The wound deep inside her belly heals. Eventually the infection works its way out of her, and the pain subsides. She keeps taking the opium because even though the physical pain is gone, she still feels this hollow aching inside of her chest.
David tells her she is special.
"I'm not special," she replies. "A few people living a thousand miles away noticed me. That's all."
"But you are good at what you do."
"Lots of people are good at the same thing. It doesn't matter." She licks her lips, goes back to the opium vapor and inhales deeply. "You can be the best, but if no one ever notices you…"
His eyes flicker to her, draw the length of her and rescind.
She allows David to touch more and more of her until their nights are spent a mess of enmeshed lips, tangled limbs, panting as he thrusts inside her. She resents the strange bond they share between them, but at the same time she is thankful she's stuck with him and no one else.
He's not real.
She tells herself over and over and over.
But there's something deeper beneath all of it. He is more human now than ever.
They are five months, three weeks, and two days into the journey when suddenly she hears music. Not single note tones, not the music of a speeding ship but real jazz—soft cymbals, piano notes tinkering through the corridor. Her body stills. The shadows have been playing games with her for several months now and she's not entirely sure if she should believe her own ears.
She walks to the cockpit and finds David sitting there with his head tilted back, eyes closed in contentment. His feet are up on the console, his hands folded over his chest in such a natural way that it makes her feel like a wife coming home from work.
"What's this?"
"Her name is Ella Fitzgerald."
"How did you find it?"
"It is reflecting off a nearby satellite."
"Are you sure?"
Blue eyes open. His arms shift and he moves so he is standing in front of her. He holds out his hand, his eyes shimmering against the backdrop of the star chart. "I've seen people dancing in movies."
Her head tilts, a smile threatens. "So?"
"So, I would like for you to dance with me."
The corners of his eyes crinkle. Was he programmed for wrinkles? Was he programmed to be sweet and charming and just sinister enough to draw her attention? Elizabeth smiles and the muscles stretch in her face. "I don't know how."
"Come. I'll guide you."
She cocks her head and he mimics her. The sound of her laugh nestles into the corners of the room where everything is so hollow and dark, branching out like ivy and soothing the cold. Carefully she takes a step into him, allowing his left hand to rest on her hip as the other cups her palm.
He moves slowly. She is surprised by how natural he looks as he turns her and dips her, how comfortable it feels when he holds her to his chest.
You drove me, nearly drove me, out of my head
While you never shed a tear
Remember, I remember, all that you said
You told me love was too plebeian
Told me you were through with me and
Now you say you love me
Well, just to prove that you do
Come on and cry me a river
Cry me a river
I cried a river over you
They spend much of their time either in the cargo bay with the garden or in the cockpit. Elizabeth has moved the cot the latter, so she can fall asleep with the stars twinkling above her. It helps to remind her that she has a destination, that she is going somewhere with a purpose which is often hard to remember in the vast, black vacuole of space.
At eight months, two weeks, and five days, she walks into the cockpit from the garden to see David examining the holographic projection of a little girl. The girl's hair is blonde, but her eyes are a deep brown. High cheekbones, thin lips, a small, flat chin. She is the projection of what their offspring would look like.
Elizabeth covers her mouth.
"Isn't she beautiful?"
The hologram is sweet looking, too sweet and innocent to belong to either of them. She turns. Why does he do this? He must know how uncomfortable it makes her.
"I have read children are very fulfilling."
"They would die…"she chokes out. "Would you want that? Would you want to outlive your children?"
"I would deactivate myself."
He shakes his head and his blonde hair rustles. He moves with flaws now, as he has studied them, perhaps to make her feel he is more human but it hasn't changed anything. Deep down she will always struggle against the resentment.
"You are not the same, Elizabeth. You have changed considerably since our time aboard the Prometheus."
She stiffens, feels the strength of the wall behind her. She leans back and allows it to support her. Lately she finds herself too often using the things around her to help stay upright.
