Alien: Covenant Official Collector Edition Arrives May 27th!

o man o man o man

"Unexpected source" ?

Walter, perhaps?

I am stoked and look forward to this and the "making of the film" Doc that will come out as well with the DVD release. 

I need to get a third job to support all the cool film memorabilia I plan on purchasing this year hahaha

"But the biggest danger may perhaps come from a more unexpected source…" a Predator? Oh my! Imagine that..

Unexpected source = James Franco

The whole mission is to infect the sleeping colonists and bring them back. 

Snoopy would be a most unexpected source.

"Unexpected source" ?

Shaw?

@David007

Walter? dont be a plum..... joke ;)

Yep i was inclined to think so too, but i guess it could be anything really, as its a vague piece of information that is ambiguous and it gets us to speculate a lot..

I dont want to be doing to much digging here in case of spoilers ;)

But i think the movie is set up to make us think of the obvious... but will actually have a twist..  i can maybe gauge a bit more considering clues from the Source i had... if they are correct.. as they mentioned one Person in particular would be showing Rebellion, Retribution and then Redemption as a Story Arc.

i dont think we need names on a post card as its quite easy to figure out.. lol well they actually said this was regarding David.

Then we hear the interview about him having a soul.... then we have all the other ones about him being Dangerous, Creepy having a Agenda... while Walter is a Straight up Company Robot...

That means he sticks to a Plan.... David is a rogue agent and has free will... this means he can act Bad and Evil.. but then also can Act Good...  where as Walter would have to follow Company orders.... Just as ASH did.

There are other clues in our Faces that i would discus for maybe another thread...  ;)

But this book will be on my Birthday Wishlist as a late present..

I hope the Prequel book to AC also has Artwork etc.. so we can create a vision of what the Novel would be telling us about as a guidelines..

Yup the unexpected Xenohuahua will come and sneak up on you in the dark and pee on your leg melting your foot off.  Right after he small mouth punches you in the nuts.  They're fesity little buggers.

If i read into it we have to look at the Synopsis and Question how did they end up on Paradise anyway... pure coincidence and pot luck?

We have to assume this tease, means more than unexpected as in the Aliens encountered....

The crew are expecting a inhabitable World... the Synopsis claims its Uncharted....  this does not mean it was or was not there intended destination.

The Synopsis says the worlds only inhabitant is David... this does not mean to say the Crew do not expect to find David.

They maybe know he is there.. or dont...  I think if they was to know about Shaw or she sent a SOS or what ever, they would be expecting her and have many questions when they find her.

So the movie seems to point on them finding David, and maybe they discover what happened to Shaw latter, maybe they was expecting Shaw to be there? Who knows..

But it seems to be painting the PICTURE that DAVID is behind it all.

They arrive at a Place where only he is the inhabitant, they may have questions about how he got there and what he been upto... this is regardless if they knew he was there.. or found him by chance after arriving.. it does not matter...  but regardless.. the Crew would have.

*Questions and Suspicions..

They (Fox and Fassbender) had said that Walter does not trust David and so he will raise more Questions and Suspicions about David.

No soon as Hell Breaks Loose... the crew would then be more inclined to be Suspicious of David...

So everything would POINT to David being the Culprit and main Threat and cause..

"But the biggest danger may perhaps come from a more unexpected source…"

so i think this comment, will rule David out.... also the Monsters but show us someone else behind the Monsters or who has a motives that gets the Crew into trouble with them.

The Engineers would be unlikely but who knows..

So Walter, or some member of the Crew with a hidden company Agenda gets my vote.

I wander if indeed, we would be led to think David is the Villein... but it ends up being someone else....  Right now a lot of people could be pushed to thinking it would be David... and David kills Walter, and swaps places with him etc....

But maybe we find out Walter is the Evil one, and David REDEEMS himself...  This would set up the next movie where David can come clean about how he got to Paradise, who the Engineers are etc....

Fits in with the Source when they said Davids Arc... we see Rebellion, Retribution and then Redemption.

I bet this movie is about David's Journey hence the Prologue Scene... i would bet that David 1 Proto-type has his memories and experiences transferred to the David 2 Proto-type, then 3 then 4 etc... right until David 8.... these Prototypes are Weylands Personnel Son 

David would thus be Immortal to a degree.. something Weyland would want for himself... but its a gift his Son has.... the transfer of Memories and experiences... gives David his Soul.

