Post by Dachan-da (shiznit) on Oct 25, 2009 5:20:16 GMT -6
ALIEN RESURRECTION
Screenplay By Joss Whedon
EXT. DEEP SPACE SILENT BLACK.
We sweep slowly across an endless tapestry of stars. Finally she comes
into view:
the U.S.S. AURIGA. A massive research vessel that sits majestically
just beyond Pluto's orbit.
We TRACK ALONG the side of the ship, and
INT. AURIGA
along the silent, empty corridors, coming at last to a door with two
guards standing rigid in front of it. Full armour, powerful
shockrifles, expressions empty and cold.
INT. MEDLAB
Along a row of screens, where we see the first signs of life readouts,
lights, data -- all shifting and collating on the blinking screens.
As we move ALONG them, a figure-in a labcoat passes through the frame,
then another,leading us along the lab to settle on what looks like a
Cryogenic tube, not big enough for a human.
Still TRACKING around it, we glimpse inside some vague, fetal mass
encased in a clear, aspic-like gel.
Tubes and cables a attached to the mass, running out of the machine.
As we still CIRCLE, the shape begins to be more coherent, till we can
see what might even be a face.
Eyes, shut tight. Sleeping. Dreaming.
ANGLE: WHEAT.
A birds eyes view of a field, the soft golden waves filling the screen.
Sharp contrast to what we have seen before.
There is a woman wandering through the field. Beside her a girl, seven
or eight, in dingey sundress. Both have black, tousled hair.
GIRL'S VOICE
My mom always said there were no monsters -- no, real ones -- but there
are.
The girl stops, looks around her. The wheat comes all the up to her
chest, and nothing else is visible as far as she see.
She looks back at the woman but the woman is already more than fifty
yards away.
The girl's expression becomes perplexed.
She slaps a bug on the back of her neck. Pulls it off and is HUGE,
wriggling fleshily in her hand. Her expression becomes even more
distraught, but she cannot muster forth a shout.
The sound of insects-fills the air. Another bug lands on her, another.
She looks down in growing horror and sees:
Blood. At her feet, rising, filling the field, rising above the wheat,
a sea of blood now, dark, thick.
The girl tries again to scream, raises her arms. She is completely
covered in insects, a skittering black shroud of them, and when she
finally does SCREAM they flood into her mouth.
CUT TO:
INT. LAB
Instruments show a jolt in heart rate, blood pressure.
Scientists note it down, look over at the thing in aspic.
We can tell that time has passed because it is much bigger, nearly the
size of a man, and in a new case.
The camera moves in on the cardiograph, then moves down, to show a
second one. Tracking a smaller, much faster heartbeat.
CUT TO:
INT. HALLLWAY
Tiny. dark, and we are moving through it at impossible speed turning
into another without slowing, up into an air vent, still moving, moving
until we reach a chamber, some place where all we can see is a mass of
dark, moving, inhuman fle it welcomes us in, envelops us...
ANGLE: RIPLEY Lying somewhere, maybe the dark-chamber -- in the dream
it keeps shifting.
She opens her eyes, but they are dark, whiteless.
She reaches for her chest and begins scratching . Hard.
Tearing at it, as blood wells up, spilling over her sides.
CUT TO:
INT. OPERATING CHAMBER
And the cause of this dream becomes apparant:
ANGLE: RIPLEY'S CHEST
being cut open with a lasersaw.
We see her body still has a layer of the aspic-slime clinging to it.
And her skin is unnaturally blue. But as we PAN from her chest to her
face her identity is unmistakable.
Around her are several men in operating masks. Cutting her GEDIMAN, a
young and enthusiastic scientist. One man, seemingly in charge, stands
a bit off, watching. This, by tag on his coat, is DR WREN.
WREN
Careful ... ready with the amnio...
Gediman finishes cutting. Another man steps in with a clamp. Sets it.
Pulls apart the chest.
GEDIMAN
There she is...
He says it like he's found a lost kitten. He reaches in an pulls out a
sleeping, fetal but nearly ready to burst ALIEN. Others work at
severing umbilical threads that tie it to Ripley's chest.
GEDIMAN
Here we go.
He holds it up and others step in with the amnio, a sort of incubator
filled with amniotic fluid.
The alien SCREAMS, its tiny mouth full with teeth, and wriggles out of
his grasp.
WREN
Watch it!
Everybody panics -- but before the thing can get completely away from
him, Gediman grabs it and sticks it in the amnio. Someone shuts the
top rapidly.
Everybody looks at each other for a moment.
GEDIMAN
Well ...
WREN
The host?
A surgeon looks at Ripley's readings.
SURGEON
Doing fine.
Gediman looks at Wren, hopefully. Wren nods.
WREN
Sew her back up.
Gediman and the surgeon get to work, as the others carefully remove the
alien.
GEDIMAN
Well, that went as well as could be expected--
Ripley's hand LASHES OUT, GRABS the surgeon's forearm. He yells in
pain as her fingers dig into him, the others scramble knocking things
over and we HEAR HIS BONE CRACKING.
SMASH CUT TO:
INT. RIPLEY'S CELL
Sudden stillness.
Ripley crouches in the middle of a small, dark chamber. She's wide
eyed, staring straight ahead in a state of near catatonia. Hair tangled
and wild. But at least she's not so blue as before.
The only light on her comes from directly above, from a thick pane of
glass in the center of the ceiling.
ANGLE: ABOVE THE CELL
A guard stands on the floor above, looking into the cell through the
square of glass in the floor, directly above Ripley.
(We see other panes of glass lining the floor, indicating more cells
below.)
ANGLE: RIPLEY
She is still for a long while. Then she lifts her hands, looking at
them.
Touches her face, her skin.
She fingers her tunic, pulls down the neck. There is a scar running
along her chest.
She fingers it thoughtfully. -
She looks at her forearm. Tattooed near the crook of her elbow is the
number 8.
She looks up, her face unreadable.
CUT TO':
INT. LAB
Ripley is sitting on a table as Gediman draws blood from her.
He deposits it in a test beaker, studies her eyes.
Wren enters, looking at a chart.
WREN
How's our number Eight today?
GEDIMAN:
Appears to be in good health...
WREN
(noticing his tone)
How good?
GEDIMAN
Extraordinary. As in, completely off our projected charts.
(shows him some photos) Look at the scar tissue. See the recession?
WREN
This is from --
GEDIMAN
Yesterday!
WREN
This is good. This is very good.
GEDIMAN
I'd like to run some tests: strength, coordination... We're not
looking at a normal cloning arc.
WREN:
Approved.
Wren goes up to Ripley, studies her face with satisfaction.
WREN
Well, it looks like you're going to make us all very proud.
She grabs his throat with dazzling speed, applying deadly pressure as
she brings his face to hers. Her eyes are burn but lost.
RIPLEY
Why?
GEDIMAN
Oh my God...
He is as wide eyed as WREN, and he isn't having his windpipe crushed.
After a moment the shock wears off and he slams his hand into the
alarm.
Klaxons, red light fire up.
A guard rushes in, levels his weapon at Ripley. After a moment of
staring him down, she opens her hand. Wren falls to his knees gasping.
The guard FIRES his rifle at her -- a powerful electrical charge lashes
out and sends her flying back into the corner.
WREN
No! No! I'm all right!
The guards keep their weapons -- 'burners', these shockrifles are
called -- leveled at Ripley. She has recovered from the shock quickly,
sits crumpled in the corner, looking at nothing in particular.
RIPLEY (wearily)
Why...?
CUT TO:
INT. OBSERVATION ROOM
Wren and Gediman watch through a one way mirror as a scientist tests
Ripley.
With them is General PEREZ, the man in charge this boat. Ramrod
straight and about as gruff as you would expect, he stares at Ripley
suspiciously.
ANGLE: RIPLEY
The scientist is holding up cards with pictures on them: house, dog,
boat.
Ripley gives answers we can't hear through the glass, looking pissed
off and bored.
WREN
It's unprecedented.
GEDIMAN
Totally! She's operating at a completely adult capacity.
PEREZ
And her memories?
WREN
There are gaps. And there's some degree of cognitive dissonance.
GEDIMAN
She's freaked.
Wren shoots Gediman a stern look at his unscientific parlance.
WREN
"It" has some connective difficulties. A kind of low level emotional
autism.
Certain reactions....
Perez looks at Ripley through the glass, then exits into the hall.
TO:
INT HALL - CONTINUOUS
The two scientists follow, pace him as he strides down towards a second
observation room.
GEDIMAN:
But the thing is, we can't terminate her. It.
PEREZ
You haven't told me what you think has caused this.
Cloned genes don't contain memory cells, not even when they're brought
to adult term. I'm right?
GEDIMAN
There's been cases..
PEREZ
Not like this.
WREN
Well, we don't have nearly enough data... but in some cases there is a
collective memory passed down generationally. At a genetic level. Like
instinct, only more complex structurally.
PEREZ
In some cases. You're talking about the alien.
WREN
Yes.
PEREZ
You promised me there wasn't going to be any crossing.
WREN
It's not like the other ones..
Perez punches code, puts his hand on the scanner and the second
observation room door opens..
He steps in, the other two right behind him.
CUT TO:
INT. OBSERVATION ROOM TWO
Darker than the first one, and with two of the heavily armoured guards
by the door.
Apart from-that, identical. Perez turns to the others.
PEREZ
But there is some genetic mix.
WREN
Yes.
PEREZ
Will there be further mutation?
GEDIMAN
Mutation isn't exactly... I don't think so.
WREN
That's one of the things we need to study.
PEREZ
All right. You can keep it. But secure, under obsorvation, and for
God's sake keep it away from here. I don't want any more surprises.
And as he speaks the ALIEN RISES RIGHT BEHIND HIM -- it's big, the
ridges on its head indicating a young queen -- it hisses and LUNGES at
the back of his head.
The reinforced plastic window between them, which we couldn't see,
stops it.
As it hits, a thin laser grid buzzes to life, sparks crackling on the
alien's face.
Its bile trails darkly on the glass as it backs off.
Perez turns to look at it with the others.
PEREZ
It took a hell of a lot to get us here.
GEDIMAN
No shit.
Wren shoots him another look.
PEREZ
How soon before this one's ovulating?
WREN
Days.
PEREZ
Is that normal?
WREN
No way of knowing for sure, but I'd say it's accelerated.
(After a moment) We're going to need the supplies.
PEREZ
They're coming. Soon.
CUT TO:
INT. MESS HALL
Ripley sits across from Gediman. He is eating at a good pace - Ripley,
however, has stopped. She is staring at her fork, her brows furrowed.
Turns it over in her hand, in her mind.
GEDIMAN
"Fork."
The memory comes, and she shakes her head wearily.
RIPLEY (softly)
Fuck....
GEDIMAN (pretending to correct her)
"Fork."
Ever so slightly, she smiles. The smile fades, and after a moment:
RIPLEY
How did you...
GEDIMAN
How did we get you? Blood samples from Fiori 16. On ice.
Do you remember that place?
RIPLEY
Does it grow?
GEDIMAN
Does it.....Yeah. Rapidly.
RIPLEY
It's a queen.
GEDIMAN
How did you know that?
RIPLEY
It'll breed. You'll die. Everyone in the ... fucking.... (searches
for the word, then spits it out) ... Company. Will die.
GEDIMAN
Company?
WREN (O.S.)
Weyland Yutani.
He has entered behind her, comes up to the table.
WREN
Our Ripley's former employers. Terran Growth conglom, had some defense
contracts under the military. Before your time, Gediman -- they went
under decades ago, bought out by Walmart. Fortunes of war.
(to Ripley)
You'll find things have changed a good deal since your time.
RIPLEY
1 doubt that.
WREN
We're not flying blind here, you know. This is United Systems
military, not some greedy corporation. The potential benefits of this
race go way beyond urban pacification.
New alloys, new vaccines ... there's nothing like this in any world
we've seen.
You should be very proud.
She laughs, bitterly.
RIPLEY
Oh, I am.
WREN
And the animal itself is wonderous. They'll be invaluable once we've
harnessed them.
RIPLEY
It's a cancer. You can't teach it tricks.
This stops Wren, and he retreats silently. Ripley repeats word to
herself, thinking.
RIPLEY
"Them" ...
CUT TO:
INT. HALL CONTINUOUS
As Wren is leaving the mess, he is accosted by an ensign.
ENSIGN
Doctor, General Perez is asking for you. We've been hailed.
CUT TO:
EXT. DEEP SPACE
We see the Auriga far in the distance Suddenly A SHIP ROARS INTO FRAME,
heading for it.
A small vessel, it is every bit dirty and jerry-rigged as the Auriga is
pristine.
To accentuate the difference, the sudden roar of its engines is
accompanied by
HEAVY, THRASHING ROCK MUSIC.
CUT TO:
INT. COCKPIT CONTINUOUS
The music is coming from nearby. Piloting the ship toward the Auriga
is HILLARD, a roughskinned woman in her forties, along with RANE, a
slight and quiet fellow.
Behind them stands ELGYN, the leader of the group.
Has the kind of authority that doesn't need to flaunt itself.
Maybe fifty, by the silver in his hair. He speaks into the vidcom
ELGYN
(good naturedly)
My authorization code is 'fuck you', son. Now open the goddamn bay or
General Perez is gonna do a Wichita stomp on your virgin ass.
He switches off.
RANE
Wichita stomp?
ELGYN
I guarantee that boy's. Never seen the inside of a woman.
(to Hillard)
Bring us in on three-oh descent, ride the parallel.
HILLARD
Darlin', it's done.
ELGYN
Don't cut thrust till six hundred meters. Give em a little fright.
He puts his hand on her shoulder, runs it up along her cheek as he
exits.
They're more than friends.
He moves through a hallway, sticks his head in a cubicle.
ELGYN
Christie! St Just! Rise and shine. We're docking.
He proceeds into:
INT. CARGO BAY - CONTINUOUS
It's the largest space in this boat, two stories high. Taking up most
of the space are two HARVESTERS, big rusty hovering threshers roughly
the size of winnebagos.
