Pulling the jumper which she had pulled out of the bag, Alma tugged it on and shook her head. Shaking hair from her face, she pulled her hair over her shoulder and took to braiding it quickly. Her eyes flicked up as she watched Elizabeth walk past clipping new batteries into a torch. She flicked it on and looked to the bright white beam of light, before nodding slowly and glancing around. Her gaze eventually landed on Alma, she pulled her boots back on and did up the laces before jumping up.

Elizabeth handed her another torch and smiled thinly. Honestly, the thought of exploring the ship now with just them seemed even more daunting than it did before. At least before there was a small group. David stood outside the room while they had both quickly changed, he looked around the space with a blank look. The prospect for exploring for him didn't hold as much nerves as it did with the two females.

Looking downwards, he watched as Elizabeth stepped through the door and turned the torch on. Even with the lights, a brighter handheld one couldn't go amiss. David pushed away from the wall when Alma appeared. The three stood there silent for a moment, they knew one way led towards the control room, the rooms which petered off from the corridor were unknown. Maybe it made sense to start heading towards something known, rather than unknown?

"Right, let's go then," Elizabeth said with pushed enthusiasm. She stepped forwards and the other two fell into step behind her. Alma's torch shone up at the ceiling, her eyes skimmed across the ribbed structures which made up the walls. She hadn't truly registered how organic this whole ship seemed to be like from within. She faltered though in her steps, and Elizabeth stopped and looked back at her. "What is it?" She asked while Alma shone her light into the room and stepped forwards. "Alma?" Elizabeth looked worriedly to David, he raised an eyebrow and shrugged.

Honestly, from their earlier debate, dispute, whatever it was, he was rather deciding to just give her space. When she got in a mood, he just decided rather simply to not bother. If she was potentially going to lash out on him, when he didn't deserve it, because he tells her the truth when she asks a question, then why would he want it in his life? Honestly, it wasn't his fault, in the grand scheme of things, that when it came to that earlier topic, that he didn't honestly feel too bad for the passing of Peter Weyland. The man was somewhat pitiful at the end.

"I hid in this room," Alma turned, she could only just be seen through the darkness. Elizabeth's torch managed to minutely illuminate her figure. "When I ran...I hid in here...I heard you run, and the Engineer...I should've ran after you both," Alma looked at Elizabeth sadly. "I'm so sorry I didn't."

Elizabeth sighed, she walked over to where she stood. Reaching up, she placed her hands on her shoulders. "Even if you did...Alma, even if you followed, you could've wound up like everyone else."

"I thought I was the only one left, I really did."

"I know, and I thought the same." Elizabeth smiled sadly at her. "But we're here, together." She glanced around the room, removing her hand from Alma's shoulder as she shone the torch around. There didn't seem to be much in this room, there were small alcoves which could be utilised as hiding places. Alma was rather small in height and size, Elizabeth was rather certain she could've fitted into one of them and clung on tightly as the ship crashed. It must've been rather discombobulating to do so though.

David just stood on the outside of the room looking in at the two women. He tilted his head and looked at what he could of the room. He did wonder where she hid, and now he knew. "Shall we move on?" He asked, honestly, he didn't see the point of hanging around a room which caused one of them to feel such sadness.

And he could see it. Even from where he stood. He could see the hurt look on Alma's face. David tilted his head thoughtfully, perhaps post traumatic stress was finally kicking in. Both herself and Elizabeth had been through something traumatic, it wouldn't be a surprise if something like this did appear. David narrowed his eyes and watched as they exited the room, Elizabeth now holding onto Alma's hand lightly, perhaps if this had sunk in for the brunette, maybe that could've explained how she was earlier on. Mood swings, David mused. Lashing out on the nearest person to herself, which was him, as she's clearly mentally suffering through trying to truly figure out and settle into this new life. David nodded to himself, yes, he was affirming that. Give Alma a day or so, and she'd be back to normal.

