Still in her head, Minerva could hear the thudding, heavy footsteps of the Engineer as he went walking to one side, the sounds of machinery coming to life echoed through the space as she laid, broken and bleeding to one side. She looked slowly to the side, the deceased body of Kate Ford laid beside her. The doctors brown eyes stared lifelessly at her, pupils dilated, body unmoving, Minerva turned and awkwardly blinked.

She didn't know where everyone else was. Everything seemed to have happened so fast. One minute she's beside Elizabeth, the next the Engineer has been woken up; confused, pale skin which glowed in the low light but with dark eyes that stared blankly at them. Her father had instructed David to talk to it, and talk to it he did; only none of them could've foreseen the action of the Engineer encasing David's head in his hand and bracing his other against his neck, and pulling.

Minerva remembered screaming something, she had dashed forwards just as her father was battered away and having her arm outstretched in...she supposed at the time, in hope of stopping something, it was grasped onto at the wrist. Her head snapped forwards, her eyes widened as she stared at the Engineer and it stared right back before placing a foot to her stomach, and kicking backwards. Minerva's arm became detached from her as she shuttled backwards, the momentum made her roll backwards off of the platform. She landed next to Ford's dead body and stayed laying there processing everything.

Everyone was dead. That thing had activated its ship, and thanks to earlier explorations, it was clear it was heading to Earth. David was right, to create sometimes one must destroy. Clearly the small number of representatives of the human race which had confronted the Engineer were embarrassing, a disappointment even? It didn't take long to figure out why he had intended to go to Earth, why that black stuff existed and who the intended target was. Minerva sniffed, she looked around, a few of the other bodies around her were those which were meant to be hired guns. They did a good job, didn't they? Her eyes widened, the space around her was not what it seemed to be, and the ship which was hidden underneath rock, was now flying.

She managed to lift her head, her chin leaning against her chest as she looked towards the strange structure which the Engineer sat in. But despite of how smooth the sailing was, it came to an abrupt end when the ship shuttled drastically to the side. Something had crashed into it and without total control, it fell downwards through the sky before the earthshaking crash of landing happened. Minerva lost control, what control she had, like everything else which wasn't strapped down, the Engineer being the lone one that was, she sailed through the air, it was like there was no gravity as her body became weightless and she just let herself go. While flying and falling through the air, she passed and crashed into other things, other things being the dead bodies of the crew before she landed heavily on the ground.

The thundering footsteps echoed out again, Minerva lifted her head again and saw the back of the Engineer walking out the room. Looking upwards at the dark ceiling, she inhaled and exhaled softly. Giving it a few moments, she sat up and looked around. Pushing herself to kneel with her one hand, she stood up and looked around herself. It was chaos, carnage even. She seemed to be the lone person standing, yet her eyes landed on the platform.

Jumping up onto it, she padded quietly over. "Hello?" David sounded confused, being just a head and part of a spine, he couldn't exactly turn and look around.

Minerva knelt, reaching out she turned him over. David blinked and looked over her. She smiled painfully, David went to open his mouth, only to shut it as she took to dabbing at the blood which was trailing from the corner of his lips. Minerva looked to the side, standing again, she walked over and knelt. Turning her father's body over, she felt her eyes watering as her mouth turned downwards. She knew he was dead, yet she placed her fingers to his neck. There was no pulse, nothing. Leaning down she placed her head against his chest and cried quietly.

David managed to turn his face a little, his eyes looking sidelong at her. "Minerva?" She sat up and looked over her shoulder at him. "Come here, come on." David said in a reassuring tone, Minerva crawled awkwardly over and collapsed on her side. She turned him over and looked at him sadly. "I am sorry," David said, he had the last words with Weyland, such as they were. The man had died quickly, he didn't seem to suffer.

"I don't know where my arm is..." Minerva said instead, David nodded, well, it was meant to be a nod, but it was more of a wiggle. She sighed and sat up, "I see your body, twitching about." Minerva reached over and picked David up. She sat cross legged and put him in her lap. "It looks like it's dancing," Minerva said, which it did. His body was reacting to having lost a part of itself. His arms tensed and flinched every so often, while his legs spasmed.

David looked upwards, "Least we know where that is." He said, not rising to her comments.