As Elgyn enters, we CRANE UP to reveal ANNALEE-CALL working atop one of
them.
She's young, tough -- at home with this motley bunch despite her youth
and prettiness.
ELGYN
Call! CALL!
The music is louder here -- it's blasting from a box in the corner.
Elgyn switches it off.
ELGYN
Call!
CALL
What?
ELGYN
We're docking! Are the cargo trucks secured?
CALL
I checked 'em an hour ago.
ELGYN
I don't want em so much as rattled. Any leakage, I take it out of your
hide.
CALL
Trust me, boss.
ELGYN (laughs)
Not my style.
He leans down, looks under the thresher. Lying on a gurneylike steel
dolly, working under the machine, is VRIESS, chie mechanic. Late
forties, in pretty good shape considering he's got no legs.
ELGYN
How's it looking?
VRIESS It's never gonna be pretty. but she'll fly. The other one's a
total fucking write-off.
ELGYN
You'll make it good.
VRIESS
Don't be so sure.
(calls out) Call! Adjust the generator plugs!
ELGYN (straightening up)
They just gotta run, Vriess. They don't gotta run far.
He exits.
CUT TO: INT. HALL CONTINTJOUS
CHRISTIE is up and mostly dressed. He is black, very large, and has
distinctly military bearing. He speaks with quiet, don't-fuck-with-me
authority.
CHRISTIE
What's our status?
ELGYN
We're coming in. Time to enjoy a little of the general's hospitality.
ST JUST
Oh great. Army food..
ST JUST ("San-Jhoost") is slim, Asian -- and the epitome of cool.
Moves quickly and silently, a sly grin playing about lips. He is
strapping a contraption to his forearm. It resembles a deringer
holder, but a very complex one.
ELGYN: We could use a rest, till the heat's off and Vriess can get
those harvesters on their feet.
This'll keep us for a couple of days, assuming the natives are
friendly.
CHRISTIE
We expecting any trouble?
ELGYN
From Perez? I doubt it. Still, let's be ever vigilant.
CUT TO: INT. CARGO BAY CONTNIUOUS
ANGLE: VRIESS working intently, the extremely nasty blades of the
thresher inches above his head.
VRIESS
I'm patched in. Check the sequence timer.
(no answer)
Call?
ANGLE: THE CONTROLS
A hand reaches in toward the ON switch.
ANGLE: VRIESS
VRIESS
Call?
The thresher GRINDS TO LIFE -- a hundred blades and claws spinning at
Vriess's head!
Vriess wheels out from under the machine in a second flat.
VRIESS
Goddamnit!
The second he's out he hits a lever and the back of the dolly flies up,
transforming it-into a wheelchair.
VRIESS Johner! You son of a whore!
JOHNER jumps down from the machine, laughing. He's thickset, mean and
ugly, with ugly scars crisscrossing his ugly bald head.
Thought I'd give you a little haircut there.
VRIESS
You fuck!
Call, who has been over on the other side of the thresher, ably climbs
up on it and switches it off.
JOHNER
You should see your face. Vriess, you must have soiled yourself.
VRIESS One of these days I'm gonna kill you. My hand to God.
JOHNER
Well, you already gave him your feet ...
CALL (jumping down)
You're a limp fucking scrotum, you know that?
JOHNER
Either of you want a piece of me, I'm less than busy.
VRIESS
Any time.
CALL
Vriess. Forget it. He's been sucking down too much homebrew.
JOHNER
Don't push me, little Annalee. You hang with us a while, you'll learn
I'm not the man with whom to fuck.
He exits, full of annoying bravado.
VRIESS
That inbred cocksucker.
He feels his forehead, comes up with a bit of blood. Realizes how
close it was ...
Call looks up at the thresher.
CALL
1 hate machines.
VRIESS
Well, now we know it works ...
CUT TO: EXT. AURIGA DOCKING BAY
As it opens to admit the proportionally tiny ship. The bay on the
bottom of the Auriga
- the doors are actually OVER the ship, which rises into the airlock.
INT. AIR LOCK
The outer doors close under the ship. Pressurized air shoot into the
airlock for a few seconds, and then the inner door opens. the ship
rising into the bay.
INT. BAY
The ship moves slowly along the huge dock to land gently at far end.
The top of the ship is nearly level with a grated platform that runs
the length of the bay.
Three soldiers in full armour stand rigid on the platform. The hatch
atop the ship slowly opens. One by one the crew files out. Seeing them
en masse, we get a clearer view of what separates them from this
Environment. They're not wearing uniforms. They're an eclectic,
fiercely indivualist group, their look varied -- spots of bright color
showing through militarian space gear. Johner's bright tuorquise
bowling shirt. Elgy's and St Just's floorlength leather dusters. Even
Vriess's chair stands out as he wheels down the platform.
What they have in common is the toughness, the wary eyes, leathery
skin. The cool readiness to kill. These guys are smugglers. A long
while ago, you'd have called them pirates
All eight of them emerge, one by one, looking around them. They file
past the silent, uniformed soldiers. The last one suddenly puts a hand
on Johner's jacket, stops him.
There is a bulge under it. A green sensor light on the back of the
soldier's glove turns red when he touches the bulge.
SOLDIER
No projectile weaponry is allowed on board the vessel, sir.
Johner opens his jacket, shows what he's packing: a large thermos.
JOHNER
Moonshine. My own. Much more dangerous.
SOLDIER
Sorry, sir.
ELGYN (to Perez)
What, do you think we're going to hijack the vessel? All eight of us?
No, I think one of your asshole crew is going to get drunk and put a
bullet through the hull. we are in space, Elgyn.
He enters from the antechamber, motions for the crew to follow him.
Vriess comes abreast of the soldier.
VRIESS
Wanna check the chair?
The soldier makes no response, simply falls in behind Call, the last of
them.
CUT TO: INT. ANTECHAMBER
The long neck that connects the bay to the body of the ship. The group
proceeds down it, the crew looking about them at the sterile grandeur.
ST JUST
This place is really clean.
JOHNER (to a guard)
Hey. You got any whores on this vessel?
(the guard remains stonefaced)
Any loose women with bad eyesight?
PEREZ
I think you'll find our accomodations somewhat spartan. Although the
cook sets a good-table.
JOHNER: That ain't what I'm hungry for.
VRIESS (to Call)
What's the matter?
She is looking around her, somewhat tensely.
CALL
I don't like army.
HILLARD
Yeah, join the fucking club.
CUT TO: ANGLE: MONEY
A stack of bills dropped down on a desk, then another. They're green,
and identifiably money. But they're square, about the size of cocktail
napkins. The face on them is unfamiliar. Thousand dollar bills.
WIDER ANGLE: INT. PEREZIS CHAMBERS LATER
A good sized suite, decorated in a sparse, military fashion. Perez is
behind his desk, the money sitting between him and Elgyn.
PEREZ
This wasn't easy to come by.
ELGYN
Neither was our cargo. You're not pleading poverty, are you?
PEREZ
We're well funded. I mean the bills. There's not many that still deal
in coin.
ELGYN
Just the ones that don't like their every transaction recorded. The
fringe element.
I guess that would include you, though, wouldn't it?
PEREZ
Drink?
ELGYN
Constantly. I'm guessing whatever you've got going here wasn't exactly
approved by congress.
Perez pours two whiskeys.
PEREZ (changing the subject)
So where do you go from here?
ELGYN
Out by the Handle. We've got a couple of harvesters, we can unload 'em
on one of the collectives if Vriess and Call get 'em working.
PEREZ
Call. Where'd you find her?
ELGYN
She is severely fuckable, isn't she? - And the very devil with a socket
wrench.
I think Vriess somewhat pines.
He takes a stack of bill, smells it. He likes the smell.-
ELGYN
She is curious about this little transaction. You can hardly blame
her, Awfully cloak and dagger...
Perez hands a drink to ELGYN.
PEREZ
This is an army operation.
ELGYN
Most army research labs don't have to operate outside regulated space.
And they don't call for the kind of cargo we brought.
PEREZ
Do you want something, Elgyn?
ELGYN
Just bed and board, couple of days worth. If we're not imposing.
PEREZ
Not at all. Keep out of the restricted areas, don't start any fights,
and mi casa is yours too.
Elgyn drinks to that.
PEREZ
I trust, of course, that you can mind your own business.
ELGYN (smiles)
I'm famous for it.
They drink.
CUT TO: INT. HALLWAY - RESTRICTED AREA
The 'cargo' is rolled down the corridor, armed guards flank it. It is
wheeled into:
INT. A CHAMBER
Where Wren and a few others are waiting. Gediman looks a little
nervous, not sure this is a good idea.
The cargo is locked into place on the floor and and a guard works the
electric lock.
It springs open and the guard slides off a side panel.
They are stacked one on the other, five of them in all, cryotubes.
People sleeping inside.
One by one the tubes are hauled to one side of the room as the second
unit is wheeled in.
By the end there are ten people sleeping side by side in their tubes in
the dark chamber.
The scientists meanwhile retire to INT. AN ADJOINING CHAMBER with a
long glass window looking at the chamber.
The last of the guards leaves the chamber and we see the door lock
behind them.
Wren starts pushing buttons.
The glass tops of the cryotubes slide open. We see temperature and
lifesign gauges begin to change..
There is a thick whirring as a part of the ceiling above the tubes
lowers, lowers, and rotates slowly.
Stuck to the other side of it are ten alien eggs. The ceiling rotates
just enough so that they are aimed at the heads of the sleepers.
For a moment nothing happens.
One of the sleepers eyes flutter slightly. Opens. All ten eggs open
simultaneously.
CUT TO: INT. CONFERENCE HALL
A huge room, used for assemblies and events. It has a chain basketball
net set up at one end, crude court lines taped to the floor. Ripley
stands beneath the net with a ball, dribbling absently.
At the other end are set up tables and folding chairs. The crew of the
Betty, sans Elgyn, are filing in to eat here. Johner spies Ripley,
smiles.
JOHNER
Ooh.
Johner comes up to Ripley. Her expression makes it clear how much she
enjoys having him in her face.
JOHNER
How about a little one on one?
She keeps dribbling, says nothing.
JOHNER
What do you say?
RIPLEY
Get away from me.
JOHNER
Why should I?
RIPLEY
Because pain hurts.
He falters a moment at her quiet threat, then:
JOHNER Are you gonna hurt me then? 1 think I might enjoy that.
He smiles his ugly smile. She smiles back.
She hits, him solidly in the chest -- and he flies back ten feet,
landing badly on a group of chairs.
His mates fly into action, Christie grabs a standing ashtray. Hillard
jumps Ripley from behind. She throws her off with e -- chucks the
basketball at her hard enough to pop the air out of it.
Christie swings at her and SMASHES her right in the face.
She arcs back... and right back up, at Christie's throat before he has
a chance to react, squeezing, batting away the ashtray just a trickle
of blood coming down her nose --
Johner cames at her again and she leaps on him, throws him to the
ground, snarling,
SHE'S GONNA RIP HIS THROAT OUT WITH HER TEETH.
WREN
Ripley.
Ripley looks up and four guards are pointing burners at her. Wren and
Gediman behind them.
Call, standing to one side with Vriess, reacts visibly to the name.
Everybody is slowly backing off. St Just stands with his hands behind
his back, as if concealing something.
Call watches in rapt silence.
WREN
Don't let's have a scene.
Ripley lets go of Johner, stands.
RIPLEY
He... smells
WREN
I imagine he does.
JOHNER (barely breathing)
What the fuck are you?
She looks down on him - in both senses of the phrase. - Look around at
everyone staring at her.
She wipes the bit of blood from under her nose, flicks it away. Exits.
WREN (to Gediman, amused)
Social skills, less than a hundred' percent.
ANGLE: RIPLEY'S BLOOD
The few drops she flicked away sizzle on the floor -- not eating
through, but melting a small patch.
TO: INT. LABS - LATER
A large metal box is being wheeled next to an observation pen. Soldiers
surround it, weapons at the ready. Not one of them at ease.
Wren and Gediman watch intently.
WREN
What's the status on the Queen?
GEDIMAN
We still haven't detected the origin of the reproductive anomalies. But
the egg laying stage appears to be over.
WREN
Did we do something wrong?
GEDIMAN
I don't know. I think we covered everything. But these redundancies...
A soldier lifts a panel in the pen and then doors to the cage come open
automatically.
Everyone waits.
A fullgrown alien suddenly bolts into the pen. The soldier shut it as
quickly as humanly possible.
WREN
Father, check security status, observation pen six.
Father, the voice of the ship, replies after a moment in a dulcet,
comforting tone.
FATHER
Pen six secure, security systems functional at 100%.
WREN
Good. Now the others.
CUT TO: INT. SLEEP CHAMBERS - NIGHT
We see VARIOUS ANGLES of people at night:
Rane, in, a chamber on the Auriga.
Hillard and Elgyn, in a slightly more lush one.
Perez, in his quarters.
VRIESS, rolling about the Aurigals engine room, looking it over.
Christie, St Just, Call and Johner, all playing poker in the mess hall.
CUT TO: INT. OBSERVATION ROOM - RIGHT
A sleep cycle is indicated here by the low lighting and the near
emptiness of the room.
Gediman alone is in here, writing observations down in a notebook as he
watches the pen.
Inside are three aliens. Two of them seem to be hibernating, curled up
in the corner, but the third faces the glass, tilting its head and
hissing at it.
Gediman sits right up close to it, his face just inches away from the
beast's. It draws back its lips, opens its mouth. The metallic tongue
issues slowly forth, dripping with slime.
GEDIMAN (softly, fascinated)
Is that a distended externus lingua ... or are you just happy to see
me?
The creature hisses. retracts the tongue. Gediman scribbles few notes.
Something moves in the dark behind him. Before he can notice, a hand
closes on his shoulder.
It's Ripley. She steps forward, eyes locked on the cage. Gediman seems
only mildly surprised.
GEDIMAN
How did you get in here?
