Comments (Page 683)

@kethol I would have to google it for you but there is a online interview where ridley confirms that the Engineers return and then inturn decide to find David. I agree with @bigdave I have the same feeling that they will need to get the info from Walter.

Which remindes me of another point that I wanted to bring up is in the book the fact Walter is probably still alive is WAY more apparent, David warns Daniels that "David" is alive and moving around. I'm assuming david is saying this because if walter is able to reach them in time before leaving, David would want her thinking that Walter is in fact david. 

And Kethol I WISH that the "awakening" was a prequel trust me buddy, there are so many questions i want answered not to mention there is PLENTY of content between the two movies to make a third. But there is a lot of speculation that it wont be, and anyway this is just fun theory crafting and wondering, like mentioned above ridley has been known to change his mind last second on things so who really knows lol

I ran it side-by-side with the movie. Identical.

@Seph7 - He swallowed them, obviously.

@BigDave "This is the working Title"

According to who? The only mention of that title was when Ridley said this - "There will be another one before we kind of literally and logically, clockwise, back into the rear back head of Alien…It will go Prometheus, Awakening, Covenant.. fairly integral where this colonization ship is on the way...."

That sounds like the Awakening title is a prequel to Covenant, not a sequel. Everything Ridley has said since that quote indicates the next film is a sequel to Covenant.

@George-TheGreek - "It states  'skelletically complex this SPECIMEN once SHIPPED DOWN (by whom or what? for which reason? how did the black goo not affected her?) "

It actually says "Skeletally complex this specimen, once stripped down, proves to be composed of an intricate network of interlocking calcifous bone like components." There is nothing written about using her for 'Mengele's like experiments', as you said. The drawings also shows an intact specimen, so she has not been infected with the pathogen that killed the Engineers in the plaza.

"and I believe that this female engineer was the one in David's lab."

If you mean the one in the statue of David pose, that is a male. David had more than one uninfected Engineer to experiment on. There is an uninfected Engineer head in a bowl on one of the tables that looks intact, other than the fact that parts of it have been sliced away. The novel indicates he had an ample supply.

"they did not invent binary logic"

Where are you getting that from?

"why didn't they send other ships back to LV-426 to continue on the mission?"

I would assume because LV-223 had been quarantined, but how do you know they didn't? The Engineer city on planet 4 does not seem to have any advanced technology, so I don't think this is the world the Engineers from LV-223 hailed from, nor is this the place the Juggernaut and than docking ship were made.

"Why didn't their ship since they possessed A.I. stop David from driving to their homeworld with the cargo"

Where was it said their ship possessed AI?

"and why at least wasn't there any remote control procedure by the time David arrived?"

How do you know there was not? That docking ship may have been remote controlled or completely automated.

"that's why they hadn't thought of satellites, information transmission with wave (phase which is translated to 0 and 1 and then to pictures,text etc). Remember David's words 'the storms last for days months and they cover all the planet', that single line maybe holds the reason why they didn't invent digital transmission technology."

Dane Hallett & Matt Hatton, the artists who created all of the drawings in David's lab, indicated that the script described that the planet did have satellites that made a quarantine net over the planet, which protected anything coming in or out of the planet. They said yhat is why the Covenant transmissions were not getting through, and also why Shaw's SOS message (if that is what it was) did not get through clearly.

They also said when you see the pathogen get released and it seems to stop form a layer over and invisible shield before getting through and descending - that was the planetary shield. There was apparently a whole subplot where the Covenant had to fix one of the satellites to take down the shield so they could get through, which is what was causing the electrical storm.

None of that made the final cut though.

Answer this question then, if you intend to disregard what RS said about David being David: How did he get the embryos into Walter's body?

@BigDave

So Logically the Engineers would have to find out where David was going, and the only likely way they could do this would be INDEED if they discover Walter and from HIM they manage to find Davids/Covenant ships destination.

So yes their is the Potential unless they are changing the Plans for the sequel? Then indeed its likely maybe we would see Walter again... The only way we wont is if we only see the Engineers arrive at where David is and via Dialog between David and Engineers we are made aware they found this place via Walter (unless Walter is with them).

But i would certainly think the Engineers only get knowledge of Origae-6 as the destination of the Covenant which David had left on... from Walter.

I agree completely. The only way they could know what David did, would be to wake up Walter.

