Why was the Engineer in Stasis?

Oh and does anyone know why the scanners picked up a lifeform but only every few hours? I wasn't sure if Janek was referring to the scanner that was near the pilot room or one that was scanning the worms. That's an easy one to answer. All the probes are represented in red (and numbered) on the 3D mapping system on the brigde. Probe 1 is picking up intermittent signal, and is stuck at the door of the Space Jockey's bridge. Janek says it was just for a few seconds every couple of hours. We also see intermittient lights that last just a few seconds on the stasis bed. So perhaps every few hours, the system probably lets a tiny bit of biological activity take place.

Hmm, I was thinking that it was the space worms which remain mostly buried in the earth where they were likely undetectable. They emerged near the urns which may have caused the initial signal, and then again once they had morphed and attacked the two earthlings

The space worms were in the opposite direction of the bleep. Remember, the probe picked up a single life sign west so the 2 stragglers headed east to get away from it and that's when they came across the worms.

This engineer was infected as all the others were but had the wherewithal to make a run to get into stasis.

this would explain: 1.) His violent infected Fifield like reaction toward the crew. 2) His appearance of conjunctivitis similar to the infected Holloway. 3) His irrational decision to seek out and attack Shaw after his ship crashes and would give some plot relief for a sequel that the engineer race is not completely hostile toward human existence.

1.) His violent infected Fifield like reaction toward the crew. Was explained by Scott as having been anger due to the fact he was woken up by lesser beings. 2) His appearance of conjunctivitis similar to the infected Holloway. I must have missed something cause his eyes looked black to me. 3) His irrational decision to seek out and attack Shaw after his ship crashes The woman is the only survivor of the people that just destroyed his ship and halted his mission. I think his reaction is simply further display of aggression he already had towards these people anyway.

I dunno, think of a soldier on duty but waking up to intruders into one of our bioweapons facilities on Earth, probably not going to ask if you want a hotpocket and juice.

Take a look at that scene again. He appeared to have redness around the periphery of his eyes that the decapated and sacrifice engineers didn't seem to have. At least it looked that way to me. What threat is Shaw to that engineer after the crash? Go fire-up another ship and continue the mission. If they were no more than insects buzzing around his head when he wakes up, it makes no sense to search her down after the crash. He pretty much crapped the bed of his future and his presumed mission by going after her.

@Drexlspivey I took the slight redness around his eyes as nothing more than irritation from hypersleeping for two thousand years. The Prometheus crew looked like crap and they were only under for 2 years. I also don't think he had far to go in his "search", his ship and her ship crashed next to each other. I would say his desire to eliminate her was both rational and emotional. Clearly he ignored her the first time and as a result his ship crashed. Why would he make that mistake again? She obviously poses some sort of threat. Eliminating that threat wold be logical. Then there's the fact that he was injured and angry. Most people wouldn't have reacted well under those circumstances. Why expect him to simply say "oh well they crashed my ship, injured me in the process, let me just go grab another ship". He probably figured "let me kill this bug so it won't bother me again, THEN I'll take off in another ship". That's assuming any of the other ships were even loaded w/ the black goo. If this was the only ship loaded w/ all those canisters then that would have been the end of his mission, which would have been even more reason to be angry. Yes, going after her proved to be fatal to him. However, how was he supposed to know that there would be a creature in that wrecked ship that she would turn loose and in turn kill him?

I think before they could hit the launch button, the meltdown happned and the guy in stasis stayed in stasis...He never launched

@wilv, Its just a movie and as someone said in the film "we believe what we choose to believe.." or something like that. But what works for me in tying to answer the OPs question and I believe it fits with the evidence in the film and makes things more interesting is that that engineer is infected too. Got another thought for you: Maybe those "burns" on the engineer's face after the crash aren't actually burns. Maybe it came into direct contact with the goo during the crash and it knows its done for and goes for the last human as its dying act or maybe it was infected the whole time and the mutagen is really starting to take effect at that point in the film.

I have two theories and both center around the Engineers [b]not[/b] being the bad guys. 1 - The Engineer in stasis was an outcast, similar to a serial killer on Earth. Yes he was an Engineer, but he delighted in causing chaos and mayhem. He was not 'sane' or 'benevolent' like the others. He caused the outbreak or whatever it was that happened on LV_223 (whether on purpose or accidentally, I can't say) and he went into stasis in order to protect himself, knowing that one way or another he would be woken up at some point. When he was, he continued with his psychotic ways and slaughtered the humans that woke him up, then went to head back to Earth to ruin whatever the Engineers had planned for the planet. 2 - The Enginner in stasis was infected with that black goo during the outbreak and the only way to preserve himself was to go into stasis and hope that his fellow Engineers would send help. That would explain why his body looked vastly different than that of the Engineer we see at the beginning of the film (yes I realize he could have simply been wearing a suit, but I am of the opinion that he was not). When he was awoken by the crew of the Prometheus, it took him a while to realize what was going on and once he realized that there was no help there for him, but rather, the humans were asking [i]him[/i] for help, he panicked and flew into a rage. Then he got in the ship and, I'm guessing, was going to fly home to see if he could get some help for himself. Isn't all the specultion fun? :)