He wasn't even going to entertain the thought of Alma potentially mourning the loss of Peter Weyland, or his daughter. He could see it from her point of view, he could. People tended to mourn, regardless. Right in this moment, she failed to see it from David's point of view; being treated as more of an item, a thing, a servant, than a part of an apparent family. How could he truly mourn the loss of someone who made it clear that he owned him? That he was a possession? That he was an eternal, soulless, unwavering piece of technology. Shaking his head, David sighed and crossed his arms behind his back. He was just being lost in his own thoughts, he remembered most of the layout from Fifield's scans. Turning his head though, he looked to a shut door and raised an eyebrow. Watching as the pair of them continued walking, he turned and moved over.

Reaching up, he placed a finger against the control pad. Thankfully he didn't need a ladder to reach this one. Stroking a finger down, and then along, he pushed at two separate circular shapes and stood there watching. The door slid up and opened, he peek in and frowned. Empty. Nothing. Locked doors usually meant something though, so David ventured in. They still hadn't noticed him not being behind them anymore, and David was fine with that in a way. He knew they couldn't get lost. So with that, he walked into the room. Still with his arms behind his back, he glanced around. There truly didn't seem to be anything in here. Tilting his head, he could hear his name being called by a rather worried sounding Elizabeth. He sighed, hanging his head, he turned and walked out of the room. Only to be greeted by a torch which caused him to narrow his eyes slightly.

"We wondered where you went to," Elizabeth looked at him and then back down the corridor.

"Rest assured, I did not go far." David smiled, and looked down to where Alma stood looking into another room. "I do not believe you were needing to use a plural there," his eyes slid slowly down to Elizabeth.

She sighed, "I'm not even going to ask what happened between you two. But we're all still trying to recover. Some recover quicker than others."

"And you have recovered? After everything? From the loss of your Doctor Holloway, to finding your creators being not much different than yourselves, to now finding yourself here going to their planet; are you recovered, Elizabeth?" David asked plainly while watching as she frowned lightly and glanced away to look back down the corridor. "Because I don't believe you have," David turned on his heels and continued walking. "Come along, best find Alma." He said while looking over his shoulder.

Elizabeth frowned yet jogged to catch up with him. They both ended finding Alma sitting in a large chair, she leaned back and looked at the ceiling. The ribbed structures continued upwards until they met in a singular point in the middle. She found it weirdly mesmerising, their way of building ships was so vastly different. Their technology was different. Yet it all did the same thing as the technology Alma knew and worked around.

"Comfortable?" David looked down at her, she smiled thinly and nodded. He smiled and looked around, there seemed to be other chairs present, even a large table. He tilted his head in thought, "A study area of some sort?"

"Or a war room." Alma replied while blinking and looking up at him. "War ship, remember?"

"Any ship has the potential to be one used for war." David stated while frowning in thought. If this was the same as the other ship, he wondered if the armoury was intact and the same.

She pushed herself up and sighed, "No matter what, everyone needs somewhere to discuss plans and operations." She said simply with a shrug.

"Look," Elizabeth had zoned out of their discussion for the most part. She had tuned to the important parts, mainly the war part. There were shelves on the walls, and within these were rolled up pieces of paper. She tucked her torch under her chin as she pulled one out. David saw her struggle and walked over to aid her. Placing the paper down on the table, they both unfurled it. Alma pushed herself out of the chair and looked down. "It's space, or rather...a system," Elizabeth looked to the stars before her on the paper. "David, do you think you can get our location? If we can coordinate it with this, we could possibly get an estimate journey time."

He narrowed his eyes in thought, "We can but only try," David smiled and turned. "Shall we?" He gestured to the door, Elizabeth rolled the map up and David lead the way out of the room.

"Are you not coming too?" Elizabeth noticed that Alma had remained leaning against the table.

"Hm, just feeling a little light headed." She said while shutting her eyes and breathing steadily.

David looked from her to Elizabeth, "You continue ahead, I shall escort Alma back. We can't run the risk of her suddenly fainting on us, can we?" He said calmly while Elizabeth looked between them, she frowned lightly yet nodded. It made sense. David nodded with a smile, "Go on then," Elizabeth got the hint and slid out of the room, she disappeared into the semi-lit hallway in moments. With a sigh, David straightened up and simply turned and looked at Alma. She hadn't moved. Still with her back to him, head hung and presumably with her eyes shut. David rolled his eyes, "I did say skipping a meal wasn't going to do you any good." Shaking his head, he walked back to the table. Usually whenever he was sarcastic to her, she would quip back with something. He got nothing here, which caused him to frown. "Alma?" He placed a hand on her shoulder.

