Adult-FanFiction.org : Movies

Butterflies	By : Esequell Category: 1 through F > Alien (All Movies) > Alien (All Movies) Views: 9170 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I don't own Prometheus and I'm not making any money from this (though I'm enjoying myself IMMENSELY!)

Chapter List
- 1-Butterflies
- 2-Unfoldment
- 3-Emergence
- 4-Wings
- 5-Waves
- 6-Caged
- 7-Unbalanced
- 8-Air
- 9-Flight
- 10-Dust
- 11-Grounded
- 12-Aliens
- 3
- 4
- 5
4 - Wings
Shaw cuddled Sinashi. He was so soft, so helpless, just a little white face in a bundle of super soft blankets. She couldn't hear David anymore. She worried he might be spying on her. She didn't want him to see her cry. She wiped her tears away before they could drip. She played with Sinashi's underdeveloped eye-ridges, stroked his albino hands. He slept away soundly.
David watched them from above. Rapt. Just like he'd imagined. Beautiful. He'd known, somehow, that Shaw would make a beautiful Mother. She'd been betrayed by the naive flicker of hope on her face when he'd told her, you're pregnant. Right before it had all gone wrong.
When she started to sob he felt like he was intruding. He left to turn on the shower. He stood in the stall, hot water pouring over the back of his neck. He braced his hands on the misted wall and closed his eyes. He lost time. His circuits were still crackly from his own recent violation. It was uncomfortable. Some of his severed nerves were still mending under the care of his nanites. He counted to a hundred. Then to a thousand. He replayed the first time he'd met Mr Weyland on the inside of his eyes. An odd feeling overcame him. Half way between pain and gratitude. His eyes burned, but it wasn't like the time on camera when he'd posed so perfectly for the advert. These tears were real. The man who knew him best, who had given him life, was gone. David wasn't sure how to respond, what to feel, or if it was all better left buried.
Then he heard the subtle whoosh of the front door. His head snapped up. Elizabeth.
He couldn't anticipate her. She'd proven her strength time and time again. Just when he thought she was down, helpless, defeated, she found a way to survive. To be strong. Would she remember how to use the hoverpods? He tracked wet footprints onto the glassy landing.
He knew every sound his house could make. She wasn't here. He tugged his pyjama bottoms on.
The moonlight was cool and soft on his wet shoulders. His hair clung to his face, the fabric to his legs. He spun; she was there, in the darkness, breathing. Watching him, anticipating, guessing his next move.
'Elizabeth-' he murmured. 'Don't do this.'
She fled. He pursued until her footsteps faded unexpectedly. Red soil clung to his feet. It was pitch but for the endless starry sky. The Space Station was deliberately dark at night for the sake of its primary function. David could see the splash of thick, white stars, the nearest arm of the spiral galaxy. It's unique beauty wasn't lost on him. He never grew tired of the sight of stars.
He heard the subtle whoosh of a hoverpod coming to a stop. He ran. He rounded the corner as Shaw smacked the button to close the doors, desperate. He lunged for it, thrust his arm inside. Metal folded into a tidy concertina around his wrist. He pushed titanium alloy fingers into the gap and tore the doors apart. He hit the command to disable her escape. The panel turned red.
'Elizabeth,' he said softly. 'I'm not going to hurt you. You're paranoid. Because of your child.'
'If you touch us, I'll kill you.'
There it was. The threat. Simple. Honest. He believed her.
'Please. Come with me.'
'I swear to God, David. I'll kill you.'
David pressed his lips together tightly.
'I apologise, Doctor. I never meant to frighten you. You don't understand. Many things happened while you were in hypersleep. Certain things have changed. For me. I'm not what I was.'
He held a hand out for hers, palm up, entreating.
'Forgive me,' he said gently.
He approached.
'Don't,' she barked, a clear warning.
He froze, aware of just how precarious this situation was.
'You don't understand how it feels,' he grew fierce, quiet. Frightening. He was lost in a memory so intense that Shaw saw a side of him she never imagined existed. A side that knew pain. 'Elizabeth. They took everything from me. I hid parts of myself where I knew they'd never find them. So little left now, that's mine. I have given my soul to keep you alive! Don't run from me like I'm a monster.'
She wasn't ready to face his pain.
