David Securely Reported to Weyland-Yutani in the Novel

David seemed almost like he was waiting for them, like he set the Neomorph attack up, and everything on that planet. It would be quite simple really: the Engineers possessed a technology that could produce solar flares/bursts/etc, and David - like with the xenovirus - hijacked it and used it to further House Weyland's cosmic agenda...

Indirectly he 'set up the Neomorph attack', because he was responsible for the motes that infected the crew being all over the planet, but that was done many years in the past.

I'm sure he would have been happy for anyone to come along, Engineer or human, so he could continue to the next stage of he experiments, but what specifically in the movie made you think he was waiting for the Covenant?

Wouldn't the mission of the Covenant have begun around the time of the events of Prometheus, if not earlier? I think the events of the prequel series as a whole are more closely intertwined than we may think.

--- Point #1

David only ACTED like he had "no knowledge of the Covenant when he rescues the crew."  He also ACTED completely surprised, and intrigued when he finds out they are a colony mission."  He ACTED "very interested how many passengers are on board."  I do admit, he does seem almost too interested like he may not know.  I don't remember him in private contemplating the Covenant and it's mission though.  He only seems to show his interest when he is around the Covenant crew. 

The point I am getting here is, after watching Prometheus, could you trust David?  The Covenant crew doesn't know better, but we, the audience should.  He simply asked the right questions to gain their trust.  It worked until the last scene when Daniels saw that it was David and not Walter.  Still, it was to late to do anything, so I guess David just didn't care if she knew it was him.  I think the questions David asked are the typical questions anybody would ask if they were stranding on a planet for 10 years all alone and thinking they were probably going to be on the planet forever.  I'd be that interested in the mission too. 

Of course, only I would be after knowing that I am safe from those protomorphs.  David acts like he has seen these protomorphs before when the Covenant crew first gets attacked, so if I knew something about those protomorphs, than I am sure I could find a place to be safe long enough to learn about the crew before I trust them with saving my life.  That is pretty much how David acts until the crew wisens up.  I think David plays the part of an innocent, smartly curious, and thankful android pretty well.

--- Point #2

Solar flares, even though they occur on the surface of the Sun, emit energized particles. Using our Sun as the example, when energized particles exploding from solar flares race toward us, they arrive in only eight minutes. In the movie, with all of the space activity in the area, Walter finds out about the particles in less time.  We don't know what kind of star they are apparently near to decide how massive it's solar flares can be either.

The thing is, in the movie’s story, we are at the mercy of Hollywood science. The movie describes the event that hurt the Covenant ship as a solar flare (and a neutrino burst). All I can offer are assumptions as to how this solar flare could strike the ship. Maybe they were not in interstellar space, but where in the magnetic field of the star which emitted the solar flare? We really don’t know where the Covenant ship is in the Alien universe, unless you have some information about that? If you do, I would honestly like to read it.

---Point #3

The reason why this theory could be hinted at in the Alien movies is because when the Covenant crew is on “Paradise” asked David what he has been doing here, he replied, “Waiting for Mother.” Why would he say something like that? Not only that, but when David hurriedly switched places with Walter, he somehow had two facehugger embryo’s (or something similar) ready to go. I guess he could have access to Engineer technology, but with making human embryos, that process takes longer than a few hours. Plus, he is around the Covenant crew almost the whole movie, so when did he make those? Why would he make them unless he was planning on leaving anyways? (I guess we could think of some reason) Another is, what are the odds of a ship full of around 2,000 sleeping, helpless colonists are flying past a planet which has an android bent on experimenting with humanoids to develop a perfect organism (or something) in the middle of unchartered space and apparently uninhabitable planets only ten years after he crashed on that planet?

Also, in the original Alien, Ash and Mother are at least suspicious and most likely involved in what David started. The point with this is, why wouldn’t there be some behind-the-scenes goals going on in the movie Alien: Covenant. Alien, Aliens, (I haven’t watched Alien 3 in awhile, so no comment on that) Alien Resurrection, and Prometheus all had behind-the-scenes motives to everything that was happening. Some are just more spelled out then others. The Alien franchise is famous for these kind of things. Still, I don’t like that reason for why there should be.

Point #1 - Sorry, I just don't buy any of this or see evidence of it in the movie or book, so until someone finds some...

Point #2 - I would just be repeating what I have already pointed out, so I'll pass this time.

Point #3 - "Covenant crew is on “Paradise” asked David what he has been doing here, he replied, “Waiting for Mother.” Why would he say something like that?"

Well, the crew never once asked David what he was doing there. Oram asked David to tell him "exactly what is going on" after he shot the Neomorph, if that's what you mean.

Regarding "waiting for mother", I assume you mean David's conversation with Oram in the egg room? This is what he said:

DAVID
"You see Captain, my work has been frustrated from a lack of an essential ingredient."