"Right," Minerva stood, she tucked David under her arm and took to looking around the room. It was awkward having to nudge bodies over with her foot, it was clear everyone was dead, but she didn't know if they were laying on her arm.

"Is that it?" David gave a strange nod, wiggle, in her arm and she followed his gaze. Walking down the stairs she rounded the platform and balanced David on the edge and picked her arm up. He watched her, she paused before doing so, yet lifted it up and looked it over.

"Need a hand?" She turned waving it at him, David rolled his eyes. Minerva brokenly smiled at him. David knew she was compensating humour for grief.

"Minerva-"

"I'm okay...honestly, David. We both knew this was likely to happen." Minerva placed her arm next to him so she could wipe her eyes and sniffed quietly. She reached out and pushed his hair out his face. "Oh, David...what are we going to do with you?" She smiled awkwardly, leaning forwards she rested her forehead against the platform. The coldness was soothing, but it was close enough to tuck her face against what remained of David's neck.

"Elizabeth is still alive." He cut the silence short, he watched Minerva lean back and look confusedly at him. "She is alive, and she's out there. I saw her run out of here when everyone...as long as he hasn't got her, then there is hope of being fixed, Minerva."

She pushed her arm forwards on the platform and awkwardly climbed up, kicking her arm along the floor she picked David up and sat down. Cross legged again, him in her lap and staring towards the door. "Then we wait for her." She combed her fingers through his hair, "We wait."

David's eyes flicked to the side, even with his limited vision, he could see that one side of her suit was stained with her blood. The suit was basically ruined, her vest underneath could be seen, so could the tattered, ripped skin of where her arm once was. They couldn't exactly die of blood loss, but it could hinder certain functions. Minerva was old, he didn't know how her system would cope with the violence which was sent its way, let alone the constant pumping blood leaving the wound.

"Should I maybe go find her?"

"No," David said, he didn't want Minerva leaving his sight. He worried she'd go forever otherwise. "Turn me to my body." Minerva did as she was asked and looked down at the head in her lap curiously. "Elizabeth, are you there? This is David." He spoke out, Minerva saw the light flash up on his suit, showing the intercom was still working. She looked at her suit, that part had been ripped off.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm here." Came the out of breath, distant sound of Elizabeth replying.

David smiled, he looked upwards, Minerva leaned over him and ended up almost upside down in his vision. David frowned, her eyes were looking blankly at him, darker too. "You need to get out, immediately. He's coming for you." David's eyes watched Minerva turn her head and look around as if she didn't recognise anything around her.

"Who's coming?" She asked, sounding confused. They lost contact for a bit then, although the sounds of struggling could be heard, it was fractured sound through David's suit, but it could be heard. Elizabeth's broken voice, her crying and pleading could be heard too.

"Elizabeth, are you there? Doctor Shaw, can you hear me?" David tried again, she had survived whatever had happened and now laid crying somewhere.

"Yes. Yes, I can hear you."

David smiled, "I was afraid you were dead." More for his sake and Minerva's sake than Elizabeth's.

"You have no idea what afraid is."

David's smile slipped, he looked blankly ahead at the corridor they were facing. He knew what fear was, what it was to be afraid. He had felt it when he caught a glimpse of Minerva being kicked to one side. He was afraid now, as she seemed to have gone still and silent, blood still leaving her. "I know we've had our differences, but please, I need to ask you for your help."

"Why the hell would I help you?"

David had to say, she had a valid point there. "Because, without me, you'll never leave this place."

Elizabeth seemed to scoff at that concept. "Neither one of us is leaving this place."

"It's not the only ship. There are many others. I can operate them. Doctor Shaw?" David didn't like it when he got silence, it made him suspicious. But perhaps the gambit, the promise of other ships and going away from this place had cemented her thoughts. "She's coming for us," David flicked his eyes upwards, Minerva gave a sigh and hung her head. "Hang in there, please."

"Everything is getting so...hard, David."

"What do you mean?" He asked worriedly, his voice pitching as he became ever more concerned that she was going offline. "Minerva? Talk to me, what do you mean?"

"Seeing, hearing...talking, touch...I feel so heavy." Minerva's voice was quiet, David looked around with wide blue eyes. Her faint voice was doing nothing for him as he could feel the sense of panic rising in him.

