· 6 years ago · Mar 24, 2019, 04:22 AM
1
2
3
4
5 "ALIENS"
6
7
8 by
9
10
11 James Cameron
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19 FIRST DRAFT
20 May 28, 1985
21
22-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
23
24 ALIENS
25
26 FADE IN
27
28 SOMETIME IN THE FUTURE - SPACE 1
29
30 Silent and endless. The stars shine like the love of
31 God...cold and remote. Against them drifts a tiny chip
32 of technology.
33
34 CLOSER SHOT It is the NARCISSUS, lifeboat of the
35 ill-fated star-freighter Nostromo. Without interior
36 or running lights it seems devoid of life. The PING
37 of a RANGING RADAR grows louder, closer. A shadow
38 engulfs the Narcissus. Searchlights flash on, playing
39 over the tiny ship, as a MASSIVE DARK HULL descends
40 toward it.
41
42 INT. NARCISSUS 2
43
44 Dark and dormant as a crypt. The searchlights stream
45 in the dusty windows. Outside, massive metal forms can
46 BE SEEN descending around the shuttle. Like the tolling
47 of a bell, a BASSO PROFUNDO CLANG reverberates through
48 the hull.
49
50 CLOSE ON THE AIRLOCK DOOR Light glares as a cutting
51 torch bursts through the metal. Sparks shower into the
52 room.
53
54 A second torch cuts through. They move with machine
55 precision, cutting a rectangular path, converging. The
56 torches meet. Cut off. The door falls inward REVEALING
57 a bizarre multi-armed figure. A ROBOT WELDER.
58
59 FIGURES ENTER, backlit and ominous. THREE MEN in
60 bio-isolation suits, carrying lights and equipment. They
61 approach a sarcophaguslike HYPERSLEEP CAPSULE, f.g.
62
63 LEADER
64 (filtered)
65 Internal pressure positive. Assume
66 nominal hull integrity. Hypersleep
67 capsules, style circa late twenties...
68
69 His gloved hand wipes at on opaque layer of dust on the
70 canopy.
71
72 ANGLE INSIDE CAPSULE as light stabs in where the dust is
73 wiped away, illuminating a WOMAN, her face in peaceful
74 repose.
75
76 WARRANT OFFICER RIPLEY, sole survivor of the Nostromo.
77 Nestled next to her is JONES, the ship's wayward cat.
78
79 LEADER
80 (voice over; filtered)
81 Lights are green. She's alive.
82 Well, there goes out salvage, guys.
83
84 DISSOLVE TO:
85
86 INT. HOSPITAL ROOM - TIGHT ON RIPLEY - GATEWAY STATION 3
87
88 She's lying in a bed, looking wan, as a female MED-TECH
89 raises the backrest. She is surrounded by arcane white
90 MEDICAL EQUIPMENT. The Med-Tech exudes practiced
91 cheeriness.
92
93 MED-TECH
94 Why don't I open the viewport?
95 Watch your eyes.
96
97 Harsh light floods in as a motorized shield slides into
98 the ceiling, REVEALING a breathtaking vista. Beyond the
99 sprawling complex of modular habitats, collectively
100 called GATEWAY STATION, is the curve of EARTH as seen
101 from high orbit. Blue and serene.
102
103 MED-TECH
104 And how are we today?
105
106 RIPLEY
107 (weakly)
108 Terrible.
109
110 MED-TECH
111 Just terrible? That's better
112 than yesterday at least.
113
114 RIPLEY
115 How long have I been on
116 Gateway station?
117
118 MED-TECH
119 Just a couple of days. Do you
120 feel up to a visitor?
121
122 Ripley shrugs, not caring. The door opens and a MAN
123 enters, although Ripley sees only what he is carrying.
124 A familiar large, orange TOMCAT.
125
126 RIPLEY
127 Jones!
128
129 She grabs the cat like a life preserver.
130
131 RIPLEY
132 (cooing baby-cat talk)
133 Come here Jonesy you ugly old
134 moose...you ugly thing.
135
136 Jones patiently endures Ripley's embarrassing display,
137 seeming none the worse for wear. The visitor sits
138 beside the bed and Ripley finally notices him. He is
139 thirtyish and handsome, in a suit that looks executive
140 or legal, the tie loosened with studied casualness. A
141 smile referred to as "winning."
