Prometheus (novel)

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Prometheus
Author(s)	Eisuke Suzuki Jon Spaihts & Damon Lindelof (screenplay)
Publisher	泰文堂 (Taibundo)
Release date(s)	August 1, 2012
Media type	Paperback
Pages	255
Cover by	Sodao Ogawa
ISBN	ISBN-10 4803003483 ISBN-13 978-4803003482

Prometheus is a 2012 Japanese novelization of the film of the same name that was adapted by writer and editor Eisuka Suzuki from a screenplay written by Jon Spaihts and Damon Lindelof, and was published by Taibundo in Japan on August 1, 2012.

Publisher's summary

In 2089, archaeologist Elizabeth Shaw discovers 35,000-year-old cave paintings on a Scottish island. The mural depicts a mysterious giant. Elizabeth believes that this mural is evidence of the existence of intelligent life outside the Earth, and that the giants are the "engineers" who created mankind. In 2093, the spacecraft Prometheus, carrying 17 people including Elizabeth, reaches an unknown star pointed by a giant. Elizabeth and the others approached the unimaginable secret of the stars and the truth of the "origin of mankind."

Plot

Prologue

2089. Dr. Christopher, the Weyland scientist responsible for building David, activated the synthetic to perform a series of tests before being questioned by Meredith Vickers.

Differences from the Film

Notable differences between the novel and the film include:

• 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. Two 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 for unexplained reasons. 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 second part of David’s test is similar to the events of the viral short film Happy Birthday, David, where he’s shown a series of inkblot images and was asked “what makes you sad,” to which David answers similarly.
• Prologue - Part 2 (2089), pages 12 – 18. In a Weyland owned building, Peter Weyland’s secretary escorts Vickers to his office, presumably located 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 second in command 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. David watches Shaw’s dream of when she was a child and 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. 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.

Gallery

See Also

• Prometheus (film) — The 2012 film.