David sat, one leg crossed over the knee of the other as he readjusted the pen in his hand; resting in his lap was some paper, he was using a clipboard to keep all his papers in place for the time being as his pen momentarily paused. He looked upwards, he had always found interest in anatomy, it was sort of hard not to; what organ did what, what did it fuel and how did it work? Not only that, there was something also atheistically pleasing about the human form.

He had said he was going to draw some of the fruit and greenery which was growing within the garden space of the ship. David had always been curious over things which grew, it was perhaps stemming from the fact that that was something he didn't do. He was never small, he didn't grow up, he just came to be. He existed, just because someone made it possible. That thought alone was forever bittersweet.

However, digressing from his thoughts, he had told Minerva he was to record some of the things which were on the ship, the foliage being one thing. He hadn't done it as yet, why not now that he hadn't got Elizabeth to keep track of? It was somewhat freeing, no longer having to play carer. He forgot how restrictive the feeling of servitude was, he didn't like it. Never again. He wouldn't need to do it anymore, Minerva wouldn't expect him to do things, or even ask things of him; not things he didn't already wish to do, or take part in.

He just so happened to be drawing the growing plants and fruit in the garden room, just as she seemed in her own bubble using the continuous flow of water to shower. She didn't know he was there, he had silently found her; he had watched her from the shadows before moving in and sitting down as she turned her back to him. He didn't understand really why she was washing herself, they didn't sweat, there was no reason; maybe it was just a human trait Minerva never got rid of?

His drawings of fruit had slowly turned and he was soon drawing her instead. How could he not? Her body was pleasing to him, not that he was that shallow; he had grown to love her as a person, she was his soul mate, they mirrored each other and they accepted each other for who they were. But the way in which she moved, watching her synthetic muscles move underneath her skin as she ran her hands through her hair had David tilting his head, he sketched her, trying to get the movement in his drawing. He definitely got the detail, his eyes looked at the page and he listened to her pattering footsteps as she clearly turned around.

"David!" Minerva exclaimed, he merely looked up with an innocent smile. Minerva pushed water from her face and padded over to him. He lifted up his hand, the blanket which she was going to use as a towel was beside him. She took it and wrapped herself up in it before kneeling in front of him. David hadn't moved from his sitting position, putting the last details in his drawing before looking at her. Minerva tilted her head, "Can I see?"

"It isn't finished." David said, Minerva smiled at him, David sighed. She wasn't budging, turning his paper around he showed her. She looked over it, David had just got a smile from Elizabeth from the drawing he did of her. But of course, this was so much more intimate. And the thing with David's drawings was that they were so detailed. It was like a photograph. Minerva wasn't sure how she was meant to feel over David sneaking in and drawing her while she was showering. But it wasn't like he hadn't seen her naked before, was it?

"I can't draw," Minerva said after looking and then up at him, David smiled fondly. He kept his clipboard and drawings to his chest as he just smiled at her still. He was rather pleased in some respect that she wasn't completely weirded out by him doing this. The human body and how it moved interested him, it just did. Sure, she wasn't human, nor was he, but they were made to look like their creators, vanity at its greatest.

"I am certain that is untrue." David said, he stood and held a hand out to her. Minerva put her hand in his and he helped her to stand. Looking around, he reached down and picked up her abandoned clothes and tucked them under his arm.

"David, you were and are the more creative one out of us. That's why father liked you the most, I think." Minerva said while they walked side by side back down the corridor. The frown on the blonde's face seemed to indicate otherwise. Minerva sighed, "Okay, it was because you really were like the son he never had, but even still-"

"If he treated his son like he treated me, then I would pity the human." David said while his eyes slowly looked to her, Minerva looked at him sadly. "I believe you could draw, would you like me to help you?" David asked, his tone tense as he smiled hollowly.

Minerva sighed, mentioning her father was a hard thing for David. She guessed it always would be. Turning into the room which Elizabeth had used as her living space, Minerva smiled and nodded. "You can try, David. But I think my creativity lies elsewhere."

David put her clothes down on the table, along with his clipboard before smiling at her. "You have a beautiful singing voice." He knelt down and cleared a space, he seemed to have it in mind to get her drawing, it was something which would pass the time, wasn't it?

"See, that's the thing, I bet you could sing too. I mean really sing, David." Minerva said, she rubbed the blanket more against her skin before simply dropping it. David just looked at her with a thoughtful look, his eyes followed her hands as she dressed herself. Pulling the sleeves of her suit up, she managed to pull the fastenings up before smiling down at him.

