Chapter 13 - The Engineer

 

CHAPTER 13
The Engineer

Dr. Shaw sat in the larget of the buggies, lost in thought, when the android David approached and sat across from her.

“I didn’t know you had it in you…” David said, immediately realizing his verbal slip. “Oh… sorry, poor choice of words. Extraordinary survival instincts, Elizabeth.”

Dr. Shaw scowled at the synthetic excuse for a man; trim, smooth and laughably eloquent.

“What happens when Weyland is no longer around to program you?” Shaw posed.

“I suppose… I would be free,” the android replied in a distant stare.

“You would want that?”

“Want? Hmm… not a concept I am familiar with. That being said, doesn’t everybody want their parents dead?”

“I didn’t,” Shaw responded meekly.

At that moment, the rest of the ‘team’ filed into the buggy.

“Dr. Shaw,“ the wheezing voice of Weyland filled the cab of the vehicle, “So pleased you could join us.”

The buggy drove quickly through the sickly afternoon light of LV-223. Elizabeth Shaw wasn’t sure how to feel at this point in time; with so much lost, likely at the end of her rope… and yet, Shaw was somewhat excited deep down to meet the last surviving Engineer. She had wanted this before losing Charlie, and she still wanted it now. Perhaps this was the last thing Elizabeth Shaw would ever want. Even when hope had seemingly jumped ship off of Lv-223 and launched into nothingness, still Shaw had hoped for this; meeting this mortal god-creature. She began to nod off briefly as the buggy rolled along the terrain. She came to a while later as the buggy slowed to a halt and the others began to stand up.

Weyland, David, Jackson, Dr. Ford, and Dr. Shaw entered the alien pyramid; lead by the flawless memory of the synthetic man among them. Peter Weyland looked ridiculous in his environmental suit. His motions looked like the environmental suit was dually inhabited by one small child sitting atop the shoulders of a second; he shuffled, stumbled several times and was upheld by his android son. Shaw had seen it more than once; this was Weyland’s first time in a space suit.

“You can take your helmet off if you like, sir,” David said.

Weyland looked around briefly with a look of surprise; as if he has just now noticed that he was the only one with a glass dome encasing his head.

“What?”

“The air…” David went on, “it is perfectly breathable. “

“Are you sure?”

“Positive,” the android reaffirmed.

“Wait!” Shaw called out. “We still don’t know how Dr. Holloway got infected. If it’s in the air…”

“It’s not,” David cut her off.

At first, David’s words appeared purely academic. But when Dr. Shaw looked to the android and saw his cruel half-smirk before he looked away again, she suspected otherwise. How could the android possibly know such a thing to be truthful enough to speak the words in front of his maker? A sickening concoction of anger and loss twisted in Elizabeth Shaw’s stomach and chest. If her and David did somehow come away from this alive and well, she would handle this matter then… she would get her answers. Although somehow, deep in the core of her rational, emotional being… Shaw knew the answers already to the questions she would ask. David had secretly taken some of the black pathogen back to the ship. It would have been about the time that Charlie had gotten drunk; the perfect time for David to contaminate him. The man that Elizabeth Shaw had wanted to spend the rest of her life with had been used like some laboratory rat; something inflicted and punished for the sake of perverse curiosity. A thing expelled for the sake of fulfilling the needs of a man who already had everything. A good man, a loving man, had forfeited his life for the chance that a self-centered egomaniac might increase his fortunes.

Weyland had his helmet off and drew a handful of deep breaths.

“Smells fine to me.”

“This way, sir,” David gestured with robotic politeness.

 

 

 

If it had been at all possible, David would have avoided the room that served as a stockpile of ampules filled with the ungodly pathogen. But there was no way of reaching the bridge without passing through; for David knew now that the temple had been built around the vessel destined to deliver the doomsday package. The room where the last Engineer slept was not only filled with holo-records, but navigation and flight controls. David reluctantly brought the group into the room filled with countless stone vases. Dr.Ford and Dr. Shaw seemed to be the only ones able, or perhaps willing, to recognize the terrible things that surrounded them.