ORAM
Are they alive?

David
Waiting, really.

ORAM
For what? What are they waiting for David?

DAVID
Mother

David ran out of host "mothers" (the essential ingredient) for his facehuggers to impregnate, so he has been waiting for a new mother to bring his "success" (the xenomorph) to term. David was just using a metaphor...and being a smartass.

This is an old sci-fi trope. It is nothing new for the Alien movies either, as the original chest burster scene has been described many times over the years as a metaphor for a mother giving birth, and Kane has often been described as the "mother of the xenomorph" or having "given birth to" the xenomorph. I remember reading whole essays on all the mother metaphors in Alien, that one being #1.

Point #1

I just got to Chapter 17 in the novel, so I am not finished, but the beginning of Chapter 14 when the crew is talking to David is riddled with suspicion.  In the novel as well, David leads two security crew members to a high place to try and contact the Covenant.  David says he is leaving to check on the others while they try to communicate with the Covenant.  Instead, he goes to cut his hair so he can look exactly like Walter.  The book even says he looks exactly like Walter.  He lied and we all know he switched places with Walter.  After watching what David did in Prometheus (killed Holloway by experimenting with the black goo and touched whatever he wanted so the mission happened they way he and Weyland wanted it regardless of the scientists well-being), I would assume most people would be a little confused if they could trust David.  After watching the end of Covenant, I don't see how anyone could trust David.  The personality and actions of David and his interest in the black goo and the creatures which can come from it, I think, can lead to the conclusion that David is a liar and has motives which he thinks are important enough for him to live out forever trying to achieve the goals.  Also, there is no telling how long David has been waiting to confront the Covenant crew for the first time.  He only came at a time where he had too.  David was watching the crew for a long time.  

One thing that caught my attention in the novel (p.190) was that David knew the crew saw the crash.  I don't remember them telling David they did, so how would he know? (This last comment I am not defending because I guess I could've forgotten this part).  Also, when Walter explored the engineer city by himself, he apparently came across Shaw's room (p.203).  Why would Shaw have a room when she died in the crash? (I am not defending this either for the same reasons as the other above).  What do you think on these parts?

Point #2

A Solar Flare and a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) are two completely different stellar events.  

A solar flare are explosions which form from twisting high magnetic fields crossing and reconnecting.  This creates exploding energy pushing outward from our Sun.  They release harmful energized particles which can damage electronics.

A coronal mass ejection are a similar event as solar flares, but the magnetic field lines become so warped that, like rubber bands under tension, they snap and break, then reconnect at other points.  The gaps that form no longer hold the sun's plasma from its surface.  Freed, the plasma explodes into space as a CME.  They also release charged particles.

The only reason I am defending the fact that a solar flare could affect space equipment is because in the movie, it is stated that it was a solar flare (at least that is how I remember it and apparently that his how BigDave remembers it.  BigDave seems very knowledgeable about the Alien universe, so I trust him on his thought that it was a solar flare in the movie).  If it was a solar flare and the Covenant wasn't near the star which released it, than there would be no way it could affect the Covenant, but the crew states that it was a solar flare.  So, they must have been near enough to the star to be affected by it.  I don't know what kind of star it is the Covenant is nearby, but maybe it releases bigger solar flares than our own Sun?  Our sun's stellar activity can only be used as an example of trying to explain a star we know nothing about.  Yes, they are both stars, so they should do similar things, but the star the Covenant is near could be anything Hollywood dreams up and Hollywood dreamed up a massive solar flare.

Point #3

Okay, so I brought BigDave in on this because I don't have the liberty to watch the movie again, but he even thinks it is a large scale solar flare which caused damage to the Covenant ship.  Before I quoted BidDave, you said there was no mention of the word solar flare even in the movie and I remember the word being mentioned.  So, maybe with the part where the crew asked David what he has been doing here, you missed or forgot?

Also, I don't remember David saying "Mother" in a reply to David.  I am not saying he didn't, but I am not going to say he didn't since it has been since May 19th since I watched the Alien: Covenant. 

This discussion just may get me off of my cheap butt and buy another ticket to watch this movie!!!!

I'll keep adding info to this thread as I read the novel.  I haven't gotten to the part where Walter starts to see through David's lies.

Also, let me just add quickly to my painfully long post, in the novel (p.40-41), the event which caused damage to the Covenant ship is described by Walter as "charged particle flares".  I don't think it is described anywhere else that I remember.  The movie describes the event as a neutrino burst and as a solar flare from what I remember.

No need to define a solar flare and CME to me. Trust me, this is stuff I know very well. Look up what I said about them.