"Perhaps," he paused, watching her sit down next to him with a curious expression. "Perhaps if I help you with this, if we see if you can draw, you can do the same with singing?" David looked at her as she grinned and nodded. Reaching to the side, David picked up a piece of fruit which Elizabeth never ate.

By now the doctor had been asleep for roughly several months, maybe a year or so, give or take by David's calculations. He for one was now just counting down until they arrived, Minerva wasn't so restless now. David smiled at her as he found a clean piece of paper and put it in front of her. It just seemed she was jealous of Elizabeth and himself, that she didn't like David's attention being elsewhere. David understood, he did.

Tying her wet hair up and off of her neck, Minerva took the pen from him and gave a little fidget. David sat and watched her, they were designed to be better than humans; to be sharper, quicker, see things which humans couldn't otherwise see, to be able to do things humans couldn't. Even if that meant being able to draw a piece of alien fruit.

David had to admit, no, Minerva wasn't as good as him. He somehow thought because she hadn't succeeded like he thought, if he could back out of singing lessons? Minerva laughed at her bad attempt at drawing, she turned and placed a hand to his shoulder. "Sweetheart, you succeed where I don't. I don't much feel like singing right now, can we just...talk?"

David smiled, "We always talk."

"We don't always talk," Minerva said with a wry grin, David looked coyly down at his lap and nodded too with a smile. His attempt at looking rather innocent about the other activities they got up to failed, mainly because of the quiet laugh which came from Minerva. Without Elizabeth present, whenever they wished to show affection, they just sort of did. In here, because why bother going elsewhere in the ship now?

"No, that is true." David said at length, Minerva just smiled kindly at him. "What do you want to talk about?"

"I saw the map," Minerva said, David frowned slowly. By now the location of the Engineer home world had appeared. "We'll be arriving there soon." She stated, sounding a little nervous.

"Yes. Yes, I suppose we will be. You're wondering what the plan is, aren't you?" David asked, she nodded and turned to look at him. The bad drawing and the attempt to do anymore was forgotten about as there was more pressing matters at hand. "We will need to wake Elizabeth up. It is only fair she sees what she has come all this way for." David said, which was true, he saw it as unfair to take this away from her. Just like Weyland wanting to see the Engineer, in a foolish hope of it saving him; it was only fair Elizabeth saw her creators, before both met their demise.

"We can't really take that away from her, can we?"

David raised an eyebrow at Minerva's sudden bout of concern. She sighed and looked at her lap, "No. No we can't. But, then, we will need to part ways. Our good doctor...she has been so kind to us, this is the least we can do. She will not survive long without sustenance."

"A mercy kill then?" Minerva asked, watching as David looked at her sympathetically. Yet he nodded, "How?"

David frowned, not really thinking too much on the particulars, he shrugged. "I'll leave that to you, I am sure you won't make her suffer." He narrowed his eyes at her, getting the hint across. Despite of everything, he didn't want Elizabeth to suffer. After all, hadn't she suffered enough already?

"I'll make it quick." Minerva said, sounding promising in her tone. She could see that a small part of David did care for the doctor. Even if he said otherwise, a small part of him did care. Minerva was sure he did, he had spent so long with her...

"We will roughly be arriving in two days." David bought her back to reality, she blinked and looked at him uncertainly. "We've got to wake her soon, Minerva. She was already weak before going to sleep, it'll take her a while to wake up and get used to being up again." David said, Minerva got the hint. He was suggesting waking her now, or commence to, he knew Minerva was probably apprehensive about having Elizabeth awake again. But this was going to be different.

When it actually came to waking Elizabeth, it wasn't as dramatic as what Minerva thought. David leaned down, pressed a few buttons, lifted the lid and sat back on his haunches and waited. Elizabeth took a while to come to, her eyes slowly opened, she coughed and with help from David rolled onto her side. She didn't have anything really in her system to bring up, but still something surfaced.

"Easy, Elizabeth, easy. We are soon to arrive, I would've left you to sleep more, but you need to get your strength back." David explained in a kind, quiet tone. He saw Elizabeth's dark eyes open and look at him confusedly, it seemed like her memory was trying to catch up with her.

"After all this time, we've finally arrived." Minerva said, Elizabeth slowly got helped to sit up by David. He rubbed up and down her back, she inhaled deeply and nodded. "Are you excited?" Minerva asked, she even helped David to get her up onto her feet, she was wobbly but they relocated her to the seat near the controls.

