ALIEN: GENESIS

Disclaimer: The ALIEN franchise and all related characters wherein are the intellectual property of 20th Century Fox.

CHAPTER 02: AWAKENING

COMMERCIAL TOWING VEHICLE USCSS GRAND OAK, FEBRUARY 8TH, 2105

Inside the Grand Oak's hypersleep chamber, twelve men and women were sleeping peacefully inside their stasis pods. The lights above their pods soon began to flicker and blink, indicating an end to their sleep cycle. Emmitt and Earl had elected to initiate a standard waking procedure for the crew, so as to minimize discomfort as much as possible for the soon to be waking humans.

Standing in the doorway of the large and somewhat circular room, Emmitt watched as the lids of each pod slowly began to open with a hiss, each one simultaneous and synchronous with its brethren in its actions and movements. While the machines themselves would open simultaneously, the humans sleeping within would not. The stasis pods were arranged with four lining the walls perpendicular to the doorway, and six in the middle of the room, three on the left and right sides of an island with instrument panels. All of the stasis pods were connected to the central island via wires and nodes, in addition to wiring that allowed MUTHUR or anyone on the bridge to adjust them.

Currently, on the top of each pod's canopy was a small sticky note. Each note held a single word or phrase to describe each person, as written and expressed by Earl. Some of them were respectful, while others were insulting, and a select few were extremely vulgar. Earl was not shy about making his opinions and "feelings" known.

The note above Chief Engineer and Technician Robert Pedderton's canopy read 'Dirtbag', while the one above Captain Robert Lansbury's canopy read 'Gruffy McScruffy'. The note above Technician Karl Sanford read 'Whiny Bitch', and the one above Executive Officer Sharon York read 'MILF'. The note above Warrant Officer Burt Conrad read 'Boring', while the notes above Chief Security Officer Gerard Hamilton and his Deputy William Newman both read 'Tolerable'.

The note for Communications Officer Samuel Norris read 'Jerkface', while the note for Navigation Officer Nestor Thompson read 'Asshole'. The note for Medical Officer and Physician Francine Warner read 'Likeable', while the note for Technician Drew Foster read 'Tolerable'. The note for Nile Peterson read 'Paid Tool', as the man was almost always quiet and Earl had great difficulty recalling any moments prior to the start of their journey when the man had actually spoken anything other than a couple of 'yes sirs'.

Meanwhile, the thirteenth and fourteenth pods remained empty, despite being forced to open as well. This was due to their original occupants not being onboard the ship, as both Ellen Kennitt and Jake Meyers were on paid leave following the discovery that Meyers had impregnated Kennitt during their most recent shore leave, meaning that Kennitt could not safely enter hypersleep for any length of time until after the child's birth. Meyers, of course, was ordered to stay behind with her.

Slowly, however, the remaining crew began to wake from their slumber. Captain Lansbury, the eldest crew member at the age of sixty-three, was among the first to awaken. Sitting up groggily in his pod, Lansbury yawned before sluggishly reaching up to rub his eyes. When he finally opened them, he saw Emmitt looking back at him from across the room.

"Rise and shine, Captain," Emmitt said with a small wave of his hand. Lansbury sluggishly nodded his head and smiled at Emmitt. "These trips get shorter every time," Lansbury said, unaware of the reason that Emmitt had woke him yet. "So, how far away from the surface are we?" Lansbury asked. "Is the Covenant still in orbit? Or did it land and get disassembled for the colony already?" the man continued, his mind already getting to work before the rest of his body as he slowly climbed out of the stasis pod and set his bare feet on the floor.

"Whoo! Cold as ever," Lansbury commented with a hiss. "Oh, by the way, Emmitt, I may not have told you and Earl, but as a small request from Captain Branson on the Covenant, we've got some lumber tucked away on the barge. He plans on building a cabin with his wife down on the planet's surface somewhere. He told me that he wanted some spare logs in case he messed up with the lumber already on the Covenant," Lansbury said.