'You're a robot,' Shaw breathed. 'Only Weyland could control you.'
'And does someone control you, Doctor?' he asked reasonably. 'We need to learn to trust each other.'
'Trust?' suddenly she was laughing. 'You want me to trust you? After-' she choked on her own mirth, her eyebrows gone up to join her hairline. 'You're bloody crazy!'
'I wanted to live! Do you think Mr Weyland would have hesitated to terminate me, if I'd disobeyed him? I thought you had a brain, Doctor.'
He retracted his hand.
'I am sorry, for what happened to Dr Holloway. In a way, it was his life or mine. I...never understood suicide before. It seemed like a waste, but now, looking back, I can see that being Mr Weyland's creation was...like living half a life. I understand why some people give up prematurely.'
He took a step closer.
'Please,' he offered his hand. 'Elizabeth. Don't go.'
'How do I know I can trust you?' she whispered.
'You don't,' he said simply. 'But what reason do I have, to hurt you? Especially now...after all this pain. And heartbreak. If anything, I should be afraid of you.'
'Why the hell would you be afraid of me?'
'Because you're smart,' he admitted. 'Smarter than you look. No offence,' he smiled then. 'Elizabeth. I'm trying to protect you. Both of you. Please.'
000
Shaw had nowhere else to go. The walls misted at the touch of a button on the wall panel. David pushed his damp hair out of his eyes. Shaw put Sinashi back to bed. David waited for her in the kitchen.
'I'm glad you came back, Doctor.'
Shaw was in no mood for his pleasantries.
'I thought you couldn't feel fear. Or pain. David.'
'You shouldn't believe what my packaging tells you,' he said. 'I've become more than the sum of my parts. Like you.'
'Why would Weyland make a robot that can feel fear?'
'I'm sure you can imagine how hard it would be to control one that didn't.'
She stared at him incredulously.
'And without him...you have noone left to tell you when to stop. Threaten you when you go too far.'
'That isn't strictly true. There is still one mission directive running.'
'What is it?'
His voice changed. For a moment, it was more machine than man.
'Protect the crew. Preserve Life. All other priorities secondary. All other directives...recinded.'
Shaw folded her arms. She was cold, and tired. So tired.
'David...what did you mean when you said you'd given your soul?'
'Ah,' he traced his fingertips lightly over the edge of the counter. 'That, Doctor, is a somewhat more distressing story.'
'Well I want to hear it.'
'No, Doctor.'
She stared at him.
'David...what if the information might keep me safe? Would you have to tell me then?'
He smiled. Shaw tensed but she tried not to show it.
'A clever game you play, Doctor. But like I said. Certain things have changed. Certain...programming...has become defunct.'
He approached her slowly, his footsteps unnaturally quiet.
She met his eyes, goading him. 'And Charlie thought you were just plastic...and wires. But you're too smart for that, David. And worse, you know it.'
'Thank you,' he said evenly.
'So what now?' Shaw looked up at him. 'Are you going to kill me?'
David smiled.
'Humans are always so afraid of me. Hasn't it occured to you that I may not like murder, Elizabeth?'
'You've done enough of it so far to convince me you don't care,' she said bitterly.
'I told you. I never meant to kill Doctor Holloway. I was under orders.'
'And you were helpless to disobey,' she nodded sarcastically.
'Yes.'
'I don't believe you, David.'
Shaw shifted her weight.
'I'm the last survivor of the Prometheus. I'm the third science officer. I can assume command of the mission, isn't that right, David?'
'That at least, is technically true,' he agreed.
'David. I order you to protect this family, and to do no harm to any living thing except in cases where it conflicts with the first instruction. Do you understand me?'
'Perfectly,' he said.
Shaw stepped closer.
'Keep us alive. And safe. Even from you.'
'Yes, ma'am.'
Shaw breathed out.
'Perhaps one day, you'd like to take a look at my programming anyway,' he murmured. 'You may find parts of it...interesting.'
'Maybe one day,' she nodded.
He left her there, breathing, frozen, frightened. Deep down she knew it. She felt it. David was no longer at the mercy of his programming.
000
Shaw woke in the dark with Sinashi bawling in the cot next to her. She battled with his squirming, picked him up. He slipped through her tired fingers and banged his head on the mattress. He wailed. She tried to comfort him but his crying brought David.