Unexpected source=themselves?

talking about the Neomorphs? 

 Franco is the villain, you heard it here first.

Unexpected? Has to be the Spanish Inquisition ;)

I believe the synopsis is saying it is an unexpected source for the colonists, i.e. David, not unexpected for us...

Unexpected source is everyone.  They're all robots except Walter.

If there are two more films in the works, I would like to see David's arc continued through it though I imagine it might not go all the way through this film. 

Walter could be the "Ash" character by the end of the film. Weyland would be very interested in the Prometheus where abouts and perhaps they intercepted the transmission. There are so many variables to consider but I like to see who is the behind the Company and running the show now. That would be interesting.

So I'm a little confused. Is Alan Dean Foster writing stories that take place before and after Alien: Covenant?

(In addition to the Alien: Covenant novelization?)

@BD This tweak to the synopsis should further allay your fears about the movie being a fan service horror/monster movie.

The mutagenised outcomes are going to be entertaining and sound inventive to me but the centre of gravity is David and he ain't gonna start and finish the movie in the same place.

He has seen the devastation he caused to Shaw whose outcome maybe pre ordained from the Prometheus events. 

He has seen what happens to a superior species and possibly made a judgement. 

He then experiences, and this is a point I have been emphasising since the spring of last year, the machinations of the newly formed company.

He has more insight after ten years of this superior species and what they have done in terms of moral relativity than any of mankind.   

He is on THE journey (the straight line into the narrative) so to make him the Blofeld of the sequence seems trite.

The question for me is he will have travelled so far does he finish where we started in order to deal with the unexpected threat and accept mortality having gained a soul.

If it does comes from mankind/W-Y the unexpected will be the character representing that view. It would not be unexpected that it is W-Y but whom it is would. The Covenant does set off for deep space and is not intending to return to earth. Someone will see the potential of weaponising the mutagen and change the course of the Covenant and be one of the Covenant breakers.

Rebellion, retribution and redemption would have worked in Pandemonium but the same path is possible through a more grounded narrative in Covenant.     

Unexpected source....spore pods? 

Pre ordered this, the two novelisations and The Art and Making of Alien: Covenant....can't wait to feast my eyes!!

Indeed Michelle...

I think they have had to get back to the Alien connection more, but it seems its not so much a Alien connection as far as to show us the Xeno and how and why and when... i have a feeling Ridley is misleading us a bit about this.

It does seem its going to be more of a Spaights type draft, less Engineer connections but concentrate on Mortality Tale from Davids perspective.

I still hold hope for some of it to touch upon and give hints to the Engineers and what Prometheus was doing and found... but i think the next movie is where maybe they will have DAVID come clean about such stuff...

i think the Prequel Novel will focus more on the things that are not covered post Covenant arrival.

I have hope this wont be a complete Fanboy Popcorn flick and i dont think it would answer how the Xeno came to be any more than Prometheus did for those who studied it in depth....  what i mean is i think it would be ambiguous to how the Eggs are created....  Its basically going to go the same route as Prometheus clues just set differently and add Xeno Alieny movie to it.

So it would be like say if Milburn Chest Busted a Chest Buster like Creature that then grew and killed 1-2 people, if Fifield was more a Xeno-Hybrid.... and then the Deacon came after Shaw and Vickers and killed Vickers but Shaw got away....

This would gave Fanboys a more Alieny movie... and if a Milburn Chest Buster was closer to the Xenomorph and killed a few people it would provided clues....

Basically the Engineers had this Goo, in those Urns that is connected to the Xenomorph and can create Hybrid Organisms that are similar....   

***And so....... The Goo must have either created the Xeno in the past or it evolved in the future.... or the Goo comes from the Xeno.

If Prometheus was made more Alieny then thats what fans would have gathered.... without actually being shown the Original Xeno and Step by Step creation...

Well the route i highlighted *** above i feel is a similar way that AC Covenant is going to go.... the interesting aspect is the Eggs... but again i think its going to be left so Ambiguous that we would not be able to say...

*They was on Paradise Prior to David.

*They was something that he evolved.

*They was something he created from scratch via many experiments until the end result.

I feel it would be left that ambiguous for sure.

Because and SPOILER.....