142
143 MAN
144 Nice room. I'm Burke. Carter Burke.
145 I work for the company, but other
146 than that I'm an okay guy. Glad to
147 see you're feeling better. I'm told
148 the weakness and disorientation
149 should pass soon. Side effects of
150 the unusually long hypersleep, or
151 something like that.
152
153 RIPLEY
154 How long was I out there? They
155 won't tell me anything.
156
157 BURKE
158 (soothing)
159 Well, maybe you shouldn't worry
160 about that just yet.
161
162 Ripley grabs his arm, surprising him.
163
164 RIPLEY
165 How long?
166
167 Burke gazes at her, thoughtful.
168
169 BURKE
170 All right. My instinct says
171 you're strong enough to handle
172 this...Fifty-seven years.
173
174 Ripley is stunned. She seems to deflate, her expression
175 passing through amazement and shock to realization of
176 all she has lost. Friends. Family. Her world.
177
178 RIPLEY
179 Fifty-seven...oh, Christ...
180
181 BURKE
182 You'd drifted right through the
183 core systems. It's blind luck that
184 deep-salvage team caught you when
185 they...are you all right?
186
187 Ripley coughs suddenly as if choking and her expression
188 becomes one of dawning horror. Burke hands her a glass
189 of water from the nightstand. She slaps it away. It
190 shatters with a SMASH. Jones dives, yowling. Ripley
191 grabs her chest, struggling as if she is strangling.
192 The Med-Tech hits a console button.
193
194 MED-TECH
195 (shouting)
196 Code Blue! 415. Code Blue!
197 4-1-5!
198
199 Burke and the Med-Tech are holding Ripley's shoulders as
200 she goes into convulsions. A DOCTOR and TWO TECHS run
201 in. Ripley's back arches in agony.
202
203 RIPLEY
204 No...noooo!
205
206 They try to restrain her as she thrashes, knocking over
207 equipment. Her EKG races like mad. Jones, under a
208 cabinet, hisses wide-eyed.
209
210 DOCTOR
211 Hold her...Get me an airway, stat!
212 And fifteen cc's of...Jesus!
213
214 AN EXPLOSION OF BLOOD beneath the sheet covering her
215 chest! Ripley stares at the SHAPE RISING UNDER THE
216 SHEET. Tearing itself out of her.
217
218 HER P.O.V. as the sheet rises. A GLIMPSE OF the
219 CHITTERING HORROR...IT SCREECHES.
220
221 TIGHT ON RIPLEY screaming, snapping up INTO FRAME.
222 Alone in the darkened hospital room. She gasps for
223 breath, clutching pathetically at her chest. There is
224 no demented horror rigging itself out of her. Her eyes
225 snap about wildly, slowly focusing on the reality of
226 her safety. Shuddering, bathed in sweat, she kneads her
227 breastbone with the heel of her hand and sobs.
228
229 A VIDEO MONITOR beside the bed snaps on. A MED-TECH's
230 face.
231
232 MED-TECH
233 Bad dreams again? Do you want
234 something to help you sleep?
235
236 RIPLEY
237 (faint)
238 No.. I've slept enough.
239
240 The Med-Tech shrugs and switches off. Touching a button
241 on the nightstand she opens the viewport, REVEALING
242 Gateway and the turquoise Earth. She hugs Jones to her
243 and rocks with him like a child, still shattered by the
244 nightmare. Shivering. Sleep is far off.
245
246 RIPLEY
247 We made it, Jones. We made it.
248
249 But at what price?
250
251 CUT TO:
252
253 EXT. PARK 4
254
255 Sunlight streams in shafts through a stand of poplars,
256 beyond which a verdant meadow is VISIBLE.
257
258 EXTREME F.G. Jones stalks toward a bird hopping among
259 fallen leaves. He leaps. And smack into A WALL.
260
261 RIPLEY
262 (voice over)
263 Dumbshit.
264
265 WIDER ANGLE as Jones steps back confused from the
266 HIGH-RESOLUTION ENVIRONMENTAL WALL SCREEN, a sort of
267 cinerama video-loop. Ripley sits on a bench in what we
268 now SEE is an ATRIUM off the medical center, still
269 somewhere in the bowels of Gateway Station. Benches.