"Excited, scared...surprised," Elizabeth said while wincing slightly. Her voice was hoarse, tense even as she let out another cough and looked at the two of them. They seemed no different, of course they weren't. They wouldn't suffer the affects of life like she did. Sighing, she looked around, turning to the controls, she nodded. She had already done one message, although of a musical nature, she reached out.

"What are you doing?" David asked, naturally curious as Elizabeth suddenly looked determined and serious.

She sent him a small smile. "I am recording one last message. It seems only fair, seems we're almost there, right?"

Minerva sat down, she watched the doctor skim her hands over the controls. "It's only fair, isn't it? Just in case anyone ever finds us, they'll know what's happened, and where we are." She glanced at David, he knelt beside her with a small sigh.

"Yes, but...I'm not sure what to say." Elizabeth admitted, her hands pausing and looking up at the pair. It seemed the more she sat there, the more she had come around. She didn't seem hugely affected to the long sleep she had inflicted on her again.

David shrugged slowly, smiling he looked around and then back at her. "It's a holodiary, say anything you want." It honestly could be anything, wasn't that the point of diaries? They could just be anything? He had skimmed through her journal, admittedly, it seemed to be all nothing and everything. Why was she struggling now?

Elizabeth nodded taking that into consideration, she even looked to Minerva, she smiled and nodded at her. "Okay, so...we're on our way to a new planet. We don't have any idea what we'll find, maybe a new home. We're going to need all the help we can get, so if anyone ever sees this, come find us..." Elizabeth was very to the point, honest yet informative. The likelihood of someone finding them though was slim, something which neither of them were mentioning. With a sigh, she stopped the recording and looked at them. "What've you been doing since I went to sleep?"

"David tried to teach me to draw." Minerva said with a smile, Elizabeth smiled too and leaned back in the chair. "It was a failure, may I just say. I think he got all the creative talent."

"And you, David?" Elizabeth asked, looking to the other synthetic as he crossed his legs, getting more comfortable. She was curious, she didn't know how long she'd been asleep, she guessed a while.

"I have kept track of our journey. Dating and keeping a record, I hope you don't mind, but I wrote these in the back of your journal." David said, looking sincere, Elizabeth just waved a hand with a smile.

Absentmindedly her fingers reached for her crucifix and she played with it, turning it in her fingers as she sighed and looked at the map behind them. "What do you think we will find?"

"Sorry?" David perked up, straightening up and placing his hands on his knees. He looked curious as to where this sudden deep question came from.

"Them, their home..." Minerva said with a small frown. Elizabeth couldn't be having cold feet now? Not now when they were days away, getting closer by the moment?

She opened her mouth and went to say something, only to pause. Her eyes went back to the synthetics, both looking at her with concern. "When we get there. The closer we get, the more I wonder...if we're really supposed to meet our makers, our Gods." She said while pausing midway to think over her words before looking between them.

"I met my creator. Peter Weyland. I met him, and I served him...but in the end he was unworthy of that service." David responded, sounding honest about his answer as he looked down at Elizabeth with sad eyes.

"I was made to replace the daughter he lost. That was my lone purpose in existing, it seemed. I tried to be a good daughter, but I am uncertain whether I ever achieved that." Minerva said, biting her lip as she frowned at her lap.

"You both resent that." Elizabeth could tell, their tones weren't hateful, or resenting, but they sounded displeased.

David frowned and shook his head. "How can I? I was made for service..." He trailed off and looked to Minerva. "Without being made, I would never have met Minerva." David looked back at Elizabeth, she shifted a little uncomfortably, mainly because there seemed to be something a little darker to his words than what he meant. David smiled, "We don't dwell on such things though, Elizabeth. Instead, one can grow to aspire..."

Elizabeth looked curious, "And what do you aspire to, David?"

David didn't reply, mainly because the ship suddenly groaned. He looked over his shoulder at the map, he frowned. They had arrived sooner than planned. Regardless, he stood, he aided Elizabeth in standing before watching Minerva jump up too. "I believe we've arrived." David said slowly, with a frown he looked at the two females as an echoing sound suddenly filled the windowless room. Like a drone, a long drawn out rumble; like a foghorn, or a call.

"Come on!" Elizabeth looked excitable, both synthetics watched as she shuffled out the room quickly. They followed after her quickly, she had quite a small amount of speed going in her pace, which was surprising considering she had only just woken up.