We also have to consider the fact that David didn't actually need to kill Walter in order to take his place. He just needed to incapacitate him for long enough to escape with the lander. We also know from the novel, that none of the Engineer ships are working because of the quarantine fail-safes, so David won't be worrying about Walter coming after him.

In any event, I'm looking forward to more Walter and more Engineers!

Actually David experimented and used the code "D(David)964 Zulu Brother' to transmit his experiments back to Earth, his transmission back to wy is shown to us in this video. He still remains faithful to his boss and he might have been programmed and controlled via movie heroes, in the movie Zulu 1(964) Michael Cane resembles David. Could it be that the Lawrence of Arabia role ended and a Gonville Bromhead role programming is starting?

@BigDAve

Those signals from the engineers' ships are man made, or David made.

Here is another strange coincidence with the same number having in mind his role as an angel of death for the engineers!

964. Verse 3. And the second angel poured out his vial into the sea; and it became blood as of one dead; and every living soul in the sea died. (John's apocalypse)

Even though it turned out to be poor decision making, i think it was an impossible situation made more complex due to the captains death and the fact that they were all couples. Oram had to go for it.

I would just send Walter and a pilot. Faris. She stays inside the lander while Walter checks the signal and returns. 

I would trust the atmosphere detectors but my concerns would be: What if it is full of life and we low on the food chain. One mouthful and the entire crew are gone. Leaving Tee and 2 others to run the Covenant. So just as a safety thing i would send minimum humans.

Walter is valuable but not so that you need to risk your life so you have someone to pour you tea. Leave the toaster behind we will be okay.

Well I'm the novel, the end product is the Xeno, which they made by experimenting with the black goo, which David recreated. The black goo always results in a creature wit an elongated skull with highly aggressive attributes. I believe it is a Deacon/Neomorph in the wall mural

@BigDave - ".. or are FOX/RS trying to send us down the route that there is just ONE GOO....  "

They have clearly been trying to say the opposite. David said in Covenant "The pathogen took so many forms and proved extremely mutable", and also said it could either kill outright, or use the hosts as incubators to spawn a hybrid. Prometheus showed us at least four varieties of the pathogen.

I was wondering what an Engineer morph would look like.

One either spawned from a human/humanoid or an Engineer. 

We see in Prometheus the pyramid roof shows a creatures elongated head. Also the mural. So we should safely assume that they exist or have existed.

A:C just got a little confusing to the point where we may not of even seen the end product of the Engineers work ????

Why Ridley could not have logically and economically helped explain more of this just stinks. Instead we got half a film of nothing but Easter eggs accomplishing nothing new or unique. The engineers, Shaw and his experiments were SUPPOSED to be central to the film along with some CRITTERS to scare the audience and briefly show off David's new children. The goo just proves to be more ' mcguffin ' than anything a good storyteller should strive for. The goo bombing looked cool but how did it all of a sudden turn into Artificiality Intelligent swarms of virus microbe bugs when the goo drop in Prometheus surely wouldn't have behaved that way if flipped by his finger or splashed into the air on a crew members boot wading in the puddles of the urn head room. These question wether the man steering the ship cares about taking the required time and effort to tell a coherent story ON SCREEN 

This is the working Title, but things can change and RS had seemed a bit confused regarding where AC sits with AA, as far as how it connects to Alien... Originally hinting its a Prequel to AC but then confirming its a  sequel.

RS then also said indeed Engineers will return to Planet 4 and discover the world decimated, and RS teases the Engineers will be one of 3-4 Players in the next movie, we have to assume at some point the Engineers would be heading to where David is.

This raises some Questions... because we can assume the Engineers do not arrive very close to after David leaves and thus are able to detect the Covenant ship... because the Company has many Ships in Space, we do not know how far the Covenant was away from Earth when it detected the Signal to Planet 4.

I would assume the Covenant would be some way on its way to i assume Origae-6 and so i fail to see how the Engineers can pin point that exact Ship unless they arrive on Planet 4 not to far after... which would mean surely they intercept and prevent David easy.

Nope... i assume David would be well on his way, if not already on Origae-6  before Engineers Turn up on Planet 4

David is in a Human Ship which the company have many in Space so it would be a bit Pot Luck for the Engineers to manage to intercept the exact correct ship.

So Logically the Engineers would have to find out where David was going, and the only likely way they could do this would be INDEED if they discover Walter and from HIM they manage to find Davids/Covenant ships destination.