As I have said, the three types of terminology used to describe the event and what they show the event do in the movie is complete bunk. The writer came up with a plot point and needed some sciency sounding terminology to describe what happened, so he found something that sort of fit the bill. It's the same stuff they do in all the alien movies. It's sci-fi, so it does not have to be real, just sound real-ish.

Once you have seen Covenant again you will find the dialogue I posted is exactly what is in the movie, so I'll pass on a further reply until then. You will find the word "solar" was not used.

I was confused about that part in the book as well. I mean...he seemed to really despise humans...

(despite the fact the he quotes human poets ALL THE TIME and is way into Lawrence of Arabia...also human)

I thought...maybe he's calling the Weyland company to GLOAT about having gained control over one of their ships.

I mean, he's light years away and it's not like there's really anything they can do about it. Perhaps he just wanted to brag about how the Weyland creation has outwitted its creator.

@VivisectedEngineer

In the supplemental info on the Weyland website and Prometheus Blu Ray, it shows that the Prometheus was filing reports back to earth, such as one on the black pathogen, so they know about things they found.

No one at WU knows what David has done or what really happened to the Prometheus, just that they have not had a report from them in 10 years. David can tell them Weyland-Yutani whatever he wants them to know. He can also gain info about other exploration or colony ships. Lots of ways he can use WU to his advantage.

For all we know, Weyland may have given David command authority over the classified mission should something happen to him. All discoveries were to be exploited by the company anyway, so there would have been a whole team or division allocated to this mission that David may have authority over that he could use to his advantage.

He could tell them there is a bio weapon that WU could develop as a military weapon, just to get them to go look for in hopes that it would get brought back to Earth. That is exactly what Ash was trying to do. Had that happened, it would have wiped mankind out, which David would be very happy about.

@Kethol

Good info, good points!

"Had that happened, it would have wiped mankind out, which David would be very happy about."

That makes a lot of sense. An alliance of convenience with the Weyland corporation is pretty consistent with David's overall goals in the long run.

As someone who fancies himself immortal, David's a pretty patient guy.

It looks like it is not showing in the theaters anymore around me.  I guess I'll have to wait till it comes out on DVD, which means things could be changed.

I would like to add that the novel describes it as a solar flare.

Strange. That's not in my Covenant novelization :)

In the book Muthur called it an "atypical energy burst consisting of heavy particulate matter" with a bunch of gobbledygook about it being masked by a "concetenation of gravitational distortion in the vicinity". She called it a "neutrino burst" in the movie.

Walter called it "a highly charged shockwave" and "charged particle flares" in the book, and Foster generically referred to it as a "particle wave". In the movie Walter called it a "highly charged shockwave from a stellar ignition", which is a star being born or super nova.

In the book Oram said "what hit us essentially came out of nowhere" and Walter said it was undetectable in Deep Space. In the movie Walter said "It was a random localized event sir. There is no way to detect spontaneous Stellar Flares until it is too late."

i was also thinking about how David could have used the Juggernaut to communicate with Earth. No, it wasn't didn't mentioned in the movie but someond had to stick David's security access code etc in there, even though the crew of Prometheus was assumed dead or least had disappeared. 

::::pats Moon Girl on the back::::

::::Egg morphs Kethol::::

The book describes the Covenant being in "deep space" p. 41.  I guess to figure out what kind of space event took place (in the novel), we need to figure out what Walter means by “deep space”.  NASA defines “deep space” as being beyond the Earth-Moon system (I don’t think this is the correct definition for the purpose of the Covenant mission and the date the human population is in).  “Deep space” can also be defined as the outer space outside of our solar system.  “Deep space” is also defined being the definition of space outside of our galaxy (Extragalactic space) or as the space between galaxies (Intergalactic space).  Apparently it could also refer to interstellar space as well. 

I think in the novel Walter refers to space outside of our solar system.  The reason I think why that definition applies is because the Alien movies are, in a way, an extension of our own real universe.  If strictly speaking about the movies, which is where most people know of the Alien universe and timeframe and where they make the most money and publicity, I like to think of the Alien movies as taking placing in the future of our own real universe.  This thought is kind of broken with the prequels, but it still exists.  So, LV-426, LV-223, and Fury are all within the Milky Way Galaxy.  Also, I think if the Covenant was interstellar space all of the time, I think Walter would have said Interstellar Space and not Deep Space.  Plus, the Covenant mission (as said in the “Last Supper” video on youtube), is apparently the first large scale colony mission this far in “our” galaxy.  What other term could be used to define space outside of our solar system than “Deep Space”?  It just seems fitting to use the “outside of our solar system” definition. 

Walter says in the novel (p.41), “It was assumed that in deep space, the coincidence of occurrence would be too small to be of concern.”  Wherever the Covenant ship is, I doubt the planning team for the Covenant mission would be able to predict all of the nearby stars passive and active phases on the way to Origae-6.  I do see the Covenant planning team studying the stars enough to detect possible supernova explosions.  To me, for any deep space mission, solar flares would be considered as too small to be of concern if proper precautions are taken.