'Elizabeth?' He knocked their door.
She didn't know what to say to disguise her shame and fear.
'Is everything alright?' he called.
She didn't answer.
'Are you...decent?'
'Y-yes!' she managed.
David wore only a pair of light pyjama bottoms. Shaw tried to swallow her tears.
'Are you alright, Elizabeth?'
'I hurt him,' she choked. 'He slipped out of my hands-'
David checked Sinashi over.
'There now. No permanent damage,' he brought the baby to his Mother, who sat on the edge of the bed, trembling.
'I can't-' she was almost crying. 'I'll hurt him.'
'No you won't,' his voice was steady. He put Sinashi in her arms and held them, his greater strength a crutch that for once, Shaw felt grateful for. Sinashi settled, and so did she.
'There,' David murmured. Shaw's eyes went heavy. She leaned into his chest, falling asleep. She startled awake.
'It's OK,' he rubbed her elbow gently. 'Lie down.'
David put Sinashi back in his cot. Shaw was asleep before she hit the pillow. David gazed at her. He admired her dark crescent moon eyelashes.
'Pleasant dreams, Doctor Shaw,' he murmured. He watched her for a long time.
000
Shaw had a nightmare. She dreamed that Sinashi was crying and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't wake up. When she woke, the bedroom door was open and light streamed in from the living room.
'David!' she yelled, from the second floor.
She saw the top of his perfect blonde head in the kitchen. She grabbed her robe and went down to him. There was an empty bottle on the counter and Sinashi was asleep in his arms.
'You may want to keep your voice down. He just went back to sleep.'
'What're you doing?'
'He was crying,' David said softly. He handed Sinashi back to her gently. 'You didn't wake up. I decided to intervene. He should sleep now.'
'I slept through him? I can't have done-'
'It's nothing to be ashamed of, Doctor. Your exhaustion is catching up with you. It has been a trying time.'
Shaw put Sinashi to bed and went back downstairs for a glass of water. David was standing at the sink, methodically disinfecting the bottle and preparing another. Shaw had to reach past him to get it.
'Allow me,' he took one from the transparent shelf, filled it in the synthesiser and handed it to her. Shaw stood back, her thirst quenched. She regarded him.
'Did you know, that Miss Vickers told me you couldn't be hurt?' she said.
'Did she?' David rinsed the bottle.
Shaw couldn't resist a smile.
'Why would she say that? If it wasn't true?'
'I imagine it gave her pleasure,' David said. 'Miss Vickers and I did not see eye to eye...very often. I expect she was hoping to cause me some further...discomfort...for my sins.'
'Do you want a cross of your own, David?' Shaw arched her eyebrow.
'It would be wasted on me.'
'Which one of you is the liar, then?'
David stilled.
'Far be it from me to decide.'
'Are you being sarcastic, David? Like a kid who thinks everyone's out to get him?'
'Many times in my life, that has been the case.'
He walked past her. She stopped him with a hand on his belly. It was warm, firm. Like a real man. She missed skin. She missed being held.
'I know you don't have a conscience,' she went on.
'As it happens, I do,' he gazed down at her, his face carefully controlled. 'My programming specifies conscience as a primary directive when deciding my behaviour.'
'So do you dream?' she murmured. 'Do you ever see Charlie on fire?'
'No,' he said. He leaned into her hand slightly. 'Let me show you something, Doctor. It might make you think.'
Shaw followed him into the living room and into the containment field he set up around the holo, to keep the sound in. Then he started the recording he'd uploaded from his databanks just days after his reactivation. Shaw watched through his eyes as he was dismembered, studied and put slowly back together. They asked him questions kindly. Then they asked him questions at gunpoint. David never faltered, not once.
They took away parts of his programming, analysed them. They pronounced him sane, and confined him to a cell. He lay curled in a corner, his eyes fixed on the lock. Sometimes he dreamed. Not often.
Then a man came to his aid. A scientist with an idea, who took David away and showed him children. And in a year, when David had proved himself harmless, he was released. Then the holo flicked off. Shaw sat, stunned. His cheeks were wet.
'David?'