From what we have seen it seems like its a Group of Colonists come to Paradise for some Purpose.... the World is infected with something connected to Xeno DNA (Spores) which are likely a result of Black Goo.... (very flawed when you consider what really would a mass outbreak do... see Fire and Stone).

We get 2 Crew Killed giving birth to the New Monsters, we see TWO Crew on the Lander are killed also one attacked... one blows ship up....

We get 2-3 crew hunted by those Monsters....

One Crew will be exposed to a Egg... (by David/Walter)  the Xeno will get on the Covenant (rescue mission) most likely while still inside Cudrup?  Maybe (again potential flaws as far as Shower Scene) unless the Chest Buster Stage sneaks on-board and those who make it to the Covenant think there is no more threat.

This Xeno then kills off 2-3 more crew before its blown into Space....

Those are the Fanboy Xeno elements... i cant see there being more to it than that, due to Crew Size..

Unless...

*UN-Credited as yet Crew like Prometheus Mercs and Mechanics

*Some UN-Credited as yet Crew also get Face Hugged no more than 1-2

*We see some kind of Egg Morph event.

Otherwise we end up with as i said.

3-4 Deaths by Alieny Hosts

7-8 Deaths by Alien Monsters

1-2 Deaths by none Alien Monsters.

@BD

I am not sure I agree with you about the origin of the 121.

You are tending to deal with whether the evolutionary connections all add up (they do as much as they need to this is science fiction). My interest is in the philosophical issues as Ridley said "Why would you make such a thing"

The catalyser has been tainted. It creates certain dysfunctional super creational outcomes the results of which are highly unsympathetic in their behavioural outcomes.

Hammerpedes from worms.

Super aggressive destroyer Fifield from Fifield.

Deacon (the forerunner a good base point) from two species with shared DNA. What does the Deacon lack mechanistic qualities. 

and so to Covenant.

Elements of the Ecosystem have been corrupted taking certain base targets along the same road as Worms to Hammerpedes. Think of ordinary base creatures with similar characteristics to a face hugger (they exist we have discussed this) or the cute little miniature pyramid shaped spore carriers.

Then some one shapes all of that knowledge into a weapon  creating the Biomechanoid 121 the endoparasitoid extraterrestrial species. Who might create such a thing mankind or David. I think David's curiosity has witnessed all of the out of the box outcomes but the Covenant do not meet the 121 when the reconnaissance crew lands, thats why you have these evolving sub creations so its going to be perfected during this movie, why thats what the film is about (imv) and its the person or persons that wants to perfect the weaponising of the mutagen that it is huge threat to 200 sleeping Colonists ? 

After all remember what the man who wrote the screen play said.

"If you’re doing an Alien movie, and telling the story of the Alien monster, you’re going to have, at some point, a face-hugger and a chest-burster-that’s the biology and creation of a xenomorph."

If we have a bridge novel leading on from Prometheus and a subsequent film then I believe the story that was created by Prometheus in its position of prologue will provide answers as to who and why... and a lot more besides. You cannot effectively offer the equivalent of two films and not tell part of the story you set up in the first instance.  

Curiously because there is a prequel book we now know what the Covenant comes into will be given a story. We will learn through David enough about what happened on Paradise to understand the danger to the Covenant in the film. Why what the Covenant deal with is in place, will be elaborated in the novel. One of the outcomes is a developing creature has to be part of both elements. 

Its not a side story, a tangent its a prequel that indicates narrative  but it also and particularly the book will offer exposition.

Those are not predictions no other view point makes sense. You do not write a bridge novel unless you have story to tell. What is that story its about what happened immediately after Prometheus and before Covenant.  

I agree Michelle...

I think it seems the Spores are the result of the Black Goo, i would not doubt think David would be looking to study the effects of the Goo regardless of if there are no Engineers when he arrived or if there was and he had a role in ending them.

After they arrive on Paradise, no matter how many years David has been there so thats upto 10... i think he surely would want to be carrying out his own investigations and experiments.

And so i think he would have been manipulating the Evil Biology.

The big question comes from the Xenomorph Eggs... i dont think they are or could be created during the process of this movie, i just dont think its that plausible.. within time frame...  as far as Covenant Crew Land.... There are no Eggs in the Cave... then those Eggs are created/appear and Cudrup gets Face Hugged.