270 Some unenthusiastic potted trees. The sterile corridors
271 VISIBLE beyond glass doors b.g.
272
273 Burke ENTERS in his usual mode, casual haste.
274
275 BURKE
276 Sorry...I've been running behind
277 all morning.
278
279 Ripley seems healthier now, but still a bit brittle.
280
281 RIPLEY
282 Have they located my daughter
283 yet?
284
285 BURKE
286 Well, I was going to wait
287 until after the inquest...
288
289 He opens his briefcase, removing a sheet of printer
290 hard copy, including a telestat photo.
291
292 RIPLEY
293 Is she...?
294
295 BURKE
296 (scanning)
297 Amanda Ripley-McClaren. Married
298 name, I guess. Age: sixty-six
299 ...at time of death. Two years
300 ago.
301 (looks at her)
302 I'm sorry.
303
304 Ripley studies the PHOTOGRAPH, stunned.
305
306 The face of a woman in her mid-sixties. It could be
307 anybody. She tries to reconcile the face with the
308 little girl she once knew.
309
310 RIPLEY
311 Amy.
312
313 BURKE
314 (reading)
315 Cancer. Hmmmm. They still haven't
316 licked that one. Cremated. Interred
317 Parkside Repository, Little Chute,
318 Wisconsin. No children.
319
320 Ripley gazes off, into the pseudo-landscape, into the
321 past.
322
323 RIPLEY
324 I promised her I'd be home for
325 her birthday. Her eleventh
326 birthday. I sure missed that
327 one.
328 (pause)
329 Well...she has already learned
330 to take my promises with a grain
331 of salt. When it came to flight
332 schedules, anyway.
333
334 Burke nods, a simpatico presence.
335
336 RIPLEY
337 You always think you can make it
338 up to somebody...later, you know.
339 But now I never can. I never
340 can.
341
342 Let's get one thing straight...Ripley can be one tough
343 lady. But the terror, the loss, the emptiness are, in
344 this moment, overwhelming. She cries silently.
345
346 Burke puts a reassuring hand on her arm.
347
348 BURKE
349 (gently)
350 The hearing convenes at 0930. You
351 don't want to be late.
352
353 INT. CORRIDOR - GATEWAY 5
354
355 Elevator doors part and Ripley emerges, in mid-conversation
356 with Burke. DOLLYING AHEAD OF THEM as they move rapidly
357 down the corridor.
358
359 RIPLEY
360 You read my deposition...it's
361 complete and accurate.
362
363 BURKE
364 Look, I believe you, but there are
365 going to be some heavyweights in
366 there. You got Feds, you got
367 interstellar commerce commission,
368 you got colonial administration,
369 insurance company guys...
370
371 RIPLEY
372 I get the picture.
373
374 BURKE
375 Just tell them what happened. The
376 important thing is to stay cool
377 and unemotional.
378
379 INT. CONFERENCE ROOM - ON RIPLEY - GATEWAY 6
380
381 She's not cool. Not unemotional.
382
383 RIPLEY
384 Do you people have earwax, of
385 what? We have been here three
386 hours. How many different ways
387 do you want me to tell the same
388 story?
389
390 She faces the EIGHT MEMBERS of the board of inquiry at a
391 long conference table. Gray suits and grim faces. They
392 aren't buying. Behind Ripley on a large VIDEO SCREEN,
393 PARKER grins like a goon from his personnel mugshot. His
394 file prints out next to it. BRETT's face and dossier
395 replace it, and then the others as the SCENE continues...
396 KANE, LAMBERT, ASH the android traitor, DALLAS.
397 VAN LEUWEN, the ICC representative, steeples his fingers
398 and frowns.
399
400 VAN LEUWEN
401 Look at it from our perspective.
402 You freely admit to detonating the
403 engines of, and thereby destroying,
404 an M-Class star-freighter. A
405 rather expensive piece of hardware...
406
407 INSURANCE INVESTIGATOR
408 (dryly)
409 Forty-two million in adjusted dollars.
410 That's minus payload, of course.
411
412 VAN LEUWEN
413 The shuttle's flight recorder
414 corroborates some elements of
415 your account. That the Nostromo
416 set down on LV-426, an unsurveyed
417 planet, at that time. That
418 repairs were made. That it resumed
419 its course and was subsequently set
420 for self-destruct. By you. For
421 reasons unknown.