RIPLEY
Beautiful, aren't they?
GEDIMAN
Yes. Yes they are. I've been monitoring their interaction.
He points at a audiograph by the wall, blips and waves interrupting the
vibrating line, indicating sound.
He notices that her hand is still on her shoulder.
GEDIMAN
They communicate. Through ultrasonic soundwaves. Sort of like bats.
RIPLEY
I know.
She looks at him.
RIPLEY
I can hear them.
GEDIMAN (smiling)
Amazing ...
She runs her hand through the back of his hair, gently urging him up
off his chair.
GEDIMAN
Ripley...
RIPLEY
Shhhhh.
She pulls him close, kisses him. Lightly at first, then deeply -
holding his head with both hands. He responds with surprising warmth,
the kiss drawing out, pulling slowly apart.
She looks at him, smiles.
An alien tongue SHOOTS out of her mouth, burying itself in his face.
SMASH CUT TO: INT. RIPLEY'S CHAMBER
As she suddenly awakes, eyes wide, breathing hard.
She has been sleeping, we see, in the same position she was before:
squatting in the middle of the room. She looks about her, recovering
from the nightmare... Her breathing slows. With a somewhat fatalistic
look, she settles back to sleep.
CUT TO: INTERIOR MESS HALL - NIGHT
Christie, Call, St Just and Johner are still at their all night poker
game, stacks of bills, peanuts and liquor scattered the table.
They are in a tense hand, the pot impressively high.
JOHNER
I'm in.
CHRISTIE
All right.
ST JUST
Raise you two hundred.
JOHNER
Oh, fuck you!
CALL
That's it. I'm out. I'm fucked.
She throws down her cards, takes a swig of Johner's patented moonshine.
It tastes horrible.
CHRISTIE
That takes me down, too. Johner?
JOHNER
Uh, Uh, fuck it. I fold.
(to St Just)
What do-you got?
St Just calmly shuffles his cards back into the deck.
ST JUST
You'll always wonder.
JOHNER
You asshole.
CHRISTIE
Johner, your deal.
CALL
Deal me out. It's not my night.
She tries to stand up, takes a spill over her chair. The others laugh.
CALL
Jesus, Johner, what do you put in that shit, battery acid?
JOHNER
Just for coloring.
ST JUST (producing a small vial)
I got something that'll take the edge off that.
CALL Thanks, I'll walk it off.
She stumbles out of the room. Johner shuffles the deck.
JOHNER
Bitches should not play with the boys, they will get cleaned out.
(dealing)
Eight card throwback, fuck your sister and the sevens are wild.
CUT TO: INT. HALL
As soon as she is out of sight, Call straightens up, completely sober.
She looks around her and takes off toward the restricted areas.
She comes to the door and making sure no one is around, star punching
in code on the keypad.
CUT TO: INT. CELLBLOCK - MOMENTS LATER
As Call pads silently down it, looking for one cell.
TO: INT. RIPLEY'S CELL - CONTINUOUS
The cell door opens silently. Call hesitates a moment, then slips in,
shutting the door behind her.
Ripley is sleeping, still in the squatting position in the middle of
the room.
Call approaches.
She stares down at Ripley a moment. A shadow passes as a guard walks
above them,
Call tenses till he is gone. Look's back down at Ripley -- still
sleeping.
Call extends her hand, flexes her wrist. The meanest lookin stilletto
you've ever seen extends from out her sleeve. it, gotta be a foot long,
and sharp enough to shave with.
She lifts back her arm, the better to punch it through Ripley's heart.
Ripley shifts slightly. Call stops.
ANGLE: RIPLEY'S CHEST
Her shirt is open enough to show a good portion of the scar. Call
hesitates, staring, realization flooding her face.
RIPLEY
Well?
Call starts, moving back a pace.
RIPLEY
You gonna kill me or what?
CALL
There's no point, is there?
A flick of her wrist and the stilletto whips back up her sleeve.
Ripley sits up.
CALL
It's already out of you. Christ... Is it here? Is it on board?
RIPLEY (smiling)
You mean my baby? CALL
I don't understand. If they've got it, why are they keeping you alive?
RIPLEY
Curious. I'm the latest thing...
CALL
Those sick fucks.
She raises her arm, the stilletto gliding out again.
CALL
I can make it stop. The pain... this nightmare.. That's all I can
offer you.
Ripley holds her palm up, presses it against the point of the blade.
RIPLEY
What makes you think I would let you do that?
Ripley pushes her hand out - the blade goes RIGHT THROUGH HER PALM. She
keeps pushing her hand out slowly, a good five inches of the blade
sticking out the back of her hand before she stops. Call stares at
her.
CALL
What are you?
RIPLEY
Ripley, Ellen, Lieutenant first class, number 36706.
CALL
Ellen Ripley died two hundred years ago.
Ripley pulls her hand back suddenly, grimacing at the pain.
RIPLEY
What do you know about it?
CALL
I've read Morse -- I've read all the banned histories. She gave her
life to protect us from the beast. You're not her.
RIPLEY
If I'm not her. What am I?
CALL
You're a thing. A construct. They grew you in a fucking lab.
RIPLEY
But only God can make a tree.
CALL
And now they've brought the beast out of you.
RIPLEY (smiling)
Not all the way out.
CALL
What?
RIPLEY
It's in my head. Behind my eyes. I can hear it moving. The beast.
The smile is gone, some real vulnerability showing through. Call
softens, trying a different tack.
CALL
Help me. If there's anything human in you at all, help me stop them
before this thing gets loose.
RIPLEY
It's already loose.
Call's expression changes. Those words terrify her, but she's not sure
if Ripley means what she thinks.
Ripley raises her hand at Call's head -- Call flinches but Ripley stops
a few inches away.
Then touches her forehead gently, almost sensually.
RIPLEY
Once the thought .... the hope for it ... grows here.... it has found
its way.
It will come, because... man will bring it. Bring it forth.
CALL
You want that.
RIPLEY
I've come to terms with the fact of it. It's inevitable.
CALL
Not so long as there's breath-in me.
Ripley LASHES OUT and GRABS CALL'S THROAT. Call swings wit the blade
but Ripley has her arm pinned before she can connect. Ripley squeezes
the girls neck.
Ripley looks at the girl with a world of sadness.
RIPLEY
I can... make it ... stop...
Call's eyes are pleading, terrified. Ripley finally lets go and she
drops to the ground gasping for air. RIPLEY
Go. They're coming for you.
As soon as she can move, Call scrambles up and heads out.
CUT TO: INT. HALL - CONTINUOUS
Call comes out and before she can move a RIFLE BUT hits her the head.
She goes down but not out as two guards grab her. Wren is with them
and three more.
WREN
I think you're gonna find that this was ill advised.
(to the men) Where are her friends?
GUARD
Mess hall, most of them.
WREN
Sound the alarm. I want them rounded up. Now!
TO: INT. MESS HALL - MOMENTS LATER
ANGLE: THE CARD TABLE
Being kicked over.
Elgyn, Hillard and Rane are pushed into the room, sleepy and confused.
Christie, St Just, and Johner are all being herded in by soldiers.
Call is thrown into the group as well.
ELGYN
What the fuck is going on here?
CHRISTIE
Looks like a doublecross, boss.
WREN
Where's the other one? With the chair?
JOHNER (to a soldier)
Get your fucking hands off me!
ELGYN
Do you mind telling me what the fuck you're up to?
WREN
Shut up!
(to a guard) Get the general. Wake him up.
ELGYN
Look, if there's a problem tell me what it is. We can work this out,
there is no need to get emotional ...
St Just is silent, standing in the same position he was when Ripley
attacked Johner.
Hands behind his back.
ANGLE: BEHIND ST JUST'S BACK
As Elgyn speaks, two guns..slip out of his sleeves and fill his hands.
CALL
They got nothing to do with this, Wren.
ELGYN (to Call)
To do with what?
WREN I don't give a fuck. It's way too late for that. You're all
looking at a firing squad.
You hear me?
ELGYN
I do. St Just?
With lighting precision, St Just raises his hands and blows of the
guards away.
He takes out a third to his left without even looking that way.
One guard gets off a shot with his burner, frying Rane before Hillard's
elbow knocks his teeth well into his throat.
Christie tackles the next as Johner presses a latch on the bottom of
his thermos -- the top half flies off, revealing handle of a gun
inside. He grabs it and another guard runs. Johner doesn't have time
to pull the gun-out of the the so he SHOOTS right through it, sending
the guard flying..
CUT TO: INT. ALIEN OBSERVATION LAB - CONTINUOUS
Alarms, flashing red lights. Gediman looking in a video monitor.
GEDIMAN
What the fuck... You three! Go! Sector two.
All but one of the guards rush out to investigate. Gediman works the
surveilliance screen, trying to see what's happening
CUT TO: INT. MESS HALL - CONTINUOUS
When the smoke clears, There are two guards still standing. They point
their weapons inneffectually. St Just a has gun to wren's head and a
gun on the guards, who are also covered by Johner.
ELGYN
Nice and easy, boys ...
Call starts to take off.
CALL
I'm gonna finish this.
Elgyn grabs her by the hair, roughly pulls her back.
ELGYN
You're going nowhere, Annalee.
CUT TO: INT. OBSERVATION LAB - CONTINUOUS
ANGLE: IN THE PEN
The three aliens have picked up the energy. are stalking back and forth
like tigers in the dim light of their pen.
ANGLE: THEIR POV
We see Gediman and the guard, their backs to us. The aliens-stop
pacing. One of them, to the right, looks at the one on the left.
Something passes between them. They look back at the humans. At each
other.
They SET ON the middle alien, TEARING IT APART. It lets out piercing,
insectile SHRIEKS as they tear it limb from limb.
Gediman spins in terror, the guard bringing up his weapon. Gediman hits
the lights inside the pen and as they blink to shocking brightness we
see:
The remains of the third alien on the ground as a giant pool its blood
EATS A HOLE IN THE FLOOR.
GEDIMAN
Oh, God
He bolts for the failsafe but it's too late as the blood eats all the
way through - the two aliens DIVE through the hole. just as Gediman
hits the button -- freezing gas fills the chamber but there's nothing
to freeze.
GEDIMAN
No no no!
He hits another sequence and the door slides open. He rushes in,
kneels by the hole and looks down.
ANGLE: HIS POV
Their blood has already eaten through two levels.
GEDIMAN
Christ. They could be anywhere.
He looks up at the guard -- and an alien FLIES UP at him through the
hole.
It was hanging on the ceiling below and it pulls him through before he
can breathe a decent scream.
The guard just stares, shaking.
CUT TO: INT. MESS HALL
The mexican standoff is getting even more heated.
CHRISTIE
Who gives a shit! We have to get out of here.
ELGYN
If Call's got something going here I want to know what it is!
WREN
You brought her here..
Two more guards rush in. Johner shoves' his gun in Wren's mouth.
JOHNER
Drop them! I'm not fucking with you!
CHRISTIE (indicating the dead soldiers)
Boss, we got bodies here. It doesn't matter what Call's up to, we're
all fucked now.
CALL
I have to stop him. If I don't we'll all die.
WREN (pulls his mouth away)
Elgyn, tell me what you know. If she's alone in this.
HILLARD
In what?
Johner puts his gun to Call's temple now.
JOHNER
Does anyone want me to make this simple?
Far away, a SCREAM. Everyone stops. Wren turns slowly in the direction
it came from.
WREN
No...
CUT TO: INT. HALLWAY BY LABS
A technican RUNS screaming just as an alien LEAPS on him from behind.
The CAMERA RUSHES AWAY, frenzied as the scene, to pick up a guard in
the next hall firing wildly at the ceiling as an alien dissappears up
an airvent. There are three bodies lying dead before us.
ANGLE: IN THE PENS
We see that the aliens have been freed. Smoke, dead bodies, the
plexiglass partition to one 1 cage is cracked and open.
CUT TO: INT. RIPLEY'S CELL - CONTINUOUS
Ripley sits in the dark, the noise of Chaos just beginning filter in.
And she just can't help herself.
She is LAUGHING.
CUT TO: INT. PEREZ'S QUARTERS CONTINUOUS
He is mostly dressed, still shaking off sleep. He stands at the
command console, bringing up visual. Everything on the screens is
smoke and noise.
PEREZ
Ensign! Damage Report! Ensign!
Nothing. On one of the screens, an alien is briefly visible. Perez
stiffens at the sight of it.
He punches up a different sector. The labs, and here is a badly wounded
lieutenant.
PEREZ
Status!
LIEUTENANT
Containment is impossible, sir... I think they swept the barracks.
PEREZ (to himself)
A military strike.... Christ Jesus ...
After a beat, he starts punching in the emergency override codes.
CUT TO: INT. BARRACKS - CONTINUOUS
It's worst here -- the aliens have taken out a dozen men in their
sleep, and everyone awake is screaming. One soldier runs for the
weapons cabinet -- an alien hits him from behind and SMASHES him into
it, falling in a tumble of guns.
Over the chaos, the emergency lighting comes on, floor light like an
airplane's indicating the nearest exit. Father's voice is
excruciatingly calm:
FATHER
Emergency. Initiate evacuation procedures immediately. All hands. This
is not a drill.
One soldier gets a bead on an alien with his burner - fries italong
with two of his friends.
They're out of commission, but the alien is hurt only momentarily. It
bounds forward, takes out his face.
FATHER
Emergency. Initiate evacuation procedures ...
CUT TO..
INT. HALLWAY BY ENGINE ROOM - CONTINUOUS
The noise is too far above to be heard down here, but Fathers droning
voice and the emergency lighting are on.
Vriess wheels slowly into the hall, concerned. He spins slowly,
checking out his surroundings.
ANGLE: DOWN THE HALL
There is nothing.. Just the floor lights pulsing in succession towards
the exit.
Vriess follows their lead, wheeling out.
CUT TO: INT. NEXT HALL - CONTINUOUS
Nothing here either. But Vriess's fur is up -- he moves slowly,
carefully.
