CHAPTER 517: CHAPTER 517: NO CHOICE (BONUS)

As the ostensible supervisor of the Prometheus, responsible for overseeing the scientists’ expedition, Meredith Vickers held considerable privileges on the ship.

She had a private hypersleep pod, a luxurious private cabin, and a personal escape pod.

David led Ethan to Meredith’s hypersleep pod and then woke up the supervisor. Meredith’s pod was equipped with a special wake-up program that would rouse her directly when the ship reached its destination.

In the original plot, when David received the notification of impending arrival and went to wake her up, he found that the supervisor was already awake and had begun simple exercises to restore her body to normal as quickly as possible.

The hypersleep devices on the Prometheus were not particularly advanced. There seemed to be a certain risk during sleep, potentially leading directly to death, and upon waking, users would experience spasms due to the prolonged stasis.

From these conditions, it was clear that these hypersleep pods were far less advanced than the one Betty had used.

Seeing Meredith’s pale face after waking up, Ethan decided to dismantle all of these things. Turning the entire hypersleep bay into a card room would be much more useful than these pods.

Anyway, Ethan’s ship didn’t really need this kind of thing.

Meredith glanced at David, then took a few more looks at Ethan and the others, but she didn’t ask too many questions. Instead, she naturally asked David to get her clothes.

Watching Meredith sitting there, letting the spasms in her body subside, Ethan actually admired this woman. Not everyone could remain calm in such a situation.

Just for not jumping up and shouting, "Who are you?!", she earned a few extra glances of respect from Ethan.

"Meredith Vickers, the supervisor of the Prometheus?"

"Yes."

"My name is Ethan. I have some things I need to discuss with you. I can wait for you to change, or give you a little more time to recover?"

Meredith stood up. Her tall stature allowed her to meet Ethan’s gaze equally.

"No need. I’ll be right there after I change."

The subtext was that she didn’t need extra time to recover. Taking the clothes from David’s hand, Meredith began giving orders like the true mistress of the ship.

"Take the guests to my quarters."

David was still a very obedient robot at the moment. Although he wasn’t sure if Ethan and the others would be willing to follow this arrangement, he still made the gesture to lead the way.

Ethan didn’t monitor Meredith here or anything, because there was no need.

The Prometheus was only so big, it was just a research vessel, and this was a completely unknown area of space very, very far from Earth.

Meredith had no choice at all. Perhaps her calmness was due to her understanding of this point. If these people who had suddenly appeared truly wanted to do something, she had no room to resist at all.

Their current willingness to talk to her proved that things were not heading in an irreversible direction.

Meredith quickly tidied herself up, including taking a quick shower, then changed her clothes and went to her private suite. It had a spacious living area, suitable for receiving guests.

When she arrived, Ethan was sitting in the seat that should have been occupied by her, the mistress, with his legs crossed, drinking juice.

Meredith glanced at the other two women and one man. These three didn’t seem to mind her arrival. It appeared the leader of the group was this young man.

"What do you want to talk about?"

Meredith sat down opposite Ethan and then took a high-calorie shake from David. This was specifically for physical recovery, to replenish enough calories and return to a normal state faster.

"Let’s talk about the trouble you’re about to face."

"What trouble?"

Meredith’s gaze swept over Logan and the others. From their appearance, Logan was undoubtedly the most intimidating. She was wondering how these people had appeared on the ship. Could they be people secretly arranged by Weyland?

Thinking this, she glanced at David nearby. If it was Weyland’s arrangement, then David would definitely know the situation.

To Meredith’s surprise, David denied her guess.

"These guests appeared on the ship suddenly. There are no records or data of them on the ship. I believe these individuals are likely not from Earth."

Meredith raised an eyebrow. She wondered if David was joking. Although she knew David was a robot, he was a highly intelligent synthetic. Perhaps something had gone wrong with a program during the long voyage?

Ethan didn’t refute David’s speculation in any way. Strictly speaking, he was indeed not from Earth.

As for Logan and the others, while they were Earthlings, they weren’t from this world’s Earth, so it wasn’t entirely wrong to consider them all aliens.

"No need to guess. We are indeed not from Earth."