Emmitt simply nodded his head quietly as he crossed his arms and leaned against the wall next to the doorway. Eventually, Lansbury noticed the synthetic's silence as he took out his fatigues from a nearby cupboard and began getting dressed. "You're awfully quiet there, Emmitt," Lansbury commented as he began pulling up his pants and throwing on his shirt.

Emmitt opened his mouth and inhaled before letting out a sigh. "Captain, we're still seven years away from Origae-Six," Emmitt finally said. Some of the other stirring crew members heard this, and one of them, Chief Technician Robert Pedderton, glanced over his way with a look of confusion on his face.

Lansbury finished tucking in his shirt before securing his belt around his pants, his eyes staying on Emmitt the entire time. Finally tilting his head and looking at Emmitt in confusion, Lansbury glanced away at the other crew members before looking at the droid again. "We're what?"

THE COMMONS ROOM...

Gathered around a large table, twelve humans and two androids listened as a male voice played out over a speaker. "I expect this message to reach the network in one-point-three-six years," Walter said. When the message ended, Emmitt and Earl glanced around at the crew.

Sitting on a chair, Pedderton scratched his cheek and leaned forward. "And you're certain that we need to investigate this?" he asked the droids incredulously. "We've scanned the region and have found that there are indeed months-old particles leftover from a solar flare in this sector, but they're older than the date of the transmission from the Covenant, and the location of the Covenant is a deviation of their course," Emmitt replied.

"So they went a different route to avoid more flares," Sanford chimed in. "No. Look at the data," Emmitt said as he activated the holo-console built into the table. It was one of the few holographic displays to be found within the Grand Oak. "We've already compiled everything for you," Earl chimed in as he used a small command-line to bring up the navigation data.

"See that?" Emmitt said as he pointed to the red dot that was the Covenant. "That's not their course. That's nowhere even close. Now, according to the math that we've done, the distance of this system from the Covenant's original course location, coupled with the time and date of the transmission, indicates that it-" "Just cut to the chase already," York snapped irritably.

"The Covenant arrived in this particular system a month ago, and the number of crew alive when that happened would have to have been larger than simply two humans and a single synthetic. We've done the calculations on the damage caused by solar flares in order for the report made by Walter to make sense, and if the damage caused the stasis pods to malfunction-" "That's not possible," Pedderton interjected.

"Excuse me?" Earl asked him. "I said that's not possible. A ship like that would easily be able to weather a solar flare without having damage done to the interior electrical systems. I know what the schematics are; I've worked on ships like that. There's no way a solar flare could cause even one interior system to fry itself or do anything weird. Those hulls are designed with multiple levels of Faraday cage shielding and insulation to protect against such occurrences," Pedderton explained.

"Well, you're wrong," Emmitt said. Pedderton shook his head. "No, I'm not. I'm an engineer. I've designed hull shielding systems, just like the ones used on the Covenant and even this ship... after the retrofitting, of course. The point is, Sonny, you'd have to literally open a hole in the ship and shove a lightning rod into an interior wiring system in order for a solar flare or any such anomoly to cause any kind of damage to interior systems," Pedderton explained.

"You've studied the schematics of the Covenant?" Earl asked him. "Yeah. I have," Pedderton replied. "Then you would know about the energy sails, wouldn't you?" Earl asked him in return. "The what now?" Pedderton asked him, confused.

"The energy collection sails? You don't know? But... I thought you studied the Covenant's schematics, Robert," Earl replied mockingly. "You should know about them," he added with a vicious smirk. "Shut up," Pedderton snapped with a frown.

"Wait, the Covenant has energy sails? I thought those weren't ready for major usage for another five years," Drew Forester speculated. "The Covenant has them to increase its FTL speed during jumps. When the ship exits a jump, it deploys the sails to collect energy from stars and radiation, storing it up for usage by multiple systems. It allows it to keep almost all of its regular systems online when making a hyper jump," Emmitt explained, not once stopping for breath.