And was that a noise? He looks around, up at the ceiling.
A drop of alien blood is eating through right above him. It drips down
-- and he rolls out of the way just in time, back up as the blood plops
to the floor, eating casually through.
CUT TO: INT. LIFEBOAT BAY ONE - CONTINUOUS
Men are rushing into one of the lifeboats. They sit facing each other
in the tiny vessel and strap themselves in. Pere is here, hurrying
the soldiers in, pushing back the few who try to crowd in after.
PEREZ
Bay three! Go!
The late soldiers make for the next boat as Perez seals the hatch. He
hits the eject button and steps back.
CUT TO: EXT. THE AURIGA - CONTINUOUS
As the lifeboat FIRES out of the side of the giant craft.
CUT TO: INT. BAY THREE - CONTINUOUS
Men crowd into this one too -- it's nearly full and an alien suddenly
LEAPS into it.. starts feeding on the men strapped down - they are
screaming.
Perez runs in as a soldier outside the lifeboat fires his burner,
hitting the alien, the men, the controls -- a shower of sparks as the
alien-turns, about to spring on the soldier as he rolls in a grenade.
The doors shut and and a soldier hits the eject button.
TO: EXT. AURIGA - CONTINUOUS
The second lifeboat comes shooting out and moments later. EXPLODES.
CUT TO: INT. MESS HALL - CONTINUOUS
The noise of the explosion - and of a few inside as well - is all
around the group.
Father's voice still urges evacuaticion
WREN
NO!
(to Call)
What have you done?
CALL
Nothing. Not a goddanm thing. You thought you could control it.
ELGYN
All right. We make for the Betty. Can he walk?
He is pointing at Rane, who nods, standing.
HILLARD Betty's all the way across the ship! Who knows what's in
between?
CALL (indicating Wren)
He does.
One of the soldiers steps forward. DiStephano.
DISTEPHANO (to Wren)
Sir, we have to go.
(to Elgyn) Let him go. No quarrel.
ELGYN
You can have him when we're off. Not before.
They start out, dragging Wren along. Guns still on Call and the
soldiers.
What about Vriess?
JOHNER
Fuck Vriess!
CUT TO INT. FALL - CONTINUOUS
Vries enters, looking around. He is getting seriously wigged.
The lights on the floor still pulse. Urging him forward. He obeys.
Something stirs in the rafters. Coiled about the pipes.
Vriess stops, still a good thirty feet from the beast. Strains to see.
It starts MOVING, climbing at him upside down on the pipes. FAST.
Vriess starts wheeling himself back away but SLOWLY, agonizingly slowly
compared to the beast.
He turns the corner, spins around.
The hall is fifty feet long. At the far end a few soldiers running
through.
SERGEANT
Seal off that sector!
A soldier runs to obey, working the door controls.
VRIESS
No!
The soldier sees him, but the fear on the boy's face telegraphs his-
decision.
Vreiess starts pumping toward the door. He's strong, picking up speed,
but the alien rounds the corner and bolts after him.
Vriess can't even look back as the thing gains on him. The door begins
to come down, the soldier finishing the sequence and running off.
Vriess rolls, face set -- the alien a few feet behind, reaching for him
An EXPLOSION far away ROCKS THE SHIP -- the hall tilted momentarily,
Vriess gets a boost as he rockets downhill, the beast still on him,
the door closing, too low for him to clear. He gets there and SLAMS a
lever, his chair FLATTENS out to a dolly position, his head just
CLEARS the closing door as the alien SLAMS into it, Vriess spinning out
and flying off the chair it tilts, landing in a heap next to him.
Lying still on the ground, he listens as the beast slams against the
door a few more times, then fades off.
VRIESS
Fuck everything....
He reaches up for the chair and from the back of it he pulls out a
shotgun.
CUT TO: INT. LIFEBOAT BAY 5 - CONTINUOUS
Perez is trying to maintain order. He is failing. Grabs a corporal.
PEREZ
Muster a squad to search for survivors!
CORPORAL
Fuck no! Fuck no! Fuck you!
Perez slams him to the ground with his fist.
An ALIEN LEAPS OUT at him from the ceiling. The soldiers scatter, Perez
just leaping out of the way --
PEREZ
Shoot it! Fry it!
A couple of men fire their burners, to little effect.
One soldier runs up to the action. His head is bloodied, his expression
vengefully grim.
The soldier whips out a pistol, private.issue, he takes a bead on the
thing --
PEREZ
NO!
And the soldier FIRES -- pumps three bullets into the beast sends it
flying back toward the window.
Perez is riveted by the sight of: ANGLE: DROPS OF BLOOD
big ones, hitting the window. Everything seems to move slowly now - the
alien, struggling as the soldier pumps two more bullets into it, the
other soldiers, Perez -- the monster falls and the BLOOD EATS THROUGH
THE WINDOW..
PEREZ
Get out! Everyone! Now!
Soldiers are beginning to get it.. The window CRACKS, begins to SHAKE
as the blood is almost through it.
Even the soldier who shot the alien has stopped, his face frozen in
horror at what he's about to accomplish.
Perez shoves him, herds the rest out, looking back --
PEREZ
Clear the sector!
at the window, the blood is almost through --
Men are pouring out of the hall -- some move down a side hall and SLAM
the door shut behind them, but most are making for the main exit
anyway.
FATHER
Warning. Potential hullbreach. Clear sector.
The blood eats a hole in the window -- the nearest soldier is sucked
back against the window -- he SCREAMS as he is sucked through a hole
no bigger than his fist.
Still men are falling over each other, Perez herding them out.
A huge CRACKING sound, and Perez shuts his eyes.
The window explodes outward, the air blowing everything int space.
Debris, vehicles, men, all tangled and dead as they blown out into the
black.
ANGLE: THE SECTOR DOORS
SLAM shut instantly one cutting right through a soldier halfway out.
ANGLE: AIR VENTS
Gates slam down here as well.
ANGLE: ELECTRICAL DUCTS
Foam SHOOTS into them, hardening instantly, sealing the breached
sector.
FATHER
Breach contained. Sector five nonfunctional.
CUT TO: INT. HALL - CONTINUOUS
As the crew moves quickly through. They come to a shut door, red
lights along it indicating it's locked.
ELGYN (to DiStephano)
Open it.
DISTEPHMO
I can't.
Johner puts his gun to the soldier's head.
WREN
He can't! The sector's closed. The hull's been breached!
ELGYN
Okay, which way?
WREN
We'll have to go through the holding cells. Here.
ELGYN
All right.
They turn left, entering
INT. CHAMBER - CONTINUOUS
that leads to the holding cells. The room is big, a railing at one end
looking over another chamber two flights down.
A shut door separates the chamber from the cells.
ELGYN
Can you get that one open?
It comes from the rafters, dropping down on Elgyn in a heartbeat. He
barely has time to scream before it shoots its tongue through the back
of his skull.
Hillard has time. She SCREAMS as her lover's brains come out his
mouth.
The beast leaps at the group, scattering them like bowling pins as it
claws into one of the guards. Everybody else is scrambling for cover.
St Just tries to escape by running past the beast - its tail lashes
out, tangling his feet and tripping him up, his head smashing against a
pipe.
Another guard hits it with the burner -- it shrieks and lands on him.
Johner shoots at it but is far too panicked to hit it.
Call has backed to the far wall -- she desperately works the controls
to open the door.
It starts to rise.
CALL
Christie! Hillard! Come on!
The door rises fully. Ripley stands behind it.
Call starts back, not sure what the woman will do.
Ripley surveys the scene.
The Alien, burrowing its head into the belly of the guard, stops.
Looks up.
Everyone watches as the two creatures sense each other. ThE alien
hisses. rears back.
Ripley looks away, contemplative We see a gamut of emotions cross her
face, but her posture passive, sacrificial. She does not move.
Everyone watches, too afraid to breathe.
The alien LUNGES at her, leaping across the room in two bounds. It's on
her -- and she SPINS, GPABBING IT, and HURLS IT AWAY.
It lands in a tangle but is up again in a microsecond, jumps at her,
knocks her back into the room, on her, its claws digging into her skin,
piston tongue at her face, inches away.
She locks an arm around its slick, long head and pulls back we hear its
tendons strain, snap.
CALL (to a guard)
Shoot it! Shoot them both!
She grabs his gun and BURNS them both. Two less-than-human SCREAMS
fill the room as they briefly disentangle, thrown apart.
The beast recovers first, dodging the next blast and going for Ripley
again.
Ripley, on her back, reaches behind her, grabs a table leg and with
inhuman strength brings the table down on the monster's head.
She dives at it as it comes out from under....
Call shoots as Ripley hits the alien, they're both fried as Ripley's
momentum sends them over a railing and they FALL TWENTY FEET -- the
Alien lands with a spine snapping crunch,
Ripley only slightly better.
A few crew members rush to look over the railing. Christie starts down
the spiral staircase to that level.
JOHNER
Where are you going?
The creature rolls back onto Ripley, grabbing her with its dying
strength. Her face is rigid with pain and anger as she holds it off...
its jaws open, dripping shaking...
The tongue SHOOTS OUT and Ripley GRABS IT. HOLDS IT.
A scream wells up in her throat. A totally animal killshriek that she
SCREAMS, victorious, as she RIPS THE ALIEN'S TONGUE OUT OF ITS FACE.
She stands, bellows another warrior cry. The crew has gathered near.
They watch her, awed, wary. Ripley walks slowly up to them -- up to
Call. Ripley looks a tad pissed.
Call tenses, maybe wishing she hadn't shot Ripley as well.
Ripley takes Call's hand, puts the tongue in it. walks on.
Call looks at the dripping souvenier. The pincers at the end still
twitching.
CHRISTIE
What the FUCK is going on here?
RANE
What was that thing? Are there more of that thing?
JOHNER (to Call)
Make a hell of a necklace...
ANGLE: HILLARD
on the upper level, kneeling by Elgyn's body. No tears, but terribly
quiet.
What do we do?
CHRISTIE
Same thing we were doing. We get the fuck.
RANE
What if there's more? Let's stay here and let the army guys deal.
Someone will come... I mean, where are the fucking army guys?
St Just is very calmly looking up at the rafters, guns drawn
CHRISTIE
Doctor. You know what that thing is?
WREN
I do.
CHRISTIE
And there's others. How many?
The doctor looks around, almost guiltily.
WREN
Thirty.
JOHNER
Thirty! We are fucked in our pink bottoms if there's thirty of those
things.
RIPLEY
There'll be more.
Everyone looks around at her. She is squatting in the corner facing
away from them.
RIPLEY
They'll breed. In a few hours there'll be twice that number.
(she stands, approaches them)
So who do I have to fuck to get off this boat?
CHRISTIE
You bought your ticket when you killed that thing. welcome aboard.
CALL.
Are you fucking crazy? She doesn't care if we....
CHRISTIE (fiercely)
You got no authority here, Call!- Now secure it!
It's the first time Christie has raised his voice, and it has the
desired effect.
After a silent moment, Call starts again softly.
CALL
Christie, she's not human. Wren cloned her because she was carrying an
alien in her.
She could turn --
JOHNER
Nobody cares about your opinion, you bitch, you fucking mole --
CALL
She'll turn on us! Just like that!
CHRISTIE
I don't give a syphallitic fuck whether you people can get along or
not. If we've got a wish to live then we work together, and that
includes bug-lady.
CALL
You can't trust her.
CHRISTIE
I don't trust anyone. CUT TO: INT. CHAMBER/CELLBLOCK - A BIT LATER
The group is still in the adjoining chamber, but looking here into the
cellblock where
Ripley had been. DiStephano and St Just come first, guns ready,
looking about them.
They are followed by Christie and Wren.
WREN
There's a console in the guards, station. We can punch up a diagnostic
of the ship and plan a route. To your ship.
CHRISTIE
That likes me fine.
He signals for the others to follow, everyone moving cautiously.
ANGLE: HILLARD
Gently lays her coat over Elgyn's face. Johner looks down a moment.
JOHNER
Via con Dios, man.
Hillard stands. Call puts ahand on her shoulder but Hillard moves away,
a distrustful look on her face.
Ripley, bringing up the rear, watches the whole group with a sort of
fascinated detatchment.
Call looks back at her. Ripley smiles, coldly.
ANGLE: IN THE CELLBLOCK
The group makes their way slowly, quietly. They approach a bank of
elevators, but Wren points down an adjoining doorway. They are about
to go there when the elevator door lights up, indicating arrival.
The group backs up, spreads out. Those who can find cover take it. guns
drawn.
The elevator doors open. It is too dark inside to see:
Suddenly sparks fly from the broken overhead in the elevator and a
figure appears in the light.
Everyone jolts, about to fire. before they realize it is
VRIESS
Who sits in his chair, a shotgun in each hand, eyes wide. twitchier
than they.
JOHNER
Oh, fuck...
CALL
vriess!
VRIESS (mock casual)
Hey, whatchyou guys doing? Hey, Annalee.
CHRISTIE
Thought you were toast for certain.
VRIESS
You've seen that fucking thing?
WREN (suspiciously)
Where were you?
VRIESS
I was down by -- what do you mean? I was in maintenance, checking out
your oxidation systems.
JOHNER
Doc's got a bug up his ass 'cause Call's a mole and he thinks we're a
conspiracy.
VRIESS (looking at Call)
She's a what?
JOHNER
A mole. A fucking spy.
Vriess looks hit harder by that information than anyone.
CHRISTIE
We got'a mission here, people. Let's keep moving.
They do.
CUT TO: INT. GUARDS, STATION - MOMENTS LATER
ANGLE: THE CONSOLE
A hologram of the ship appears above the screen. It looks a solid as
the ship itself, except that parts of it occasional break themselves
down to show interiors.
The group looks it over. Parts of the ship are simply not there, the
sections around those holes red. Wren points them out.
WREN
We've had hull breach by the lifeboats, here on level five, and down --
Jesus, right by the engine room. We're very lucky.
ST JUST (sarcastically)
Lucky we.