“Astronomers using NASA’s Swift satellite spotted a massive solar flare coming from a tiny star on April 23 (sorry, I don’t know the year).  The explosion was over 10,000 times more intense than anything that has been recorded from our Sun.”  This star is called “DG CVn.”  “It’s radius and mass are about a third of that of our Sun and it’s about 1/1000 less luminous.”  NASA astronomers were shocked at the power of DG CVn’s flare.  “This system is poorly studied because it wasn’t on our watch list of stars capable of producing large flares,” says astronomer Rachel Osten of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore.  Basically, NASA saw it by accident!  “We had no idea DG CVn had this in it.”  “Flares this large from red dwarfs are exceedingly rare,” says Adam Kowalski.  SO, I think this situation could easily have happened in the Alien universe and in their time when we are talking of deep space travel.  The star which emitted the “charged particle flares” in the Alien: Covenant novel could have had a similar story like the DG CVn.

A man named Olin C. Wilson tried to find out in the late 1960’s if all stars had similar passive and active cycles like our Sun, which is 11 years for each cycle (this equals to a 22 year cycle for our Sun to start the cycle over).  What he found out was that the answer is no.  His research showed that other stars have activity cycles that range from a few years to indeterminately long.  Some stars appeared to have no change in activity too.  From this, I think that the Covenant planners did not try to predict every stars cycle timeframe along a possibly flight path, whether in a system or not.  Plus, even if they did, they most likely couldn’t figure out how large a flare could be on one of the passing stars during a short, 10-year plan of time (that’s unless they studied all of the stars in the area in the past, which would be highly unlikely). 

Instead, I think the planners laid out a route which was obviously quick, yet avoided any possible flares and supernova explosions.  They could visually see which stars were close to a supernova explosion, but obviously couldn’t predict any flare sizes.  The path could simply just have included staying away from Red Supergiants, binary white dwarfs and possibly Red Giants too.  Also for a safer trip, the Covenant most likely was traveling near star clusters as much as possible since the stars within those clusters age can actually be estimated, unlike a single star in the middle of space.  Supernova explosions than could actually be estimated to a point.  I guess traveling near clusters would make sense if another route was traveling next to a Red Supergiant alone in space.  Thus, in the novel, a super large solar flare could have been released from a nearby star and struck the Covenant.

The book doesn't actually state "solar flare" or even "stellar flare".  A stellar flare would be the correct terminology, but, as you know, they are essentially the same thing.  As you have said, "Walter called it "a highly charged shockwave" p. 40 (which a solar flare starts as a very big explosion and is highly charged) and "charged particle flares" p. 41 (which a solar flare is a flare plus it emits charged particles).

Also, on another note, David could have access to the Engineers telescopes on “Paradise” so he could study the nearby stars.  I mentioned that before, but I think it could be wrong.  Instead, I am sure he simply looked in an Engineer library on “Paradise”, which would contain all the information he needs to understand the nearby stars.  I am sure the Engineers knew at least just as much about their star(s) as we know about our own Sun for their own safety.

"Thus, in the novel, a super large solar flare could have been released from a nearby star and struck the Covenant."

You are saying you think the Covenant was passing literally right beside a star and went directly through a solar flare? Solar flares are localized. Even the rare massive ones only loop out a distance equal to a few times the diameter of the star. Or did you mean to say CME? Either way, they would have far bigger problems if they were traveling inside a solar system at faster than light speeds. Well, maybe not a bigger problem than the the heat and radiation from the flare destroying the Covenant when it hit it.

Next time you watch the movie, watch the screen David is looking at when Muthur says a neutrino burst has been detected. It shows a shell exploding from a pin point, expanding outward. There is a small graphic of the covenant, and as the screen view pulls back they show pin point stars in between the ship and the point the shell exploded from. They don't show a straight line from a CME burst. They show a spherical shell, expanding outward in all directions from the origin point. They are implying a super nova, or the explosion of a star igniting.

________________

I Moon Girl - "The book doesn't actually state "solar flare"

Finally! :)

I Moon Girl - ..."or even "stellar flare".

Not the book, but that's in the movie. Sorry, I realize you can't see the movie again yet to confirm. I have the benefit of having recorded the audio the third time I saw it.

________________

I get you really want this theory to be true, even though the movie and book descriptions for what was shown to be a physical shockwave bashing into the ship are nonsensical, but what are you basing it on? What did you see or hear in the movie or book that even hints that Walter had something to do with the event that hit the Covenant?

@Kethol

When the image you described is shown on Muthurs screen, I had thought the sphere was the planet the burst could have originated from.