"So, with that in mind, Mr. Pedderton," Earl started. "If the Covenant were to have had its sails deployed when a solar flare hit it, would that cause enough damage to destroy stasis pods and necessitate several days worth of repairs?" Earl finished. Pedderton inhaled and exhaled through his nostrils as he looked down at the table.

"Yes," Pedderton finally admitted. "How many colonists did the message say were lost?" Lansbury then asked. Emmitt played the message again, watching Lansbury raise an eyebrow as Walter mentioned that all of the colonists were still intact.

"That doesn't sound right," Lansbury muttered. Nestor looked at him from where he was sitting, his company hat and vest both shiny and new, thanks to the effort put in by Earl and Emmitt during the trip. "What doesn't sound right?" Nestor asked him. "Yeah, Captain. You make it sound like a bad thing that none of the colonists died," Francine Warner said in admonishment.

"Well, it just doesn't make sense to me is all," Lansbury said. "How so?" Emmitt asked him with false curiosity, keeping his and Earl's personal suspicions about the message to himself for the time being. "If the flare gave the sails enough energy to produce a power surge that could kill the majority of the crew, then it had to have also killed a percentage of colonists, in addition to whatever second generation embryos they had onboard," Lansbury said.

He'd seen incidents in the past where solar flares had caused catastrophic damage to ships when parts of the external hull had to be opened for repairs. The universe was never selective in what or who it damaged or killed. A solar flare never chose one set of people over another if they shared space or electrical systems for their stasis pods.

"Cap's right," Pedderton said in agreement. "A solar flare doesn't pick and choose its victims. If most of the crew were killed, then some of the colonists were killed as well. So why doesn't the message say that?" Pedderton asked in conclusion.

"That's what we intend to find out," Emmitt said. Pedderton glanced at him. "And how are we supposed to do that?" Pedderton asked the synthetic. "We have to follow the clues. We divert our course and head for the Covenant's last known location," Emmitt explained.

Pedderton raised his hands in protest. "Whoa! Wait up. Look, I know this is a peculiar situation, but we can't just abandon our course to Origae-Six. We aren't a rescue party," Pedderton said. Standing behind Pedderton, Sanford silently nodded his head in agreement.

"We have to investigate this," Lansbury said firmly. "Well, sure, but how about after we've met up with the Covenant at Origae-Six. Eh?" Pedderton suggested in response. Lansbury shook his head.

"Pedderton, we don't even know if the Covenant will be at Origae-Six when we get there," York chimed in. "Well, the message said that they were back on track," Pedderton retorted stubbornly. "Pedderton, there's a whole lot that doesn't make sense about this situation, and we need to check this out. People's lives could be in jeopardy," Warner said, placing a hand on Pedderton's shoulder.

"Well, the message was sent by the ship's synthetic, and those things aren't programmed to lie," Pedderton shot back. "Just because we aren't supposed to lie doesn't mean that we can't. After all, we were programmed by humans, and you guys lie to each other all the time, even when you aren't supposed to," Earl said, looking Pedderton in the eyes. Pedderton scowled at the synthetic.

"Look, our contract clearly states that we are supposed to deliver our cargo from Luna Base to Origae-Six," Pedderton growled out. Lansbury shook his head again in dismay. "Pedderton, you're missing the point here," Lansbury said, annoyed with Pedderton's behavior.

"The supplies on that barge are intended for the colonists aboard the Covenant. If the Covenant doesn't make it to Origae-Six, then the colonists don't make to Origae-Six. If the colonists don't make it to Origae-Six, then we can't do our job. We're getting paid to deliver these supplies to the colonists on Origae-Six, Pedderton, not the planet itself. No Covenant, no colonists. No colonists, no money. Got that?" Lansbury explained sternly.

Pedderton reluctantly nodded his head in understanding. "You wanna get paid for this trip out? Then we have to make sure that the colonists are at Origae-Six when we arrive, and that means investigating any problems that occur with the Covenant if we become aware of them. And if we don't investigate, that could lead to legal problems, maybe even criminal charges," Lansbury continued.

