I just wanted to thank everybody who is reviewing. Really. I totally appreciate it, and I can't believe how many people have reviewed it so far! I feel fortunate to have readers who take the time to review and let me know what they think. You guys are great!
Hell, I'm considering making another Prometheus story, guess we'll see how this one goes. :D
-[11]-
The entrance to Morsani's lab was an elongated foyer, long tables ran the length of both of the walls on her sides. On each of the tables, there were huge framed photos, large vases, and more on each of the walls above the tables. The 20ft hall led to a large sitting room, couches were in a circle around another raised circular platform. The floor had what looked like dark red carpet; leading up to the circular sitting area.
As they walked towards the siting area, David began looking at the artifacts on the walls. Ellie kept her eyes on the sitting area, and the large rectangular window on the farthest wall that led to a blindingly white room. As soon as she entered the sitting room, a familiar face emerged from the hall to her left.
"Hello Dr. Shaw. I'm so glad you could make it."
The woman perked up and walked over to the female Engineer and shook her hand, her words brimmed with excitement,
"Hi Morsani, I'm really grateful you'd let me come see your work."
The Engineer nodded to her and motioned for her to follow, turning back to the hall she came from.
"You are more than welcome Doctor, you may come anytime you wish. I imagine you are just as curious about me and my people as I am about yours. I feel that we may have a lot of information for one another. So out of curiosity, how are you liking your stay so far? Have any trouble with the others?"
The doctors gaze fell to the floor and she chuckled,
"Just a little… I seem to have caused a bit of trouble in the main market area. A male Engineer… got upset with me for speaking with a young child."
"Engineer?"
The word rolled off the alien's tongue in a strange way, she didn't seem to understand. The doctor chuckled and nervously rubbed her hands together, twiddling her thumbs. She hadn't told them how she referred to their people.
"Oh, I hadn't told you, sorry. My team and I referred to your people as 'Engineers' because we already had a belief that it was you that created us. The nickname seemed appropriate."
The female alien couldn't help but chuckle and agree with her as she opened the door on the right side of the hall; leading directly to her lab. The lab was a huge room, there were long tables extending across the room. Some of them were pretty bare, some had vials and bottles all over them. On the far wall of the lab, there was a glass wall. What was on the other side is what got Ellie's attention.
On the other side of the glass, was the first natural foliage she had seen since being on their planet. The colors were very different from plants on Earth, most of the leaves on the plants were a variant of a dark violet, red, green, or blue. There were tons of different plant species inside the greenhouse, and Morsani noticed her sudden fascination with the vegetation. The Engineer leaned back against one of the tables,
"I'm afraid there are some plants in there that may be toxic for you to breathe in, so I can't let you in there."
Small hands touched the glass as curious brown eyes scanned the foliage, it wasn't so different from plants on Earth. A mouthed 'wow' escaped her lips as she leaned back slightly, trying to keep her nose from pressing to the glass like a kid at a window. The female behind her spoke again,
"If you're that interested in the nature on our planet, I'm sure Zarek would be glad to take you once he gets off duty. I imagine he's been pretty busy trying to get up to date on procedures and such with the council. Speaking of which, would you mind if I test your understanding of our language so far?"
The sudden proposition made Ellie nervous, she wasn't sure if the procedure had worked. She didn't really feel different, but she needed to have confidence in their technology.
"Uhh sure! Want to tell me about yourself? Or anything you think I need to know about your culture?"
The alien nodded and turned her body toward her. David kept walking near the windows and staring out, not really paying much attention to the two women. He would be surprised if Ellie could know how to speak already, she would probably have a little difficulty.
Morsani took a deep breath and began speaking in her native language, speaking slowly to facilitate the human's understanding,
"My family is - and we are - focused on science. - - for orange -."
Ellie's eyes were wide as she stared at the alien speaking to her, she had missed a few words. It was unbelievable that she could understand some language from a surgical procedure. Her body felt tingly with nervous energy as she shifted and tried to respond in what she thought sounded right in their language,
"I misunderstood the piece about oranges."
A brief chuckle from the alien made the situation more humorous, the alien waved her hands slightly as she responded,
"Not oranges. Orange the color. It's a family - doesn't care for humans because - - civil war."
The words were making much more sense to the doctor than she could have hoped. She didn't want to believe it, but it had worked. She understood the language for the most part, as long as the Engineer spoke clearly. Her responses felt so natural, like she had been studying the language for years. However, it felt like a language she had forgotten to practice for a year or so. Although the way she said things were worded strangely at first, they were quickly becoming natural to her. Things felt a little strange to say, but the more she spoke, the easier it became.
She tried speaking again,
"How will we go… I mean… How will we explore outside the city?"
The pale alien gave her a mixed look of amusement and surprise,
"Very good."