CHRISTIE
What about the Betty? Our ship.
Screenplay By Joss Whedon
EXT. DEEP SPACE SILENT BLACK.
We sweep slowly across an endless tapestry of stars. Finally she comes
into view:
the U.S.S. AURIGA. A massive research vessel that sits majestically
just beyond Pluto's orbit.
We TRACK ALONG the side of the ship, and
INT. AURIGA
along the silent, empty corridors, coming at last to a door with two
guards standing rigid in front of it. Full armour, powerful
shockrifles, expressions empty and cold.
INT. MEDLAB
Along a row of screens, where we see the first signs of life readouts,
lights, data -- all shifting and collating on the blinking screens.
As we move ALONG them, a figure-in a labcoat passes through the frame,
then another,leading us along the lab to settle on what looks like a
Cryogenic tube, not big enough for a human.
Still TRACKING around it, we glimpse inside some vague, fetal mass
encased in a clear, aspic-like gel.
Tubes and cables a attached to the mass, running out of the machine.
As we still CIRCLE, the shape begins to be more coherent, till we can
see what might even be a face.
Eyes, shut tight. Sleeping. Dreaming.
ANGLE: WHEAT.
A birds eyes view of a field, the soft golden waves filling the screen.
Sharp contrast to what we have seen before.
There is a woman wandering through the field. Beside her a girl, seven
or eight, in dingey sundress. Both have black, tousled hair.
GIRL'S VOICE
My mom always said there were no monsters -- no, real ones -- but there
are.
The girl stops, looks around her. The wheat comes all the up to her
chest, and nothing else is visible as far as she see.
She looks back at the woman but the woman is already more than fifty
yards away.
The girl's expression becomes perplexed.
She slaps a bug on the back of her neck. Pulls it off and is HUGE,
wriggling fleshily in her hand. Her expression becomes even more
distraught, but she cannot muster forth a shout.
The sound of insects-fills the air. Another bug lands on her, another.
She looks down in growing horror and sees:
Blood. At her feet, rising, filling the field, rising above the wheat,
a sea of blood now, dark, thick.
The girl tries again to scream, raises her arms. She is completely
covered in insects, a skittering black shroud of them, and when she
finally does SCREAM they flood into her mouth.
CUT TO:
INT. LAB
Instruments show a jolt in heart rate, blood pressure.
Scientists note it down, look over at the thing in aspic.
We can tell that time has passed because it is much bigger, nearly the
size of a man, and in a new case.
The camera moves in on the cardiograph, then moves down, to show a
second one. Tracking a smaller, much faster heartbeat.
CUT TO:
INT. HALLLWAY
Tiny. dark, and we are moving through it at impossible speed turning
into another without slowing, up into an air vent, still moving, moving
until we reach a chamber, some place where all we can see is a mass of
dark, moving, inhuman fle it welcomes us in, envelops us...
ANGLE: RIPLEY Lying somewhere, maybe the dark-chamber -- in the dream
it keeps shifting.
She opens her eyes, but they are dark, whiteless.
She reaches for her chest and begins scratching . Hard.
Tearing at it, as blood wells up, spilling over her sides.
CUT TO:
INT. OPERATING CHAMBER
And the cause of this dream becomes apparant:
ANGLE: RIPLEY'S CHEST
being cut open with a lasersaw.
We see her body still has a layer of the aspic-slime clinging to it.
And her skin is unnaturally blue. But as we PAN from her chest to her
face her identity is unmistakable.
Around her are several men in operating masks. Cutting her GEDIMAN, a
young and enthusiastic scientist. One man, seemingly in charge, stands
a bit off, watching. This, by tag on his coat, is DR WREN.
WREN
Careful ... ready with the amnio...
Gediman finishes cutting. Another man steps in with a clamp. Sets it.
Pulls apart the chest.
GEDIMAN
There she is...
He says it like he's found a lost kitten. He reaches in an pulls out a
sleeping, fetal but nearly ready to burst ALIEN. Others work at
severing umbilical threads that tie it to Ripley's chest.
GEDIMAN
Here we go.
He holds it up and others step in with the amnio, a sort of incubator
filled with amniotic fluid.
The alien SCREAMS, its tiny mouth full with teeth, and wriggles out of
his grasp.
WREN
Watch it!
Everybody panics -- but before the thing can get completely away from
him, Gediman grabs it and sticks it in the amnio. Someone shuts the
top rapidly.
Everybody looks at each other for a moment.
GEDIMAN
Well ...
WREN
The host?
A surgeon looks at Ripley's readings.
SURGEON
Doing fine.
Gediman looks at Wren, hopefully. Wren nods.
WREN
Sew her back up.
Gediman and the surgeon get to work, as the others carefully remove the
alien.
GEDIMAN
Well, that went as well as could be expected--
Ripley's hand LASHES OUT, GRABS the surgeon's forearm. He yells in
pain as her fingers dig into him, the others scramble knocking things
over and we HEAR HIS BONE CRACKING.
SMASH CUT TO:
INT. RIPLEY'S CELL
Sudden stillness.
Ripley crouches in the middle of a small, dark chamber. She's wide
eyed, staring straight ahead in a state of near catatonia. Hair tangled
and wild. But at least she's not so blue as before.
The only light on her comes from directly above, from a thick pane of
glass in the center of the ceiling.
ANGLE: ABOVE THE CELL
A guard stands on the floor above, looking into the cell through the
square of glass in the floor, directly above Ripley.
(We see other panes of glass lining the floor, indicating more cells
below.)
ANGLE: RIPLEY
She is still for a long while. Then she lifts her hands, looking at
them.
Touches her face, her skin.
She fingers her tunic, pulls down the neck. There is a scar running
along her chest.
She fingers it thoughtfully. -
She looks at her forearm. Tattooed near the crook of her elbow is the
number 8.
She looks up, her face unreadable.
CUT TO':
INT. LAB
Ripley is sitting on a table as Gediman draws blood from her.
He deposits it in a test beaker, studies her eyes.
Wren enters, looking at a chart.
WREN
How's our number Eight today?
GEDIMAN:
Appears to be in good health...
WREN
(noticing his tone)
How good?
GEDIMAN
Extraordinary. As in, completely off our projected charts.
(shows him some photos) Look at the scar tissue. See the recession?
WREN
This is from --
GEDIMAN
Yesterday!
WREN
This is good. This is very good.
GEDIMAN
I'd like to run some tests: strength, coordination... We're not
looking at a normal cloning arc.
WREN:
Approved.
Wren goes up to Ripley, studies her face with satisfaction.
WREN
Well, it looks like you're going to make us all very proud.
She grabs his throat with dazzling speed, applying deadly pressure as
she brings his face to hers. Her eyes are burn but lost.
RIPLEY
Why?
GEDIMAN
Oh my God...
He is as wide eyed as WREN, and he isn't having his windpipe crushed.
After a moment the shock wears off and he slams his hand into the
alarm.
Klaxons, red light fire up.
A guard rushes in, levels his weapon at Ripley. After a moment of
staring him down, she opens her hand. Wren falls to his knees gasping.
The guard FIRES his rifle at her -- a powerful electrical charge lashes
out and sends her flying back into the corner.
WREN
No! No! I'm all right!
The guards keep their weapons -- 'burners', these shockrifles are
called -- leveled at Ripley. She has recovered from the shock quickly,
sits crumpled in the corner, looking at nothing in particular.
RIPLEY (wearily)
Why...?
CUT TO:
INT. OBSERVATION ROOM
Wren and Gediman watch through a one way mirror as a scientist tests
Ripley.
With them is General PEREZ, the man in charge this boat. Ramrod
straight and about as gruff as you would expect, he stares at Ripley
suspiciously.
ANGLE: RIPLEY
The scientist is holding up cards with pictures on them: house, dog,
boat.
Ripley gives answers we can't hear through the glass, looking pissed
off and bored.
WREN
It's unprecedented.
GEDIMAN
Totally! She's operating at a completely adult capacity.
PEREZ
And her memories?
WREN
There are gaps. And there's some degree of cognitive dissonance.
GEDIMAN
She's freaked.
Wren shoots Gediman a stern look at his unscientific parlance.
WREN
"It" has some connective difficulties. A kind of low level emotional
autism.
Certain reactions....
Perez looks at Ripley through the glass, then exits into the hall.
TO:
INT HALL - CONTINUOUS
The two scientists follow, pace him as he strides down towards a second
observation room.
GEDIMAN:
But the thing is, we can't terminate her. It.
PEREZ
You haven't told me what you think has caused this.
Cloned genes don't contain memory cells, not even when they're brought
to adult term. I'm right?
GEDIMAN
There's been cases..
PEREZ
Not like this.
WREN
Well, we don't have nearly enough data... but in some cases there is a
collective memory passed down generationally. At a genetic level. Like
instinct, only more complex structurally.
PEREZ
In some cases. You're talking about the alien.
WREN
Yes.
PEREZ
You promised me there wasn't going to be any crossing.
WREN
It's not like the other ones..
Perez punches code, puts his hand on the scanner and the second
observation room door opens..
He steps in, the other two right behind him.
CUT TO:
INT. OBSERVATION ROOM TWO
Darker than the first one, and with two of the heavily armoured guards
by the door.
Apart from-that, identical. Perez turns to the others.
PEREZ
But there is some genetic mix.
WREN
Yes.
PEREZ
Will there be further mutation?
GEDIMAN
Mutation isn't exactly... I don't think so.
WREN
That's one of the things we need to study.
PEREZ
All right. You can keep it. But secure, under obsorvation, and for
God's sake keep it away from here. I don't want any more surprises.
And as he speaks the ALIEN RISES RIGHT BEHIND HIM -- it's big, the
ridges on its head indicating a young queen -- it hisses and LUNGES at
the back of his head.
The reinforced plastic window between them, which we couldn't see,
stops it.
As it hits, a thin laser grid buzzes to life, sparks crackling on the
alien's face.
Its bile trails darkly on the glass as it backs off.
Perez turns to look at it with the others.
PEREZ
It took a hell of a lot to get us here.
GEDIMAN
No shit.
Wren shoots him another look.
PEREZ
How soon before this one's ovulating?
WREN
Days.
PEREZ
Is that normal?
WREN
No way of knowing for sure, but I'd say it's accelerated.
(After a moment) We're going to need the supplies.
PEREZ
They're coming. Soon.
CUT TO:
INT. MESS HALL
Ripley sits across from Gediman. He is eating at a good pace - Ripley,
however, has stopped. She is staring at her fork, her brows furrowed.
Turns it over in her hand, in her mind.
GEDIMAN
"Fork."
The memory comes, and she shakes her head wearily.
RIPLEY (softly)
Fuck....
GEDIMAN (pretending to correct her)
"Fork."
Ever so slightly, she smiles. The smile fades, and after a moment:
RIPLEY
How did you...
GEDIMAN
How did we get you? Blood samples from Fiori 16. On ice.
Do you remember that place?
RIPLEY
Does it grow?
GEDIMAN
Does it.....Yeah. Rapidly.
RIPLEY
It's a queen.
GEDIMAN
How did you know that?
RIPLEY
It'll breed. You'll die. Everyone in the ... fucking.... (searches
for the word, then spits it out) ... Company. Will die.
GEDIMAN
Company?
WREN (O.S.)
Weyland Yutani.
He has entered behind her, comes up to the table.
WREN
Our Ripley's former employers. Terran Growth conglom, had some defense
contracts under the military. Before your time, Gediman -- they went
under decades ago, bought out by Walmart. Fortunes of war.
(to Ripley)
You'll find things have changed a good deal since your time.
RIPLEY
1 doubt that.
WREN
We're not flying blind here, you know. This is United Systems
military, not some greedy corporation. The potential benefits of this
race go way beyond urban pacification.
New alloys, new vaccines ... there's nothing like this in any world
we've seen.
You should be very proud.
She laughs, bitterly.
RIPLEY
Oh, I am.
WREN
And the animal itself is wonderous. They'll be invaluable once we've
harnessed them.
RIPLEY
It's a cancer. You can't teach it tricks.
This stops Wren, and he retreats silently. Ripley repeats word to
herself, thinking.
RIPLEY
"Them" ...
CUT TO:
INT. HALL CONTINUOUS
As Wren is leaving the mess, he is accosted by an ensign.
ENSIGN
Doctor, General Perez is asking for you. We've been hailed.
CUT TO:
EXT. DEEP SPACE
We see the Auriga far in the distance Suddenly A SHIP ROARS INTO FRAME,
heading for it.
A small vessel, it is every bit dirty and jerry-rigged as the Auriga is
pristine.
To accentuate the difference, the sudden roar of its engines is
accompanied by
HEAVY, THRASHING ROCK MUSIC.
CUT TO:
INT. COCKPIT CONTINUOUS
The music is coming from nearby. Piloting the ship toward the Auriga
is HILLARD, a roughskinned woman in her forties, along with RANE, a
slight and quiet fellow.
Behind them stands ELGYN, the leader of the group.
Has the kind of authority that doesn't need to flaunt itself.
Maybe fifty, by the silver in his hair. He speaks into the vidcom
ELGYN
(good naturedly)
My authorization code is 'fuck you', son. Now open the goddamn bay or
General Perez is gonna do a Wichita stomp on your virgin ass.
He switches off.
RANE
Wichita stomp?
ELGYN
I guarantee that boy's. Never seen the inside of a woman.
(to Hillard)
Bring us in on three-oh descent, ride the parallel.
HILLARD
Darlin', it's done.
ELGYN
Don't cut thrust till six hundred meters. Give em a little fright.
He puts his hand on her shoulder, runs it up along her cheek as he
exits.
They're more than friends.
He moves through a hallway, sticks his head in a cubicle.
ELGYN
Christie! St Just! Rise and shine. We're docking.
He proceeds into:
INT. CARGO BAY - CONTINUOUS
It's the largest space in this boat, two stories high. Taking up most
of the space are two HARVESTERS, big rusty hovering threshers roughly
the size of winnebagos.