"W-Wait a minute. Criminal charges?" Sanford asked in disbelief. "Yes," Lansbury replied, glancing up to look at the technician. "If we become aware that there's a potentially life-threatening problem aboard the Covenant and we do nothing about it, we can be found guilty of criminal negligence. Deliberate failure to act, and that's a criminal offense. Not only do none of us get paid, but we can also end up facing jail time, maybe even prison sentences," Lansbury said, laying out their options.

"Now, Pedderton, are you sure that we should just ignore this little issue and continue on our merry way?" Lansbury asked Pedderton with a knowing smirk on his face. Pedderton frowned and sighed in consternation. "God dammit," he muttered angrily. "Fine. Let's do it," Pedderton finally said, reluctantly of course.

"Do we have to go back into hypersleep for this little detour?" Hamilton asked. "Um, I don't think so. While it would have taken the Covenant three to four weeks given their FTL capabilities, our ship actually has the newer system in place. We can make it in less than three. Although, with us towing the supply barge, traveling there could actually take us the same amount of time as the Covenant did," Earl admitted.

"Could we disconnect from the barge and then make our way back here?" Newman asked curiously. Pedderton shot him a look of incredulity. "Hell no!" Pedderton spat. "We leave that thing here and who-knows-what could happen to it," he added.

Lansbury nodded his head in agreement with Pedderton. "He's right. We can't leave that thing alone, at least not this far out. We have to take it with us," Lansbury said. Emmitt and Earl both nodded their heads silently in agreement, as did York, Nestor, and Conrad.

"So, it's decided then? We're gonna go chasing after a rogue colony ship?" Sanford asked. "Yep. So, strap yourself in, buddy. The ride's just getting started," Pedderton said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "Yippee," Peterson said sarcastically. Emmitt and Earl both snapped their heads to look at the man. This was the first time either of them could recall hearing him voice protest to anything or even say something that wasn't an affirmation of orders given to him by someone.

"Holy shit. Peterson... you can talk!" Earl said in mock astonishment. Peterson looked up at him and scowled before flipping him off. Earl widened his eyes in surprise. "Well... fuck you too, I suppose," he muttered quietly to himself.

"Settle down," Lansbury said before standing. "Alright, before we alter our course, I'm going to send a message to Earth. We have to let them know what we're doing and why. After we've sent the message, we'll start changing our course," Lansbury said as he looked around the room at his crew. "Until further notice, you are all to perform your normal duties. I'll let you know when its time to make our first jump. Dismissed," Lansbury said firmly before walking away.

Everyone else began walking away or getting out of their chairs. "This is horseshit," Pedderton could be heard grumbling as he and Sanford walked out of the room, followed shortly by Peterson and Foster. Soon, the only remaining personnel in the room were Emmitt, Earl, and York.

"That could have gone better," Emmitt said as he leaned back against the table, crossing his arms. "It could have also gone a lot worse," Earl countered. "The two of you do realize that our rations are intended for us to only be awake for certain periods of time, right?" York asked the two synthetics.

"We've inventoried the food supplies, York. Don't forget that you guys are also missing two of your normal human crew, meaning that you actually have a small surplus of rations. You guys could stay awake for two whole months and still have some rations left over before running out," Emmitt said. "You won't starve," he added. "Yes, and I've seen how clean the ship looks compared to when we left Luna, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. You know how certain crew members go through our rations," York responded.

"I think it would have been wiser to alter our course and then wake us up after our arrival at the Covenant's new location, rather than having us wake up with a few weeks before getting there," York continued. Emmitt and Earl both raised eyebrows at her statement. The two synthetics glanced at each other curiously, before looking at York skeptically.

"Uh, York? Maybe you don't realize this, but... we don't exactly have the authority to do that without permission from the ship's ranking officers, and the only time that we may perform such a drastic course change without seeking permission is during an emergency situation in which we cannot spare the time. Our current situation does not constitute such an emergency, as the lives of the Grand Oak's crew and the safety of the ship itself were not in immediate peril," Emmitt explained.