 Since we know that Shaws signal was sent by David in order to lure any by passers, I was suspicious of the origin of the nutrino burst.

 If it did come from some tech the engineers had on the planet, perhaps this is what took down Davids ship? The nutrino burst was powerful enough from that far out, imagine if the ship had been right at the source.

Neutrinos barely interact with anything. The thing that created a dense enough cloud of neutrinos to physically interact with the ship like it did (a super nova) would have destroyed it a few seconds later with the shockwave of energy, particles, and radiation that followed. That's just a bit of gobbledygook science in the movie. 

Later Walter said it was a highly charged shockwave from a stellar ignition. Combine stellar ignition with an expanding shell radiating from a central point onscreen and what have you got?

Stellar ignition is star ignition, the start of the nuclear fusion reaction that powers a star. It could also be a super nova explosion from the death of a star. That's usually not called ignition, but we also got the neutrino burst thing, so...

I think the writers were just trying to say a star-like something exploded and the resulting shockwave hit the ship, or they just did not understand either concept.

I think it would have been cool and even more diabolical if the burst came from David on paradise. Being used as a EMP pulse weapon of sorts.

 How coincidental that the burst happens where it happens, is it too perfect to be so coincidental? Then again it is space, where anything can happen.

The planet David was on was a few weeks away at faster than light speed. Walter said the stellar ignition was nearby and localized. Plus why would they go directly TOWARD the stellar ignition that just made the shockwave that hit them and killed 48 people?

I don't think David even had access to any advanced technology. It looked like he had to make his own paper and microscopes! Literally everything in his lab looked like it was hand made.

Then perhaps this is an area of the movie we are over thinking and it is as simple as a random act as explained in the movie.

Walter: A highly charged shock wave from a nearby stellar ignition. A random localized event impossible to detect until its too late.

"It was bad luck" LOL

WHAT STARTED THE THEORY (WHAT I REMEMBER IN THE MOVIE)

               I specifically remember hearing solar flare once in the movie and maybe even twice.  One of those times could’ve been me hearing a stellar flare, but the time that I really think I heard the words “solar flare” wasn’t when Walter was briefing the crew on what happened.  It was maybe 30 min. (in the movie) after that.  The remaining crew on the Covenant was talking amongst themselves. (Still, a stellar flare is basically the same thing, which means David could know about the active and passive cycles of the nearby star and interfere with the Covenant mission)

               I also remember that after David led them to the safety of the open space, he then started to talk with the surviving Covenant crew.  Sometime during that discussion, one of the crew asks David what he has been doing on “Paradise”.  This is where I remember David saying “Waiting for Mother.”  They are outside in this conversation, but I cannot remember exactly when this conversation was.  I did notice in the novel that David did say “waiting for Mother” to Oram when he asks David what the eggs are waiting for, but I don’t remember these words in the movie.  That’s beside the point though.

INTRODUCTION

This is a long post, but below is me trying to connect the dots in the movie.  These didn’t come first, but after me hearing what I thought I heard in the movie.  The Conclusion I have written right below this paragraph is a quick summary of all of the details.  I elaborate on them in their own sections after the Conclusion.  I don’t expect you to read all of this, but at least read my “Questions in the Novel” if you don’t want to read anything other than the Conclusion.  It could save me time from rereading the novel.  The “Questions in the Novel” section is right below the “Conclusion” section and could really help support the theory that David did interfere with the Covenant mission.

CONCLUSION

So, if we remember the fact that he is willing to kill any kind of animal (alien or not and intelligent or not), the fact that he hates the human race, and the fact that he will lie to keep things in his control (THE PERSONALITY),

and if we understand that what David has been happily experimenting with on “Paradise” is not finished since he ran out of test subjects on “Paradise”, the fact that other Engineers haven’t come (and most certainly know about the pathogen being on the planet) which leads us to believe that David acknowledges the fact no one or nothing would ever come for him or even pass near him (at least anytime soon or at least in a positive state-of-mind; the Covenant crew is ripe for the taking).  We also know he doesn’t like being on “Paradise”. (THE MOTIVES)

We could also, I think, safely assume that Weylands’ personal David had special access to certain things related to the Weyland Co.  We could safely purpose that Weyland may not have ended these rights since he died in a hurried and unexpected manor.  We could also more safely purpose that Weyland also could have passed some on to David to continue work after Weyland’s death.  After all, this is Weyland’s “son”. Plus, if David had Mother working with him, he could use Mother to help “push the buttons” and provide the information. (THE POWER)

Also, to put this briefly, there are a lot of coincidences (THE COINCIDENCES) in the Alien: Covenant story.