422
423 RIPLEY
424 Look, I told you...
425
426 VAN LEUWEN
427 It did not, however, contain any
428 entries concerning the hostile
429 life form you allegedly picked up.
430
431 Ripley sense the noose tightening.
432
433 RIPLEY
434 Then somebody's gotten to it...
435 doctored the recorder. Who had
436 access to it?
437
438 The ECA (Extrasolar Colonization Administration)
439 Representative (ECA REP) just shakes his head.
440
441 ECA REP
442 Would you just listen to yourself
443 for one minute.
444
445 Ripley glares at the ECA Rep, a woman on the ungenerous
446 side of fifty. Van Leuwen sighs with exasperation.
447
448 VAN LEUWEN
449 The analysis team which went over
450 your shuttle centimeter by
451 centimeter found no physical
452 evidence of the creature you
453 describe...
454
455 RIPLEY
456 (losing it)
457 That's because I blew it out the
458 Goddamn airlock!
459 (pause)
460 Like I said.
461
462 INSURANCE MAN
463 (to ECA Rep)
464 Are there any species like this
465 'hostile organism' on LV-426?
466
467 ECA REP
468 No. It's a rock. No indigenous
469 life larger than a simple virus.
470
471 Ripley grits her teeth in frustration.
472
473 RIPLEY
474 I told you, it wasn't indigenous.
475 There was an alien spacecraft there.
476 A derelict ship. We homed on its
477 beacon...
478
479 ECA REP
480 To be perfectly frank, we've surveyed
481 over three hundred worlds and no one's
482 ever reported a creature which, using
483 your words...
484 (read from Ripley's
485 statement)
486 ...'gestates in a living human host'
487 and has 'concentrated molecular acid
488 for blood.'
489
490 Ripley glances at Burke, silent at the far end of the
491 table. His expression is grim. Her mouth hardens as
492 a bit of the old nail-eating Ripley surfaces.
493
494 RIPLEY
495 Look, I can see where this is
496 going. But I'm telling you those
497 things exist. Back on that planetoid
498 is an alien ship and on that ship
499 are thousands of eggs. Thousands.
500 Do you understand? I suggest you
501 find it, using the flight recorder's
502 data. Find it and deal with it --
503 before one of your survey teams
504 comes back with a little surprise...
505
506 VAN LEUWEN
507 Thank you, Officer Ripley. That
508 will be...
509
510 RIPLEY
511 (louder, stepping
512 on him)
513 ...because just one of those
514 things managed to kill my entire
515 crew, within twelve hours of
516 hatching...
517
518 Van Leuwen stands, out of patience.
519
520 VAN LEUWEN
521 Thank you, that will be all.
522
523 Ripley stares him down, glowering at the board.
524
525 RIPLEY
526 That's not all, Goddamnit! If
527 those things get back here, that
528 will be all. Then you can just
529 kiss it good-bye, Jack! Just kiss
530 it goodbye.
531
532 Ripley turns sharply away, trembling with frustration
533 and anger. Dallas looks back at her from the video
534 screen, his eyes burning from the photograph, as we:
535
536 CUT TO:
537
538 INT. CORRIDOR 7
539
540 Ripley kicks the wall next to Burke who is getting coffee
541 and donuts at a vending machine.
542
543 BURKE
544 You had them eating out of your
545 hand, kiddo.
546
547 RIPLEY
548 They had their minds made up
549 before I even went in there.
550 They think I'm a head case.
551
552 BURKE
553 (cheerfully)
554 You are a head case. Have a donut.
555
556 INT. CONFERENCE ROOM - TIGHT ON RIPLEY - LATER 8
557
558 Van Leuwen clears his throat.
559
560 VAN LEUWEN
561 It is the finding of this board of
562 inquiry that Warrent Officer Ellen Ripley,
563 NOC-14672. has acted with questionable
564 judgment and is unfit to hold an
565 ICC license as a commercial flight
566 officer.
567
568 Burke watches Ripley taking it on the chin, white-lipped
569 but subdued.
570
571 VAN LEUWEN
572 Said license is hereby suspended
573 indefinitely. No criminal charges
574 will be filed at this time and you
575 are released on own recognizance
576 for a six month period of
577 psychometric probation, to include
578 monthly review by an ICC psychiatric
579 tech...