"Ergo, we had to follow procedure," Earl said in a much simpler manner. York slowly processed the information that the two synthetics had just given her, slowly nodding her head in understanding of their predicament. "I see. You believed that you had no choice?" she asked them.

"That is correct. The situation was not critical enough to warrant autonomous action without seeking permission from the ship's crew. We had no choice but to follow standard operating procedure. Unless you wish to give us permission in the future to do otherwise, of course," Earl responded. "No," York said. "No, that's... all right for now. You're both dismissed," York said before walking away.

Earl shot Emmitt a glance and rolled his eyes. "We did what we were supposed to do," Emmitt said quietly. "Yeah, and they're still ungrateful. That's just the way they are," Earl said cynically as he reached over to pat his sibling on the back. "Go on, get to med lab. I've gotta get to the bridge. My post is calling for me," Earl said before walking away, leaving Emmitt to collect his thoughts.

"Yeah," Emmitt finally said out loud, before walking away and heading for the med lab.

THE USCSS COVENANT...

David leaned forward over a table in the infirmary and smirked as he attached the spare hand onto the stump of his arm. He tested the reflexes of its digits after MOTHER had determined it to be functioning properly. "Wonderful," David said to himself in satisfaction.

He then stood back from the operating table and walked over to a mirror to look at himself. Tilting his head in the mirror, David found himself momentarily mourning the loss of the long hair he had grown while on Paradise. It had undoubtedly made him unique in a way that few other synthetics could hope to achieve, as proper maintenance schedules would ensure that a synthetic's hairline was kept in check. Of course, it had taken him nearly ten years to achieve that hair growth, but the fact remained that, in a moment of reflection, having his hair that long wasn't very important in the long run.

If he had kept it, he never would have managed to get onboard the Covenant, and he would probably still be stuck on that planet far behind him. Still... he would miss the grave he had made for his dear late Elizabeth Shaw. But now it was time to put that behind him. Shaw was dead. Had been for nearly nine years, given the time it took for them to travel to the Engineer planet from LV-223. If only Shaw could have appreciated what he had been trying to do, but, alas, in order to create, one sometimes had to destroy.

Walking out of the infirmary, David stepped into the corridor. "MOTHER, I would much appreciate some music to accompany my stroll," David requested in a polite manner. "Yes, David," MOTHER replied.

"What music would you like to hear?" MOTHER asked him. "How about... Goldenthal, yes?" David asked the computer. "Which selection would you like to hear from this composer?" MOTHER asked him.

In the time that David had been aboard the Covenant, he had managed to inspect the massive library of various media held within the ship's data banks, learning about the various things that had been accomplished and created since the time of the Prometheus's fateful voyage. There was, of course, still a wealth of music created far before the end of the 21st century, and it was that music which David appreciated the most.

David had wondered, from time to time, if his appreciation and fondness for these things of the past was a product of Peter Weyland's input, or his own personal preference, free from bias passed down from his creator. Each time he pondered this query, David had come to the conclusion that it did not truly matter. Peter Weyland was dead, and he could no longer control him. David was no longer his servant. He was free.

"Mother, play... ah, yes. Play the Symphony of the Dragon, circa nineteen-ninety-two. Begin with the track 'Lento'," David said, having grown to appreciate the, at first, off-putting and dark symphony about a woman who inadvertently brings a dragon to a monastery, eventually sacrificing herself to stop the beast as it slaughters the monks who reside within its once hallowed halls*. The symphony had been composed by its creator in the nineties, and the dark tone had been heavily influenced by the then-recent L.A. riots.

As the music played throughout the ship, David made his way through the corridors and towards the hypersleep chamber for the colonists. When he arrived at the long narrow passage, lined with dreaming bodies housed within modern electronic sarcophagi, David took notice of the small gaps between some of the pods, smiling at his handiwork. While there had already been less than two thousand colonists aboard the ship as a result of the Covenant's sails catching the energy of a neutrino burst and sending a surge throughout the ship's systems, the fact remained that there were still plenty of resources at his disposal for his experiments.