I would assume they have to had been in that Cave prior to the Covenant arriving....  i think they are the Evolving Creature to a degree..   These Eggs. Face Hugger etc are slightly different... are they a Retcon? or just similar and either a re-creation or something that evolves to the Xenomorph in Alien.

I think it depends how we read into Ridleys Comments, because he claims its Evolving on Paradise, he claims They Made it (Engineers) but could be they made the Evil Biology that leads to the Xeno.  Ridley then said we would find out why it was Bio-mechanical and a Weapon and to me those dont quite fit with a David Re-creating or even creating such things.. maybe re-creation could work?

Was Ridley hinting that this Monster is not Bio-Mechanical yet, and the Big Chap will not be as Mechanical as the 1979 Alien... or does he mean that other creations from the Black Goo in the past which include the LV-223 Outbreaks are not Mechanical/Synthetic looking ..

UNTIL a Event in Alien Covenant.

if they are going the route that Xenomorph Eggs dont exist prior to Alien Covenant, i think its a risky step... one that then maybe puts the Derelict and Space Jockey event as happening after the year 2104...   but then we have to ask about the Fresco in Prometheus... but as the egg one was hardly seen, are they going to just ignore that this even happened and Engineers had knowledge of the Eggs prior to the Prometheus mission?

I actually think the movie will tease things in such a way that it would leave us unable to Answer if those Eggs in the Cave are.

*created by David and evolve to those in Alien

*created by David but are similar to those in Alien (not the same)

*have been on Paradise prior to David...

*Or leave us to still think the Derelict event could be Ancient.

I think the movie will point us to the above but in a way where there is no set 100% answer....  but in a way that give us something to think about as far as those Eggs being created after the events of Prometheus... and maybe related to those in Alien...  but in a way that we are left asking.... 

*are these the progenitor to the Alien Eggs.....

*are they similar and created a long time ago..

*or are they similar but re-created recently i.e post 2094

You and I both know Ridley as a director, as an artist, avoids the obvious "its to on the nose". 

In that regard I understand the point you are trying to make that the 121 Alien being constructed in Covenant is to "on the nose".

With the mutagen he has given us the back drop to everything that has come about. It has a "strain" within it which leads to all the things I have described. How does that "strain" come about. Now thats where the mystery lies and may stay a mystery. I have offered Punishment (Prometheus) a booby trap. If you go up against mortality expect to get bitten on the bum.

David, and I think David is THE story, and Walter context, and some stuff in a recent interview with Michael encourages me in that thinking.

He is a robot created by mankind (but not to quote Michael entirely "buttoned down"). Why ? to cheat mortality, Peter Weyland makes that entirely clear, but again your pressing up against the rules of creation, be careful what you create when you wish for immortality.

Now within the mythos what other creature has been created, something not flesh and blood, but more mechanical something which cheats mortality or was created to cheat mortality. 

David and the Biomechanical 121 share a good deal. As David is a replicant of his creators so might the 121 be a replicant of its creators.

Have we met the creators of the 121, the Engineers may have stolen from the creators and worshipped their version (the deacon) and it seriously bit them on the bum. The Deacon is merely an off shoot.

Now David knows the Deacon (which he re - instigated) results form an act of theft. He has perhaps meted out retribution on the race that stole the life force from the creators.

David maybe ready now for the next part of his journey to find the creators, those whom robotised themselves. (Its a many layered story RS) 

What David might not have calculated on is W-Y and there short term reach and desire to attain this mystery and, being who they are, viewing it primarily as a weapon. 

The W-Y contingent will see how the Goo wrecks havoc (spoors and the like) and attempt to control it. 

David may wish to close this weaponising down and be an unusual alley of the other creationist expert on board. If they survive he may decide the journey should continue and seek to find those whom robotised the ALIEN culture in the first instance.

Why is it bio mechanoid the same reason that David is a move in that direction, to go up against immortality.

So no we will not reach the creators of the A L I E N just the bio mechanical version. This gives context and frames the 121 story and leaves how a weaponised version came to be on LV426 for a later date.

Ridley has said he will answer why it is bio mechanical and why you would create such a thing, but that does not mean we arrive at Alien origins, the who.     

Fully agree with a lot of what you said, i wont go into detail about what i feel is going on...

