Excerpt #4 - Alien: Covenant Bridge – Fan Novel

This is the fourth excerpt from my Alien: Covenant (Bridge) novel project, which continues the Alien saga and bridges the story of Alien: Covenant (2017) with that of Alien (1979).

The Engineers’ ship with David and Shaw, January 2094

“Green to green, red to red,” David’s distorted voice instructs Shaw as she connects the broken wires in his throat. “It’s meant to be simple.”

“I’m doing my best,” Shaw replies. The situation is strange for her because she has never fixed a synthetic person before. Fortunately, David is correct. It doesn't take too much to get him back on track.

David turns his eyes to Shaw, who works on David's neck. “You’re very kind at heart, you know.” His voice is already normal. Shaw replies with a tired smile. David moves his hands and feet slightly to ensure the wiring in his body functions properly. There are no issues, perfect!

“Thank you, Elizabeth. I will take care of the rest.”

“Are you sure, David? I haven’t finished yet.”

“One hundred percent,” David smiles and sits on the berth slowly, with the loose synthetic skin still revealing the inside of his neck. Shaw steps back a bit. David senses her uncertainty about this situation. He smiles at her to ease her nervousness. After a slight hesitation, she hands the tools over to David. It doesn’t take long for David to finish his repair, still sitting on the berth. Once done, David looks at Shaw, grinning.

"Happy New Year, Elizabeth.”

Shaw laughs shortly. “Thank you, David. Happy New Year to you, too.”

+++

“How long?” Shaw asks David after lying in the sleeping pod.

“Impossible to say.”

“What if they’re no better than us?”

“So long as they are no worse,” David calms down Shaw. ”Sleep tight. I’ll wake you when we arrive.” The pod closes with Shaw inside. Shaw closes her eyes.

David spends a few moments watching Shaw fall asleep. He likes seeing her lying there, calm and defenseless. But David doesn’t dwell there for long. The extraterrestrial ship is like a pile of presents to him, and David can't wait to open them all. He leaves the ship’s command bridge for one of the long, dark corridors.

+++

The long walk through the “endless” corridors makes a wide smile on David’s face. He knew it would be worth it. The interior looks very similar to the one he saw on LV-223. Finally, he can explore the Engineers’ technology. The sleek, dark interior design is so different from Prometheus!

What is this door? David stops at an unusual gate at the rear of the ship. It draws his attention because its massive construction stands out significantly; it resembles a gate more than the doors he has seen on the ship so far. David stops at it, thinking. He wanted to scour the ship first before entering its rooms, but this gate piqued his interest. After a short hesitation, David approaches the gate's plate to make the opening gesture. He hopes the same he used back on LV-223 will work here, too.

But his hopes are dashed, this box of chocolates will remain closed for now. David steps back with a slightly nervous grimace. What now? Shall he leave it? But what if other doors have the same limitation? Traveling on a ship where you can’t enter any room is a terrible idea. David knows he can’t tiptoe around this problem. He notices his unsuccessful attempts have cleaned the plate a bit. What if the problem is just the dirt on it? David decides to remove the strange brown coating on the plate. He approaches the table again and starts cleaning it with his fingers, leaving an oily track on his synthetic fingers.

While removing the dirt, David notices the plate’s grooves start glowing orange. He tries entering a random gesture on the plate to see if anything happens. A deep, long sound fills the corridor, startling him a bit. David turns back quickly to check out the situation. Is anyone there? The corridor appears eerily dark.

And again! The corridor conveys an even deeper and longer bellowing than a few seconds ago. The lighting begins to change, its cold, blueish hue gradually shifting to warmer tones. Glittering particles “falling” from the floor up fill David’s surroundings. David turns back to the opening plate to pay attention to the corridor.

The corridor fills with unrecognizable voices, increasing in its intensity. Ghost Engineers start emerging from the darkness, moving toward David.

David watches the spectacle with joy in his eyes. It’s so familiar. He managed to revive the Engineers’ ghosts as he did on the buried ship on LV-223. Their presence illuminates the corridor even more. David clears the path to the opening plate promptly, watching the ghosts with interest.

One of them stops at the plate and enters the right combination of swipes. David watches the pattern of his hands with focus to understand the correct code. After entering the right gesture, the ghost gate opens, with its sliding wings moving slowly away from each other. The Engineers’ silhouettes start filling the virtual area inside. It looks like a giant hangar to David.

After the last ghost-Engineer enters the area, the ghost-gate closes. The session is over now, and darkness prevails again in the corridor. David watches the glowing plate. He approaches it quickly and enters the combination he saw a few moments before. He steps back a bit, watching the gate in suspense.

After a few moments, which seem like an eternity to David, the glowing plate changes from orange to blue. The inbuilt mechanism starts opening the gate, with David looking inside eagerly. He takes a few steps closer, standing between the just-opened gate’s wings now.