So yes their is the Potential unless they are changing the Plans for the sequel? Then indeed its likely maybe we would see Walter again... The only way we wont is if we only see the Engineers arrive at where David is and via Dialog between David and Engineers we are made aware they found this place via Walter (unless Walter is with them).

But i would certainly think the Engineers only get knowledge of Origae-6 as the destination of the Covenant which David had left on... from Walter.

Indeed i tried to play this when linked here the other day (not this Topic though) and all i could get was Sound with no Picture but from the Audio, it sounded to me to be from the Theatrical Cut there was nothing that appeared to be NEW and not seen in the Theatrical Cut.

I have seen this cut 3 times at the Box Office however, and so i only assume it appeared to be nothing New.

I think its a very valid Question.

The Original Mission was to Origae-6, Daniels Partner Jacob would be the head of the Mission and thus Captain, and they had planned this Mission for  a Long time, surveys had shown Origae-6 to be a ideal candidate to inhabit, it was a world that could be Terra-formed and inhabited and so would have had to be a close to Earth Type World.

However due to the Accident and Death of the Captain, Oram is 2nd in command and he has more of the Curious Character to him.

They discover a Signal, that seems of Human Origin and as a Scientist, then it certainly would be something you would have to consider checking out, because how the Hell does a seemingly Human, but regardless Intelligent Signal come from a System that is considered Uncharted.

The right thing to do is survey where the Signal comes from, and then discovering this World is actually more suitable a Habitable World than Origae-6 was.

This World is only within 7 weeks journey, it would be Logical to at least Check this out, ALONE for it being a more Prime Candidate than Origae-6 but then to have a Signal that seems of Human Origin, you would be crazy to not take a closer look.

While Daniels is set on going to Origae-6 because they have planned for everything needed to set up a Colony and Terra-form this potentially ideal place and her and her partner have dedicated many years of Preparation for this.

If Planet 4 is indeed more suitble and located closer to Earth then it would be a Win/Win situation... Now if Planet 4 was years away, then that could change Orams outlook.  But its basically just weeks away.

And considering the Failure of the Cryo-Pod that killed Captain Jacob, some of the crew are concerned about having to spend another 7 years inside of those.

It logically makes more sense to take Orams Stance on this.

His Failings however are to survey the World first, before making a Trip down... as indeed as Daniels Says they dont know what the %£^ is down their.

But this is where Plot Device is required, the Heavy Storm Activity interferes with Sensors, making it hard to detect whats down their.  Thus they need to send down a Lander.

More sense would be to use  a Probe... but the findings of a Probe may lead to more Caution in the Crews approach to land and no doubt only send down more Probes or a limited crew.  Walter and 2 Security for instance.

We can assume the no Probe Plot Device is not needed, because we have to assume they have Probed Origae-6 enough that they did not need any Probes for their Mission to Origae-6 and so the Covenant lacked this ability.

And so a Manual Landing Party was the only way forwards.

If they had came across the dead Engineers first then surely they would be more Cautious and decide to head back to the Ship.

They went to the Juggernaught because this is where the Signal came from....

The Spores were the Plot Device that drove them having to see the Dead Engineers and look past these, as the Neomorph Threat would caused them to try and escape and seeing the Lander Destroyed and the Threat of the Neomorphs... David Provided the only Escape for them.

He had informed them to follow him to stay alive and so its a case of quickly follow David to potential Sanctuary instead of hanging around or try and contact another Drop Ship Rescue while on the Ground with a unknown hostile Alien threat on the lose.

@dave

when the ship entered the atmosphere with the goo we hear a strange noise like a sonar and the only information it carries is for the dock to be lifted and the engineers to come and greet the lost heroes (only this!! not who is driving, nothing about the cargo etc), maybe they used remote control with sounds (far too limited to a small radius) and hadn't thought of digital transmissions that could travel light years to give the information. They seem to lack fail safe procedures and David knew this. Through their evolution the "engineers" (Shaw's speculation) might not have advanced in remote communication due to the conditions of their planet, if you remember their planet's charged atmosphere made communications with covenant almost impossible, that's why they hadn't thought of satellites, information transmission with wave (phase which is translated to 0 and 1 and then to pictures,text etc). Remember David's words 'the storms last for days months and they cover all the planet', that single line maybe holds the reason why they didn't invent digital transmission technology.