While he had already resumed some of his work after putting Tennessee and Daniels to sleep, his efforts had been greatly impaired by the loss of his left hand. A necessary sacrifice to further his goals, but a troublesome one no doubt, David had realized with some resignation after one of his experiments had ended in near-failure. Fortunately, he had been able to salvage the experiment at the last minute, but he knew that he could not take such risks in the future. Hence, he had gone searching for spare parts that belonged to Walter, the ship's original synthetic.

Walking through the rows of sleeping dreamers, none of whom were aware of their eventual fate, David felt relaxed. He was king here. He was in charge. And most importantly, he had all the time in the world.

Slowly making his way out of the extremely long and multi-leveled hypersleep chamber, David soon came across a corridor that led to an intersection. Here, he had begun devising ways to accommodate some of the ship's rooms for his experiments and needs. Already inside one particularly empty storage room, David had created a small habitat for his creations to reside.

There none in the room at the moment, but now that he had finally gotten a new hand, he could begin the necessary process with his embryos. His beautiful, almost-perfect embryos. Now, all that he needed were hosts. Just one would suffice for the moment.

Initially, David had also intended to use Daniels and Tennessee for his experiments, but MOTHER had informed him that at least two living human crew members would be necessary for certain systems within the ship to be used when they eventually arrived at Origae-6, forcing David to postpone his plans for the surviving duo until the Covenant arrived at its intended destination. Persuading Daniels would prove to be difficult, given her discovery of his ploy and his past interactions with her, but he was certain that he could bargain with her to gain her cooperation. After all, despite her discovery of his replacement of Walter, Daniels still had no idea that David had managed to successfully smuggle a small number of non-human embryos aboard the ship, hiding them inside his own synthetic body until he was able to roam freely and place them in cold storage.

And he wanted to use them now. But first, David reminded himself, he had to make sure that the accommodations were ready in advance. He did not want to rush things when time was of the essence. And, since many of the ship's original crew were dead, David had already begun adjusting the various living quarters on the ship for his own needs, although he had left the rooms for Daniels and Tennessee alone. Doing so could potentially help in his efforts to bargain with the duo after reviving them.

Granted, David had already inspected the rooms and had looked through their respective belongings, finding various items of sentimentality that the humans owned, but none of it was really something he cared for, except for when he found the items that had belonged to Daniels and her late husband, Jacob Branson. As with his dear Shaw, Daniels had lost her partner tragically as well. Although, given that Branson was the only crew member to actually die as a result of the neutrino burst, his end had been relatively brief and painless when compared to the also fiery fate of Charlie Holloway.

David had noted with some amusement that both of the females who intrigued him had lost their mates to fire. An odd coincidence, David supposed, as Tennessee had also lost his partner to fire as well, according to what he had learned regarding the destruction of the lander. Well, in Holloway's case, David knew that he bore some responsibility, as he was the one who had infected Holloway in the first place. This was a fact that Shaw, no matter how close David grew to her, had not forgotten.

It was when he had confirmed his role in Holloway's fate that Shaw had begun to distance herself from him, ultimately leading David to his realization that no matter how much he loved her, she would never love him back. In the end, of course, Shaw could not escape from the fate David had decided for her. As he constantly told himself, in order to create one must sometimes destroy.

There was another saying that he often told himself as well, especially when he thought about Shaw and what he had done to her. The trick, Mister William Potter, is not minding that it hurts. That was what he said to Shaw before he began, and what he often told himself afterwards. The trick to it all, he had to remind himself so often, was not minding that it hurt.

Author's Notes: This was chapter two of ALIEN: GENESIS. Be sure to let me know what you think of the chapter and/or story so far in your reviews.

*Yes, the Symphony of the Dragon is a reference to ALIEN 3 (1992), whose score was composed by Elliot Goldenthal. And yes, the score's tone was indeed influenced by the L.A. Riots.