps echo behind them. Good thing the seats could swivel 360 degrees!
The crowd was none other than Miss Erika Sugimoto, the Head of Scientific Research at the new Weyland-Yutani Corporation. She's accompanied by two executives, wearing some kind of laboratory jumpsuits with strange net-like white masks, and a man who looks like he's in need of a really good joke.
But as soon as the man spots the couple, he smiles at them. He is nearly as tall as the Captain, but with a pose as straight as a plank. He could well be a military man too—since his brunette locks were trimmed and neatly kept along his hairline. That would also explain his composure and expression. But his blue eyes are like that of a child—curious and keen, quick to spot changes in the atmosphere and environment.
Captain Branson immediately jumps to his feet and shakes Miss Sugimoto's hand.
"Erika, good to see you again," and his eyes addresses the crowd behind her. "What's up, guys?"
Erika is always much more menacing up close; she's tall, broad–shouldered and wearing a haircut that looked like it was manufactured especially for her head. It was jet-black and cut bluntly at the edge, reaching just below her earlobes and circling around her head like a perfect fit. But with the crowd she's bringing along with her, she looks like she was playing the right part.
Captain Branson is always 'weirded out' by the prim and proper way she looked—so just as she catches him staring at her, Daniels jumps to her feet and shakes hands with her too. It was a good save—best not upset your boss before you start working for her!
"Daniels. I didn't see you there," Erika greets her curtly, giving the Captain a side-eye; she seems to be onto him (or them).
Daniels laughs it off. "I told you: just Dani is fine!"
"Well, what brings you here today, Erika?" Captain Branson scratches his face, hiding his shame, as he speaks.
"We're due to complete a full systems check soon," she replies and the two executives behind her bow—except for that man, who just nods as if he's waiting for a proper introduction. "Once we get the AI's system online with the ship's mainframe, we'll be able to do a land-test on everything—just as a precaution to make sure that each part is going to work once the ship flies."
"Sails," Jacob corrects her before stuttering, "She's—uh, a ship, you know… So she sails… through space."
Erika's stiff, pale porcelain and almost doll–like face hardly reacts to him—he was beginning to think that she wasn't human at all. Her dark almond eyes are staring into his very soul!
"You're gonna have to forgive Jake for that! He gets jumpy about test flights all the time—especially where there's an audience!" Daniels jumps in after her husband's awkward interval.
"Well, you better get used to it, Captain. In any case, we should be ready to do a land-based flight simulation once all systems are good to go," Erika ignores that deadpanned look on the Captain face and points out to the executives, who suddenly backs away a few steps. The silent man takes the cue to step forward. "By the way, this is Walter—our best, appropriate candidate to help you with this mission. He'll be joining you to maintain the ship's mainframe and online systems."
"So what does that really mean, then?" Captain Branson reaches out to shake the man's hand.
Walter holds the Captain's hand for a moment and smiles. "You can call me a technician of all sorts."
"Right, okay. This is my wife, Dani."
It was the Captain's wife turn to shake his hand. "Walter."
"Mrs Branson. I look forward to us working together," the man looks at both of them and smiles ear-to-ear.
"It's just Dani!"
"Daniels, then."
"Ookay! Whatever floats your boat, I guess!"
Before Walter could rebut (and he seems eager to say something smart), Erika quickly jumps in, "Walter here is an amateur comedian too."
"Oh, really? Convince me," says the Captain as he crosses his arms.
"Come on, then. Tell us a good joke!" Erika urges Walter.
"Alright," the military man pauses for the briefest of moments. "Why don't chickens drive in sedans?"
Captain Branson's face cracks into a smile; he doesn't know the joke nor the answer to it, but somehow he could tell it was going to be funny.
"I don't know," Daniels looks to her husband confusingly—she wonders if she'd missed something.
"Because they only ride in a coupé," Walter emphasises the last word and finishes it off with a wide, toothy smile.
"A coupé!" Jacob goes into a full blast guffaw. "A coup!"