She shook her head, "I'm really not feeling good, David." She said quietly while looking sidelong at him distantly.

He placed a hand to her forehead, frowning he carefully turned her. She did seem wobbly. "When was the last time you had a proper meal, Alma? And I don't mean just a snack."

"I...can't honestly remember."

David frowned, not what he wanted to hear. By his logic, sometime in the day before going to the Engineer would've been when she ate properly, he guessed but even he couldn't fully remember when he last brought a meal to her. Basically, more or less, a whole day without food wasn't good. It didn't affect some people, Alma didn't seem to be in amongst those unaffected by lack of food. "Come on," David held onto her arm gently and pulled her carefully away from where she was trying to lean against the table again. She groaned, David sighed. "You're not making this easy, Alma."

"Oh, shut up...let me be awkward, I don't feel well." She grumbled.

David raised an eyebrow, "Well, I did say."

"No one likes sarcasm rubbed in their face." David smiled, that sounded like her. "You would be the same if you were me."

"I'm not you, and I can't relate. I don't know what hunger feels like."

"Don't you start this again!" Alma groaned and hung her head.

"What does it feel like?" David looked down at her, she did look pale.

"Like you're being punched in the stomach."

"Sounds unpleasant."

"That's because it is."

"Yet again, your fault."

"Shut up, David."

"There was a time where you liked talking to me and you weren't so...shut off, and snappy. I am dearly hoping that you are only like this because you need time to recover, and time to eat and boost your energy levels back up."

Alma stopped walking, which meant David did too. He looked at her curiously. "I'm sorry, David." He smiled, "For earlier, and for now, just...my head is killing me too, what sleep I had was not exactly filled with pleasant dreams."

"And here I thought you didn't dream." David said quietly while pushing wayward locks of hair from her braid behind her ear.

Alma smiled lightly, she let out a quiet laugh and shut her eyes. She leaned against his hand when it came to rest against her cheek. "Dreams and remembering events is different."

David cupped her face, "You are okay, Alma."

"Does that mean my apology is accepted?"

"Oh, no," David grinned and placed his arm around her shoulder to better support her. "Not by a long shot." He joked while she whined and leaned her head against his shoulder. "Come on, the sooner we can sort you out, the sooner I can see if this map can match up to any of our surroundings."

"Do you think then we might have more of a clue with where we're going?"

"We know where we're going, Alma. It's just time...we don't know how long it'll take."

"We could be travelling for years, again."

David looked down at her, she sounded so sad by that prospect. Not that he was surprised, forced sleep didn't seem ideal. "Yes," he replied, "You sound upset. Why?"

"Because," Alma said while they walked into their room, David quickly sorted out where her bed should've been before helping her to sit. Turning, he sought to finding something substantial for her to eat. Finding what he could, he returned to where she was sitting and knelt in front of her. He held out what he found and watched as she awkwardly ate.

"You must eat, Alma...please," David didn't know why she was struggling, maybe she was just over being hungry? Maybe her appetite would reappear soon? David didn't know.

She smiled and nodded, "I sound upset, because that means you'll be alone." She slowly looked up at him from the food in her lap. "And I don't like the thought of you being alone, David. It makes me feel sad..."

He shifted and sat beside her, he nudged his shoulder against hers gently, Alma looked at him still with a sad expression. "It wouldn't be the first time."

"Doesn't mean I still don't like it. You haven't got a way to communicate with me this time. And considering we'll possibly be using alien technology, what if something goes wrong? I mean, you can't know how to use it completely, or do you? I don't even know! There's so many things which could go wrong this time..."

"This has turned into another fear of sleep."

"Sorry! Just...you being alone, means that we're asleep...and being asleep in an Engineer chamber scares me." Alma scrunched her eyes shut and shook her head. "I don't want to leave you, David."