As soon as she said those words, the sound of footsteps made them turn toward the entry hall. A familiar face made the doctor shift nervously. Zarek was standing beside a smaller male Engineer, the younger male motioned toward the two females and spoke,
"There they are Sir."
The familiar Engineer took a few steps towards them, a small look of amusement on his face as the younger male walked off,
"I see you both are getting better acquainted."
Understanding him in his own language gave the small woman chills, she wrung her hands together and looked way from his face. She could feel Zarek's eyes on her, making her feel that much more anxious. His rich voice always commanded attention, she supposed that's why he made a great officer. Morsani noticed the sudden change in Ellie's behavior as she responded to the officer,
"That we are. You are back early Officer, I suppose you're only doing training now rather than patrol. So, I have to ask, would you be willing to take her out passed the city walls? I'm sure she would like to see what the planet truly looks like. It would be who of you to show her around. You two should be able to communicate better now."
Something about this whole situation seemed forced. The doctors eyes gradually moved to the female Engineer, eyeing her curiously. She wasn't sure why Morsani was so excited for her to see the rest of the planet, she supposed it must be a scientist quirk. The space jockey motioned with her hand toward a door in the far corner of the lab. Zarek's finely chiseled face turned toward the door, he spoke again to the two females,
"Is there a ship for us to take?"
…
They were loaded up in a small hover carrier ship, and it was a bit cramped in the cabin. Since there was only room for two, Morsani insisted that they could leave David there with them. The android had been enthused to get a closer look at the exotic plant life on his own anyway.
The front of the hover ship was clear and angular. There were two large seats in the front, and it was fairly roomy. The fiberglass front of the ship reminded Ellie of the front windows of the Prometheus, only on a smaller scale. Once they made it out of the large steel loading bay of the lab, there was just snow. It looked like the ice fields went on for miles, she couldn't see anything in the distance through the snow and fog.
The first couple minutes were too quiet. The roar of the engines under the carrier ship hummed through the small cabin, it also slightly vibrated the seats beneath the silent duo. Nervous hands writhed over one another as Ellie stared straight ahead of her. She was too afraid to even look at him. The silence was suffocating, and the frigid air was stifling. It was far colder out here than it was inside the city, she hadn't even thought this was possible. The seats had heat strips in them, similar to the ones already present on the spine and ribs of her uniform. Her gloves and boots also did a great job of keeping her smallest digits warm.
"So you understand us now?"
His sudden statement made her inhale sharply and tense her jaw, and her head yanked to the left at him. The Engineer's black eyes were ahead of him, his hands on the control shifts. She struggled to find words. This new language felt like one she had known, but hadn't practiced. She had to sit and ponder each word and figure out the tense to put it in. She had studied many languages in her school days. She was fluent in French, Italian, and only knew some basic speech in Arabic from when she traveled to Egypt on an excavation trip.
"I understand some…"
"Then let me apologize for my actions last night; it was… unlike me to act in such a way."
She wasn't sure how to take this. He was sorry? Was he really sorry for coming onto her? Or was he sorry for hurting her? Or was he even sorry because he regretted it?
"Sorry for what exactly?"
That stoic face turned to her as she spoke, giving her chills as their eyes met. A warmth crept onto her cheeks, making her slightly curve her lips into a smile. The memories of last night proceeded to cloud her thoughts. He seemed to notice the small twitch of her lips,
"I did not mean to complicate anything. It's hard to explain, because I am unsure of what I feel."
Ellie shifted uncomfortably and looked down at her hands, suddenly feeling slightly disappointed. The Engineer also seemed to shift, the air between them was severely awkward. Neither of them could tell what the other was feeling, and now that the language barrier was broken; where were they to start?
The woman spoke softly, staring down at her hands to recall the appropriate words,
"Well what caused you to act unlike yourself last night?"
"The more time I spend around you, the more my understanding of your purpose here increases. The most important factor to me, is that I owe you my life."
"How do you figure that?"
She interjected, eyes back on the side of his stern face. She truly didn't see how his life was owed to her in any way possible, she had caused him nothing but trouble since she had begun tagging alongside him. The sound of a wheeze escaped his chest as he sighed, staring out at the cold scenery before him.
"If not for you, I - still be asleep on that warship; I - have died in stasis eventually."
Some of the words weren't clear to her as she listened to him, she was still trying to master her understanding. She felt a bit uplifted by his response, and jokingly spoke to him,
"I'm just grateful you didn't tear me apart like you did Weyland and his mercenaries."
"That is one - I do not regret. That elderly - believed himself so great; he could ask for eternal life. As I've said before, you seemed like a prisoner of theirs. There was something different about you. Something the others did not possess, but I could see it in you."