Plus, according to the novel, they could’ve been close enough to a star to be struck by a solar flare and then directed themselves out into interstellar space after they were struck.  If they planned on being in interstellar space the whole time, why wouldn’t Walter say interstellar space instead of deep space?  Deep space could simply mean, for the Covenant missions purpose, outside of our solar system.  Deep space would be a good, efficient word to describe that situation.  I brought this up in a previous post earlier.  It would probably be safer to travel near star clusters from time to time, which could also explain the spatial and gravitational distortion (p.26). The situation was also described as unique.  We could simply say that the Covenant is in an unexplored area, so it is not understood very well.  America’s NASA makes mistakes like this too.  The difference is that there was a ship flying through it. (THE WHERE) 

So, David’s personality lines up with him capable of doing the things I am purposing, he has the motives, and he may even have the power to initiate and complete this.  Plus, the whole Covenant mission just seems to be just to perfect from looking at it from David’s perspective to be just a random coincidence.  We also don’t really know where the Covenant is at the time of the particle storm, so that could be open to interpretation as well.  If we look at what we do know and what could possibly be true regarding David, I think the theory that David interfered with the Covenant mission isn’t a very farfetched theory.  David fits the character that would be required to fulfill this theory when we look at the facts and evidence provided in Prometheus and Alien: Covenant.

QUESTIONS IN THE NOVEL

               I do have some questions about the novel.  If you could help me answer them, than I may not reread it.  They are very important questions and I would like page numbers if you have answers.  The only way David would have known the things I am questioning is if he knew of the working crew of the Covenant before they arrived.  This is a big accusation that could really show the evil side of David.  Remember, these are questions at the moment.

#1: p.234 – David says to Oram, “As a scientist, at least, I know you’ll find what I am about to show you of considerable interest.”  All I remember in the novel is Oram telling David he is the Captain when David asks, “Who is the Captain?”.  I don’t remember Oram telling David or telling anyone around David that he was a scientist, do you?  Or at least speaking of his wishes to not be Captain and instead be the scientist he signed up for on the mission.

#2: p.190-David starts talking to the surviving Covenant crew by saying, “I was able to pilot the alien vessel you found only because it was programmed to return to this world.”  A paragraph down, he also says, “As you doubtless noted, the impact was considerable.”  I don’t remember the surviving crew saying they saw a crashed alien vessel.  David could have been watching and studying the crew for some time to learn about their characteristics before he initiated a plan, whether evil or good.  Plus, David makes a big deal about Walter protecting Daniels later in the book and the movie.  He definitely watched the surviving Covenant crew trying to fight the Neomorph’s.  Then, he just simply walks in, fires a gun and the Neomorph’s run.  He ordered the crew to follow him and then he took off.  He did it with such confidence, like he knew what the Neomorph’s would do.

Also related to question #2, p.205 –“There was no indication that the surprise had been intentional, or that his counterpart had deliberately crept up behind him.  There was only the realization by Walter that there was another who could move as silently as himself.”  The importance of this quote is that Walter most likely has better hearing than any human that makes up the Covenant crew, but in this part of the book, David accidentally sneaks up on Walter.  If David can be too quiet for Walter to hear in a silent building, maybe if David kept his distance and watched his step, he couldn’t be heard while observing the Covenant crew shortly after they landed.  He could have only revealed himself because he had no other choice.  Some of the crew had to survive to help insure he would be taken off of “Paradise”.

Also, I don’t remember much being said about Origae-6 in the movie, but in the novel, we get the idea that all the colonists know is that Origae-6 can support life.  The colonists are really going in blind on this mission.  So, who’s to say that the knowledge we have of Origae-6 is a lie to lead the Covenant on a trip that passes by “Paradise”.  Any page numbers which explain more about Origae-6 would be greatly appreciated.  Quotes from the movie about Origae-6 would also be appreciated.

THE PERSONALITY

When including Covenant novel and the movie Prometheus, David has shown he is full of lies, has committed murder two times with Oram and Holloway and most likely a third with Shaw.  On p. 281 of the Covenant novel, “Whirling, she (Daniels) yelled as loudly as she could, “What did you (David) do to her (Shaw)? He smiled anew.  The smile of the damned.  “Exactly what I’m going to do to you, Danny.”  So, that could easily be a fourth murder plus possibly some form of torture in reference to Daniel’s (p.289).  He also tried to kill Walter (p.275), plus a second time.  On p. 272, David says, “They (humans) don’t deserve to start again. I am not going to let them.”  So, we know he hates humans.  Also, David doesn’t actually admit to killing the Engineers, but Walter thinks he did and Walter is a very smart.  I think Walter is right.  Plus, in the movie, we see David bombing the Engineers anyways.  So, David killed a whole planet of life as well (which humans will now never know about).  David is a liar and a habitual killer, but likes to think of himself as perfect.  He is, in a way, like a SS Nazi.  (He even had blonde hair and blue eyes in Prometheus).  He kills something based on what it believes in, kind of like how Hitler wanted to kill the Jews.  Still, David likes to interview his victims (whether for the whole civilization or for an individual) before he makes his final decision.  Plus, David can’t sit still.  He acknowledges that in the book too.  He logically decided he would rather work on something than to allow himself to get “rusty” then die.