"Minerva, you have to stay with me. Minnie? Minnie!" David uselessly tried to turn in her lap yet failed to do so as she let out a long breath and then went silent. "Minerva?!" Shouting her name David had never felt such panic, fear before. Hearing footsteps, he felt relief come washing over him. "Doctor Shaw! Over here!" He shouted seeing the small figure flitting in the corridor.

Elizabeth faltered, she looked over the scene before her. Despite the bodies, and the stillness, Minerva sat, cross legged and unmoving, her head bowed, and David in her lap. Her hand rested gently against what remained of his neck, as her other arm laid beside her. Elizabeth's eyes widened at the silver blood pooling slowly around her. Yet she stumbled forwards.

Kneeling, she placed a hand on Minerva's shoulder and shook her. She lifted her head, "You came." Her voice sounded filtered, like there was a technical error and there was interference.

Elizabeth looked at her arm, or rather where it should be. There was a small collection of wires sticking out, all of which were leaking. "If you have something to tie them together, that will stem the flow." David looked up at Elizabeth from Minerva's lap. She nodded and patted herself down before pulling something out from her belt. Collecting the wires, she tied them tightly together. "It will be a few moments before it takes affect." David explained, but Minerva would soon be up. He hoped.

"Where is my cross?" Elizabeth asked instead, not wanting to humour David here. Although she had questions, lots of questions. She didn't quite know where to start, other than; Minerva was a synthetic? Did anyone else know, other than David, Weyland and presumably Meredith? This just seemed like one other thing that Elizabeth was kept in the dark over.

"The pouch, in my utility belt." David said, a little breathless while looking over to his body. The poor thing twitched every so often still as it was trying to clearly register what damage had been inflicted to it. Blinking, David watched as Elizabeth walked over and knelt down. "Even after all of this, you still believe, don't you?" It shocked him a little, he didn't quite understand, if he was to be honest.

"You never know how much you really believe anything until its truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death to you." The voice came from above him, David managed to turn a little and look up as Minerva seemed to come back to reality. She blinked and lifted her head up, looking around she looked up at Elizabeth. She smiled, although Elizabeth looked distrustingly back at her. "I am glad to see you are alive and well." Minerva said while sighing and standing slowly, David in her arm still as he smiled, agreeing completely there.

Overlooking her moment of quoting C.S. Lewis, David gave a sigh of relief, well, that was the action he was aiming for, all that happened was his mouth opened and shut. "Welcome back."

"Ah, yeah...back here." Minerva looked around at the dead and then back at Elizabeth when she started speaking.

"You said you can understand the navigation? Use their maps?"

That was news to Minerva as she glanced down at David curiously. Through tinkering with the system when they were in here exploring, she didn't know he had figured that out so quickly. "Yes, of course. Once we get to one of their other ships, finding a path to Earth should be relatively straightforward." He said while Elizabeth seemed to think over what he said, her eyes narrowing a little as the two synthetics looked at her.

"I don't want to go back to where we came from. I want to go to where they came from. You think you can do that, David?" Elizabeth asked, her voice low as she stared with an unblinking gaze at David in particular.

"Yes, I believe I can." He replied, in theory he should be able to. It didn't seem to be too hard really.

"Good," Elizabeth nodded then looked them both over before looking back at his body. Her eyes slid sidelong at Minerva, a one armed synthetic, and a disembodied head...it was clear when it came to moving David's body, she was doing it alone.

Minerva put David down gently, next to her arm. She stood straight and walked over. Elizabeth looked at her warily, yet she helped one handedly to tire cords and a harness around the body. Minerva frowned and shook her head, she took hold of the cords and commenced dragging. She got fed up and eventually leaned to sort of drag by the collar of the ripped suit. Elizabeth picked up her arm and David's head and followed silently after her. Getting to an opening, Minerva squinted out, why was it now the sun seemed to be appearing? Yet she turned and looked back at the human behind her. Dropping the body, Minerva helped Elizabeth brace herself and lower it slowly down and out to the ground below. She knelt next to David and watched as Elizabeth picked the arm up before awkwardly handing it out to Minerva. Holding onto it, she looked outwards.

"May I ask what you hope to achieve by going there?" David asked, after all that had happened, he thought Elizabeth would want nothing more than to go back to Earth. Clearly not.