I do think all these Alien shots in trailers and poster, are to get fans to see the movie and there is a plot that is not quite shown in the trailers that they are keeping secret... That related to a connection between David and Mankind, and the Engineers and their creators..  But there is so many ways this could be explored but i think it would be done loosely and we only find out as much about the Engineers and purpose etc....  like as much as we was shown in Prometheus about how there was a outbreak and loss of control of the Bio-Weapon 2000 years ago.

I think Ridley will not answer as i said before much of the stuff but tease things to open us up to maybe TWO or THREE outcomes but we wont be able to figure out which is the correct one... i.e those Eggs are they the same, related, created after or prior to the ones in Alien... it would be as ambiguous as when people try and ponder which of the Hammerpedes or Deacon will go onto the be the Alien... or if its neither than how does that Mural fit...

its ambigious... and you could not work out if the Deacon or Hammerpede lead to the Alien Eggs... the only way it does not is if you still view the Derelict as thousands of years old.

and its that view that would make people not see AC clues to the spores, those Eggs, what ever David is revealed as doing...  and make people think they cant connect to Alien because Alien happened thousands of years ago..

But it will be shown in a way that will make them question... "or are they going to show us Alien and that ship and Eggs happened after AC?"

As far as your comment Michelle on the Creators of the Xeno being a Race who created the Engineers, yes that could be correct... i think they could now be showing us the Engineers are just what David is to Mankind.

The Xeno maybe being something else these Engineers creators created?

Maybe why we wont see much about the Engineers... they are just a Race Created by this New Alien Godlike race we have yet to see, and their creations the Engineers sub-created Mankind with or without knowledge of the Hierarchy if its the former... then maybe the Engineers interacted and teach Mankind stuff the Engineers creators never wanted them too pass on.. so essentially the Engineers play the role of Prometheus.

So i think and fear they are going to push aside the Engineers and Mankind, because they are part of a creation cycle... that they are now trying to step away from as far as not having to clear up the whole Godlike beings worshiped by man and creation reasons.

And so we will be lead up to eventually focus on the Race that created the Engineers and David... so we have the creators of the Engineers and there Agenda to be explored in future movies...  and David who is mankinds creation... and his Agenda..

The middle parts... Engineers and Mankind are to be downplayed and instead we would be shown what Role the Xenomorph played not only as far as connected to the Hierarchy but also in what Role David plays in re-creating them.

I think these things are maybe what you are hinting at a little, forgive if in part thats a wrong assumption...  but i can yes see maybe they are going this route..

Engineers and Mankind the why, how... who cares it backed them into a corner and is something people was not into.. so we will tone it down and bypass it.

The Xenomorph is what counts... and how can we make its purpose more Alieny and reasons for it... well lets go away from all this Gods crap as in context to Ancient Mankind and lets run with the Engineers creators being something more Alien and  a purpose for the Xeno without having to go cover Engineers and Mankind in any context to Religious and Mythos history.

So yes i think they could be taking this route now..

The case would be who are the Gods at the top of the chain, and are they similar to the Engineers, are they the Space Jockey.. how Human looking are they... of is the Space Jockey just another creation of some yet not Scene Alien Master Race who created the Space Jockey, the Xeno, the Engineers... etc.

@BD It is always a pleasure to exchange with you because all though you have a vision yourself you are happy to properly consider others and take them seriously.

The Connectivity/Continuity Issue 

Urns/Eggs/Hammerpedes/Spoors/Deacons/121

I agree with you about this issue. its the kind of thing that people who want to be spoon fed dismiss as confusing and poorly executed. I do not, I think thematically as do the artists involved, and their is for me a clear theme. I haven't seen the trailer but when I hear snippets about the content it seems entirely logical that the Covenant will come up against mutagenised outcomes, why, because Ridley was interviewed months ago with Urns behind him, if David is a straight line into AC so is the mutagen.

Engineers (Prometheus series) to Aliens (Alien series)

When we began discussing this repositioning in the late spring we agreed we are not looking down a telescope from the Engineer end with Aliens in the distance we looking down a telescope from the Alien end with Engineers in the distance.

This has had a number of profound effects on the evolution of the story.

Ten Years 

This time slip has enabled them to make considerable adjustments to the narrative thrust of the next film. Extraordinarily it has resulted in so much repositioning story that a book is being written by ADF. The only obvious change is the dramatic change in Shaw's input but it has also moved the Engineers from Gods to just a Superior Species. I therefore agree with you in A C a number of questions left open from Prometheus will be......left open and only explained by implication.   