“The Bridge is just ahead,” the android said in an attempt to divert attention from the stockpile.

“What… is this place?” Weyland inquired, effectively squelching David’s attempt at diversion.

“A cargo hold,” David replied plainly.

“Janek… are you seeing this?” Elizabeth Shaw whispered into her com to the captain of the Prometheus.

As Shaw swiveled herself back and forth, the camera feed on Janek’s screen made his blood to turn ice.

“How many, Shaw? How many are there?” Janek returned in a restrained voice that was without any of the usual buoyancy.

“Thousands!”

Captain Janek stared at the holographic scan of the pyramid. His eyebrows knitted themselves dubiously.

“Ravel, strip away the dome on this image if you please.”

A moment later, 3-Dimensional pixels began receding like virtual beads of water. Janek’s hand jutted out with certainty to point at an area of the holographic rendition courtesy of the late Fifield’s ‘pups.’

“Isolate that… bring it up.”

“Bringing it up now, captain,” Ravel said.

The original picture that had been painted was now changing completely before the eyes of Janek, Ravel, and Chance as they sat dumbfounded in the cockpit of the Prometheus. The walls and groundwork of what could sparsely be called a structure any longer were now stripped away; revealing a large, perfectly isometrical, horseshoe-shaped image.

“Jesus Christ!” Meredith Vickers gasped as she approached the side of Janek.

“It’s a goddam ship!” Janek slammed his fist on the side of the holo-console.

 

 

The android David leads the group into the dome shaped room where he had received his revelations.

“A superior species… their hypersleep chambers will no doubt impress,” David bantered needlessly as he led his aged creator forward slowly.

As the pair began to pass the destroyed hypersleep chambers, Weyland began to study them with great interest. His company had worked for decades to perfect the science of hypersleep. These Engineers had perfected the technology in a way that Weyland would never be able to; even if he was granted a dozen more lifetimes of rigorous, cutthroat research. And they had perfected it eons ago. Their ancient technology allowed an Engineer to emerge from hypersleep with a much shorter period of residual weakness. The slumbering bodies of the genderless god-men were nourished and preserved in a way that alleviated any of the ailments that came with an unnaturally-induced state of hibernation; they did not vomit, have panic attacks, or seizures following waking from prolonged slumber. The Engineer laying in wait within the sole, unbroken sarcophagus would emerge in a very brief state of disorientation, but it would not take long for it to gather its full strength. At that point, when the ancient being was restored, what would its response to being revived by a handful of mortals? Dr. Shaw knew well enough that if this ancient master of the universe was not a peaceful one, Peter Weyland and his synthetic lapdog would be the first to perish. And while that would in most cases benefit Dr. Shaw, still she feared to witness the revival of the last living Engineer… let alone its wrath. They came at last to the unbroken sarcophagus that glowed with life. 

“So... they were traveling somewhere?” Weyland asked.

“I’ve managed to work out the broad strokes, sir. It is fairly evident they were in the process of leaving… before things went bad,” David answered as he knelt beside the hypersleep chamber; he began to press the red, white and green glowing buttons in some kind of sequence.

“Are you sure he is still alive, David?”

“Absolutely, sir.”

“And you can speak to him?” Weyland asked the question almost as though he feared to hear good news for once.

“I believe I can, yes.”

