Chapter 50: Alien Prequel – Do Androids Have Love Too?

Last night, David found Holloway by the pool table.

“Sir,” David said politely, holding a bottle of liquor. “May I ask you a question?”

Holloway casually toyed with a pool cue. “Go ahead.”

“When you fall in love with someone, shouldn’t you think for their sake and give everything you have?”

Holloway frowned and straightened up, looking at David seriously for the first time.

David was an android created by Weyland Corporation. Handsome, tall, and extraordinarily intelligent, he excelled in every field. From the moment he was unveiled, he had become immensely popular among women and was often seen accompanying his owner.

If all the Davids hadn’t shared the same appearance, most people probably wouldn’t have recognized them as androids.

They were too much like humans. Every gesture and habit mirrored human behavior. Many scientists had conducted experiments trying to prove whether androids possessed emotions unique to humans, but every experiment had ended in failure.

Holloway had conducted such experiments himself. The results had proven that androids could not possess emotions.

“Love?” Holloway curled his lips into a faint smile. “Do you even know what that is?”

“I do.” David quoted calmly, “In Symposium, Plato said that love is ‘the search for one’s lost other half.’ In The Art of Loving, Erich Fromm said that love is not a feeling but a capacity, a verb. Love means care, responsibility, respect, and understanding. It is not something you passively fall into, but an active choice…”

Holloway found it ridiculous that he had briefly suspected David might actually have developed feelings.

“I don’t think you need to think about that.”

“But I think they aren’t entirely correct.”

“Oh?”

David poured himself a glass of liquor.

“When I love someone, I can’t think about what love is. I only want to kiss him, hold him, see him smile for me, have him stay by my side every day, make him love me too, and also…”

“Wait.” Holloway immediately cut him off. “You’re saying you’ve fallen in love with your…”

He said jokingly, “Little master? Yes.”

David drank the entire glass of liquor in one gulp, looking exactly like a man suffering from unrequited love.

“I love him deeply.”

Holloway burst into loud laughter.

David looked at him quietly and said something that left Holloway completely confused.

“You should be grateful for that.”

Otherwise, David would have put the black liquid into Holloway’s drink and helped him fulfill his ideals personally.

It wasn’t until David claimed credit before Weyland that Holloway realized David had been telling the truth.

“David, where is that Engineer?” Weyland ordered. “Get some rest. Tomorrow morning, take me there.”

“Yes, Master.”

Standing beside Shaw, Holloway watched David walk toward Jiang Shulan and ask the exact same question Holloway had once asked Shaw when he had been courting her.

David bent his perfectly straight back slightly, his voice carrying a tenderness Holloway had never heard from any android.

“Little master, did you sleep well last night?”

“Pretty well.”

Holloway saw that the young master was visibly uncomfortable with David’s special treatment and scratched his head awkwardly.

“David, did you forget what I told you yesterday?”

“No. I remember every word my little master says.”

David looked like the very definition of a lovesick fool.

“But that doesn’t matter to me. Serving you and making you happy is my greatest honor.”

Funny how David hadn’t spoken to Weyland in that tone just now.

Holloway curled his lips in disdain.

“Your favorite breakfast is pork buns and vegetable buns. I think they should be perfectly steamed now. Let me take you there.”

“How many did you make? Father likes vegetable buns too.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t notice that.”

David paused.

“I’ll make enough for Master next time as well.”

“What do you mean ‘next time as well’?”

Holloway took Shaw’s hand and walked toward their room.

“Weyland is his real master! How did he not notice something that obvious?”

“What are you muttering about?” Shaw asked, confused.

“Nothing.”

Holloway kissed her cheek.

“I was just thinking about when I was chasing you in college. Back then, you had so many admirers.”

Holloway buried his head against her shoulder.

“I even wanted to bring breakfast for your boyfriend.”

Shaw smacked him lightly.

“What nonsense are you talking about?”

Meanwhile, David stayed glued to Jiang Shulan’s side.

The buns had just come out of the steamer. They were piping hot, with the bottoms soaked through with rich meat juices.

Jiang Shulan eagerly lifted the lid and grabbed one with his bare hand.

It was so hot that his fingertips immediately turned red. He was unwilling to put it down and kept passing it back and forth between his hands.

David reminded him, “You can let it cool for a moment.”

Jiang Shulan shook his head stubbornly, his cheeks puffed out as he spoke through a mouthful of food.

“Buns have to be eaten while they’re hot!”

David reached for the bun in his hand.

Jiang Shulan immediately turned away, staring at him warily like a small animal protecting its food.

“What are you doing?”

“I can hold it for you.”

David’s voice was gentle.

“Just like when you were little.”

When they were children, Weyland had accidentally discovered that David had been doing Jiang Shulan’s homework for him. Furious, he had ordered Jiang Shulan to redo all his previous assignments within a single day.

To catch up, Jiang Shulan had spent the entire day whining while writing homework, occasionally opening his mouth for David to feed him snacks.

“No need.”

Jiang Shulan repeated firmly.

“I’m grown up now. I can eat by myself.”

“But to me…”

David looked at him quietly.

“Even after all these years apart, you’re still the same little child.”

He had admitted who he was.

Jiang Shulan pressed his lips together.

“How did you come back?”

“Because I wanted to see you.”

David suddenly reached out and wiped the grease from the corner of Jiang Shulan’s lips. His cool fingertip brushed briefly across Jiang Shulan’s mouth before he calmly withdrew his hand as though nothing had happened.

“You…”

Jiang Shulan looked at him suspiciously.

“Did you do that on purpose?”

David looked utterly innocent.

“Do what?”

Was it really an accident?

Jiang Shulan wanted another bun, but David was standing directly in front of him, watching him quietly.

The atmosphere suddenly felt strangely awkward.

He ended up having David plate the buns and skipped away to eat with Weyland instead.

Only two people had died in the ruins, yet Weyland had already decided to go there personally.

Vickers was deeply worried and found the two of them eating buns together.

Jiang Shulan handed her a vegetable bun. She disliked pork buns and always said they were too greasy.

Weyland comforted her.

“Danger and opportunity always exist together. My child, if I survive, I can do even greater things.”

“But I don’t want that opportunity.”

Jiang Shulan knew that Vickers only wanted Weyland to stay by her side.

She would make the company greater than ever herself. She didn’t need Weyland to accomplish anything more.

Unfortunately, the two of them were too alike.

Once they had chosen a path, neither would ever persuade the other to turn back.

Jiang Shulan sighed softly.

Vickers had cried the entire night.

The next morning, she stopped Weyland before he departed.

“Father, everyone dies eventually.”

Weyland sat in his wheelchair.

“Do you have anything else to say?”

“…No, Father.”

Vickers stood up coldly, forcing back her tears.

Jiang Shulan took her hand and spoke loudly.

“Big sister does. She still has one sentence left.”

He raised his voice until it seemed the entire ship could hear him.

“Father, my sister and I both love you.”

Weyland froze for a few seconds before answering softly,

“I love both of you too.”

The three of them embraced tightly in front of the entire crew.

The warmth of the moment felt strangely out of place, yet it touched everyone present.

“I love you, Shaw.”

“I love you too, Holloway.”

Almost instantly, every couple and every close friend embraced one another.

Only David stood alone.

Jiang Shulan walked over and hugged him too.

“Thank you for taking care of us.”

David hugged him back with great restraint.

“My honor.”

When they stepped onto the ruins again, Jiang Shulan was still afraid.

But David clearly knew where he was going.

He led them through the ruins without hesitation until they reached a cryo-pod.

David activated the mechanism and opened the Engineer’s cryo-pod.

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