Prometheus is a 2012 novelization of the film of the same name, adapted by Joe Spies from the original screenplay. It was released only in Japan.
Differences from the Film[]
- Prologue Part 1 (2089), pages 5 – 12 The first line of the book starts with “David, how do you feel”, asked by Dr. Christopher, a middle-aged Weyland company man who envied David in how good looking the android was. Vickers was sitting next to Dr. Christopher and after the doctor completed his initial diagnostics, Vickers started to grill David on his emotional stability and the functions he’s capable of. David gave an example of how he can operate ships going to and from “Phobos” to transport minerals. 2 days prior to this event, David hacked into a Yutani asteroid probe where only the top brass knew of the serious crime that the android committed. Vickers made sure and asked if he felt anything about the incident, to which David said no. This action of David was extraordinary because although he is programmed to NOT break any governmental laws, Peter Weyland got special permission from Yutani Corp’s head boss to hack into their probe (I don't know why). Regardless of the special permission, we learn that any order from Peter Weyland supersedes any moral and/or ethical obligations that David may have. After a little bit more inquiries from Vickers, she finally had enough and gave Dr. Christopher approval to clear the first part of David’s test. The 2nd part of David’s test is like what you see in David’s “Happy Birthday” viral where he’s shown a series of inkblot images and was asked “what makes you sad”, to which David answers the same way.
- Prologue Part 2 (2089), pages 12 – 18 In a Weyland owned building, Peter Weyland’s secretary escorts Vickers to his office. All of this I presume is set on Mars. Weyland begins to show his daughter the new “PX6″ holographic display that can reproduce life-like scenery and even scents associated with such imagery. He makes it a point that such an invention is good for people who are away from Earth for long amounts of time. After showing off the device, Weyland gets down to business and promotes Vickers to be 2nd in charge of the company. Weyland then reveals another thing he wants Vickers to do– to go out to a distant planet and find more about some “alien” discoveries all over Earth by Dr. Elizabeth Shaw and how they may relate to the origin of humanity. Vickers resents having to go, but she does anyway.
- Pages 20 – 66 Starts with David watching Shaw’s dream of when she was a child. David wonders why she’s always having such dreams.
- After the showdown between Shaw and the Engineer, pages 246 – 252 Shaw, lying down on the ground and in a half conscious state, wakes up to David’s voice. David tells her that there are a lot of Engineer ships left on the planet and he knows how to operate them thereby allowing Shaw to go back to Earth. Upon arriving inside the crashed ship, Shaw immediately found David’s decapitated head on the ceiling because, at that point, the craft was upside down. Weyland and Ford’s body flew around during the crash and now they lie somewhere in the corridors. David asks Shaw to connect him via a “green cord”, but before doing so, Shaw tells David to answer her questions. “Did you kill Charlie?”, Shaw asserts herself with the question. To which David asks “What do you mean?” “Why does Weyland know that Holloway wasn’t killed by some virus in the air? You put something in Holloway’s drink didn’t you?!”, Shaw exclaimed as she recalled something that lead her to this idea (It’s not clear to me what she recalled that made her put two and two together). The book’s narration explains that Holloway was an experiment to see what the black goo would do and that he was merely following orders. But David doesn’t tell this to Shaw due to the orders given by Weyland. Shaw then tries to reason with David where she tells him that without Weyland, the android is free from authority. David was silent at first, but finds it in his programming that Shaw is right and tells her that he did in fact spike Holloway’s drink. Infuriated by the reveal, Shaw pulls out a knife and digs into David’s neck to find 3 cords; cutting them will cease all of David’s functions. David was at first indifferent, but when Shaw cut 1 cord, David started to spew out strange things yet managed to ask Shaw for forgiveness and to not kill him. Shaw bargained with him and asked to be taken to the Engineer’s home world.