The androids’ fingers moved familiarly along the illuminated buttons. When at last the synthetic man drew his hand back, stood up, and then took a step back, the hypersleep pod began sliding up and out. Even though the machine had not been used since being sealed up eons ago, the device moved as though it operated on a freshly-built electrical source. The hydraulics that were unsealing the chamber glided smoothly and quietly as if it had just been freshly-oiled; right off the assembly manufacturing line. At last, the ancient being was revealed; tall, bald and vastly featureless. A large, oval breathing mask was strapped to his face. Hundred of hoses and lines were arranged all about the form of the slumbering giant. And then… the large eyes opened; black, unforgiving… almost lifeless looking. He sat up slowly, and then placed both of his massive white hands on either side of the open frame of the sarcophagus. The Engineer pushed himself to a stand; the wires and hoses snapping and twisting away as the god-creature stood to its full height of almost thirteen feet. Dr. Ford was noticeably terrified, while Shaw and David stood their ground, and Jackson stood at the ready with both hands on his rifle without raising it. Dr. Elizabeth Shaw stood in wonder at the sight of the Engineer; horrifying beyond words, and yet beautiful in a way that could not be put into descriptive words. The hulking being pulled the mask from his face and dropped it to the floor loudly. It took its first step in eons; as its large foot touched the floor where the Earthly interlopers stood, the Engineer stumbled and fell to one knee. Weyland was nearly knocked over and the thirteen-foot form stumbled forward into him and knocked him back into Jackson. Weyland managed to stay upright and raised both hands in reassurance to his guardians.

“I’m all right! I’m all right!”

The Engineer coughed and then drew several pained breaths. The sound of the massive form drawing oxygen in and out of its lungs sounded more like gusts of wind flowing through a deep mountain pass. Everything about the Engineer was fearsome and godly; even something as small as the breaths it took. Weyland turned to David with the expression of a giddy child.

“David! Speak to him! Tell we came… just like he asked!”

The synthetic man turned and began speaking the dead language he had studied so diligently in his loneliness. The head of the Engineer snapped to look at David with both black eyes wide in astonishment. He stood again; showing the full length and breadth of his form. A sort of biological armor had been implanted, or more likely grown out of, the flesh-and-bone makeup of the Engineer. The substance wasn’t quite rock, nor was it metal, but rather some other biological mastery of warfare… just like the accursed pathogen that had wiped their civilization from this moon.

“We came from the world you created… the world you were returning to. We found murals of your kind inviting us here to your homeworld. These people are your creations…”

As the Engineer absorbed David’s words, it began drawing a long, bassy deep breath as it prepared to speak for the first time in a millennia.

“This is not my home world… and your kind were not invited here. Why have you awoken me? Why do you disturb my atmosphere?”

The voice of the Engineer was like a raging storm; powerful, engulfing… and filled with unimaginable fury. Each being in the presence of the god-being, both warm-blooded and synthetic alike, could not help but feel as though the mere words of this creature possessed strength enough to strike them dead.

“What did he say, David?” Weyland asked; begged was more accurate a description.

“He… says we were not invited here. He wants to know why we have come.”

Weyland’s trembling hands were now touching David in excited, nervous supplication.

“Ask him why he created us, why he created our world?”

The android quickly voiced his master’s question in the dead tongue to the Engineer.

“We crafted many worlds from the blood of our father. Your world was our greatest success; the only star child closest to our Paradise.”

The speech of the Engineer took a greater deal of time, and from the look of the Engineer, a greater deal of effort, than speaking did of Earth’s dwellers. David turned to Weyland.

“They made your world perfect like theirs.”

Before Weyland could pose his next question, an unexpected voice chimed in from behind.

“David! Ask him where he’s from!”

Weyland turned angrily in a one-eighty-degree motion and glared at Shaw.

“Shaw, what are you doing!?”

“Ask him what is in his cargo! It killed all of his people!”

A snarl formed on Weyland’s face.

“Shaw! That is enough! For God’s sake, shut her up!”

The mercenary Jackson slammed the butt of his rifle into Shaw’s abdomen; still weak and injured from her recent surgery. She cried out in pain, clutching her stomach with both arms, and dropped to her knees in agony. The eyes of the Engineer were fixed on Shaw as she was brutalized by her fellow species in a pitiful display.

“You made it here and it was meant for us! Why?! I need to know why! What did we do?! Why do you hate us?!” Shaw continued to scream until she had no strength left in her. She collapsed onto her side; gasping for breath, tears streaming from her eyes.