"So, honored alien guests, what do you wish to discuss with me here on the Prometheus?" Although Meredith wasn’t entirely convinced, for now, she wasn’t going to question them. She wanted to figure out what these people’s true intentions were.

"As I just said, you are about to stir up big trouble." Seeing Meredith’s skeptical look, Ethan spread his hands. "Don’t look at me. The trouble I’m referring to isn’t me, and these words are not a threat to you."

Meredith’s mind raced. Although she didn’t believe Ethan’s words, she decided to play along for now.

"So you’re here specifically to warn us? What do you want us to do? Order the ship to turn around and go back?"

"That would indeed help you avoid trouble, but you won’t do that, will you? After all, your superior wouldn’t agree to it."

As someone who knew the plot, Ethan naturally knew that while Miss Meredith Vickers was the official supervisor on the Prometheus, the true owner was Mr. Peter Weyland, hidden deep within the ship in hypersleep.

He was the owner of Weyland Corporation, the financial backer who fully sponsored this expedition.

Meredith was now increasingly suspicious of Ethan and the others’ true identities. She no longer thought these people were sent by Weyland. She began to suspect they were sent by a competitor.

At this point, Meredith finally couldn’t help but ask the question, "Who exactly are you?"

"In a sense, bystanders who happened to see you preparing to seek death, and wanted to watch the show?"

Ethan thought about it and felt his summary was quite accurate. He was indeed there to watch the show, and perhaps pick up the ship while he was at it.

"Why do you consider our actions to be... seeking death?"

Meredith noticed that the person opposite her had mentioned more than once that they would have trouble. The other party clearly knew what they were about to do. What she found strange was why this person was so certain that their actions were going to lead to their death?

"Is there something terrifying on that planet?"

Regardless of whether the other party was acting out of kindness or malice, these people had suddenly appeared on the ship, and she was still very curious about what they wanted.

If they were just well-meaning passersby giving a warning, now that the words were said, shouldn’t they leave? The fact that they weren’t leaving clearly indicated they had some ulterior motive.

"I want to join your team."

"Why?"

Ethan spread his hands. "As I said, I’m just a bystander who wants to watch the show, so, of course, it’s to watch the show."

"Why should I agree to that?"

"Because you have no choice."

Ethan lightly moved a finger, and the pistol hidden under Meredith’s clothes slowly floated into the air, then flew into Ethan’s hand under Meredith’s disbelieving gaze.

He turned the pistol over and over, examining it. It was a weapon that used electromagnetism to propel projectiles, quite advanced in its design concept, but judging from its performance in the plot, the power of this weapon was really not very impressive.

For some unknown reason, the weapons carried on the Prometheus weren’t very powerful. Even the electromagnetic rifles couldn’t inflict serious damage on crew members who had been parasitized.

With Ethan and their current physical strength, even a direct hit from this weapon wouldn’t cause any serious harm.

Something so insignificant to Ethan, something he didn’t even take seriously, was the only thing Meredith could rely on at the moment.

To have it so easily taken away by the other party using such magical means, at this moment she finally understood why David had told her that these people were not from Earth. This was definitely not an ability Earthlings possessed.

"Are you... are you the ’Engineer’?"

"The Engineer?" Ethan shook his head. "No, there’s quite a big difference between me and those guys. You’ll know when you see them."

"You mean, there really are... on this planet..."

The Engineers were their true target for this trip. It was just that Elizabeth Shaw and the group of scientists wanted to explore the origin of humanity, while Meredith and Peter Weyland had other, more personal ideas.

"Yes, there are surviving Engineers on the planet you’re going to." After fiddling with the electromagnetic pistol for a few moments, Ethan offered Meredith a suggestion. "You can wake up Peter Weyland as soon as the ship lands. Doesn’t he want to meet the creators of humanity?"

Even without careful observation, Meredith could sense the strong tone of mockery in Ethan’s words.

Just then, the ship emitted a notification sound, informing everyone that they were about to arrive at their destination, the planet where the Engineers were located.

This meant the story was officially about to begin.

Looking at Ethan, who was still toying with the electromagnetic pistol in front of her, Meredith thought for a long time and realized that, just as the other party had said, she truly had no choice. No matter what Ethan wanted to do, she was powerless to stop him.

(To be continued.)

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