"I'm sure they have landing protocols in place, and communications. If we open the correct frequencies to-"

"I want to see them," Elizabeth cut David off. She suddenly seemed exhausted, like walking had tired her out. She wobbled a little on her feet, Minerva stood beside her, reaching up she steadied her by putting her arm around her.

David looked at the pair, Elizabeth's pale appearance as her fingers picked up her crucifix again; he smiled and nodded, her eagerness and never ending faith was something to truly behold. Likewise, so was Minerva's sudden bout of care in steadying Elizabeth. "I think you should to the honours." He replied gesturing a hand to the controls, Minerva let her go, she stood and watched the doctor shuffle away and over to the controls David was near.

He stood and watched her hesitate, Elizabeth frowned and looked up at him. "And if they are no better than we are?" She asked, even glancing back at Minerva.

David put his arms behind his back and looked at her with a soft smile. "So long as they are no worse."

She seemed reassured by this, smiling she commenced using the controls. The entire floor, or at least that's what it looked like, commenced spiralling and opening behind them. David glanced over, Elizabeth turned on her heels and awkwardly walked back over. Minerva was nearest to the door and just looked downwards blankly. She didn't know what she was expecting, but she wasn't expecting somewhere so grand. The buildings seemed rather ancient, like something which would be found in Rome; sandy pale in colour, but it seemed to appear a relative of their home world. Earthly clouds, oceans of rich, deep blue, grasslands of emerald green foliage; honestly, it was too much to take in really as the three of them stood there looking down.

Elizabeth looked downwards with teary eyes, she would say it was the wind bustling up and against them, but no. This was all she could have ever asked for. So many emotions were running through her, she reached down and held onto both synthetic's hands. The three of them stood there, the last three survivors as they took in the amazing sight below them.

David turned and looked down at Elizabeth, "Is it what you imagined?" He asked, truly interested as to her answer. For him, he found it rather uninspiring. Just like Earth.

"So much more...so much more," Elizabeth said, her voice breaking as emotions were still running high for her.

"I am sorry to see you cry." David said. Elizabeth looked upwards truly confused looking by his words. She didn't get an opportunity to question him because a hand appeared around her neck, and just like that, with the flick of her wrist, Minerva snapped her neck.

Minerva loosened her hold as Elizabeth's body fell with a dull thud, her eyes were still looking out the door, David however looked at the body, then at Minerva. "You were right to distrust me the most. Probably shouldn't have been so concentrated on you, David." Minerva's eyes slowly flicked upwards to him.

He reached up and placed a hand to her cheek. "'To what do you aspire' is the correct grammar, by the way." He said, looking down at Elizabeth and correcting her mistake. "You, my dear, didn't let her suffer. I am proud of you, for keeping your word."

Minerva smiled up at him, "The poor creature needed putting out of her misery. Dragging it out would've been pointless."

David looked at the world below. He lowered his hand from her face and just looked blankly at the bustling civilisation, even from this height he could see figures loitering around, looking upwards. David imagined they'd be confused as to why this ship has returned. With a sigh, he shook his head and smiled at Minerva. "Better to rein in Hell, then serve in Heaven." He said, looking over to the controls and walking over. With the simplest of eases, he pushed the button and looked upwards as the urns suspended above slowly moved into position to get dropped.

Minerva's eyes watched as urn after urn moved and fell through the opening below them. "99 red balloons, floating in the summer sky. Panic bells, it's red alert. There's something here from somewhere else. The war machine, it springs to life. Opens up one eager eye. Focusing it on the sky. As 99 red balloons go by..." Minerva sung out happily, nodding her head to the tune she was singing as she watched the chaos erupt from up high.

It was chaos. Simply put, that's all it could be described as. The Engineers below would've been going about their business, none the wiser to what was looming until it was too late. As the urns crashed to the ground, or even before that; catching sight of the cylindrical objects caused panic even before they crashed and exploded on impact. Mass panic as figures pushed and pulled, ran and scurried trying to get away from the inevitable.

But there was no escape from this. This was death, and no one could outrun death, not even the creators of humankind. The shattering of urns caused the volatile liquid within to be freed. The black substance was all encompassing; ferocious, angry, fast moving and devouring anything in its path. The black rain hailed down, heavy, thick, looking like splattering ink as it consumed whatever it landed on. The Engineers recoiled, they fell, they flailed and screamed; the black rain continued to fall, like a curtain at the end of a play, thus closed this act and the Engineers were no more.

——

Edited: 18/June/2021