As Elgyn enters, we CRANE UP to reveal ANNALEE-CALL working atop one of
them.
She's young, tough -- at home with this motley bunch despite her youth
and prettiness.
ELGYN
Call! CALL!
The music is louder here -- it's blasting from a box in the corner.
Elgyn switches it off.
ELGYN
Call!
CALL
What?
ELGYN
We're docking! Are the cargo trucks secured?
CALL
I checked 'em an hour ago.
ELGYN
I don't want em so much as rattled. Any leakage, I take it out of your
hide.
CALL
Trust me, boss.
ELGYN (laughs)
Not my style.
He leans down, looks under the thresher. Lying on a gurneylike steel
dolly, working under the machine, is VRIESS, chie mechanic. Late
forties, in pretty good shape considering he's got no legs.
ELGYN
How's it looking?
VRIESS It's never gonna be pretty. but she'll fly. The other one's a
total fucking write-off.
ELGYN
You'll make it good.
VRIESS
Don't be so sure.
(calls out) Call! Adjust the generator plugs!
ELGYN (straightening up)
They just gotta run, Vriess. They don't gotta run far.
He exits.
CUT TO: INT. HALL CONTINTJOUS
CHRISTIE is up and mostly dressed. He is black, very large, and has
distinctly military bearing. He speaks with quiet, don't-fuck-with-me
authority.
CHRISTIE
What's our status?
ELGYN
We're coming in. Time to enjoy a little of the general's hospitality.
ST JUST
Oh great. Army food..
ST JUST ("San-Jhoost") is slim, Asian -- and the epitome of cool.
Moves quickly and silently, a sly grin playing about lips. He is
strapping a contraption to his forearm. It resembles a deringer
holder, but a very complex one.
ELGYN: We could use a rest, till the heat's off and Vriess can get
those harvesters on their feet.
This'll keep us for a couple of days, assuming the natives are
friendly.
CHRISTIE
We expecting any trouble?
ELGYN
From Perez? I doubt it. Still, let's be ever vigilant.
CUT TO: INT. CARGO BAY CONTNIUOUS
ANGLE: VRIESS working intently, the extremely nasty blades of the
thresher inches above his head.
VRIESS
I'm patched in. Check the sequence timer.
(no answer)
Call?
ANGLE: THE CONTROLS
A hand reaches in toward the ON switch.
ANGLE: VRIESS
VRIESS
Call?
The thresher GRINDS TO LIFE -- a hundred blades and claws spinning at
Vriess's head!
Vriess wheels out from under the machine in a second flat.
VRIESS
Goddamnit!
The second he's out he hits a lever and the back of the dolly flies up,
transforming it-into a wheelchair.
VRIESS Johner! You son of a whore!
JOHNER jumps down from the machine, laughing. He's thickset, mean and
ugly, with ugly scars crisscrossing his ugly bald head.
Thought I'd give you a little haircut there.
VRIESS
You fuck!
Call, who has been over on the other side of the thresher, ably climbs
up on it and switches it off.
JOHNER
You should see your face. Vriess, you must have soiled yourself.
VRIESS One of these days I'm gonna kill you. My hand to God.
JOHNER
Well, you already gave him your feet ...
CALL (jumping down)
You're a limp fucking scrotum, you know that?
JOHNER
Either of you want a piece of me, I'm less than busy.
VRIESS
Any time.
CALL
Vriess. Forget it. He's been sucking down too much homebrew.
JOHNER
Don't push me, little Annalee. You hang with us a while, you'll learn
I'm not the man with whom to fuck.
He exits, full of annoying bravado.
VRIESS
That inbred cocksucker.
He feels his forehead, comes up with a bit of blood. Realizes how
close it was ...
Call looks up at the thresher.
CALL
1 hate machines.
VRIESS
Well, now we know it works ...
CUT TO: EXT. AURIGA DOCKING BAY
As it opens to admit the proportionally tiny ship. The bay on the
bottom of the Auriga
- the doors are actually OVER the ship, which rises into the airlock.
INT. AIR LOCK
The outer doors close under the ship. Pressurized air shoot into the
airlock for a few seconds, and then the inner door opens. the ship
rising into the bay.
INT. BAY
The ship moves slowly along the huge dock to land gently at far end.
The top of the ship is nearly level with a grated platform that runs
the length of the bay.
Three soldiers in full armour stand rigid on the platform. The hatch
atop the ship slowly opens. One by one the crew files out. Seeing them
en masse, we get a clearer view of what separates them from this
Environment. They're not wearing uniforms. They're an eclectic,
fiercely indivualist group, their look varied -- spots of bright color
showing through militarian space gear. Johner's bright tuorquise
bowling shirt. Elgy's and St Just's floorlength leather dusters. Even
Vriess's chair stands out as he wheels down the platform.
What they have in common is the toughness, the wary eyes, leathery
skin. The cool readiness to kill. These guys are smugglers. A long
while ago, you'd have called them pirates
All eight of them emerge, one by one, looking around them. They file
past the silent, uniformed soldiers. The last one suddenly puts a hand
on Johner's jacket, stops him.
There is a bulge under it. A green sensor light on the back of the
soldier's glove turns red when he touches the bulge.
SOLDIER
No projectile weaponry is allowed on board the vessel, sir.
Johner opens his jacket, shows what he's packing: a large thermos.
JOHNER
Moonshine. My own. Much more dangerous.
SOLDIER
Sorry, sir.
ELGYN (to Perez)
What, do you think we're going to hijack the vessel? All eight of us?
No, I think one of your asshole crew is going to get drunk and put a
bullet through the hull. we are in space, Elgyn.
He enters from the antechamber, motions for the crew to follow him.
Vriess comes abreast of the soldier.
VRIESS
Wanna check the chair?
The soldier makes no response, simply falls in behind Call, the last of
them.
CUT TO: INT. ANTECHAMBER
The long neck that connects the bay to the body of the ship. The group
proceeds down it, the crew looking about them at the sterile grandeur.
ST JUST
This place is really clean.
JOHNER (to a guard)
Hey. You got any whores on this vessel?
(the guard remains stonefaced)
Any loose women with bad eyesight?
PEREZ
I think you'll find our accomodations somewhat spartan. Although the
cook sets a good-table.
JOHNER: That ain't what I'm hungry for.
VRIESS (to Call)
What's the matter?
She is looking around her, somewhat tensely.
CALL
I don't like army.
HILLARD
Yeah, join the fucking club.
CUT TO: ANGLE: MONEY
A stack of bills dropped down on a desk, then another. They're green,
and identifiably money. But they're square, about the size of cocktail
napkins. The face on them is unfamiliar. Thousand dollar bills.
WIDER ANGLE: INT. PEREZIS CHAMBERS LATER
A good sized suite, decorated in a sparse, military fashion. Perez is
behind his desk, the money sitting between him and Elgyn.
PEREZ
This wasn't easy to come by.
ELGYN
Neither was our cargo. You're not pleading poverty, are you?
PEREZ
We're well funded. I mean the bills. There's not many that still deal
in coin.
ELGYN
Just the ones that don't like their every transaction recorded. The
fringe element.
I guess that would include you, though, wouldn't it?
PEREZ
Drink?
ELGYN
Constantly. I'm guessing whatever you've got going here wasn't exactly
approved by congress.
Perez pours two whiskeys.
PEREZ (changing the subject)
So where do you go from here?
ELGYN
Out by the Handle. We've got a couple of harvesters, we can unload 'em
on one of the collectives if Vriess and Call get 'em working.
PEREZ
Call. Where'd you find her?
ELGYN
She is severely fuckable, isn't she? - And the very devil with a socket
wrench.
I think Vriess somewhat pines.
He takes a stack of bill, smells it. He likes the smell.-
ELGYN
She is curious about this little transaction. You can hardly blame
her, Awfully cloak and dagger...
Perez hands a drink to ELGYN.
PEREZ
This is an army operation.
ELGYN
Most army research labs don't have to operate outside regulated space.
And they don't call for the kind of cargo we brought.
PEREZ
Do you want something, Elgyn?
ELGYN
Just bed and board, couple of days worth. If we're not imposing.
PEREZ
Not at all. Keep out of the restricted areas, don't start any fights,
and mi casa is yours too.
Elgyn drinks to that.
PEREZ
I trust, of course, that you can mind your own business.
ELGYN (smiles)
I'm famous for it.
They drink.
CUT TO: INT. HALLWAY - RESTRICTED AREA
The 'cargo' is rolled down the corridor, armed guards flank it. It is
wheeled into:
INT. A CHAMBER
Where Wren and a few others are waiting. Gediman looks a little
nervous, not sure this is a good idea.
The cargo is locked into place on the floor and and a guard works the
electric lock.
It springs open and the guard slides off a side panel.
They are stacked one on the other, five of them in all, cryotubes.
People sleeping inside.
One by one the tubes are hauled to one side of the room as the second
unit is wheeled in.
By the end there are ten people sleeping side by side in their tubes in
the dark chamber.
The scientists meanwhile retire to INT. AN ADJOINING CHAMBER with a
long glass window looking at the chamber.
The last of the guards leaves the chamber and we see the door lock
behind them.
Wren starts pushing buttons.
The glass tops of the cryotubes slide open. We see temperature and
lifesign gauges begin to change..
There is a thick whirring as a part of the ceiling above the tubes
lowers, lowers, and rotates slowly.
Stuck to the other side of it are ten alien eggs. The ceiling rotates
just enough so that they are aimed at the heads of the sleepers.
For a moment nothing happens.
One of the sleepers eyes flutter slightly. Opens. All ten eggs open
simultaneously.
CUT TO: INT. CONFERENCE HALL
A huge room, used for assemblies and events. It has a chain basketball
net set up at one end, crude court lines taped to the floor. Ripley
stands beneath the net with a ball, dribbling absently.
At the other end are set up tables and folding chairs. The crew of the
Betty, sans Elgyn, are filing in to eat here. Johner spies Ripley,
smiles.
JOHNER
Ooh.
Johner comes up to Ripley. Her expression makes it clear how much she
enjoys having him in her face.
JOHNER
How about a little one on one?
She keeps dribbling, says nothing.
JOHNER
What do you say?
RIPLEY
Get away from me.
JOHNER
Why should I?
RIPLEY
Because pain hurts.
He falters a moment at her quiet threat, then:
JOHNER Are you gonna hurt me then? 1 think I might enjoy that.
He smiles his ugly smile. She smiles back.
She hits, him solidly in the chest -- and he flies back ten feet,
landing badly on a group of chairs.
His mates fly into action, Christie grabs a standing ashtray. Hillard
jumps Ripley from behind. She throws her off with e -- chucks the
basketball at her hard enough to pop the air out of it.
Christie swings at her and SMASHES her right in the face.
She arcs back... and right back up, at Christie's throat before he has
a chance to react, squeezing, batting away the ashtray just a trickle
of blood coming down her nose --
Johner cames at her again and she leaps on him, throws him to the
ground, snarling,
SHE'S GONNA RIP HIS THROAT OUT WITH HER TEETH.
WREN
Ripley.
Ripley looks up and four guards are pointing burners at her. Wren and
Gediman behind them.
Call, standing to one side with Vriess, reacts visibly to the name.
Everybody is slowly backing off. St Just stands with his hands behind
his back, as if concealing something.
Call watches in rapt silence.
WREN
Don't let's have a scene.
Ripley lets go of Johner, stands.
RIPLEY
He... smells
WREN
I imagine he does.
JOHNER (barely breathing)
What the fuck are you?
She looks down on him - in both senses of the phrase. - Look around at
everyone staring at her.
She wipes the bit of blood from under her nose, flicks it away. Exits.
WREN (to Gediman, amused)
Social skills, less than a hundred' percent.
ANGLE: RIPLEY'S BLOOD
The few drops she flicked away sizzle on the floor -- not eating
through, but melting a small patch.
TO: INT. LABS - LATER
A large metal box is being wheeled next to an observation pen. Soldiers
surround it, weapons at the ready. Not one of them at ease.
Wren and Gediman watch intently.
WREN
What's the status on the Queen?
GEDIMAN
We still haven't detected the origin of the reproductive anomalies. But
the egg laying stage appears to be over.
WREN
Did we do something wrong?
GEDIMAN
I don't know. I think we covered everything. But these redundancies...
A soldier lifts a panel in the pen and then doors to the cage come open
automatically.
Everyone waits.
A fullgrown alien suddenly bolts into the pen. The soldier shut it as
quickly as humanly possible.
WREN
Father, check security status, observation pen six.
Father, the voice of the ship, replies after a moment in a dulcet,
comforting tone.
FATHER
Pen six secure, security systems functional at 100%.
WREN
Good. Now the others.
CUT TO: INT. SLEEP CHAMBERS - NIGHT
We see VARIOUS ANGLES of people at night:
Rane, in, a chamber on the Auriga.
Hillard and Elgyn, in a slightly more lush one.
Perez, in his quarters.
VRIESS, rolling about the Aurigals engine room, looking it over.
Christie, St Just, Call and Johner, all playing poker in the mess hall.
CUT TO: INT. OBSERVATION ROOM - RIGHT
A sleep cycle is indicated here by the low lighting and the near
emptiness of the room.
Gediman alone is in here, writing observations down in a notebook as he
watches the pen.
Inside are three aliens. Two of them seem to be hibernating, curled up
in the corner, but the third faces the glass, tilting its head and
hissing at it.
Gediman sits right up close to it, his face just inches away from the
beast's. It draws back its lips, opens its mouth. The metallic tongue
issues slowly forth, dripping with slime.
GEDIMAN (softly, fascinated)
Is that a distended externus lingua ... or are you just happy to see
me?
The creature hisses. retracts the tongue. Gediman scribbles few notes.
Something moves in the dark behind him. Before he can notice, a hand
closes on his shoulder.
It's Ripley. She steps forward, eyes locked on the cage. Gediman seems
only mildly surprised.
GEDIMAN
How did you get in here?
RIPLEY
Beautiful, aren't they?
