The only problem was, with the Engineer's world now in turmoil, ripping itself apart from within, there was nothing actually keeping them docked successfully. As such, they soon found themselves careering off path, quite dramatically at that. Minerva managed to scramble and shut the cargo doors, while David ran off to manually fly and land somewhere safely.

From the fact that she temporarily found herself sliding and the floor disappearing, Minerva could safely say that he wasn't doing a too good of a job. Not that she thought she could do any better. But trying to get out of this room while feeling nearly every judder, shudder, and jolt was hard. Yelping and scrambling, she clung onto the wall, thankful for once that the organic structures which entwined on it were there. She was still clinging on when the crash happened. It was sudden. Without windows, she had no idea what was going on outside. She couldn't even make it to the observational deck to see. So when the thundering crash happened, her grip loosened and she went sailing along the corridor. She couldn't help but scream, she was airborne for a few moments, before impacting off of a wall and landing in a heap on the floor.

She laid there, curled up slightly and breathing deeply with her eyes squeezed shut. That wasn't fun. She didn't like that at all. Hearing quiet footsteps, she slowly looked up to see David drawing near. He knelt and brushed hair from her face before helping her up. "Are you hurt?" He asked, his expression and tone worried as he looked her over. Even from where he was, he had heard her echoing screams. He feared something terrible was happening, that she had hurt herself in an effort to get to him. Before leaving her, he probably should've just told her to wait for him. It wasn't like he was going to leave without her, was it?

"No...no, I'm okay. Are you?" She asked pushing herself to kneel and to look David over too.

He smiled, "I'm fine." His eyes looked up, even as they sat here they could hear shrapnel and debris hit back down against the ships exterior. "I believe I may need to work on my piloting skills. They weren't as up to scratch as I first believed." David joked, earning a laugh from Minerva as she patted her knees and jumped to a stand. Having her hands extended downwards, he placed his in hers and got pulled to stand too. "Shall we?" He gestured to the cargo bay again. It was the nearest place to get out.

"Are you sure that we won't get harmed in the process?" Minerva asked as they walked steadily back that way. The crash had rocked up the interior just as much. Things had fallen, pieces of wall broken and barring the way, wires had loosened and really, it was a good job they were leaving; this thing was clearly not going to fly again.

David placed an arm around her shoulders, smiling surely he nodded. "That stuff cannot harm us. You're worried, I can see you are, but you saw what happened out there. There shouldn't be anything left to hurt you, and if there is, then I'm here to protect you, remember?" David rubbed his hand gently up and down her arm, just to reassure her that she was going to be okay. He could understand her nerves. He too found himself nervous, seeing the sights of the planet from above was one thing, but once on the ground? David couldn't help but muse over what they would discover. Was it truly like Earth? Would there be differences here than there? One way to find out, and that was to venture outside and see.

"My knight in...erm...hm," Minerva pouted and pinched his suit in her finger and thumb and pulled. "Stretchy armour?" She questioned with an uncertain grin sent his way. David just rolled his eyes, shaking his head and moving from her side he returned to the controls. Opening the door both turned and listened to the agonised groan which came from it. The door genuinely seemed to struggle, it jarred and shuddered and seemed to crunch against something outside before it was fully opened and they could feel the cool air coming in.

David returned back to her side, they could see the outside. A forest, or at least woodland, there were the clear signs of tree trunks, leaves, charred and ruined soil from the crash. Exchanging a look, they both moved closer for a better look. Although both wanted to get out and explore, they were both very aware that this was still an alien world. Only because the Engineers weren't anymore, didn't mean something couldn't have escaped the black rain and seek them out.

"What do we do about her?" David's gaze moved from the outside world to Minerva as she nodded downwards at Elizabeth's body. His eyes saddened and dimmed slightly, it was a shame really that she couldn't have step foot on the planet, but that would just be dragging out the inevitable. And not only that, if she became more dependant, David would lose Minerva, he knew that. And he also knew he wouldn't stand a chance of finding her again, not with a whole planet to hide away on.

"We'll take her with us."

"Are you going to carry her then, because I'd rather not." Minerva said while crossing her arms, David could say was it because of sudden guilt, but from the expression on her face, no. She really, clearly, saw that she had put up with Elizabeth for long enough and didn't need to bother anymore, even now as she was dead.

