Collagen-Based
Reaching out she touched his face, feeling the synthetic skin. Collagen-based, it was crafted to feel exactly like that of a human. There was indisputable affection in the gesture. Equipped as he was to instantaneously analyze human expressions, vocal tones, and just years, the effect on Walter could almost have qualified as embarrassment. Designed to deal with almost any conceivable situation, he had no idea how to react to a moment of Genuine intimacy.
He drew back silently.
Recognizing the affect her just your head on him, she pulled her hand away. "I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to and settle you."
"I’m not unsettled," he replied. "Uncertain perhaps, but not unsettled. Sometimes a non-response is the most sensible one." He smiled--that seems innocuous enough, he thought. "You should get some sleep."
Alien: Covenant novelization page 223
Walter "Feels"
Hearing none and wondering what he should do, it occurred to Walter to try the flute. Remembering the extraordinary hand-mouth counterpoint of his exchange with David, he made an attempt to reproduce a few notes.
They emerge softly from the instrument, that awkward and incomplete. His embarrassment was evident. Surprised by the unexpected in previously unsuspected skill he demonstrated, Daniels looked on with interest. "Not bad."
"No. That was terrible." Walter eyed the instrument in discust. "It was not even original." It was not terrible, she insisted in music doesn’t half to be original to be enjoyable. If that was the case, there be no such thing as recordings. Only improvisations.
She gestured at the flute. Keep going. Still he demurred.
"I cannot reproduce accurately what I wish to reproduce. It is not a fault of memory."
He struggled to explain what he meant. "It is a lack of something else."
"Then try something of your own", she urged him.
His voice was tight. "I was not programmed with the ability to create."
"Maybe not, she admitted, but you were programmed with the ability to learn..."
Alien: Covenant novelization, page 224.
"How do we know that we’re safe here?" Cole inquired sharply. "We have only your word for it."
David seemed not in the least offended by the implication. No more so than his twin, Walter, would have been. He treated Cole’s query as a straightforward question, ignoring the edgy belligerence with which it had been delivered.
"No. You also have my presence for it."
"You’re not human," the private shot back. "Maybe these things only attack full-blooded organics."
"I was attacked," Walter pointed out quietly. Cole looked over at him, suddenly abashed.
"Oh, right. I forgot. Sorry."
Alien: Covenant novelization, page 188.
As Daniels slept, so I’m here fell down across her for head. Reaching out, he gently brushed it aside, settling the strands back in their proper position. Adjusting them made him feel good. Touching her made him feel good.
Why? What was he feeling? Or was he simply responding to a programming because he had "served," or even if in so small and fashion? Because he had done something he was designed to do?
Did he "feel"?...
“Hey, we make contact!” A little out of breath from his rapid descent from the rooftop, Cole gasped out the information. "We reached the Covenant!"
His shout woke Daniels. For reasons he could not isolate, this displeased Walter. His disappointment passed quickly, along with any further attempts to understand the cause.
Comments