Work Text:
Alarms started blaring and David 8, between one blink and the next, had already sprung up from the table and was hustling down the hallway.
He hailed Mother who informed him, in her emotionless way, that one of the human’s pods was having a malfunction.
“What kind of malfunction?” he asked aloud, though he didn’t need to. It felt nice to speak aloud to Mother, their voices the only ones besides his videos that broke the steady hum of the ship around them.
“Unknown. The human seems to be under distress.” Mother sent him the readouts of the pod right as he arrived at it.
Data streamed through his consciousness as his fingers moved in a blur, typing commands into the pod. Although he’d had issues with the pods before they were never anything like this. Never this sudden and out of the blue, they were always small blips that he monitored and dealt with once they had passed a certain threshold.
David wondered—something tightening in his stomach as if his porridge was bouncing around—if this would become the first human he’d lose. As long as it wasn't Mr. Weyland or his daughter, the rest hardly mattered to Weyland but still…
His lips pursed in a frown. No. David refused. He’d save this human. They’d reach LV-223 with zero causalities and no black mark on his record. Even if it was only for himself.
The human’s pulse was calming with the help of the drugs he’d injected but her brainwaves were still spiking frantically. Luckily he’d had the foresight to grab the dream helmet. Pulling it over his head, he was instantly transported into her dream.
“Wake up, wake up! ” a female’s voice echoed through the room. He looked around. It was a large room, with empty beds all in a row. The voice was coming from beneath one. “Fuck why can’t I wake up! ” It ended with a sob. Dark shadows drifted over the walls.
David made a decision quickly. It only took a few adjustments before he was visible in the dream. This was normally vehemently against the rules. Only Weyland and his daughter were to know that David was able to do this. The crew might get too agitated if they knew the resident android could peek into their unconscious thoughts.
However, he had an inkling about what the issue was and if it was true, this was the only opinion.
Softly, he called out her name, with the appropriate title. The sobbing stopped and David’s crystal blue eyes noted that the shadows that had been inching closer suddenly froze.
“It’s David, from the crew. I’m here to help.”
She shuffled forward and he caught just the edge of her eyes as she peeked beneath the bedframe before gasping. Crawling she quickly sprang up to her feet, reaching out for him.
David took a step back and held out his hands until she stilled. It would probably not be wise for her to attempt to touch him, if her palms went through his projection there was no telling what her emotional state could be. “Please, what is the matter?”
As if he reminded her, her eyes widened and she looked over her shoulder wildly. “They’re coming! We gotta get outta here!”
Lightly he put his hands on her shoulders. David hoped she was too far gone with fear to realize that his hands didn’t put any weight on her, or that if she moved his hands glitched through her skin slightly.
“You’re perfectly safe. This is only a dream.”
“I know that!” she snapped. “I just can’t wake up .” A noise behind her made her slap a hand over her mouth and let out a muffled moan of fear.
David resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He kept his voice measured and soothing. “You can’t wake up because you’re on the Prometheus. The ship is traveling through deep space. Your body needs to stay asleep and you’ve been given chemicals to do so. If you wish to escape this nightmare, you need to simply change it to something else.” He pulled his hands away and grasped them behind his back, a picture of perfect posture.
“Space…” she repeated, gaze distant as she thought it over. A shape appeared around the corner, dark and without definition but it made enough noise to be heard. It shook and growled as it made its way towards them. Closing her eyes, she took in a deep breath. “The ship…”
The mass was almost upon them. There was a suggestion of a foul stench in the air but sadly David couldn’t get more than that. He wondered how much more powerful it was for her. The dream viewing was amazing technology but still behind in certain aspects. The sense of smell was one of them, it didn’t translate very well.
David blinked and they were back in the ship, standing in the loading bay, back on Earth. He tilted his face towards the sun, enjoying it for a moment. This was the day the crew came to the ship, their home for so long until they made it back.
He straightened up just in time to see her flutter her eyes open and look around with surprise. David allowed himself a small smile.
“You did it, good job.”
The small praise would cause his ‘sister’ to sneer at him and other humans might brush over it or barely acknowledge it.
She stared at him for a moment in shock before she smiled wide. “I did it!” she cheered loudly, bouncing in place. Hungrily she looked around. “Where is everyone?”
“It’s a dream. You didn’t put any people here.” He pursed his lips. Her vitals were falling within healthy parameters and it was almost time to go. But first…
“Y/n.” She turned to look back at him. “Can you lucid dream?”
“No,” she answered back immediately. He frowned slightly.
“Lying is a big offense… there was a reason that was asked on the exam,” he said slowly.
She shook her head. “I can’t! Sometimes I can change certain things, like how I moved us from there to here but I can’t like… control big things. If I wanna fly I can’t and I won’t be able to bring anyone else here. It’s all random. Most of the time I remember it’s a dream for only a few seconds before something distracts me and I forget again.” She took in his frown and she frowned back. “Why?”
“The reason lucid dreaming is an instant disqualification is because it interferes with the deep sleep that our travel requires. The REM cycle is impacted and if you try to wake up as you’ve just seen, your body will begin to panic. Even if you can’t ‘control’ your dreams fully, the impact on your body is the same, at least for the systems that are working to keep you alive.”
“Oh…” she trailed off, biting her lower lip. “I didn’t know, I thought I answered it right.”
David took the time to take her in. She looked apologetic, her shoulders hunched and eyes downcast. She hadn’t exploded with anger or tried to shove the blame off on someone else.
It was more than most humans who seemed unable to take the blame for anything.
He resisted the urge to sigh. There was no need, the action didn’t bring him anything. Instead he smiled, lips tight, not showing his teeth. Some had said when he smiled with his teeth he looked scary.
“It’s alright,” he said softly. “It wasn’t your fault.”
“Will I… die?” she asked timidly.
“No,” David replied firmly. In that, at least, his mission was clear. What Weyland might do to her once he had to make a mission report to the man was another matter but not his concern. “We’ll just have to make do with what we have. It seems my presence gave you enough motivation to switch from a nightmare into a normal dream. If we need to do that in the future, we will do so.” He made it sound commanding, hoping she would follow along and not fight him on it. Humans so liked to argue or talk over him when he took the lead on something.
Normally they either offered up his exact same plans but in their own voice or something that was a thousand times worse than what he’d suggested.
To her credit, she merely nodded back. “That sounds good!”
“Excellent.” In his actual body, he started punching commands into her pod, hoping she’d fall into a deeper, dreamless sleep. “Until we meet again.”
“Thank you, David,” she said with a small smile. “I appreciate your help.”
Then she was gone and David was suddenly thrust back into his actual body. Slowly he removed his helmet, automatically moving to smooth his hair.
Peering down into her pod, he could just make out the lines of her face, the curve of her lips, the lines of her nose.
Pretty , some distant part of himself noted. David straightened, nose wrinkling just a tad at the thought. Nevermind, he thought. He’d continue on with his mission. Briskly he turned back towards the dining area to clean up the mess he made behind, mind already adjusting his schedules so he had extra time in case she had this issue again.
Privately, he was hoping it might happen again, it was so interesting…