GEDIMAN
Yes. Yes they are. I've been monitoring their interaction.
He points at a audiograph by the wall, blips and waves interrupting the
vibrating line, indicating sound.
He notices that her hand is still on her shoulder.
GEDIMAN
They communicate. Through ultrasonic soundwaves. Sort of like bats.
RIPLEY
I know.
She looks at him.
RIPLEY
I can hear them.
GEDIMAN (smiling)
Amazing ...
She runs her hand through the back of his hair, gently urging him up
off his chair.
GEDIMAN
Ripley...
RIPLEY
Shhhhh.
She pulls him close, kisses him. Lightly at first, then deeply -
holding his head with both hands. He responds with surprising warmth,
the kiss drawing out, pulling slowly apart.
She looks at him, smiles.
An alien tongue SHOOTS out of her mouth, burying itself in his face.
SMASH CUT TO: INT. RIPLEY'S CHAMBER
As she suddenly awakes, eyes wide, breathing hard.
She has been sleeping, we see, in the same position she was before:
squatting in the middle of the room. She looks about her, recovering
from the nightmare... Her breathing slows. With a somewhat fatalistic
look, she settles back to sleep.
CUT TO: INTERIOR MESS HALL - NIGHT
Christie, Call, St Just and Johner are still at their all night poker
game, stacks of bills, peanuts and liquor scattered the table.
They are in a tense hand, the pot impressively high.
JOHNER
I'm in.
CHRISTIE
All right.
ST JUST
Raise you two hundred.
JOHNER
Oh, fuck you!
CALL
That's it. I'm out. I'm fucked.
She throws down her cards, takes a swig of Johner's patented moonshine.
It tastes horrible.
CHRISTIE
That takes me down, too. Johner?
JOHNER
Uh, Uh, fuck it. I fold.
(to St Just)
What do-you got?
St Just calmly shuffles his cards back into the deck.
ST JUST
You'll always wonder.
JOHNER
You asshole.
CHRISTIE
Johner, your deal.
CALL
Deal me out. It's not my night.
She tries to stand up, takes a spill over her chair. The others laugh.
CALL
Jesus, Johner, what do you put in that shit, battery acid?
JOHNER
Just for coloring.
ST JUST (producing a small vial)
I got something that'll take the edge off that.
CALL Thanks, I'll walk it off.
She stumbles out of the room. Johner shuffles the deck.
JOHNER
Bitches should not play with the boys, they will get cleaned out.
(dealing)
Eight card throwback, fuck your sister and the sevens are wild.
CUT TO: INT. HALL
As soon as she is out of sight, Call straightens up, completely sober.
She looks around her and takes off toward the restricted areas.
She comes to the door and making sure no one is around, star punching
in code on the keypad.
CUT TO: INT. CELLBLOCK - MOMENTS LATER
As Call pads silently down it, looking for one cell.
TO: INT. RIPLEY'S CELL - CONTINUOUS
The cell door opens silently. Call hesitates a moment, then slips in,
shutting the door behind her.
Ripley is sleeping, still in the squatting position in the middle of
the room.
Call approaches.
She stares down at Ripley a moment. A shadow passes as a guard walks
above them,
Call tenses till he is gone. Look's back down at Ripley -- still
sleeping.
Call extends her hand, flexes her wrist. The meanest lookin stilletto
you've ever seen extends from out her sleeve. it, gotta be a foot long,
and sharp enough to shave with.
She lifts back her arm, the better to punch it through Ripley's heart.
Ripley shifts slightly. Call stops.
ANGLE: RIPLEY'S CHEST
Her shirt is open enough to show a good portion of the scar. Call
hesitates, staring, realization flooding her face.
RIPLEY
Well?
Call starts, moving back a pace.
RIPLEY
You gonna kill me or what?
CALL
There's no point, is there?
A flick of her wrist and the stilletto whips back up her sleeve.
Ripley sits up.
CALL
It's already out of you. Christ... Is it here? Is it on board?
RIPLEY (smiling)
You mean my baby? CALL
I don't understand. If they've got it, why are they keeping you alive?
RIPLEY
Curious. I'm the latest thing...
CALL
Those sick fucks.
She raises her arm, the stilletto gliding out again.
CALL
I can make it stop. The pain... this nightmare.. That's all I can
offer you.
Ripley holds her palm up, presses it against the point of the blade.
RIPLEY
What makes you think I would let you do that?
Ripley pushes her hand out - the blade goes RIGHT THROUGH HER PALM. She
keeps pushing her hand out slowly, a good five inches of the blade
sticking out the back of her hand before she stops. Call stares at
her.
CALL
What are you?
RIPLEY
Ripley, Ellen, Lieutenant first class, number 36706.
CALL
Ellen Ripley died two hundred years ago.
Ripley pulls her hand back suddenly, grimacing at the pain.
RIPLEY
What do you know about it?
CALL
I've read Morse -- I've read all the banned histories. She gave her
life to protect us from the beast. You're not her.
RIPLEY
If I'm not her. What am I?
CALL
You're a thing. A construct. They grew you in a fucking lab.
RIPLEY
But only God can make a tree.
CALL
And now they've brought the beast out of you.
RIPLEY (smiling)
Not all the way out.
CALL
What?
RIPLEY
It's in my head. Behind my eyes. I can hear it moving. The beast.
The smile is gone, some real vulnerability showing through. Call
softens, trying a different tack.
CALL
Help me. If there's anything human in you at all, help me stop them
before this thing gets loose.
RIPLEY
It's already loose.
Call's expression changes. Those words terrify her, but she's not sure
if Ripley means what she thinks.
Ripley raises her hand at Call's head -- Call flinches but Ripley stops
a few inches away.
Then touches her forehead gently, almost sensually.
RIPLEY
Once the thought .... the hope for it ... grows here.... it has found
its way.
It will come, because... man will bring it. Bring it forth.
CALL
You want that.
RIPLEY
I've come to terms with the fact of it. It's inevitable.
CALL
Not so long as there's breath-in me.
Ripley LASHES OUT and GRABS CALL'S THROAT. Call swings wit the blade
but Ripley has her arm pinned before she can connect. Ripley squeezes
the girls neck.
Ripley looks at the girl with a world of sadness.
RIPLEY
I can... make it ... stop...
Call's eyes are pleading, terrified. Ripley finally lets go and she
drops to the ground gasping for air. RIPLEY
Go. They're coming for you.
As soon as she can move, Call scrambles up and heads out.
CUT TO: INT. HALL - CONTINUOUS
Call comes out and before she can move a RIFLE BUT hits her the head.
She goes down but not out as two guards grab her. Wren is with them
and three more.
WREN
I think you're gonna find that this was ill advised.
(to the men) Where are her friends?
GUARD
Mess hall, most of them.
WREN
Sound the alarm. I want them rounded up. Now!
TO: INT. MESS HALL - MOMENTS LATER
ANGLE: THE CARD TABLE
Being kicked over.
Elgyn, Hillard and Rane are pushed into the room, sleepy and confused.
Christie, St Just, and Johner are all being herded in by soldiers.
Call is thrown into the group as well.
ELGYN
What the fuck is going on here?
CHRISTIE
Looks like a doublecross, boss.
WREN
Where's the other one? With the chair?
JOHNER (to a soldier)
Get your fucking hands off me!
ELGYN
Do you mind telling me what the fuck you're up to?
WREN
Shut up!
(to a guard) Get the general. Wake him up.
ELGYN
Look, if there's a problem tell me what it is. We can work this out,
there is no need to get emotional ...
St Just is silent, standing in the same position he was when Ripley
attacked Johner.
Hands behind his back.
ANGLE: BEHIND ST JUST'S BACK
As Elgyn speaks, two guns..slip out of his sleeves and fill his hands.
CALL
They got nothing to do with this, Wren.
ELGYN (to Call)
To do with what?
WREN I don't give a fuck. It's way too late for that. You're all
looking at a firing squad.
You hear me?
ELGYN
I do. St Just?
With lighting precision, St Just raises his hands and blows of the
guards away.
He takes out a third to his left without even looking that way.
One guard gets off a shot with his burner, frying Rane before Hillard's
elbow knocks his teeth well into his throat.
Christie tackles the next as Johner presses a latch on the bottom of
his thermos -- the top half flies off, revealing handle of a gun
inside. He grabs it and another guard runs. Johner doesn't have time
to pull the gun-out of the the so he SHOOTS right through it, sending
the guard flying..
CUT TO: INT. ALIEN OBSERVATION LAB - CONTINUOUS
Alarms, flashing red lights. Gediman looking in a video monitor.
GEDIMAN
What the fuck... You three! Go! Sector two.
All but one of the guards rush out to investigate. Gediman works the
surveilliance screen, trying to see what's happening
CUT TO: INT. MESS HALL - CONTINUOUS
When the smoke clears, There are two guards still standing. They point
their weapons inneffectually. St Just a has gun to wren's head and a
gun on the guards, who are also covered by Johner.
ELGYN
Nice and easy, boys ...
Call starts to take off.
CALL
I'm gonna finish this.
Elgyn grabs her by the hair, roughly pulls her back.
ELGYN
You're going nowhere, Annalee.
CUT TO: INT. OBSERVATION LAB - CONTINUOUS
ANGLE: IN THE PEN
The three aliens have picked up the energy. are stalking back and forth
like tigers in the dim light of their pen.
ANGLE: THEIR POV
We see Gediman and the guard, their backs to us. The aliens-stop
pacing. One of them, to the right, looks at the one on the left.
Something passes between them. They look back at the humans. At each
other.
They SET ON the middle alien, TEARING IT APART. It lets out piercing,
insectile SHRIEKS as they tear it limb from limb.
Gediman spins in terror, the guard bringing up his weapon. Gediman hits
the lights inside the pen and as they blink to shocking brightness we
see:
The remains of the third alien on the ground as a giant pool its blood
EATS A HOLE IN THE FLOOR.
GEDIMAN
Oh, God
He bolts for the failsafe but it's too late as the blood eats all the
way through - the two aliens DIVE through the hole. just as Gediman
hits the button -- freezing gas fills the chamber but there's nothing
to freeze.
GEDIMAN
No no no!
He hits another sequence and the door slides open. He rushes in,
kneels by the hole and looks down.
ANGLE: HIS POV
Their blood has already eaten through two levels.
GEDIMAN
Christ. They could be anywhere.
He looks up at the guard -- and an alien FLIES UP at him through the
hole.
It was hanging on the ceiling below and it pulls him through before he
can breathe a decent scream.
The guard just stares, shaking.
CUT TO: INT. MESS HALL
The mexican standoff is getting even more heated.
CHRISTIE
Who gives a shit! We have to get out of here.
ELGYN
If Call's got something going here I want to know what it is!
WREN
You brought her here..
Two more guards rush in. Johner shoves' his gun in Wren's mouth.
JOHNER
Drop them! I'm not fucking with you!
CHRISTIE (indicating the dead soldiers)
Boss, we got bodies here. It doesn't matter what Call's up to, we're
all fucked now.
CALL
I have to stop him. If I don't we'll all die.
WREN (pulls his mouth away)
Elgyn, tell me what you know. If she's alone in this.
HILLARD
In what?
Johner puts his gun to Call's temple now.
JOHNER
Does anyone want me to make this simple?
Far away, a SCREAM. Everyone stops. Wren turns slowly in the direction
it came from.
WREN
No...
CUT TO: INT. HALLWAY BY LABS
A technican RUNS screaming just as an alien LEAPS on him from behind.
The CAMERA RUSHES AWAY, frenzied as the scene, to pick up a guard in
the next hall firing wildly at the ceiling as an alien dissappears up
an airvent. There are three bodies lying dead before us.
ANGLE: IN THE PENS
We see that the aliens have been freed. Smoke, dead bodies, the
plexiglass partition to one 1 cage is cracked and open.
CUT TO: INT. RIPLEY'S CELL - CONTINUOUS
Ripley sits in the dark, the noise of Chaos just beginning filter in.
And she just can't help herself.
She is LAUGHING.
CUT TO: INT. PEREZ'S QUARTERS CONTINUOUS
He is mostly dressed, still shaking off sleep. He stands at the
command console, bringing up visual. Everything on the screens is
smoke and noise.
PEREZ
Ensign! Damage Report! Ensign!
Nothing. On one of the screens, an alien is briefly visible. Perez
stiffens at the sight of it.
He punches up a different sector. The labs, and here is a badly wounded
lieutenant.
PEREZ
Status!
LIEUTENANT
Containment is impossible, sir... I think they swept the barracks.
PEREZ (to himself)
A military strike.... Christ Jesus ...
After a beat, he starts punching in the emergency override codes.
CUT TO: INT. BARRACKS - CONTINUOUS
It's worst here -- the aliens have taken out a dozen men in their
sleep, and everyone awake is screaming. One soldier runs for the
weapons cabinet -- an alien hits him from behind and SMASHES him into
it, falling in a tumble of guns.
Over the chaos, the emergency lighting comes on, floor light like an
airplane's indicating the nearest exit. Father's voice is
excruciatingly calm:
FATHER
Emergency. Initiate evacuation procedures immediately. All hands. This
is not a drill.
One soldier gets a bead on an alien with his burner - fries italong
with two of his friends.
They're out of commission, but the alien is hurt only momentarily. It
bounds forward, takes out his face.
FATHER
Emergency. Initiate evacuation procedures ...
CUT TO..
INT. HALLWAY BY ENGINE ROOM - CONTINUOUS
The noise is too far above to be heard down here, but Fathers droning
voice and the emergency lighting are on.
Vriess wheels slowly into the hall, concerned. He spins slowly,
checking out his surroundings.
ANGLE: DOWN THE HALL
There is nothing.. Just the floor lights pulsing in succession towards
the exit.
Vriess follows their lead, wheeling out.
CUT TO: INT. NEXT HALL - CONTINUOUS
Nothing here either. But Vriess's fur is up -- he moves slowly,
carefully.
And was that a noise? He looks around, up at the ceiling.