“Hate? We gave you this emotion and all emotion. We created you, gave you a Paradise like ours and watched you from above. We watched time and time again as you destroyed one another. We returned to save your souls… we taught you the meaning of creation. We gave you the fruits of life and wisdom… and you left them to rot. You dare speak to me of hate, disgusting little creatures!”

Weyland and David looked upon each other in wonder as the Engineer had understood perfectly the English language; though it responded in the Indo-European tongue that only David understood. The android did not bother translating the inconsequential response directed at Elizabeth Shaw. The towering god-being was more visibly angry now than before; not merely from his unwelcomed awakening, or his forced labor of speaking to such beings beneath him, but from the sight of his creations brutalizing one of their own in his presence.

“Jackson, if she opens her mouth again… shoot her. David… tell him why we came!”

David took a step towards the Engineer and addressed him with purpose; gesturing to the feeble Peter Weyland with one hand.

“This man… he does not wish to die. He believes you can give him eternal life.”

The Engineer’s eyes shift momentarily to Weyland. His unpigmented face contorts into displeasure and his lungs fill slowly in readiness for another taxing verbal response.

“He is unworthy. Why would I give him this?”

David turned his expressionless gaze to his maker once again.

“He asks why he should give you this gift?”

Weyland turned to the Engineer; his hunched, dying form peering up at the tall being. Weyland noticed several unhealthy-looking black lines forming on its forehead. He pointed a shaking finger at the synthetic man to his right.

“Do you see… do you see this man? I built him from nothing. I made him… in my own image. I deserve this! Because you and I – we are superior! We are creators, gods! And gods do not die!”

The Engineer’s cruel, black eyes slid over to stare upon David. The look of inherent disgust began to fade from his face… although the sickly, blackened veins still stood out; seemingly darker and more malevolent looking than mere seconds ago. Dr. Shaw saw them, she recognized them; they looked very similar to the ones that had covered Charlie’s face right before he had begun to succumb to the black death of LV-223. Yet, the look upon the Engineer’s face was anything but pained or agitated. The Engineer appeared to be somewhat at peace – a thin smile formed on the creature’s lips as it gently laid one of its hands upon the head of the man that Peter Weyland had built from complex materials. David smiled reverently along with Weyland. It appeared as though some manner of accord had been found among those Human and non-Human in these moments, there upon that desolate moon so far away from the Paradise worlds of either species. But the peaceful gesture was no more than an aberration; the smiling face of the Engineer twisted into a mask of rage. The other hand of the giant wrapped itself around the neck of David and lifted him from the ground. The eyes of the android widened in surprise as his neck was jerked unnaturally to the left. And before David’s head was subsequently ripped from off, he offered three gurgled syllables to the horrified Peter Weyland.

“I’m… sor… ry..”

“No!” Weyland cried out in agony!

Once the head had torn free of the artificial skin, the Engineer swung the head into the uncovered face of Weyland; knocking the old man down with a force greater than his withered body was able to withstand. The next closest person was Dr. Ford; who was frozen in terror at the sight of what had just happened.

“Ford! Watch out!” Jackson screamed as he raised his weapon.

With two graceful steps, the Engineer closed the distance between himself and Ford. He slammed one giant fist against the torso of the tiny Scottish woman. Her broken body was launched through the air and crashed into one of the consoles on the other side of the Bridge. She had been dead before her body had tumbled to a halt. Jackson’s automatic rifle crackled to life. Elizabeth Shaw had been in the same state of shock that Ford had been in… it was the deafening sound of gunfire that awoke her from her daze. Shaw crawled to her feet and ran out of the Bridge. As she entered the first darkened corridor, Dr. Shaw could hear the sound of Jackson being crushed to death by the murderous Engineer.

There upon the floor, at the conclusion of the violent encounter, lay the dying Peter Weyland. A few feet from the old man lay the decapitated head of David; who was still watching everything that had happened after his dismembering. 

“There’s… nothing…” Weyland managed these final two words before death wrapped itself around him at last.

“Yes, I know…” Gurgled the mechanical voice of David, “have a good journey…”