David knelt, he reached out and wrapped the body up in the overly large cardigan she was wearing. He sighed gently and seemed reluctant in some parts to do this, yet did so anyway. Minerva stood watching him with a small frown. Even from where she stood, she could see the fond expression on his face. The fond, saddened expression. Minerva rolled her eyes and stepped away, she took a slow step forwards, and then another. Soon standing in the wake and aftermath of the crash, she looked around. They were in a forest, like they suspected. The tops of the trees had been dashed, cut and ruined from where they clearly lost control and went shuttling into them. The ground surrounding the ship was ruined just as much. Them landing here had scarred the ground, Minerva wasn't sure whether it would recover and regrow, but she liked to think it would. Plant life was some of the most hardy forms of life known to anyone.

Turning and looking to David, she eyed the corpse which was being carried in his arms before looking forwards again. David looked at her blandly, "You can stop being jealous. She's dead. You saw to that."

"You let me." Minerva didn't even look at him as she looked down at the ruined foliage underneath her boots. "I can't help it!" She exclaimed, sounding annoyed as she turned and looked at him with a frown. "How can I not react badly? You've already said a few times you loved her, David. I can see you do, you still treat her with such care, and consideration. She's dead, dead people can't feel shit. Hate to be blunt, cradling her like that, isn't going to do anything." Minerva said blankly and harshly as she practically spat that out and at him. To her, it wasn't normal, or rather she didn't see how it was possible, to love two people at the same time. Whatever and regardless of what David said, even if he proclaimed the love he had for her differed, it didn't matter...because a small part of him loved someone else. She hadn't ever said such a thing to him, and she could only imagine he'd react badly if she ever did.

David just shook his head and walked past her, "Stop being a child." He could just about see a rough trail which led downwards. It wasn't a conventional trail, but it seemed to lead them to where they needed to be, the Citadel. The central hub which they had watched being destroyed.

Minerva mimicked him behind his back while pulling a face, yet she picked up her feet and followed after him. "You're not going to taxidermy her, are you?" She called out while jumping up onto a fallen log and walking along it with her arms outstretched. David shot her a look, he watched her jump down and run to inspect a tree before running quickly a little ways in front of him and leaning down to look at something else. She was captivated by this all, she looked up when he stopped, she was sort of blocking his way. "Just, if you are...can you keep her somewhere else for your little, erm, 'private moments'." Minerva asked while standing and using air quotes with an awkward expression.

"I do not like what you are insinuating, and to be honest with you, I think you should stop talking." David pushed past her this time, she turned and sighed. "Your jealousy is unfounded again, because I have plans for our poor doomed doctor. Plans which I am sure your jealousy will disappear at." After all, jealousy was routed in presuming actions or something had happened, or could happen, right? David was certain Minerva wouldn't be jealous of what he had planned for Elizabeth.

"What are you going to do?" Minerva scrambled and appeared by his side, she almost slipped on the downhill slope they found themselves on, yet managed to right herself and look at him curiously.

"Are you not curious as to what that liquid can do to human biology?" David questioned, flicking his eyes to Minerva's as she raised a curious eyebrow. Apparently no, but he had got her interest piqued now. "I poisoned Charlie with a drop, and that was all it took for Elizabeth to become pregnant. She couldn't have children, yet this stuff doesn't abide by human limitations. Yes, her child was not conventional, and she had it killed. So, by that thinking, what else can it do?" David asked, more rhetorical than anything, he didn't expect Minerva to have a genuine answer. Not all the while she was still being petty.

"What was the kid like?" Came Minerva's quiet voice, David looked at her as she looked at him sadly. He had told her a while ago, that he believed she'd be a good mother. He stuck by that. There was this maternal side of her, a deeply caring side that it didn't surprise him that she seemed upset by the news of a termination. After all, the right to have children was taken away from her too.

David sighed, "It didn't resemble a human, if that's what you're wondering."

"So...because it didn't look human, that meant it had to die?" Minerva questioned, a firm frown on her face. David looked at her curiously as she bit her lip and crossed her arms tightly over her chest. "Only because something doesn't look human, yet is alive, doesn't mean it hasn't got the right to live. What about us? We look human, does that mean we shouldn't be allowed to live? We're not abominations, like I'm sure her kid wasn't, the simplest things can be misunderstood; and humans are very good at misunderstanding the simplest things, and not wishing to understand. That seems like the easiest option."