A drop of alien blood is eating through right above him. It drips down
-- and he rolls out of the way just in time, back up as the blood plops
to the floor, eating casually through.
CUT TO: INT. LIFEBOAT BAY ONE - CONTINUOUS
Men are rushing into one of the lifeboats. They sit facing each other
in the tiny vessel and strap themselves in. Pere is here, hurrying
the soldiers in, pushing back the few who try to crowd in after.
PEREZ
Bay three! Go!
The late soldiers make for the next boat as Perez seals the hatch. He
hits the eject button and steps back.
CUT TO: EXT. THE AURIGA - CONTINUOUS
As the lifeboat FIRES out of the side of the giant craft.
CUT TO: INT. BAY THREE - CONTINUOUS
Men crowd into this one too -- it's nearly full and an alien suddenly
LEAPS into it.. starts feeding on the men strapped down - they are
screaming.
Perez runs in as a soldier outside the lifeboat fires his burner,
hitting the alien, the men, the controls -- a shower of sparks as the
alien-turns, about to spring on the soldier as he rolls in a grenade.
The doors shut and and a soldier hits the eject button.
TO: EXT. AURIGA - CONTINUOUS
The second lifeboat comes shooting out and moments later. EXPLODES.
CUT TO: INT. MESS HALL - CONTINUOUS
The noise of the explosion - and of a few inside as well - is all
around the group.
Father's voice still urges evacuaticion
WREN
NO!
(to Call)
What have you done?
CALL
Nothing. Not a goddanm thing. You thought you could control it.
ELGYN
All right. We make for the Betty. Can he walk?
He is pointing at Rane, who nods, standing.
HILLARD Betty's all the way across the ship! Who knows what's in
between?
CALL (indicating Wren)
He does.
One of the soldiers steps forward. DiStephano.
DISTEPHANO (to Wren)
Sir, we have to go.
(to Elgyn) Let him go. No quarrel.
ELGYN
You can have him when we're off. Not before.
They start out, dragging Wren along. Guns still on Call and the
soldiers.
What about Vriess?
JOHNER
Fuck Vriess!
CUT TO INT. FALL - CONTINUOUS
Vries enters, looking around. He is getting seriously wigged.
The lights on the floor still pulse. Urging him forward. He obeys.
Something stirs in the rafters. Coiled about the pipes.
Vriess stops, still a good thirty feet from the beast. Strains to see.
It starts MOVING, climbing at him upside down on the pipes. FAST.
Vriess starts wheeling himself back away but SLOWLY, agonizingly slowly
compared to the beast.
He turns the corner, spins around.
The hall is fifty feet long. At the far end a few soldiers running
through.
SERGEANT
Seal off that sector!
A soldier runs to obey, working the door controls.
VRIESS
No!
The soldier sees him, but the fear on the boy's face telegraphs his-
decision.
Vreiess starts pumping toward the door. He's strong, picking up speed,
but the alien rounds the corner and bolts after him.
Vriess can't even look back as the thing gains on him. The door begins
to come down, the soldier finishing the sequence and running off.
Vriess rolls, face set -- the alien a few feet behind, reaching for him
An EXPLOSION far away ROCKS THE SHIP -- the hall tilted momentarily,
Vriess gets a boost as he rockets downhill, the beast still on him,
the door closing, too low for him to clear. He gets there and SLAMS a
lever, his chair FLATTENS out to a dolly position, his head just
CLEARS the closing door as the alien SLAMS into it, Vriess spinning out
and flying off the chair it tilts, landing in a heap next to him.
Lying still on the ground, he listens as the beast slams against the
door a few more times, then fades off.
VRIESS
Fuck everything....
He reaches up for the chair and from the back of it he pulls out a
shotgun.
CUT TO: INT. LIFEBOAT BAY 5 - CONTINUOUS
Perez is trying to maintain order. He is failing. Grabs a corporal.
PEREZ
Muster a squad to search for survivors!
CORPORAL
Fuck no! Fuck no! Fuck you!
Perez slams him to the ground with his fist.
An ALIEN LEAPS OUT at him from the ceiling. The soldiers scatter, Perez
just leaping out of the way --
PEREZ
Shoot it! Fry it!
A couple of men fire their burners, to little effect.
One soldier runs up to the action. His head is bloodied, his expression
vengefully grim.
The soldier whips out a pistol, private.issue, he takes a bead on the
thing --
PEREZ
NO!
And the soldier FIRES -- pumps three bullets into the beast sends it
flying back toward the window.
Perez is riveted by the sight of: ANGLE: DROPS OF BLOOD
big ones, hitting the window. Everything seems to move slowly now - the
alien, struggling as the soldier pumps two more bullets into it, the
other soldiers, Perez -- the monster falls and the BLOOD EATS THROUGH
THE WINDOW..
PEREZ
Get out! Everyone! Now!
Soldiers are beginning to get it.. The window CRACKS, begins to SHAKE
as the blood is almost through it.
Even the soldier who shot the alien has stopped, his face frozen in
horror at what he's about to accomplish.
Perez shoves him, herds the rest out, looking back --
PEREZ
Clear the sector!
at the window, the blood is almost through --
Men are pouring out of the hall -- some move down a side hall and SLAM
the door shut behind them, but most are making for the main exit
anyway.
FATHER
Warning. Potential hullbreach. Clear sector.
The blood eats a hole in the window -- the nearest soldier is sucked
back against the window -- he SCREAMS as he is sucked through a hole
no bigger than his fist.
Still men are falling over each other, Perez herding them out.
A huge CRACKING sound, and Perez shuts his eyes.
The window explodes outward, the air blowing everything int space.
Debris, vehicles, men, all tangled and dead as they blown out into the
black.
ANGLE: THE SECTOR DOORS
SLAM shut instantly one cutting right through a soldier halfway out.
ANGLE: AIR VENTS
Gates slam down here as well.
ANGLE: ELECTRICAL DUCTS
Foam SHOOTS into them, hardening instantly, sealing the breached
sector.
FATHER
Breach contained. Sector five nonfunctional.
CUT TO: INT. HALL - CONTINUOUS
As the crew moves quickly through. They come to a shut door, red
lights along it indicating it's locked.
ELGYN (to DiStephano)
Open it.
DISTEPHMO
I can't.
Johner puts his gun to the soldier's head.
WREN
He can't! The sector's closed. The hull's been breached!
ELGYN
Okay, which way?
WREN
We'll have to go through the holding cells. Here.
ELGYN
All right.
They turn left, entering
INT. CHAMBER - CONTINUOUS
that leads to the holding cells. The room is big, a railing at one end
looking over another chamber two flights down.
A shut door separates the chamber from the cells.
ELGYN
Can you get that one open?
It comes from the rafters, dropping down on Elgyn in a heartbeat. He
barely has time to scream before it shoots its tongue through the back
of his skull.
Hillard has time. She SCREAMS as her lover's brains come out his
mouth.
The beast leaps at the group, scattering them like bowling pins as it
claws into one of the guards. Everybody else is scrambling for cover.
St Just tries to escape by running past the beast - its tail lashes
out, tangling his feet and tripping him up, his head smashing against a
pipe.
Another guard hits it with the burner -- it shrieks and lands on him.
Johner shoots at it but is far too panicked to hit it.
Call has backed to the far wall -- she desperately works the controls
to open the door.
It starts to rise.
CALL
Christie! Hillard! Come on!
The door rises fully. Ripley stands behind it.
Call starts back, not sure what the woman will do.
Ripley surveys the scene.
The Alien, burrowing its head into the belly of the guard, stops.
Looks up.
Everyone watches as the two creatures sense each other. ThE alien
hisses. rears back.
Ripley looks away, contemplative We see a gamut of emotions cross her
face, but her posture passive, sacrificial. She does not move.
Everyone watches, too afraid to breathe.
The alien LUNGES at her, leaping across the room in two bounds. It's on
her -- and she SPINS, GPABBING IT, and HURLS IT AWAY.
It lands in a tangle but is up again in a microsecond, jumps at her,
knocks her back into the room, on her, its claws digging into her skin,
piston tongue at her face, inches away.
She locks an arm around its slick, long head and pulls back we hear its
tendons strain, snap.
CALL (to a guard)
Shoot it! Shoot them both!
She grabs his gun and BURNS them both. Two less-than-human SCREAMS
fill the room as they briefly disentangle, thrown apart.
The beast recovers first, dodging the next blast and going for Ripley
again.
Ripley, on her back, reaches behind her, grabs a table leg and with
inhuman strength brings the table down on the monster's head.
She dives at it as it comes out from under....
Call shoots as Ripley hits the alien, they're both fried as Ripley's
momentum sends them over a railing and they FALL TWENTY FEET -- the
Alien lands with a spine snapping crunch,
Ripley only slightly better.
A few crew members rush to look over the railing. Christie starts down
the spiral staircase to that level.
JOHNER
Where are you going?
The creature rolls back onto Ripley, grabbing her with its dying
strength. Her face is rigid with pain and anger as she holds it off...
its jaws open, dripping shaking...
The tongue SHOOTS OUT and Ripley GRABS IT. HOLDS IT.
A scream wells up in her throat. A totally animal killshriek that she
SCREAMS, victorious, as she RIPS THE ALIEN'S TONGUE OUT OF ITS FACE.
She stands, bellows another warrior cry. The crew has gathered near.
They watch her, awed, wary. Ripley walks slowly up to them -- up to
Call. Ripley looks a tad pissed.
Call tenses, maybe wishing she hadn't shot Ripley as well.
Ripley takes Call's hand, puts the tongue in it. walks on.
Call looks at the dripping souvenier. The pincers at the end still
twitching.
CHRISTIE
What the FUCK is going on here?
RANE
What was that thing? Are there more of that thing?
JOHNER (to Call)
Make a hell of a necklace...
ANGLE: HILLARD
on the upper level, kneeling by Elgyn's body. No tears, but terribly
quiet.
What do we do?
CHRISTIE
Same thing we were doing. We get the fuck.
RANE
What if there's more? Let's stay here and let the army guys deal.
Someone will come... I mean, where are the fucking army guys?
St Just is very calmly looking up at the rafters, guns drawn
CHRISTIE
Doctor. You know what that thing is?
WREN
I do.
CHRISTIE
And there's others. How many?
The doctor looks around, almost guiltily.
WREN
Thirty.
JOHNER
Thirty! We are fucked in our pink bottoms if there's thirty of those
things.
RIPLEY
There'll be more.
Everyone looks around at her. She is squatting in the corner facing
away from them.
RIPLEY
They'll breed. In a few hours there'll be twice that number.
(she stands, approaches them)
So who do I have to fuck to get off this boat?
CHRISTIE
You bought your ticket when you killed that thing. welcome aboard.
CALL.
Are you fucking crazy? She doesn't care if we....
CHRISTIE (fiercely)
You got no authority here, Call!- Now secure it!
It's the first time Christie has raised his voice, and it has the
desired effect.
After a silent moment, Call starts again softly.
CALL
Christie, she's not human. Wren cloned her because she was carrying an
alien in her.
She could turn --
JOHNER
Nobody cares about your opinion, you bitch, you fucking mole --
CALL
She'll turn on us! Just like that!
CHRISTIE
I don't give a syphallitic fuck whether you people can get along or
not. If we've got a wish to live then we work together, and that
includes bug-lady.
CALL
You can't trust her.
CHRISTIE
I don't trust anyone. CUT TO: INT. CHAMBER/CELLBLOCK - A BIT LATER
The group is still in the adjoining chamber, but looking here into the
cellblock where
Ripley had been. DiStephano and St Just come first, guns ready,
looking about them.
They are followed by Christie and Wren.
WREN
There's a console in the guards, station. We can punch up a diagnostic
of the ship and plan a route. To your ship.
CHRISTIE
That likes me fine.
He signals for the others to follow, everyone moving cautiously.
ANGLE: HILLARD
Gently lays her coat over Elgyn's face. Johner looks down a moment.
JOHNER
Via con Dios, man.
Hillard stands. Call puts ahand on her shoulder but Hillard moves away,
a distrustful look on her face.
Ripley, bringing up the rear, watches the whole group with a sort of
fascinated detatchment.
Call looks back at her. Ripley smiles, coldly.
ANGLE: IN THE CELLBLOCK
The group makes their way slowly, quietly. They approach a bank of
elevators, but Wren points down an adjoining doorway. They are about
to go there when the elevator door lights up, indicating arrival.
The group backs up, spreads out. Those who can find cover take it. guns
drawn.
The elevator doors open. It is too dark inside to see:
Suddenly sparks fly from the broken overhead in the elevator and a
figure appears in the light.
Everyone jolts, about to fire. before they realize it is
VRIESS
Who sits in his chair, a shotgun in each hand, eyes wide. twitchier
than they.
JOHNER
Oh, fuck...
CALL
vriess!
VRIESS (mock casual)
Hey, whatchyou guys doing? Hey, Annalee.
CHRISTIE
Thought you were toast for certain.
VRIESS
You've seen that fucking thing?
WREN (suspiciously)
Where were you?
VRIESS
I was down by -- what do you mean? I was in maintenance, checking out
your oxidation systems.
JOHNER
Doc's got a bug up his ass 'cause Call's a mole and he thinks we're a
conspiracy.
VRIESS (looking at Call)
She's a what?
JOHNER
A mole. A fucking spy.
Vriess looks hit harder by that information than anyone.
CHRISTIE
We got'a mission here, people. Let's keep moving.
They do.
CUT TO: INT. GUARDS, STATION - MOMENTS LATER
ANGLE: THE CONSOLE
A hologram of the ship appears above the screen. It looks a solid as
the ship itself, except that parts of it occasional break themselves
down to show interiors.
The group looks it over. Parts of the ship are simply not there, the
sections around those holes red. Wren points them out.
WREN
We've had hull breach by the lifeboats, here on level five, and down --
Jesus, right by the engine room. We're very lucky.
ST JUST (sarcastically)
Lucky we.
CHRISTIE
What about the Betty? Our ship.