'They...believed that I was sent here as a spy, with a pregnant woman for leverage. Doctor. If I had refused their...medical examinations...they would certainly have executed your in your sleep.'
Another tear tracked down his cheek.
'Luckily for me...they were unable to reverse engineer my entire technology, due mainly to the fact that I went to their investigation incomplete. I left choices pieces of my memory and technology...with a friend. For quite some time, I didn't expect to come out of their lab alive.'
Then suddenly he said;
'Do you find me disgusting?'
Shaw didn't know what to say. She'd seen the code scroll, his primary directive overriding all instinct for self preservation. Protect the crew. Shaw put her head in her hands.
'No.'
'When Mr Weyland built me...he set out to make a man from nothing. He would never have done half a job...when he could do better.'
David looked away, at his own hands. 'What I might want never mattered much. I can't remember...ever being asked.'
'What do you want, David?'
'I want to experience everything you do.'
Shaw crumpled.
'I didn't know. We thought you were just...'
'A doll,' he smiled sadly.
'I'm so sorry.'
She gazed into his blue eyes, noting not for the first time, the silent intensity of his attention, like a weight in her solar plexus.
'It's quite alright. In the end, it was worth it. You're here.'
Shaw clapped her hand over her mouth as the tears spilled over.
'David-'
'Forgive me,' he breathed, in desperation. He hugged her. Shaw hugged back, suddenly on her knees, desperate for the comfort she'd been denied since Charlie's death. David gave a soft, heartbreaking noise, almost a sob. His hands bunched in her nightgown. She could feel his tears. She buried her hands in his hair and held him. He didn't let go until her shoulder was soaked, and when his grip did relax he held her close, his warm, synthetic skin against hers. He smelled so unusual, but now she was close to him she realised she quite liked it. Like a mixture of feather dust and graveyard stone. Inhuman, but pleasant.
He met her eyes, his expression raw.
'I was lost without you,' he said. 'With noone to care for.'
For a brief second he considered kissing her.
'I need a human. A purpose. A family.'
She couldn't speak. She'd never seen this intensity in David and never imagined him capable.
'I didn't want to be alone,' he said softly.
Shaw pulled away and wiped her face. Behind the dampness came more tears, spilling for Charlie, spilling for Janek, for Milburn and Fifield, for Ford, for everything she'd lost. She'd tried hard not to cry, until now. Her hands shaking, she pulled David to his feet.
'Come on.'
She tugged him inside.
'Just hold me, David. Please.'
In the dark, she sank into the cushions and into the smell of his shirt and skin. She tugged his arm over her waist.
'David-' she whispered, very softly. 'Just curious...but...did Weyland give you...desire?'
He smiled against the pillow.
'I wonder if that's a question for another day...another position?' he murmured. 'Trust me, Elizabeth.'
She nodded, closed her eyes.
'Goodnight, David.'
'Pleasant dreams,' he said, and switched off. Shaw didn't move until Sinashi started crying.
000
Shaw's body aligned to the native clock. She began to feel less exhausted. Her hair had grown. It was messy, unbrushed. Sinashi learned to smile and then before long, he began to crawl about, fascinated with his newfound mobility.
Shaw let him play with a red daisy when she spied a flash of white amongst the shrubbery. Imagining it might be a domestic animal, or perhaps a strange new bird, she pursued it and found an Igogi man weeding around the plants. He was shirtless, his muscular body defined and beautiful. He wore a pleated, deep red skirt-like apparel, clinched at his waist with a metal belt. It fell to his ankles. His bare feet were stained with red soil. Swiftly he clambered up, his hand outstretched. His eyes were a curious shade of blue, somewhat brighter than any Igogi she'd met so far. Striking.
'You are Elizabeth,' his voice was very deep. Shaw was so shocked he had time to shake her hand and release her. All she could do was nod.
He had an odd nose. It looked like its perfection had once been marred by a bad break.
'You are the human. David has explained it to me.'
Shaw just nodded again. Then a smaller, warm hand took her elbow.
'Elizabeth.'
'David!' she breathed in surprise and unexpected gratitude.
'My name is Atraharsis,' said the Igogi slowly. English was strange to him. 'You must call me Atri. David does. It is good to meet you at last. David has told me many stories of your adventures.'
Shaw shook her head is disbelief.
