Alan Foster: Alien: Covenant - Origins: The Official Movie Prequel

She decided to tell him the truth. Not censored, but in deliberate amounts, carefully dispensed.

“There were some problems, yes. They involved a group of individuals on the surface who didn’t want to see the Covenant mission go ahead.”

He frowned. It was, she noted, a perfect frown.

“Why,” he finally asked, “would any human not want to see the colonization mission proceed?”

She grunted softly. “Not all humans operate according to logic and reason.”

“So I’ve been told. Since I was activated, I have had numerous occasions on which to make note of this myself. With humans, emotion invariably enters into decision making.” He turned wistful. “I can mimic emotions. Perfectly. Would you like to see me cry? There is a saying among the scientific community. ‘Even an android can cry.’”

“Not now.” They turned another corner. “I’ll take your word for it. Or we’ll wait until an appropriate situation presents itself and you can amaze everyone else with a calculated demonstration of deeply felt empathy.”

He looked over at her. “I am also fully able to recognize sarcasm, when it is employed.”

She threw up her hands. “Okay, I admit it. You’re as human as they can make you. Maybe more human than some of the men I’ve known.”

“Or maybe less,” he commented thoughtfully. “I look forward to experiencing and discovering certain things myself. Much as I look forward to the forthcoming mission.”

“That’s the way to look at it,” she said, finding his enthusiasm refreshing. “My colleagues and I, we won’t be able to experience much of anything except during recharge breaks.” She smiled over at him. “But you’ll be ‘awake’ the entire time, and you can always tell me about anything interesting you’ve seen during the intervals while we’re asleep. I’m depending on it.”

He smiled back. “Don’t worry. I’ll never let you down. No matter what.”

Born in New York City in 1946, Foster was raised in Los Angeles. After receiving a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science and a Master of Fine Arts in Cinema from UCLA (1968, l969) he spent two years as a copywriter for a small Studio City, CA, advertising firm.

His fiction career began in 1968 when August Derleth bought a long Lovecraftian letter of Foster’s and published it as a short story. Sales of short fiction to other magazines followed. His first attempt at a novel, The Tar-Aiym Krang , was bought by Betty Ballantine and published by Ballantine Books in 1972.

Since then, his published oeuvre includes excursions into hard science fiction, fantasy, horror, detective, western, historical, and contemporary fiction as well as non-fiction. He has produced the novel versions of many films, including Star Wars , the first three Alien films, Alien: Covenant , The Chronicles of Riddick , Star Trek , Terminator: Salvation , The Force Awakens , and the first two Transformers films. His work has been translated into more than fifty languages and has won awards in Spain and Russia.

Besides traveling he enjoys listening to both classical music and heavy metal. Other pastimes include hiking, body surfing, and scuba diving. He holds state and world records in powerlifting. He and his wife reside in Prescott in a house built of brick salvaged from a turn-of-the-century miners’ brothel, along with assorted dogs, cats, fish, several hundred houseplants, and the ensorcelled chair of the nefarious Dr. John Dee.

by Alan Dean Foster

Alien

Aliens™

Alien 3

Alien: Covenant

Alien Resurrection by A. C. Crispin

Out of the Shadows by Tim Lebbon

Sea of Sorrows by James A. Moore

River of Pain by Christopher Golden

by Tim Lebbon

Predator™: Incursion

Alien: Invasion

Alien vs. Predator™: Armageddon

Aliens: Bug Hunt Edited by Jonathan Maberry

Volume 1 by Steve and Stephani

Volume 2 by David Bischoff and Robert Sheckley

Volume 3 by Sandy Schofield and S. D. Perry

Volume 4 by Yvonne Navarro and S. D. Perry

Alien: The Illustrated Story by Archie Goodwin and Walter Simonson

ALIEN: COVENANT – ORIGINS

Print edition ISBN: 9781785654763

E-book edition ISBN: 9781785654770

Published by Titan Books

A division of Titan Publishing Group Ltd

144 Southwark Street, London SE1 0UP

First edition: September 2017

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