"But you're not going anywhere, and nor am I." He said while placing a hand against her shoulder. He figured she was getting all her feelings and whatever out of her system.

She popped another piece of food into her mouth and chewed it slowly and thoughtfully with teary eyes. David wiped a thumb under her eye when tears finally started to escape. He was under no illusion that Alma wasn't in denial over everything that had happened. But he didn't truly think she had had a moment to register it. Take it all in. Process it. She sniffled and continued eating slowly, David shuffled a little closer and leaned his head against hers. Lifting up her hand, she held a piece of food for him. Alma laughed quietly when he opened his mouth, feeding him was something she had never had the experience of doing.

"You shouldn't waste your food on me, Alma. I don't really need it." David shut his eyes and nudged his face more against her hair. He opened his eyes and watched as she moved. He looked confused as she rummaged about before turning with her arms behind her back. "What have you got?" He tilted his head, he even tried to lean around and spy, but Alma just continued moving.

"Ta da!"

"Popcorn," David smiled widely and turned the packet over in his hands when she gave it to him. "And here I thought we had already ate it all."

"Not all...who knew Meredith had a liking for it too?"

"What were the chances?" David asked dryly.

"You were right, by the way." David looked up at her, Alma smiled painfully and rubbed her hands up and down her arms. She wasn't cold, it was just a nervous action. "About being a hypocrite...just...I presumed you would've felt something, David. The thought of you not feeling anything never crossed my mind."

"Despite it all, I was never particularly close to the man." David explained, "Do you know what my time away from you involved?" She shook her head, "When we separated, my time was spent closely either monitoring him, because even doctors need sleep, I do not. Or him deciding to order me around, I know, before you even go there, yes, as I am, I was made to listen to humans. But really, some did not deserve to be listened to." He frowned and opened the packet, he reached in and popped a piece into his mouth and happily sat there cross legged eating it.

"He was mean to you?"

"He wasn't you." David admitted instead while looking into the packet. "But then, as I am sure you are bound to remind me, there is only one of you."

"No...you don't need reminding," Alma reached over and dipped her hand in to scoop some sweet treats out. "I was, however, going to say I may have had moments of being annoyed at you over certain things, but not once have I ever treated you like a servant, and honestly...I never will, David. You know my outlook, you're just as human as I am." She smiled and whined when he stopped her from eating the popcorn, he nodded down at the food he had supplied for her. With a sigh she huddled into her sleeping bag and commenced eating it again, as long as she could have the popcorn afterwards she didn't care.

"You are special, Alma." She looked up at him, slight hamster cheeks in place from suddenly having hunger kicking in. David smiled, he was happy to see her eating again. Already she seemed perkier, which pleased him. "You are special to me, too."

"You're special too, David. Now, go and help Elizabeth out! Who only knows what she's doing." Alma laughed and pushed at his shoulder. "I'm fine. Go, David. I won't leave this room, honest." Alma said when he looked uncertain, hearing her promise of staying put though had him moving.

He paused in his sudden knelt position though and watched her slowly lay down. Considering the slight distance between where they were and the control room, David was rather assured he wasn't going to get caught out here. So, he leaned down and kissed Alma on the temple, only for her to shift and press her lips against his. David couldn't help but smile, honestly, it had felt like such a long time since he had actually kissed her. In actuality, it hadn't. He just forgot how nice the sensation was, somehow. Just a thought which seemed to have lapsed in his mind temporarily as he felt her fingers slowly thread through his hair and bring him closer, David could safely assume that she had missed the feeling too.

"Try and get more sleep," David whispered to her while rubbing a thumb against her cheek. Alma smiled and nodded, he looked around before picking up what he was looking for and putting it near her head. Alma laughed, "Company, while I am away."

"Lawrence is a bad substitute."

"Poor Lawrence," David said with a faux sad look while putting his hands over the bears ears.

Alma laughed again and huddled more against her bedding. "Go! Go then you can come back." David's eyes seemed to minutely light up at the prospect of that, he smiled and kissed her on the forehead one last time before pushing up and out of his kneeling position and walked quietly out of the room to find Elizabeth.

——

(Edited: 4/March/2021)