David looks at the hologram projection for another moment before finally turning it off. The girl flickers away and Elizabeth is glad for it. She closes her eyes, opens them again when she feels cool hands along her shoulders. His fingers squeeze, and in his manufactured blue eyes she sees a hint of wetness. Tears? For what? Her stomach lurches as she breathes against him.
"I did not call you here to show you the hologram. I called you here because we have reached our destination."
What? Her circuits overload, correct themselves, assimilate.
No, it's too soon.
Sweat forms around her hairline.
At one point she truly believed she could do this alone. What's changed?
"This ship has advanced technology that enabled us to get here faster," David says. "Would you like to see?"
He wraps an arm around her shoulders, almost like he is trying to constrain her, and leads her over to the star chart. He presses a few buttons and the computer generated image dissipates. The view before her is transformed, and she finds herself peering out through what appears to be glass.
In front of her is a planet of blue. Blue and green and white.
She stiffens. No, no, no. It can't be.
David's grip tightens and before she can move or even scream, he is pressing a paralytic into a vein in her neck. She feels the drug take hold of her system. Her legs collapse, but instead of hitting the floor she falls into David's waiting arms, and he holds her close to his chest. He is crying now. Full tears stream out from his eyes and roll of his skin onto her shirt.
He presses his lips to hers. "I am sorry, Elizabeth. I could not bear to watch you die."
Her eyes flutter shut and she feels no more.
Elizabeth's escape pod lands in the desert and within minutes of impact, planes and helicopters surround her. She hears the noise as she pushes the small aircraft open, looking out and she is blinded by the sight of the sun against the sand.
Earth.
She feels a tugging sensation in her heart; part of her hoped to be back here, but part of her didn't want to face it alone. Military police surround her as she looks into the sky and watches a small star explode somewhere in the atmosphere.
ONE MONTH LATER
She buys a house on the shore down in Virginia, in a small town where people aren't out and about too much. After her months in space she has found she no longer can tolerate large groups or crowds. Silence is best, and when she finds herself becoming too lonely she hums the tune that David hummed so often in the cockpit. She thinks of him constantly.
At first her feelings are those of anger; how dare he? It was her destiny, finding the Engineers was something she was meant to do. It was the only way for her to redeem herself. But then, as the days pass on, she realizes that she cannot blame David for the choice he made. Her obsession for answers was mirrored by his obsession with her.
In the morning she runs.
She's just setting out, on a Tuesday and the sun is breaching the horizon when she spots him walking towards her on the boardwalk. His hair is combed back neatly and he's wearing jeans and a button up shirt with a briefcase. He kicks up bits of sand as he walks.
Her feet slow to a stop.
It's not real, she tells herself. He died in the explosion.
But she blinks and when she looks again, he is still there. He moves closer and closer until finally he's standing right in front of her. His hair is black now but his eyes are the same clear blue. There is an imperfection (scar?) running just above his right eyebrow. She frowns.
"Elizabeth," he says and she knows it's him.
Her breath comes short and rapid. She touches his chest.
"They've disassembled all of the David-8's."
"Yes," she whispers. "How did you…"
"It was quite unfortunate. My escape pod landed in the ocean. It took four days for them to find me and five days for me to disappear again."
Her fingers curl around his wrist and he sets down the briefcase. Then his arm is slipping around her back, pulling her in close to him and she knows for a fact that this is her David. How did he find her? How did he escape? The entire generation of David-8's has been recalled. There's no way they could've just let him go…
"I will need to stay hidden."
Elizabeth wants to cry. Deep within her chest, she battles. Her hair rubs against the cotton fabric of his shirt and she steps back to look at him again. The black hair, the scar. He looks… completely human.
"There is an island in the gulf," he says.
"We'll go tomorrow."
They stand, facing each other, with his hand still resting on her back. Somehow even here on Earth, David manages to make her feel like it is just them—just them like it was on the ship and she has grown so fond of this feeling she doesn't ever want to let it go again.
"I've missed you," she finally chokes out.
He smoothes back her hair. "As have I."
The feeling is real, she decides, and that's all that really matters.
END