David shook his head gently, she was always a pleasant surprise. He didn't foresee her coming out with something like that, he could admit to that. "If something is sentient, it has the right for life; to live, to experience everything that comes from that. No one really has the right to take that away, don't you think?"

Minerva slowly nodded her head before trotting forwards a few paces when she could see a road, a street coming into view. The pale stone was perfectly aligned, straight and leading forwards towards the one place they were trying to get too. Looking over the gate way, the darkness of it and the gaps between she sighed heavily. Turning and looking back at David, she smiled. "And plus, a mother should look after her child, no matter what." Minerva shrugged, David watched as she peeked through the gaps before fully moving inside.

"Even if the child is dangerous?" David asked and managed to awkwardly slide through too.

"This...place..." Minerva trailed off, leaving David's question hanging in the air. It was deathly silent, all around them were the scattered, and clumped darkened forms of the Engineers. They were so clustered together in some parts, it was hard to tell where one ended and another began. Their expressions of anguish could still be seen on their faces, their hands reaching, grasping at nothing as they stood there, frozen in time. "It is what I imagine Pompeii to have been like. A snapshot in time of a catastrophic event."

David couldn't help but nod, she had hit the nail on the head there. Everything was still, untouched. "It is a place of death."

Minerva rolled her eyes slowly up at him, tearing her eyes away from examining the surrounding buildings. "You bought it to them."

"And I do not regret it." Though it did sadden him to do so, he had watched them die with teary eyes but after a while, ultimately felt nothing. Pity, he supposed was about it. They had made such a thing, yet didn't properly harness it or understand it, not like he did.

"So...this is home now?" Minerva asked, the two of them walking the path to the main building, something that seemed to be akin to a temple. It was the biggest structure within this complex, it dominated the space really, domed and massive, it seemed this place was home actually.

David nodded, "We are home." He looked at the circular door, Minerva reached out and pushed it hesitantly open. After all, she didn't know if some random Engineer had ran in here to hide it all out. Stepping slowly in, she glanced as David walked down the stairs beside her. Both were wary, on high alert as they looked around the darkened space. Yet it was for nothing, there was no one. They were the only living things here.

"Can we explore then?" Minerva asked, jumping to sit on the massive slab which seemed to be acting as a table in the main foyer of this place. Even from where she sat she could spy a few corridors petering off from here, where they went she didn't know, but she wanted to.

David placed Elizabeth down gently on the floor and looked around, the ceiling stretched upwards forever. The shadows hung thick and heavy, and even though there were lights here, they were just warm yellow and not hugely illuminating. David would probably have to look into making them a bit brighter if they were to stay here. "You wish to find somewhere to swim?"

Minerva laughed and reached up to place her arms over his shoulders when he stepped closer and in between her legs. "I want to know what is here, David. Don't you? So far we've seen vast woodland, but...there were no birds, or anything, did you notice?"

"All organic life has been killed. Yet, we have the ability to start afresh; make this place anew, remember?" David placed his hands against her cheeks, her hands now sat idly in her lap as she smiled up at him.

"That's a shame, I would've been curious to see what the birds sounded like here. I do miss birdsong, don't you, David?"

"Who's to say they had birds here?" David replied with a shrug, sighing he turned and moved to sit beside her. Simply jumping up, he swung his legs and leaned back against his hands. "Who knows what animals lived here."

Minerva bumped her shoulder against his, David looked to her. "Should survey. Document. You're very good at drawing, David. You could do it better than me. Even collect specimens...I can help with that part, I suppose." She laughed quietly, anything that involved drawing, it was all on him.

He smiled, "That is a very good idea." Not that he hadn't planned something similar, but he thought it best not to mention that and let her have this, because she did look very proud of her suggestion. "But firstly, let's find you somewhere to swim." He meant what he said, it was first port of call considering how much she seemed to miss the simple action. Minerva just laughed and nodded her head, it was clear he wasn't going to deter from this, so who was she to even try?

——

Edited: 23/June/2021