"Ah, I see! Chicken coup!" Daniels nods to herself. "Of course! It had to be your kind of joke!"
Captain Branson, still laughing, slams both his hands on the other man's shoulders; "Walter!" he nods, "You and I are going to get along just fine!"
"Very good, sir," Walter smiles back and slaps his hands on the Captain's wrists as a show of camaraderie.
"Right. Now, where were we, Erika?"
The said woman responds merely by raising one eyebrow.
"Ah, yes! I need to ask you about this ship… Why is it still not ready yet?"
"The embryo holding machine from Darcy's Conservation Bank is still being installed," she begins explaining. "It was properly installed last week, but we had to run a lot of checks over the circuit boards and make sure it won't overload the system before we switch everything online. There has been last minute adjustments as well. I admit, this last minute addition isn't helping us prepare faster than we'd like. But we've already signed the papers and we don't go back on our words, Captain Branson."
"But I do appreciate that Weyland–Yutani has agreed on accepting the Bank's proposal. I knew Corinne Darcy and her conservation efforts. It has spurred a dream for all scientists to introduce extinct life off-planet," Daniels eagerly quip, hoping to stir Erika.
Walter beats Erika to it, "That's right. I'm most interested to see what would come to fruition from that once this mission goes underway. It is a pity that she won't be joining us… She passed back in April."
"No, but her daughter has been resuming her mother's work," Erika joins in, finally. She appears animated to speak of this as if it was a topic she was due to discuss and she gives Walter a look. "It is a shame indeed that she is not joining this mission. As a zoologist, I imagine she would've been as eager as all of you to explore Origae-6."
"What was her reason to refuse?" Walter's question hangs in the air and he earns another look from Erika, but he's quick to realise the harsh implication. "I see. Yes, it must be emotionally distressing indeed to have to leave one's mother for a distant planet having only buried her."
The Captain sighs as he lowers his head in respect. "Yeah, I can't imagine how she feels… It's a damn miracle she's actually here—running things around."
"You know, she reminds me of a robot actually," his wife jumps in, "She shuts off her emotion completely to focus on work, work, work and yet still manages to mingle around socially without seeming odd—"
"or robotic," Jacob interjects.
"Right. I just have no idea how she could have the time to entertain her husband so well whilst juggling all this," Daniels shakes her head in disbelief.
A moment of silence ensues.
"Speaking of robots," Erika lets out a sigh and pats Walter on the shoulder. "This is one such specimen."
Captain Branson nods. "Hmm. I noticed. He's really closed off and apath—"
"No, Captain. I meant that he is one."
"You mean, he's a Synthetic?" Daniels gasps in disbelief; she begins to pace around Walter to observe him much closer. "Impressive! He's very human-like! And not just by looking like us, but he speaks like us!"
The Captain nods. "Like a weird, nerdy us."
"Well, of course," Erika's reply sounds more like a scoff, "A colonisation mission will require heavy human interaction at not just the cockpit, but with the ship's crew and its passengers. It is best and more efficient if it came from a Synthetic that was human-like in appearance, but is highly technical and methodical. After all, with over 2,000 colonists joining you, Walter will not tire himself to the servitude of all of them."
"You haven't actually tested him out with 2,000 people, have you?"
"We intend to… At the christening."
"Of course, there are expected to be over 3,000 guests there," Daniels turn to her husband. "An audience for your first maiden spaceship flight, Jake… How do you feel?"
"Oh, God! Pressured!" the Captain runs his hands along his face now.
"Don't worry, Captain. I will help make sure that everything will go as planned and that everything will be like… plain-sailing," Walter smiles.
"Oh, you're making jokes now, huh?" Jacob laughs.
Daniels glances at Walter – wide-eyed and surprised – before looking back at her husband. "Yeah, don't worry, babe. He's got your back. I've got your back. The whole crew has got your back too!"
"I cannot wait to work with all of them," Walter continues, still smiling. "And I understand that it's going to be Mr and Mrs Oram's anniversary soon, yes?"
