Lawrence of Arabia
MemberChestbursterJul-08-2017 1:40 PMAfter David "saves" the Covenant crew from their Neomorph skirmish and leads them to the Hall of Heads and he explains his story, Daniels asks
"Some of our teammates were infected with this virus?"
David then responds,
"So it would seem. The pathogen was designed- 'engineered' might be a better term, since those of us on the Prometheus came to think of them as genetic engineers - to infect any and all non-botanical life-forms. Its sole function is to reproduce. The offspring will stop at nothing to do so.It is their rationale for existence, designed into them by the Engineers. They kill by reproducing. An elegant method of warfare, if you take the time to think about it. Or of ' experimentation', if one prefers that description. A very thorough way of cleansing a world of unwanted life-forms. If even a single offspring of the virus is left, it will not stop until it has found a living host. It seeds, then it moves on. As you have seen, the seed incubates, mutates, and matures with astonishing speed, until it is 'reborn'. The pathogen itself has an extremely long lifespan, given a suitable environment in which to exist in stasis, it can lie dormant for hundreds if not thosands of years until a suitable host presents itself and awakens it to commence the cycle again. If not controlled, a single application is quite capable of rendering an entire world permanently uninhabitable."
Daniels responds,
"Our ship's systems scanned this world for the presence of possible pathogens before we came down. They're very efficient. Nothing was found. Walter performed a follow-up as soon as we landed. He also found nothing."
David nodded sagely,
"While it is dormant, the virus is completely inactive. There was nothing for your ship or your companion - competent as their respective instrumentation might be - to detect. It's not as if it is floating in the air as a common germ. The ability to lie inactive for a very, very, long time is one of the things that makes it so dangerous - and dangerous to its engineers as well."
David's assessment of the pathogen reminds me a lot of Steve Messing's comments in "The Furious Gods" documentary about The Deacon and how the Engineers used the pathogen this way to cleanse a world. Also gave us some insight as to why the Covenant crew didn't detect anything harmful on Planet 4 and why they felt so safe and careless. What are your thoughts?
"The trick, William Potter, is not minding that it hurts."
dk
MemberTrilobiteJul-08-2017 2:12 PMI think you may be right. It also seems to debunk the idea many of us had to send androids to the surface first. An android wouldn't seem to activate the pathogen so the crew probably would have still been the same way.
Kethol
MemberChestbursterJul-08-2017 7:45 PMThey did not send Walter down to the planets first, but they did send him outside the ship first to scan for pathogens in the book. That's the 'follow up' Daniels was referring to.
VivisectedEngineer
MemberChestbursterJul-08-2017 8:59 PMYESSS!!!
The book explains this and SO MUCH that people were wondering after watching the movie. Everyone's questions will be answered if they read the book!
I love the book SO MUCH!!!
Be warned, Lawrence of Arabia , quoting the book becomes addictive!!
MonsterZero
MemberXenomorphJul-09-2017 9:32 AMSo, Unbeknownst to David and his captured guests, a really nasty virus is aboard the Covenant and that entity is finally free of Planet 4.
David isn't concerned with quarantine protocols.....But losing valuable specimens might be one?
David may be the least of the crews worries!
MonsterZero
MemberXenomorphJul-09-2017 9:58 AM" David examined the dead colonists. Their skins were covered with dark fungus, gravity sloughing it from their skeletons. he could only imagine what was happening to their internals! He didn't dare release them, or bring them to life. Losing five subjects was enough, the infection had to be stopped!
David was in a race to save the colony, he started by jettisoning the five into space. "
VivisectedEngineer
MemberChestbursterJul-09-2017 10:02 AMOMG, do you write fan-fic!? Please say that you do, because I would just love love love to read one about this, and one about your idea where David downloads his consciousness into Ash.
I am like...begging you right now. I need to read this stuff, lol.
MonsterZero
MemberXenomorphJul-09-2017 10:04 AMLol! Would be fun!
I'll give it a go...but no guarantees!
VivisectedEngineer
MemberChestbursterJul-09-2017 10:11 AMOh man, no pressure but...PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE! Lol, ok, ok...well if you do write it, your story already has one guaranteed fan because I already know it would be awesome! :)
BigDave
MemberDeaconJul-09-2017 4:36 PMI think this kind of does give us some indication of what the Black Goo was intended for... but this now adds to why those Engineers was seemingly not even one bit cautious of the returning Engineer Ship that David was on.
Its a bit of a NOD that the Engineers had created this Pathogen to destroy... But then surely dropping Sacrificial Goo would also destroy life on a World and Re-set a World that they had invested Millions of years to prepare and evolve.
The Black Goo just seems a very flawed Method of Cleansing.
Unless it was the creation by a Faction of Engineers to be used in some form of retribution where only Destruction was their Agenda.
I was always draw to such a Faction seeing the Xeno-strain DNA i.e Mural Organism being more Perfect DNA/Creation than the Engineers themselves and so they decided to use its DNA rather than their own to Seed/Evolve Worlds.
So i was drawn to the Original intention for those Urns was to contain Engineer DNA which would explain the whole Paradise Set up and how they did not appear to have any fear of the returning Juggernaught.. but that this ship would take part in a Sacrificial Ceremony where some of these beings would be Sacrificed to allow for Seeding Goo within the Urns.
R.I.P Sox 01/01/2006 - 11/10/2017
ali81
MemberNeomorphJul-10-2017 12:00 AMI don't believe the planet we see is the engineer homeworld. to me its a world which was seeded by them but where this civilisation differs from humanity is these creations have evolved in an agreeable way that does not require the engineers to return and destroy them. the engineers, like earth, return every so often to give their creations a boost in their evolution, either a spiritual boost or a technological one. to the inhabitants we see in AC, this is simply their creators returning which is why the ship is welcomed. they don't know WHO is onboard or what their agenda is until it is too late.
BigDave
MemberDeaconJul-10-2017 6:00 AMIndeed ali81 i conclude this too...
Added some explanations into this Topic Here
R.I.P Sox 01/01/2006 - 11/10/2017