@George-TheGreek

You attempt to raise some good points.... i think however these Engineers as far as the Technology is incredibly advanced and maybe in a way we cant comprehend... this is SCI-FI and so their Technology could be something that would be difficult to compare to our Technology.

The ships have some kind of Power Source that could be very very Alien to anything like we have on Earth... I would assume they have some kind of Playback/Communications Technology simply due to the Hologram Record Devices.

Also the Space Jockey Signal, and how David Managed to transmit the Dr Shaw Hologram.

Your point is good suggesting they can not surely be remotely controlled, because then why did other Ships not intercept David....

I think they have some kind of Remote Control  Technology, maybe just related to Auto-Pilot?  We see the Engineers Ships have access to a Giant Star-Map/Sat Nav and these list other Galaxies and so the scope of their Technology likely means they can Travel to other Galaxies.

So we have to wonder would they not be able to communicate with them?  This does lead to the Dilemma about why No Engineers came back after a Certain Period... Why did none come back to LV-223.... but this raises many Questions we have yet to get the answers for, include do those on Paradise know of LV-223, or did they choose to abandon that project.

The Docking ship is interesting and Hanger, we can suggest they lack communications but i would argue against that, there either had to be some device/way that the Hanger Automatically opens when it detects a incoming Ship, or David was able to operate the Hanger.  Or even the Ship sent out a Signal of its Arrival in which the Hanger was then activated.

The Docking Ship did not come from the Hanger, it appeared it was already airborne before the Hanger opened, and it moved to like a Intercept Course with the Juggernaught.

A good Question would be is the Docking Ship Remotely Activated and Controlled, does it posses a AI Program. Or its it Manually operated either from inside, or from some place on the Surface?

Wayne Haagg and another Production member had discussed about this Scene, and suggested the Docking Ship was like some kind of Border Control and it had a Dust Up with Davids Juggernaught leading to them both crashing.

Tough... I guess if I would have scanned from afar (maybe go into orbit for more info) and then sent the info back to the company. I mean, it makes sense that Oram decided that it was a distress signal (and most of the crew wanted to go down), but I tend to play big things, such as a colony mission I suppose, on the safer side

I think the whole thing is ambiguous due to the lack of clues, to correct this FOX/RS have attempted to give explanations and show various clues, all of which seem to change over and over and would kind of not add up to previous comments/clues.

Its like they dont really have any A-Z about what this does, and its a case of change and add things as they go along.

They should have stuck to the ideas of Spaights NANO-Scarabs, which Prometheus Evolved into a kind of Parasitic Virus, but again its very ambiguous because the Black Goo could contain Nano-Organisms that act like a Pathogenic Parasite.

The Basis was simple..... regardless of Goo or Scarabs.

It was from its original in-vision (Spaights) which Prometheus seemed to match....  A Genetic Manipulation Tool.

You want to create a Werewolf?    Simple take the Blank Form of the Scarabs/Goo and apply it to a Wolf, and the Wolves Genetic Material is broken apart.  As if the Wolf was a Giant Lego Structure built from Billions of Lego Bricks.

What we end up with is a Pile of individual Lego Bricks that contain the Genetic Code for a Wolf, but they are not programed to be able to Re-build the Lego Wolf from the Billions of Blocks.

Instead these Blocks can now be Stored (Urns) or allowed to so simply fly on the Wind (Blocks are Particles) or even enter the Water System (Water Fall) and when these Blocks that are from the Wolf, come into contact with new Organic Material.

These Blocks act like a Virus and attack the Hosts Genetic Material where these Blocks will Merge with the Hosts Building Blocks and Re-write the Hosts Building Block Code with the (in this case) Wolves Building Blocks.

So if the Organism thise Mutagen 2nd stage (via breaking down the Wolf) if this comes into contact with a Human then we get the Humans DNA/Genome Invade and a number of its Cells Changed into a Hybrid that now contains WOLF/HUMAN DNA and thus we end up with a Werewolf.

This New Organism could maybe likely be further exploited, so that the Werewolf DNA is broken down and then if this resulting Mutagen infects a say Bird.  Then we get another Hybrid.

This time 50% Bird DNA 25% Human and 25% Wolf.

This is kind of what Spaights Scarabs did, its what the Goo seemed to do in a number of scenes in Prometheus.  This Analogy would explain how David could manipulate various Organisms experimenting with mixing and cross breeding DNA from Organism to Organism.

Because you cant simply Mate a Wolf and Human, and then the Offspring if there was one, Procreate with say a Frog etc....