580
581 INT. CORRIDOR 9
582
583 DOLLY BACK as the conference room door bangs open and
584 Ripley strides through. She shrugs off Burke's
585 restraining arm and catches up to Van Leuwen walking
586 down the corridor.
587
588 RIPLEY
589 (insistent)
590 Why won't you check out LV-426?
591
592 VAN LEUWEN
593 (condescendingly)
594 Because I don't have to. The
595 people who live there checked it
596 out years ago and they never
597 reported and 'hostile organism'
598 or alien ship. And by the way,
599 they call it Acheron now.
600
601 RIPLEY
602 What are you talking about.
603 What people?
604
605 Van Leuwen steps into an elevator with some others, but
606 Ripley holds the door from closing.
607
608 VAN LEUWEN
609 Terraformers...planet engineers.
610 It's what we call a shake 'n' bake
611 colony. They set up atmosphere
612 processors to make the air
613 breathable...big job. Takes
614 decades. They've already been
615 there over twenty years. Peacefully.
616
617 The door tries to close. Ripley slams it back. People
618 are getting annoyed.
619
620 RIPLEY
621 How many colonists?
622
623 VAN LEUWEN
624 Sixty, maybe seventy families.
625
626 RIPLEY
627 (low)
628 Sweet Jesus.
629
630 ELEVATOR PASSENGER
631 Do you mind?
632
633 Ripley's hand slides off the door, strengthless.
634
635 TIGHT ON HER FROM INSIDE the elevator as the doors close
636 like fate on her lost expression.
637
638 EXT. ALIEN LANDSCAPE - DAY 10
639
640 A hideous, storm-blasted vista. Tortured rock forms.
641 Bleak twilight at midday.
642
643 PAN SLOWLY ONTO a CORRODED METAL SIGN set in concrete
644 pylons, which reads:
645
646 HADLEY'S HOPE - POP. 159
647 "WELCOME TO ACHERON"
648
649 Some local has added below in spray-can graffiti
650 "Have a nice day." Gale-force wind SCREECHES around
651 the steel sign, driving a freezing rain.
652
653 The COLONY, b.g., is a squat complex with lots of
654 floodlights.
655
656 EXT. COLONY COMPLEX 11
657
658 The town is a cluster of bunkerlike metal and concrete
659 buildings connected by conduits. Neon signs throw garish
660 colors across the vaultlike walls, advertising bars and
661 other businesses. It looks like a sodden cross between
662 the Krupps munitions works and a truckstop casino in
663 the Nevada boondocks.
664
665 Huge-wheeled tractors crawl toadlike in the rutted
666 "street" and vanish down rampways to underground garages.
667
668 ANGLE ON THE CONTROL BLOCK the largest structure. It
669 resembles vaguely the superstructure of an aircraft
670 carrier...a flying bridge.
671
672 VISIBLE across a half kilometer of barren heath, b.g.,
673 is the massive complex of the nearest ATMOSPHERE
674 PROCESSOR, looking like a power plant bred with an active
675 volcano. Its fiery glow pulses in the low cloud cover
676 like a steel mill.
677
678 INT. MAIN CONCOURSE - NEAR CONTROL BLOCK 12
679
680 A central space, laid out like a scaled-down shopping
681 mall with no styling flourishes. We SEE a cross section
682 of the types of people who have come to live on
683 Godforsaken Acheron. Tough. Pragmatic. "Grapes of
684 Wrath" faces. Calloused hands. Not too many interior
685 decorators. Some children race in the corridor on things
686 that look suspiciously like "Big Wheels."
687
688 INT. OPERATIONS ROOM - CONTROL BLOCK 13
689
690 Jammed with computer terminals, technicians, displays...
691 most of the business of running the colony flows through
692 here. It's high tech but used and scrungy. Papers
693 piled up. Coffee cup rings.
694
695 DOLLY AHEAD OF LYDECKER, the Assistant Operations Manager,
696 as he catches up to the harried Operating Manager,
697 SIMPSON.
698
699 LYDECKER
700 You remember you sent some
701 wildcatters out to that
702 plateau, out past the Ilium
703 range, a couple days ago?
704
705 SIMPSON
706 Yeah. What?
707
708 LYDECKER
709 There's a guy on the horn,
710 mom-and-pop survey team. Says
711 he's homing on something and
712 wants to know if his claim will
713 be honored.