Engineers to Aliens

Looking at it from Fox's simplistic, but entirely logical point of view, the antagonist they feel secure in is the Alien. The Engineer is on its own much more fascinating to me but the threat is existential rather than for want of a better word physical. I have seen enough on the internet to know that sadly they are right.

This has got me thinking about the next movie (possibly two) what we are going to get is not the story of the Engineers and the origins of mankind but the story of the Alien and its echoes with mortality/immortality and A. I.

The difficulty I could not get past is if the Engineer is too existential as a threat the Alien is too one dimensional as a threat.

The answer then is who made the 121 who did the Engineers steel from not the saliva dripping nihilistic endoparasitoid species but the creators of it and what better way to tie the story together by making the origins of the Xenomorph mechanical toward biology rather than the other way round. 

On that note I will now withdraw so as not to be spoilt and contain my passion for these  fascinating conversations which has got the better of me.

So far I know the Covenant land on a planet and ...happens and there are unexpected threats for the colonisers. I think we knew that six months ago but there is a real danger with the way the internet works that the whole film will be spoiled so I really most exercise some self discipline and once again thanks for these exchanges. 

Many of us who are fascinated with this story has probably been pondering over what Chris mentioned as “unsuspected”, I think? Of Course we don’t know what it is, but we can speculate (maybe on good grounds).

So, would it be unsuspected if David would continue his search for identity, perhaps gain a soul and free will (do humans have a soul and free will?) and continue his experiments on Paradise (become the gardener of Eden) which he already began in Prometheus (directly or indirectly killing all of them, probably even Shaw)?

On the other hand, would it be unsuspected if Walter were to carry out the orders of Weyland-Yutani (perhaps programmed to obtain a biological weapon, as usual)? What would be unsuspected?

Another issue is “The Covenant”. What covenant? Scott made the film “Exodus” (dedicated to his brother) where the covenant is the depiction of God’s covenant with the slaves leaving Egypt for The Holy Land (The Ten Commandments). In the New Testament, the covenant is the agreement set in The Last Supper. The interesting thing with the last viewpoint is that there is a traitor (Judas) who breaks the bond.

But who breaks what in AC? The engineers? The humans? David? Who? You must not have the inclination to search for knowledge and search for eternal life? Why not?

@Michelle

Its been great to debate things and i agree if you dont want spoilers then its best to go in hiding... i am sure as more clues come out we can start to piece together the plot, i have Analyzed the Trailer in depth with other official factors and can paint a picture that for most part puts a time of events together and also potentially Plot twists.   And i plan to go into detail so it would be potentially spoilery...

So i look forwards to hearing off you once the movie is out.. take care.

@chli

Indeed the Covenant has to have a meaning... i discussed this a number of times ever since we first saw the Name announced and the Covenant Badge/Patch.

Covenant is usually referred to in Biblical terms as a agreement made between God and his chosen followers.. a Pact.

The TWO main ones come from the Old Testament... where God made a Covenant with Noah to never Flood the World Again, and he saw Noah and his family as Just and Pure and so God had a lot of faith in Noah carrying on teaching his offspring of the Will of God.

In Alien Franchise this could be the Black Goo, and how they made a agreement to never use it again.

The Second main Covenant in the Old Testemant was for Moses and the Jews, God made a agreement that the Jews would reclaim their promised land...  And God had in return for showing them freedom from slavery under Egypt... God had made a list of Commandments and Rules that Moses and the Israelite's must follow.

This theme could play well with what happened to those Engineers, and maybe why they wanted to destroy Mankind.

Yes, BD, but I wonder how much we interpret into the story and how much Scott himself does? The theme of breaking a covenant might not be so central as we think? I also wonder if Scott has a moral to the story? Does he want to warn us for hubris, for example? Stephen Hawking warns us not to contact other intelligent species (if there are any, that is) . . .

Very good point....  Stephen Hawking had indeed warned that trying to contact Aliens could be risky if they are Hostile or would then see our World for its resources and care little for Humanity, as we could be letting any would be Hostile Alien Races know where we are.

He also had concerns over AI and a potential Terminator style Skynet Event.  

Yes, perhaps Scott is influenced by Hawking (the dangers of aliens and of AI)?