The gate is open now, revealing nothing. David stands between the gate's wings, looking into the darkness. His forehead furrows. Shall he enter the area? But what if he stays there, locked in a completely dark environment, without the possibility of leaving?

While David thinks through his options, the open gate clicks. Its wings start to close, with David still standing between them. Now or never! David must decide immediately.

David jumps into the darkness, leaving the gate behind. The gate closes with a soft thud. Luckily for David, the area somehow responds to the presence of visitors. Soft warm light spreads quickly in the room, unfolding a strange theatre in front of David’s eyes.

As the site gets more lit, David starts to worry. There are dozens of empty sleeping pods. Is there a nasty surprise awaiting?

David strolls across the sleeping pods, looking around carefully. The whole area is lit now. The scenery makes for a breathtaking experience. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of pods. Some are open, but so far, none host a sleeping Engineer, to David's relief. After a short walk, his sensors register a quiet, deep sound. He decides to find the source.

It doesn't take long, one of the pods is the "culprit". It's closed, and unlike others, it's also weakly lit inside. David quickens towards it, hoping for no complications.

His wish doesn’t materialize. Here we are again, David thinks, standing above a pod with a dreaming Engineer. His massive body lies in the pod calmly, with his chest heaving mightily. The breathing device covers most of the Engineer’s bottom face.

David watches the pod with a stern face. The Space Jockey continues sleeping undisturbed. But what if activating the ship eventually wakes him up? David knows he must deal with this nuisance quickly. He turns back and leaves the room.

After reaching the command bridge, he grabs the gun they took with them. It's a special one that can be tailored for use by a specific person only. David places the weapon in his right hand so that it "learns" the pattern on his skin. In a second, the gun emits a short sound. From now on, it will remember David, who will be the only one able to shoot with it. David checks it shortly and puts it behind his belt. To make sure, David also takes a knife, although he hopes he won't have to fight man-to-man. Then, he heads back to deal with the sleeping nuisance.

+++

After re-entering the room, David walks directly to the pod with the sleeping Engineer. Approaching the pod, he realizes the strange, low sound has disappeared. He pulls out the gun and cocks it, but senses no activity around.

When he arrives at the pod, David's face clouds. He now understands why the sound is gone: the pod is open, and its internal lights are slowly fading. Where is the sleeper?

David’s hearing sensors record some movements around him. He looks around to get a better overview. Strangely, he can no longer oversee the whole place as he did during his first visit. It appears that David is situated at the center of a light "bubble", overseeing nothing but darkness around him. But the activity doesn't stop. David hears moving and breathing.

David localizes the sounds in the darkness and moves towards them. After a few steps, he realizes that the bubble of light gets narrower with each step. A few moments ago, David could oversee the wider environment around him. However, the visibility decreased as if the Engineer had manipulated the light in some way. David takes two quick steps to the left to test it. Indeed, the light ring around him follows his movements and reduces again.

Moreover, the sounds are gone too. The light ring around him is already quite thin. He looks like a singer on a stage lit from above with a narrow light cone.

Finally, more sound. Somewhere in the darkness, the Engineer moved again a bit. David doesn’t hesitate and shoots into the darkness twice. A painful roar follows, at least one shot succeeded. David shoots again, but this time the bullet hits something hard and falls on the floor loudly.

With a simple 3D model of the room, quickly created in his mind, David sets out to find the injured Space Jockey. The light cone from above keeps him illuminated, whereas the rest of the place is shrouded in darkness. David holds his right arm with the gun stretched in front of him to be ready to shoot immediately if needed. The light around him is so narrow that he almost can't see his hand holding the gun. He stops his slow walk to re-evaluate the situation. It seems his enemy has found some refuge, because David can no longer hear sounds. He gets nervous and keeps turning around slowly.

Suddenly, the area gets flooded with a long, deep sound. The audio keeps vibrating through David’s body, overwhelming all his sensors. He feels his internal organs vibrate unnaturally, making even thinking hard. David falls to his knees, trying to plug his ears with his hands, still holding the gun in his right hand.

The sound intensifies, crushing David. The audio has taken control of his body, pulsating through him, making him lie on the floor powerlessly, further worsening his ability to evaluate what happens around him.

At least, he can register that the light around him widens a bit. The Engineer appears from the darkness. David, still lying on the floor and being crushed by the sound, must make a great effort to move his eyeballs a bit to oversee his adversary. The Space Jockey looks livid. His deep, completely dark eyes deepen the terrifying look. A thin streak of dark blood flows from a hole near the left shoulder. Strangely, the Engineer doesn’t look bothered by the sound. It appears the audio is centered on David only.