Daniels leaves her mouth open. She taps her husband on the shoulder and whispers, "How does he know?"
"Ask him," Captain Branson whispers back.
"Why don't you ask him?"
"Why don't you just ask me?" Erika sighs once more. "We've made him study the crew and all aboard. When he's still on the surface and uplinked to a network, he's more or less omnipotent."
"Definitely more than less," the Captain interjected, studying Walter intently.
Daniels nods her head with him.
"Will there be some kind of manual or instructions for Walter?" Jacob looks hesitant, asking this.
"You won't be needing any of it, Captain. I am self-sufficient, so I will be able to take care of myself. However, should you require further information, there is a guide in your Captainship's Documents," Walter is the one who explains.
The husband and wife just begin to nod their heads in unison; it is hard to gauge whether their silence and crimped up face was a good sign or not. But even Walter could sense that the atmosphere is tense and fierce, heavy with awkwardness.
"Well, that's your cue," Erika then beckons the two executives, "Start preparing the AI."
Without words, they bow and leave upon her command.
But even after they've left, Erika seems to have ran out of things to say.
Another round of silence ensues with Walter shifting his eyes back and forth between all humans present.
He's killing time by surfing the Net, checking the ship and the hanger bay's monitors; then he starts tracking several familiar faces and spots one approaching the bridge. So just as Daniels is about to speak, the footsteps and echoes of someone mumbling doesn't startle him. In fact, Walter has been staring back at the door leading into the corridor for a while now.
When he returns to look the people in front of him, it's clear he knew who was fast approaching.
A tall man walks into the cockpit and makes a quick – but careless – glance inside. Neither the Captain, his wife nor Erika could recognise who it was given the dim lighting over the doorway.
"Not here either," he murmurs under his breath, turning to leave.
"Mr Hastings. Are you looking for your wife?" Walter calls out to the man.
Daniels pauses for a moment. "Julian? What are you doing here?"
"Oh," the blonde haired man walks right back in and waves, greeting everyone with a sheepish – if not, frightened – smile. "Dani. Captain Branson. Miss Sugimoto."
"Are you looking for your wife?" Erika repeats the question—there is a strange anger in her eyes and Julian feels it.
He struggles to speak, "I was just—"
Then, a young woman with long blonde hair and long legs appears from behind him; she giggles as she slinks her arms around his waist.
"Got you!" and she begins to rub her arms all over his torso, seemingly unaware of the presence of the other people in the room.
"Rowena, please! Stop!" Julian pushes her away.
"What's wrong, darling? I thought you—" when she steps into the light and reveals herself to the crowd before them, she stops.
"Rowena Miller, a journalist due to join our colonisation mission… as a sleeping passenger, that is," Walter whispers as though he was only stating an obvious fact to the Captain and Daniels.
In truth, they're in too much shock of what was unfolding that they couldn't properly react to Walter's strange improvisations.
"He-Hello," Rowena gives a nervous wave.
"I'm sorry, Miss Miller," Erika walks off to them until she was about just a foot away from Miss Miller and crosses her arms. She stands taller than the blonde woman and thus looks imposing—it doesn't help that she has a deep, loud voice too. "Unfortunately, only authorised members of the crew are allowed passage into the cockpit. I trust you know the way out?"
Rowena nods—she could tell her presence is unwelcomed here. Julian didn't even bat his eyelashes at her.
Once she leaves, Julian opens his mouth, "Sir, please don't—"
"Hastings," it was the Captain's voice that booms across the room this time; he steps up to the hologram table in the middle of the room and places his hands there, exhaling. "I do not know what is going on between you and Miss Miller… or heck, even your wife! But I trust you know that I care very much about the integrity of my crew. So I hope you will not find it strange that I need – require – an explanation for this outrageous behaviour of yours… preferably before the christening!"
The young man looks defeated. "U-Understood, Captain."
"You're dismissed."
He still stands there, thinking.
"Dismissed! Please leave before I have Walter throw you out!"