His words greatly confused her, she furrowed her eyebrows together and looked from her hands to his face a couple times. Something in her? Was there something he could sense and she could not? Did the Engineers have that ability?
The alien continued, looking back to her again with a look of reminiscence on his features,
"I saw - similar in the market, in your eyes as you stood before -; when you tried to comfort that child."
"Is that why you defend me?"
A small nod gave her the answer as he glanced back in front of the carrier, and then down to a small map on a hologram. The woman beside him shifted in her seat, turning her upper body more toward him.
"What is it you can see in me?"
A hint at a smile appeared on his lips,
"I cannot explain it - a way for you to understand."
"I see."
Another silence filled the cabin of the hover ship, and two pairs of eyes stared out at the front window. She had so many more questions, but all she could think of was his 'sixth sense' about her. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, what he was referring to. A deep voice interrupted her thoughts once more,
"Also… My apologies if I hurt you."
His words ignited a red flame in her cheeks, her mouth almost dropped open when she realized what he was referring to. The woman forced an awkward laugh and looked to her right, as far as she could from his face.
"I'm all right."
Her curt response made the smile creeping on his face widen just as she glanced back to him. He was somewhat charming when he smiled, even though it was still subtle. He didn't wear a big toothy grin like most men. As soon as she saw his amusement, she nudged his arm with her left hand. Abyssal eyes shifted to her in a feigned surprise, she huffed and fought the color in her flushed cheeks as she confronted him,
"This amuses you?"
The alien scanned her face to analyze her emotions, his eyes keeping the small amount of kindness in them. She sputtered words again through her blush,
"We shouldn't have done that in the first place…It's my fault."
A sigh escaped her throat as she looked back down at her hands, trying to find something more interesting than his increasingly handsome face. The more she looked at him, the more she admired his features. It was beginning to be a problem.
Zarek shifted slightly and looked at the controls, his words were almost sarcastic,
"If it was anyone's fault, it would be mine. I should have better controlled myself, I didn't consider the risks of injuring you."
"Control yourself from sleeping with your people's creation? A lesser being..."
The words were bitter in her mouth, and they came out a bit more crude than she intended. She wasn't sure what brought on that little spat; she didn't intend to make the conversation sour. The woman's eyes rested on his hand, it was so close to her as it rested on the control column at her immediate left. His words were soothing to her now, easing the tension in the air.
"I do not see you as simply a beautiful creation. - not sure what I can see in you, but you are - more than that. If I believed you were a lesser being, I would not have allowed that blue collar to be placed around your neck. As for last night, I only meant that I did not want to make you believe you had no choice. I am not in control of you, because I do not view you as lesser."
His response gave her a lot more to think about, and more questions. The word beautiful stuck out to her, and gave her that silly butterfly feeling in her abdomen. He was so straightforward, so direct. It was fairly obvious that he couldn't understand this strange connection between them either. It didn't feel the same as love, it felt like something different. If it was something more she couldn't tell; not at this point anyway Her definition of love felt faded, like she hadn't been loved in so long. She hadn't lost Charlie for more than a week and a half, and she was already desperately clinging to this Engineer for emotional support. Everything was jumbled.
A hand propped her head up on an armrest on her left, her eyes gazing intently out the snowy windows.
They were a mess.
Neither of them could figure out what the attraction was. It was definitely physical, somewhat emotional, and it felt incredibly necessary. The idea of being without Zarek made her afraid; far more afraid than she should be. Their short journey had been life or death, and intense the entire time. There was a quality inside each other they couldn't put their fingers on. Ellie knew she could feel something inside him, something about this Engineer resonated with her in a different way than with Charlie. All of these thoughts made her rub her temples in frustration. It was beyond irritating to not be able to understand your own feelings.
It was like some part of her had been missing, and it wasn't the God her father had believed in so strongly. After God had abandoned her, and took everything away from her; here she was. An Engineer had swooped in and gave her life a purpose again by giving her the opportunity to discover a new life and leave the ashes of the former one behind. Something different made her ache to remain beside this new being in her life. The whole situation, despite being emotionally taxing; felt so right. Nothing in the world could make her turn back. Nothing could make her wish to be back on Earth.
His rich voice made her come back to reality and look at where he was pointing on the small hologram map.
"We're almost there."
[][][]
Awww That was sweeter than I had intended… Hope everyone liked it! You guys are gonna see cool new parts of the planet now. Teehee. :D
/Also, I will not be going back and forth between English and Engineer's language, I'll simply leave it to you guys to understand that they are probably speaking in the Engineers language, and I'll point it out if the conversation changes back to English. And my apologies if anyone had an issue with the way I made Ellie learn the language, it just seemed trivial compared to what I'm going to do with the story. Thanks for understanding! Love you guys, thanks so much for reading! I'll update as soon as I can!
Remember, please R and R!