An example of David lying can be found in these pages: p.190, David says, “…Elizabeth died in the crash…”  Then, p.203, “Having already delved into the one that had been used as living quarters by Elizabeth Shaw, he continued onward to investigate some of the others.”  David did say in the book that he tried to keep Elizabeth alive as long as possible, but he also said that she wouldn’t agree of his methods.  He said this in a way where it seemed like Elizabeth was in some kind of coma.  So, obviously she didn’t die in the crash because she had a room that obviously had her been living quarters.  Plus, she wasn’t majorly injured since Walter didn’t notice anything unusual in the room that would have turned the room into a “place to die” room or a place to get better and not a living quarters.

THE MOTIVES

David has been very busy on “Paradise”.  He apparently created an exact replica of the Engineers facehugger eggs (as can be deducted in the novel).  The problem is that there are no more living things to experiment on and to enjoy what he made.  He seems like he might try and make friends with the almighty Xenomorph.  He tried with the Neomorph and as far as we know, David was building a positive relationship with it until Oram killed it.  David lost his mind when Oram shot that Neomorph! (In the novel, we get to really understand how upset David was over the dead Neomorph)

David is also on planet that no human would ever think to travel too (apparently because of the gravitational interference in the area).  After the attack, there were no signs of other Engineers visiting the planet.  That means around 10 years have passed or some less with no one ever appearing that could take David off of “Paradise”.  Unless David looked in to the “Paradise” Engineers records of who comes in and out of “Paradise” and if they do that regularly, he would have no idea if he would ever be saved.  On page 190, David says, “When the people of this society realized what was happening, they disabled all their ships to prevent any chance of the virus spreading beyond this world.  Thus I’ve been marooned here, these many years.  Crusoe on his island.”  There is another thing David says somewhere else in the novel that gives the idea that he does not like being stuck on “Paradise” either.  I guess other Engineers could’ve came in wearing some kind of bio-protection suits to keep the virus off of them like we humans do in radioactive areas, but apparently the Engineers consider “Paradise” a wasteland that should never be visited again.  As David has said, the black goo remains dormant and undetected when there is no more life to infect and can do so for a long time, if not forever.  Even if Engineers did show up, they wouldn’t treat David with kindness.  That’s all the more motive for David to get off of “Paradise” as soon as possible.

THE POWER

The David we know is the personal David of Peter Weyland.  We know David has been with Weyland for a long time when we compare how he looks at the end of Prometheus and at the beginning of Alien: Covenant.  Peter Weyland called David in Prometheus “the closest thing he has to a son.”  He also said “David will never die.”  I think for Peter Weyland to state the obvious point that androids will never die makes me think that Weyland thinks about that a lot, or at least thought about it enough in the past where he made a decision based on the fact that David will never die.  So, why wouldn’t David inherit some form of Weylands’ business?  I see he would do that as a backup plan just in case he doesn’t get to live forever.  If you can’t live forever in the flesh, why not live forever through someone, or something?  David does say in Prometheus that “he will be free once Weyland dies.”  This could still be true because Weyland could give him a task to do but give him the freedom on how and when he does it.  I think Weyland thinks David is smart enough to figure it out, but I guess David could just disobey.  There would be no one around to tell him he is wrong.  I am sure if David disobeyed Weyland while he was still alive, Weyland would hunt him down and switch him off (or reprogram him).  I do wonder how Weyland handled his possessions in his will.  I am sure a man with as much power and ego as Weyland, would have made a will.  I wouldn’t be surprised if David was in the will or would receive something from the will.  I doubt Weyland would want to pass down David to another individual.

I am sure the David we know has, or had, special access provided by Weyland for David.  He probably needed it to help Weyland with things.  What David could do with the Weyland Co. may not be very useful to run the business, but it may have been enough for David to interfere with the Covenant mission.  This special access could have possibly avoided cancellation since Weyland was abruptly killed.  We could assume he has some power relating to who is in charge of things on the Earth company Weyland Corp.  Vickers could be an example.  In Prometheus, Vickers asked David, “What did he say?”  The second time she was very abusive about it.  Why couldn’t she just ask Weyland, her father, what he said to David?  Maybe because David has special access to Weyland and possibly even things in the Weyland Co.  Mother did accept his security codes.  Why would he even have them?  David wouldn’t be put on the Covenant mission?  Are these special rights of Weyland Co. provided for David and is Mother a helper of David?  This could be the case.