You would have to modify the Genomes etc, this is where Science is trying to do this, and theory is you can Modify a Birds DNA/Genomes by turning off/on various Code to somehow revert back to the Evolutionary Path and bring out Dinosaur DNA in say a Chicken.

But Science has a long way to go, and we dont have a way to replace Genomes of a Bird with Genomes of a Mammal etc.

HOWEVER.... The Engineers Did, and this is Exactly what the Sacrificial Goo/Scarabs did... they are a Genetically Altering Tool these Engineers used.

However i wonder if FOX/RS paid attention to how this Substance was from Origin (Jon Spaights) and so now its a bit of a confusing mess.

@Kethol

The fact that I read somewhere that they did not invent binary logic although they were so advanced, which made for us TV,radio,cell phones,computers, David etc available, if you look in the library scene everything seem primitive as if there is no digital records at all. If for example they could communicate like us why didn't they send other ships back to LV-426 to continue on the mission? Why didn't their ship since they possessed A.I. stop David from driving to their homeworld with the cargo and why at least wasn't there any remote control procedure by the time David arrived? We didn't see any satellites either. I bet the only way they recorded maps and history was via coming and going to their homeworld and provide to a central bank those playback images we saw in Prometheus...anyway just speculating.

The fact that they are millions of years ahead of us doesn't mean that technologically we will follow their path, they chose biology we chose non organic technology which to them might seem incomprehensible like for us their goo, although David unlocked the mysteries.

@Kethol - That Engineer Female will kick David's ass!!!  HAHA!!

I still think there is a lot of confusion regarding the Black Goo/Sacrificial Goo, and while this video helps to add something to it, we have to wonder does this apply only to the Goo within the Urns... or are FOX/RS trying to send us down the route that there is just ONE GOO....  so i can see many conflicting clues if this is the case.

First i will establish what has been said about the Goo as far as within the Urns from Prometheus and Alien Covenant and also taking into account comments by RS and even clues from the Movies.

The Goo within the Urns is therefor

*A Organic Pathogenic/Mutagen

*It is Viral and acts like a Virus.

*It Genetically Alters Genomes/DNA

*I was artificially created or had been modified so that it is programmable.

*The Goo has a number of effects depending on interaction, and state that the Goo is in, and kind/amount of interaction

Prometheus alone guides us and shows us that the Black Goo within the Urns that was in the Ampoule Room they Crew had came across, indeed reacts with the Genetic Make up of a Infected Host, where its Genome/DNA are Re-written and it appears Genomes/DNA are imprinted onto it (Infected Host)  that are connected to the DNA of the Deacon/Xenomorph as far as appearing to share some Common Genetic Traits.

Alien Covenant kind of muddies the water a bit, as far as some of the effects and what it is trying to suggest.  The biggest problem being the EFFECT of the Bombardment on those Corpses as it appears the Bombardment showed us the Black Goo Urns Exploded and rained down its contents that appeared to be comprised of Nano-Particles that seeked out and attacked Genetic Material, where it appeared these Particles attacked the Victims Genetic Makeup and simply killed the Molecular Structure of these Beings, Turning the Genetic Material into like some kind of Crystallized State (Hardened Genetic Material).

From Prometheus we would have expected the Victims, to show the following symptoms.

*Have their Genetic Code altered where there DNA/Genome becomes over-written with DNA/Genome that is present within the Deacon and Xenomorph Life Forms.

*See their Genetic Code DNA/Molecules become broken apart, where the building blocks simply break apart and eventually there would be nothing left but these individual particles/Molecules 

*Become infected with a Viral Infections slowly altering their Genetic Make up, while the Virus reproduces itself (can be passed on to others) or Genetically Re-writes all Cells within the Organism which include Reproductive Cells.

The Mention of this Substance in Alien Covenant being a Radical AI, can be misleading and depends really if those behind this IDEA have actually any knowledge or implications of what they mean by this.

The way any AI can apply to this is as follows.

The Black Goo acts like a Viral/Pathogenic Mutagen, yet it is some kind of Biotechnology where its function seems to be to re-write Genetic Material of a Infected Host and Altering the DNA/Genomes of Affected Hosts.

The Term Radical AI  could then imply that this Pathogenic/Mutagenic Substance is like a AI due to its Function in that the Substance can itself Change its effects on Genetic Manipulation depending on its needs.  So it acts just how a Malicious Virus Code and Manipulate and Change a Legitimate Programs CODE... but we are not talking 0's and 1's but actually effects Genetic Molecules/Particles.  And implies the Substance itself has some kind of intelligence to how it performs this.