The Space Jockey approaches David and kicks him in the stomach with his left leg. The kick is so strong that it moves the writhing David a bit. The Engineer steps on David’s right wrist with his right foot. David feels the enormous weight of the Engineer’s foot. The overwhelming sound stops suddenly. David feels better now, though his body’s convulsions continue weakly.

Still standing on David’s hand, the Space Jockey squats down and starts releasing David’s grip on the gun finger by finger. His angry face turned to slight entertainment. David tries to prevent the disarmament with his left arm weakly, only to entertain the Engineer even more. The enemy smiles slightly now, being aware of his total control over this situation.

After removing the gun from David’s hand, the Space Jockey takes it, stands up, and steps back a bit. The end of the sound enables David to think normally again. The Engineer stands over David now, aiming at David’s head. His big finger holds the trigger.

The Engineer pushes the trigger. But the component doesn't move, and the gun doesn't shoot. The Engineer tries it again with greater effort, but the result remains the same. He looks at it to see if there's anything to do before shooting.

David, still on the floor, already feels better. The crushing effect of the sound has already disappeared. He wants to use the Space Jockey’s temporary distraction with the gun to get the knife behind his belt. Moving his right hand, which held the weapon, would draw the Engineer's attention. For this reason, David moves his left hand behind his back. Fortunately, he takes the knife without the Space Jockey’s notice. David holds the last weapon he has firmly in his left palm.

In the meantime, the Engineer has understood that the gun is blocked. He throws it away with a cranky grimace on his face. After that, he focuses on David again. He declines a bit, grabs David for his clothes under his neck, and lifts him.

The strength fascinates David. The Engineer holds him in the air without greater effort. Both men are now eye to eye, though David's legs hang in the air above the floor. David feels a slight flow of liquid from his right nostril. It also draws the Engineer's attention as he moves David's body, still hanging in the air, closer to him, apparently to investigate David's face further.

Being so close to the adversary, David no longer hesitates. With his left hand still holding the knife, he stabs it into the Engineer’s right eye strongly. The Space Jockey screams in pain. He releases David and grabs the knife sticking out of his eye with both hands.

After landing, David wants to get to the gun as soon as possible. He creates a simple 3D model in his mind to estimate where it landed. It shouldn’t be too far away. David stands up and takes a few quick steps to get it. The light cone follows him again while the Engineer screams in the dark behind him.

The moving light helps David this time. He was right, the gun lay only a few meters away. He lifts it, turns back, and shoots four times into the darkness where the Space Jockey struggles with his injury. The screaming ends, followed by a thud on the floor.

David moves back to the fight scene slowly, holding the gun in front of him. He’s not sure how much he has hurt his adversary. It’s still possible the Space Jockey could attack him again. For this reason, David wants to avoid an unnecessary ambush.

As David approaches the Engineer, the light cone slowly reveals the body. His opponent lies on the floor, jerking and wheezing. All David's bullets hit the target. The Engineer now bleeds from five shots on his chest. More blood flows out of the eyehole, too.

David stands over his wounded enemy, who lies on the floor, coughing out blood. The Engineer turns his head a bit to look at David with his only eye. Pain distorts the Space Jockey’s face. Blood flows from his mouth on his right cheek, dripping on the floor. It seems he wants to say something. David bows a bit to hear him.

The Space Jockey, jerking on the floor, gasping for air. The front side of his upper body is now covered with dark blood. The Engineer opens his mouth slightly. David bows a bit more, waiting patiently for the last words.

But there are none. Instead of talking, the Space Jockey coughs up more dark blood. The expression on his face changes to defiance.

David understands now that he won't learn anything from the dying enemy. He straightens up and aims the gun at the Engineer’s head. The Space Jockey, still looking defiant, coughs up more blood. David hardens his face and pulls the trigger. The bullet goes right through the Engineer’s forehead, creating another bloody hole in his body. The elevated Space Jockey’s head falls on the ground, leaving the extraterrestrial dead with a mad grimace on his face.

David stares at the dead body on the floor with interest. For a second, he doesn't realize the subtle changes in the area around him. The light cone surrounding David starts to disappear, and warm light slowly fills the place, revealing the surrounding pods. After a few seconds, David looks around, surprised by how the death changed the environment. He takes a small tour to check out if another Space Jockey is lurking there. To his relief, no pod hosts an enemy. After finishing with his inspection, David heads back to the Engineers’ ship command bridge.

After his return, David feels a slight pain in his belly, where he was kicked. A sign that his internal organs need repair. David won’t need Shaw this time, he will manage to fix himself. But it pisses him off that his body undergoes such “treatment”, possibly endangering David’s future functioning. He will also need to replenish the white liquid somehow. Fortunately, David has enough for the next few years, but he needs to be careful when using it.

You will find more information about this project (Alien Covenant fan novel) in my blog post.