Walter glances at the Captain and then back at Julian, smiling. It wasn't a kind smile—it speaks of peak level amusement to want to carry another large man off the ship.
Julian gulps before exiting without any aim to counter that.
"Did that just… happen?" Daniels looks at all the three figures before her.
Walter nods. "Unfortunately, I can attest that it just happened to all of us just now."
"Who the hell was she?"
"I believe they were friends since childhood. They were in the same college together as well."
Captain Branson slams his hands on the table before him. "Damn it!"
"Please refrain yourself from damaging the ship," Erika's voice comes across as slow, weary and disappointed. "I know you're upset, but I will be more upset if you damage the ship before her maiden flight."
The Captain mouths a 'sorry'.
"Jake, you can't dismiss him entirely," his wife tries to comfort him.
Erika agrees. "She's right. Mr Hastings is here not only on professional account, but he is a political favour. We need to ship him off—God, and now I know why!"
Daniels watches intently when Walter nods to that with what looked like a smirk.
"But not without his wife—that's his punishment! That's his karma!" Captain Branson points out.
Daniels frowns at him. "But how could you convince her to go without… telling her what he's done?"
"I'm going to tell her."
"Not yet, babe. You can't let her know about this now. We'll find a time to tell her at the christening."
"I apologise for interrupting," Walter speaks up suddenly and waits for them to turn towards him. "If I may say so, I believe she already knows about this."
"Wha—" Daniels' voice is rasp as if her breath is snatched out of her lungs in that one syllable.
"I can trace her moving between decks and hex-rooms in the same pattern of movement as her husband's from the camera monitors. I can gather that she was… spying on her husband."
Captain Branson thinks on that for a while. "Walter, could you please bring her to us?"
"Certainly, Captain. On my way," Walter nods before walking off immediately.
But the Synthetic could still hear them, especially as Daniels asks her husband, "What are you trying to do? You do know they just got married like six months ago, right?"
"Dani, please. I don't want to think that this kid is going to be divorcing his wife off-planet like we'd need this family saga in space!"
"You're forgetting something else too," Erika's voice joins them and at this, Walter pauses by the closed door, listening. "If he does end up doing it off-planet, theirs will be the first divorce completed in space."
"The nerve of that British smug!" Daniels growls, thumping something – possibly her small fist – against the edge of the table. Erika doesn't scold her, though.
Jacob takes in a deep breath. "I want to know… No, I need to know if he's been planning this from the beginning."
"I know what you mean. If I'd known, I wouldn't have approved," Erika sounds dejected.
Then it's the Captain's wife who sighs this time. "Let's just ask Aine. I want to hear what she's got to say and—"
Walter stops listening and start walking along the corridor of one of the ship's many hull.
Before he starts his search though, he pauses for a moment by the exit way where he spots Julian arguing with Rowena through a small lookout window. He watches them for a while—frowning when Julian suddenly begins to play with her hands and kiss her cheeks. They walk off together as if that fight never happened and that makes Walter's frown tighten.
"What a fucking weird couple," he murmurs.
Author's Notes: I have been meaning to explore this scene... Did I get Captain Branson and Daniels right? I feel like I might've captured the actors as opposed to the character (I so can imagine James Franco saying some of the lines here!).
Also, if you're surprised that Walter is cussing I'm kind of inspired by the original script of the movie, where he is more informal in private (and with the ship's AI); he even called MU-TH-R a 'bitch' lol I'm trying to explore the nature of a Synthetic's duplicity here and as well as whether they develop their opinions with or without thinking. I think Walter could potentially be omnipotent in a way that he actually studies people around him through all available data (especially via the internet). I figured that would be interesting!
I'm tired. I've been writing and uploading through my phone. So would appreciate a good heads up, guys. Let me know what you think! Time to update my Naruto fanfic! :)
June 7 - Final edits included! Yay! Up for the next chapter, anyone? lol I may update my Naruto fanfic this weekend and do another double-chapter update for this fic the week after! :D