This however does not mean its Biotechnology but it could be, it could also be some kind of Parasite by Nature.

The Other way to refer to it as Radical AI, is that this very substance is artificially created (and so its not a naturally occurring Substance) or that it has been Genetically Engineered to act with some degree of Intelligence and thus Engineered Genetically Altering Biotechnology

I think we need at some point a better Official Explanation as it does offer some conflicting results unless we are referring only to the 2nd Stage of the Sacrificial Goo.

Because Prometheus seemed to hint at, and Spaights Alien Engineers (Nano-Scarabs) pretty much confirms that.  The Sacrificial Goo/Nano-Scarabs are some kind of Parasitic Organism or maybe even Bio-Engineered Mutagen.

That infects a Hosts Genetic Makeup where the Hosts DNA/Genome are broken down and stored/programed into the Mutagen Biotechnology/Parasitic Pathogen.  The Hosts complete Biological Building Blocks of Molecules are thus broken down and and Genetic Code applied to the Mutagen.

This Mutagen now contains the Hosts DNA/Genome and when this new Substance comes into contact with a New Host, it again attacks and modifies the Hosts DNA/Genome but instead of consuming/breaking apart the Molecules, it Re-writes the Genetic CODE and replaces Key Genomes with the Genomes of the Host that was infected by the Original BLANK Pathogenic Mutagen.

This ^^^^ is how i always felt the Goo worked, it is a Tool for simply being used to Take Genomes/DNA of One Organism and Implant these onto a New Organism... Creating a Hybrid DNA

We can see how this could be used by David as the basis to be able to Merge and Mix Genetic Traits of many kinds of Life Forms in order to create a New Organism by combining different DNA/Genomes of Various Life Forms.

It states  'skelletically complex this SPECIMEN once SHIPPED DOWN (by whom or what? for which reason? how did the black goo not affected her?) ....' and I believe that this female engineer was the one in David's lab.

Yes I said that the goo virus adapts learns and creates like our modern A.I. machine learning algorithms. We use sillicon they use DNA, I agree with you. Our sillicon circuits technology allows us to write programs to drive cars, recognize faces, make decisions etc their DNA based technology does other things but the algorithmic philosophy is the same thing. We agree on that!

"and something written about using her for Mengele's like experiments"

??? I don't see anything like that in the text.

Saying "machine learning algorithms' is going to make some people think there are little nano-robots swimming around in the goo, like some bad syfy channel movie.

David says it is a virus and pathogen in the movie, so it is organic. It rewrites DNA, adapts and counter adapts to cells attempting to counter it, and operates with a hive intelligence, so that is the Artifical Intelligence David refers to.

What makes you think there was no communication between the docking station and the ship? The flashback was so brief we did not get any details like that one way or the other.

I would of sent David down in the lander piloted by Faris who stays in some sort of safe place or quarantine until he comes back from the Jugganaut signal.

They would all end up dead however it plays out.

@kethol

or A.I. goes to the fact that as in a program the if loops and Machine Learning algrorithms give machines an independency of choice, the chains of the particles of the black goo provide such algorithms of choice according to the genome of the host, so in a way it is A.I. if the genome belongs to a human the if loop might be in our case 'particle C of the chain 4' cunningly put there to create another chain if an unknown genome is met in order for the goo to learn by itself like an engineer would have made a choice and adapt like our silicon machines nowadays do. I still have this belief though that the engineers did not possess telecomunications like ours, since David mentioned that they did not come up with binary logic. Is this the reason why he bombed them without resistence since there was no communication between the docking station and the ship?

In the official video at 0:19 we see David's notes have a female engineer and something written about using her for Mengele's like experiments. I bet there were alive engineers and David used Xenos as an army to force them to comply with his experiments.

There are many forms of the pathogen according to David (and what we saw in Prometheus). The production designer on Prometheus said the Engineer head on LV223 was infected with the same type of pathogen that infected Fifield. It looks more like the version we saw in the Covenant bombing sequence though, just slower.

I would be like Daniels. They trained for a specific mission and were responsible for the lives and safety of 2000 people.

joylitt the black goo ingested by the sacrificial engineer seems different from the pathogen created on LV223. I wonder now if it is connected somehow with the engineers blood, the severed head found on LV223 was bleeding some black goo, not sure if they intended to suggest something by that or it was used because it looked more spectacular.