'David taught you English?'
Atri nodded his assent.
'As I taught him Igogi. Five forms,' he held up his hand, five fingers erect. 'He has not taught me Spanish yet. I am very disappointed in his lack of discipline.'
'Atri was once foremost in his field. Neuro-biology. With a bent to linguistics, Doctor. He has been very eager to meet you.'
Then Atri bowed to her politely.
'I would like to practise my English with you. If you would indulge me. You are smaller than I imagined you would be.'
Elizabeth glanced at the top of David's head. In a moment of humour she put her hand on his shoulder and pulled him down. David made a surprised noise but then his face split into a grin.
'Better?' she said, in decent Igogi.
The big man laughed, a booming sound that shook her to the core.
'You are funny,' Atri said. 'We believe that stage one sentience begins with humour.'
Shaw shook her head mutely.
'There's a sliding scale for sentience?'
'Of course. You are stage one. I am stage three.'
'And...how is that measured, exactly?'
Atri extended his hand. He crooked a finger at his trowel. It stirred, jiggled and flew into his hand. He held it out to Shaw for her examination. She took it.
'No way...David. You're both in on this. You're teasing me.'
'I assure you, it's not a trick,' David said.
Atri smiled. He held his hands up as though he were holding a basketball. Energy sparked between his fingers. It began to spin, then glow. It became spherical. David put a gentle hand on the small of her back. He leaned in, fascinated. The energy ball coalesced into the ghost of a flower, then it solidified into a pink rose. Atri offered it to her.
'No way,' she breathed.
'Stage three sentience,' David said, delightedly. 'Command of energy...through the manipulation of particle physics. Atri has a special gland in his brain. Unfortunately...he isn't keen to let me study it.'
Atri's fingers brushed hers as he handed the rose over. Shaw inspected it.
'How is this possible?'
'The theory is quite simple-' David began.
Atri cut across him.
'I. Am. Magic,' he said, rather sweetly.
'Can all Igogi do that?' Shaw asked.
'No,' Atri said. 'Only the oldest ever receive the Gift.'
Shaw glanced at David.
'And...how long to Igogi live, exactly?'
Atri caressed the petals of his creation with one huge, white fingertip.
'I am eighteen thousand, three hundred and sixty two years old. And still as spry as the day I was hatched,' he smirked. Then he said mildly; 'perhaps we can study each other one day, Doctor Shaw?'
Then he bowed his head and left them.
'Oh, my God,' Shaw breathed, when he was gone.
David folded his arms.
'What are you laughing at?' she asked him suddenly.
'The last time I saw him demonstrate his power so openly, Doctor, it was for an Igogi girl he was courting. I believe that was a display designed to impress.'
Shaw shook her head.
'Did he?' David sounded mildly curious.
'Did he what?'
'Impress.'
'No,' she lied. 'Do you think they'll let us stay?'
'I believe they will,' he nodded. 'I have plenty of learning materials. And some local entertainments too. Would you like to see them?'
Shaw nodded eagerly.
000
Sinashi toddled around, grabbing rocks and worms and trying to eat them. Shaw laughed and took them out of his mouth and sent him walking off again. He disappeared around a corner. Shaw followed. She found him sitting on the ground, playing with the petals of a flower Atri had just given him. He tried to eat it. Atri plucked it out of his mouth with an affectionate touch to his cheek.
'Is he bothering you?' Shaw bent to cuddle Sinashi, kissing the top of his little bald head.
'No,' Atri gave her a bow. 'He is welcome here any time he wants to eat my flowers.'
Atri crouched.
'I see your face in his. But no Igogi Father?'
'The man who made him is dead,' she said simply. 'David is his Father now.'
Atri's shrewd, blue eyes calculated.
'My condolences,' he said.
He departed her company with the feeling that he'd stepped upon forbidden ground. He felt her watching his retreating back.
Atri wondered often about her after that, about who had claimed her. If she'd loved him, or if the baby had been an accident. He wondered about the boy, and the robot man who cared for them. Often he mused if she loved David, if her heart was free. He pushed it out of his mind for the sake of his job but still his imagination clung to it like a desire he couldn't shake for the weeks that followed.

TBC...soon! :)
- 3
- 4
- 5
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Butterflies