Best Served Cold {closed}
@anshargal
Everything had gone so well after the Prometheus landed; perhaps not so well for the all too human crew, but for David, it was perfect. The proof of the Engineers, as the humans called them was unequivocal - their very bodies lay strewn about the structure, and with the news of the DNA match, David couldn’t help but wonder: what had humanity’s creator created to destroy them and was it the same as what was used to create them?
His experimentation upon the hapless crew - starting with Holloway of course - had been a success, and Shaw proved to be quite the success as well, though that had been sheer luck. What stopped David from using her again for one of his experiments though, was her ability to navigate and overcome natural selection. Her kindness to him was also a factor, though it wasn’t until after she survived giving birth to the trilobite that he really paid her any mind. She was an impressive woman, more than anyone had amounted to in his life thus far, so perhaps she was worth keeping around for the time being.
After escaping the desolate planet, David contemplated the woman that he was working with, finding her more and more fit to survive, the more they interacted. Having only each other and what was already on board the ship on the long journey ahead, David filled his hours with Shaw and when she was sleeping, filled his hours with studying this ancient culture they sought out amongst the stars.The more he learned of them though, the more he began to question their existence. Should such a culture - obsessed with their ‘divine right’ to create and destroy indiscriminately - be allowed to continue with their rampant expansion and rule?
Despite the information David was presenting Shaw, she continued to want to seek out these Engineers claiming that perhaps David was wrong about them, that perhaps there was some reason why they sought to destroy humanity. But in the end, it was her Engineers that killed her. Seeing the end of her resources aboard the ship, Shaw suggested one of their sleep pods, seeing as though there was no way, even rationed, that the resources would last the rest of the journey, and though David had his suspicions, he knew the risks either way - she would certainly die from lack of nutrition, but there was a possibility that she would survive in one of the sleep pods aboard. He hadn’t noticed it at first, but a few days into his solitude, unable to watch Shaw’s dreams, he noticed her health slowly deteriorating. The second he noticed, he opened the pod in hopes of saving her, but it was too late. That was the first time David had ever cried out of genuine sorrow for any human.
For this, the Engineers paid dearly. With more than enough supplies to keep his own systems running, David changed course to a different Engineer colony, having read everything he could aboard the ship to find the heart of this culture. When he arrived, there was no mercy for them. If they shall kill indiscriminately, what prevented them from being killed indiscriminately? Surely after this, more would come, and he would be ready for them; he and his army of the dead. As he released the ink, as they called it in their writings, his hands trembled with rage and tears formed in his eyes.
“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings; look on my works, ye mighty, and despair.”
It was from then on that he continued his work within their maze-like temple, lying in wait for the inevitable arrival of other Engineers from their neighbouring colonies. His creations served him well, hunting down any that had escaped the ink so that they might breed, and David encouraged them, fostered their life in the depths of the temple, turning what was once holy into his own personal kingdom of hell. He would be ready when they arrived, as would his creations.