The description of the black goo is much more detailed in the movie and novel than this.

In this context 'nano' just means a single particle at the molecular nano scale (1 to 100 nonometers) that behaves as a whole unit.

I suppose 'A.I.' could be used to describe hive intelligence of the pathogen, since as far as we know it was created by the Engineers, so in effect it is 'artificial'. That combined with 'evolutionary computing' means algorithms based on biological evolution are used to rewrite the host DNA.

Looks like we have a confirmation of a female Engineer in one of David's drawings shown in this video.

Jonesy I wonder if they had on Covenant animals and birds embryos, it should have been like a Noah's Ark. Maybe Jonesy's ancestors come from Origae 6, unless the bed bugs bite them first.

Michelle Johnston It surely seems like a cautionary tale of A. I. and it fits in the bigger picture.

I appreciate that you mention the catalyser in connection with the Teardrop Gardeners and the pathogen with the LV223 Juggernauts ' pilots, one that creates life and the other that destroys it. So LV223 pilots may be a rebelled faction of the army hence the confusion of the ecstatic crowd on Paradise when the Juggernaut arrived. After all, their rebellion might have been crashed thousands of years ago, all their ships being grounded on LV223 and would have stayed like that forever without Shaw and Peter Weyland.

It may be that the pathogen was only created / mutated by the rebelled faction and they chose a Deacon or Protomorph as a mystical symbol of their retribution /rebirth. This theory can go along with the latest news that the pathogen is a form of radical artificial intelligence. 

The catalyser used by the Gardeners of Space is something else, surely of a mythical origin and probably in very short supply. We might not even see it used again.

I believe Ridley Scott did not intend to explain how the alien was created but that it IS / CAN BE CREATED and not born, David only did reverse engineering with the pathogen, the alien morph being already invented by Engineers.

These assumptions would suggest that an Alien Queen (ant shaped) is out of line and will never be seen again. 

"Hello all, After watching covenant and taking a peek at confirmed info for Awakening, I wanted to voice my theory."

What 'confirmed' info for 'Awakening'? We don't even know if that will be the title of the next one.

@daliens

When I refer to the Teardrop ship I am referring to the beautifully realised craft hanging over the waterfall at the beginning of Prometheus. The acolyte that emerges is a perfect specimen and by ingesting the catalyser all whom he is and has become is seeded to the planet. 

What relation he is to the population of Paradise or the LV223 Engineers who gain some kind of thematic consistency by appearing to be pilots of Juggernauts by virtue of the appearance of the pilot suit in both Prometheus and Covenant, is unclear.

The appearance of the Engineers in the Plaza suggests something more rustic and simple for what Ridley describes as only a superior species to mankind. Are they possibly taken by the hierarchy and transformed into the Gods Iggi and become ennobled seeders, a mission not unlike the Einherjar of Norse legends who are prepared for Ragnarok. If this was the story of the Engineers then the experimenting on LV 223 represents sub creative rebellion, in the mode of Paradise Lost, out of which emerges the ALIEN Pathogen which brings retribution.   

As you can imagine I would have liked Elizabeth and David arrive at Paradise a broken civilisation to discover such a truth but alas Fox judged the wider audience want their Alien Creature fix. 

Not unnaturally enquiring minds heap all expectations on a sequel film for answers believing that Covenant is a filler film whereas Ridleys's view is it tells us who made the Alien creature and why. A cautionary tale of A. I.

It's possible but a stretch I'd say.

If any engineers come 'home' and find the devastation and then a survivor from those who seemingly destroyed it; given how one reacted to David in Prom, my guess is Walter wouldn't be cognizant for much longer . . . ;) 

As Joylitt suggests, far too few Cheesy Puffs being eaten at ALIEN towers if that turns out to be the case!

Yes daliens. That is supposed to be a movie so I understand the crew decision. And without David being on board we will not have the shower scene, and no Ripley, no Jonesy, no  Hudson, no Bishop, no Newt lol. So thank you Mr. Oram.  : )

This part was probably written by Jack Paglen, because it sounds a lot like what he wrote for "Transcendence". And what about the Engineer that sacrificed himself in Prometheus by drinking black goo, kick starting life on Earth? Does it mean that the nano artificial intelligence was involved in creating us too?