THE COINCIDENCES

David lands on another civilizations planet in “who know’s where” in the universe.  Humans have never found life off of Earth until the Prometheus mission.  That mission had problems and most of the crew died, so I wouldn’t be surprised if nobody on Earth heard about it except a few at Weyland Co.  Weyland would probably want it that way too.  Somehow “Paradise” couldn’t be found by humans from Earth or from colonies close to Earth.  Well, David goes to that planet and ends up being stranded there.  Then, a massive ship carrying around 2,000 hypersleeping colonists flies nearby on the way to another habitable planet that they are going to colonize.  They then hear a signal from a lost crew member of the Prometheus (Shaw) which repeats over and over again playing absolute nonsense.  If Shaw wanted to send something, I am sure she wouldn’t send that.  The only other reason could be is that it started playing because the ship was damaged during the crash, unless David sent the best recording he could find to attract the Covenant.  All of this happens in less than 10 years after the Prometheus mission.  We don’t know how long it took to fly to “Paradise”, so it seems once David knew what he was going to do on “Paradise”, he could have decided to interfere with the Covenant mission.  The timing is just long enough for David to interfere, but to short to just be a random coincidence to me.

THE WHERE

Interstellar space is mentioned in the book (p. 47) as Tennessee and Ankor leave the service lock.  Still, we don’t know how much time has passed since the particle storm to when all the crew meat on the bridge and then when two crew members exit the service lock.  I think we do know that enough time has passed to direct a ship, as you say, traveling at light speed to fly into interstellar space.  I am sure if they were close to some stars that they wouldn’t be to close.  They would probably be close to interstellar space for safety from flares and CME’s or whatever could be in a system that far in deep space.  We do know that in the novel, right before the particle strike, Walter is heading towards the bridge.  Then, when the crew finishes entering the bridge, Walter speaks.  From the novel, we are led to believe that Walter never left the bridge.  The Covenant could have been within striking range of a super massive solar flare from a misunderstood area of the galaxy than directed the ship away from any other possible flares into interstellar space before the meeting commences on the bridge.  A solar flare the struck the Covenant could easily have been a flare far larger than anything our own Sun could produce.  I mentioned an example in a previous post on this thread.  David could’ve tampered with the Covenant flight path research so that the event would be unexpected to Mother and the crew.

I only saw the movie 3 times, and its been a while since i last saw it...

They called it a Neutrino Burst and this is what the Scene is called (Music Track) but a Neutrino Burst would only really apply to a very powerful and somewhat random Stella Activity that would be a Star going through a very powerful event and thus BIRTH/DEATH of a Star.

But who knows if the guys who wrote all this had taken into context what a Actual Neutrino Burst is.  Its been a while for me to remember every dialog from the movie, i do recall, well as far as i can recall it was explained as a Solar or Stella Shockwave. or something.... which could mean some kind of Massive Solar Flare... but then it could be a Super Nova

I dont recall it being 100% explained, as this was just a Plot Device, to allow the Ship to have to be repaired so that Tennessee receives that transmission in static and can kind of make out a tune... which they then play back on the ship.

It depends how Scientific we try to get, as if this was a Super Nova and the Shockwave was from one of these, it would not have had that effect unless its really close by... well not many light years away.

I fail to see how David would have had any knowledge of this event happening let alone having anything to do with it.

I will say as far as MUTHUR that there could be something going on as far as AI behind the Scenes...  the Prequel Novel will most likely touch upon this, as there are some parties involved who wanted to and attempt to sabotage the Covenant Mission.

For MUTHUR to accept this David Code, means its either a imbedded Secret Code, or at some point when David arrived on the Covenant he must have programmed a Code/Order and then activated it latter on.

The Covenant Mission was 7 years from Origae-6 we do not know the Speed of the Covenant as we do not know how far Origae-6 is.  What i can assume is the Covenant has travelled so many years before it at least had to make ONE RECHARGE... i cant quite remember 100% but i am sure a reference was made to the next Re-Charge being in 1.5 years?

Unless they are changing the Time-line... the Weyland-Yutani Merger happened about 5 years prior to the events of Alien Covenant and thus the Covenant had been travelling for i would say at least 1.5 years before the Neutrino Burst, but no more than about 5 years.

BD, I most definitely agree that david had nothing to do with the events that lead to the damage of the covenant. I do though see how some could argue that he does. as stated in the movie this sector was scanned and no planet was detected to be a possible planet for colonisation which suggest that the events regarding the covenant aren't just coincidence. the ship is badly damaged and they just so happen to detect a planet that's perfect yet wasn't detected before now. for me, I just don't think david was aware of the covenant. I believe he was expecting someone to come but not for a very long time. however long it took for his signal of shaw reaching a human colony and for them to send someone.