"They created us. Then they tried to kill us. They changed their minds. I deserve to know why." Elizabeth said in a tense tone while she took to kneeling too. She looked out at the scenery while talking before focussing on the talking head.

"The answer is irrelevant. Does it matter why they changed their minds?" David asked, he seemed to be growing more curious by Elizabeth's actions as she replied to his questions.

"Yes. Yes, it does."

"I don't understand." David sounded confused as a small frown appeared on his face.

Elizabeth rested her arm against her knee and tilted her head. She looked blankly at David, her eyes even flitting to Minerva briefly before sighing. "Well, I guess that's because I'm a human being, and you're a robot." She reached out and carefully picked David up. "I'm sorry," she said while placing him down into a khaki bag she had bought along with supplies from the emergency pod that belonged to Meredith.

David smiled again, "That's quite alright." He looked around one last time before Elizabeth pulled the zip up. Inhaling deeply she glanced at Minerva, she'd been silent, leaning against the wall looking out at the sun.

"What if the answers you are looking for, aren't what you want to hear?"

"I won't know, until I hear them." Elizabeth said in a level tone while watching Minerva slowly turn her head to look at her.

"I hope you find what you're looking for." Minerva said while standing up. "The realisation of why you're alive, and what the reason for it is, can lead to disappointment." Picking her arm up, Minerva looked at Elizabeth squarely.

She stood and picked the bag up gently, placing the strap around her body, she stood beside Minerva at the opening. "Are you speaking from personal experience?"

Minerva tilted her head and smiled awkwardly. "Built to live, that was it. Or at least, that's what I always presumed and never got told otherwise. What...what if you were made for the same reason? Or, because they could? A byproduct even?" Minerva narrowed her eyes and looked at her arm, limp in her grasp as she sighed gently. Elizabeth stood watching her, listening to her genuinely, although she didn't really need to. "Maybe the human race was such a disappointment to them? But...people are often great at destroying things they love, maybe they saw too much of themselves in you. By saying that, does that mean the human race is a mistake? A disappointing mistake; an embarrassment to them, so to eradicate would be easier than to live with the reminder."

Elizabeth was at a momentary loss for words. She sighed and looked downwards before looking back to Minerva. "Too similar for our own good, I do not want to think that that is why they would choose to try and kill us." She paused, Minerva raised an eyebrow. "You're more understanding."

"Than David? Yeah, well...I was human, I understand more than you think." Minerva said while walking towards the edge and looking down. It was a long way, but it wasn't like it would hurt her if she jumped.

"You..." Minerva looked over her shoulder hearing Elizabeth trail off. She looked baffled, she looked Minerva up and down before following after her. "How?"

"Grief messes people up, especially psychologically. My father had the means, doesn't mean he should've, but he did and here I am. You know, despite of what you may have thought of him, and everything that happened, he was more switched onto your thoughts and feelings where Engineers are involved. He could relate, in a way. Only, face it...his legacy are things like David and I."

"He was basically the only one who genuinely took what Charlie and I were proposing seriously."

"Life interested him. He always thought we came from somewhere else, something else. You proved that to him. They didn't give him what he hoped. But I suppose he died knowing that in a way, he was right, along with you." Minerva smiled, "I thank you for that."

Elizabeth shook her head, "I don't think that is something to thank me for. I-"

"Gave my dying father his one real wish." Minerva cut her off with a small smile still on her face. "Everything that happened, happened...but we should go." She said while glancing down again. "I'll go first, steady the rope for you." She said while just stepping her foot forward and basically falling out the ship and downwards. Elizabeth looked out worriedly, yet to see her land in a crouch and look up to grasp onto the rope swinging in the breeze of the day. Elizabeth nodded her head, she checked the bag was safe before turning and inhaling deeply, with a jump she exited the ship and made her way downwards.

Minerva helped Elizabeth detach herself from the harness she attached herself to before picking her arm up again, and turning to the vehicle which was standing to one side. She sat in the passenger side, the bag with David's head in her lap after helping Elizabeth put his body in the back. She hopped up into the driver's seat, turned the ignition and with one last look behind herself, Elizabeth commenced driving forwards.

——

Edited: 17/June/2021