714
715 SIMPSON
716 Christ. Some honch in a cushy
717 office on Earth says go look at
718 a grid reference in the middle
719 of nowhere, we look. They don't
720 say why, and I don't ask. I
721 don't ask because it takes two
722 weeks to get an answer out here
723 and the answer's always 'don't
724 ask.'
725
726 LYDECKER
727 So what do I tell this guy?
728
729 SIMPSON
730 Tell him, as far as I'm concerned,
731 he finds something it's his.
732
733 EXT. ACHERON - THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE - A SIX-WHEELED 14
734 TRACTOR - DAY
735
736 It roars across corrugated rock, blasting through soggy
737 drifts of volcanic ash.
738
739 INT. TRACTOR 15
740
741 At the controls, intent on a PINGING scope, is RUSS JORDEN,
742 independent prospector. Beside him is his wife/partner
743 ANNE and in the back their two kids are playing among the
744 heavy sampling equipment.
745
746 JORDEN
747 (gloating cackle)
748 Look at this fat, juicy magnetic
749 profile. And it's mine, mine,
750 mine.
751
752 ANNE
753 Half mine, dear.
754
755 NEWT, their six-year-old daughter, yells from the back...
756
757 NEWT
758 And half mine!
759
760 JORDEN
761 I got too many partners.
762
763 NEWT
764 Daddy, when are we going back
765 to town?
766
767 JORDEN
768 When we get rich, Newt.
769
770 NEWT
771 You always say that. I wanna go
772 back. I wanna play 'Monster Maze.'
773
774 Her older brother TIM sticks his jeering face close to
775 hers.
776
777 TIM
778 You cheat too much.
779
780 NEWT
781 Do not. I'm just the best.
782
783 TIM
784 Do too! You go in places we
785 can't fit.
786
787 NEWT
788 So! That's why I'm the best.
789
790 ANNE
791 Knock it off! I catch either of
792 you playing in the air ducts again
793 I'll tan your hides.
794
795 NEWT
796 Mom. All the kids play it...
797
798 JORDEN
799 (reverently)
800 Holy shiiit!
801
802 ANGLE THROUGH FRONT CANOPY ON a bizarre shape looming
803 ahead. An enormous bonelike mass projecting upward from
804 the bed of ash. The tractor slows.
805
806 Canted on its side and buckles against a rock outcropping
807 by the lava flow, it is still recognizable as an
808 EXTRATERRESTRIAL SHIP. Bio-mechanoid. Nonhuman design.
809
810 JORDEN
811 Folks, we have scored big this
812 time.
813
814 EXT. TRACTOR 16
815
816 Jorden and Anne step down, wearing ENVIRONMENT SUITS.
817 Carrying LIGHTS, PACKS, CAMERAS, TEST GEAR. Their
818 breath clouds in the chill air.
819
820 ANNE
821 You kids stay inside. I mean
822 it! We'll be right back.
823
824 They trudge toward the alien derelict.
825
826 ANNE
827 Shouldn't we call in?
828
829 JORDEN
830 Let's wait till we know what to
831 call it in as.
832
833 ANNE
834 (nervous)
835 How about 'big weird thing'?
836
837 They pause at a twisted gash in the hull. Blackness
838 inside.
839
840 INT./EXT. TRACTOR 17
841
842 Newt has her face pressed to the glass, steaming it.
843 Watching her parents enter the strange ship. Tim GRABS
844 HER from behind. She SHRIEKS.
845
846 TIM
847 Cheater!
848
849 EXT. LANDSCAPE - NIGHT 18
850
851 The tractor and the derelict are dark and motionless.
852 The wind HOWLS around them.
853
854 Tim is curled up in the driver's seat. Newt shakes him
855 awake, trying hard not to cry.
856
857 NEWT
858 Timmy...they've been gone a
859 long time.
860
861 Tim considers the night. The wind. The vast landscape.
862 He bites his lip.
863
864 TIM
865 (quavering)
866 It'll be okay, Newt. Dad knows
867 what he's doing.
868
869 CRASH! Newt SCREAMS as the door beside her is RIPPED
870 OPEN. A dark shape lunges inside!
871
872 Anne, panting and terrified, grabs the dash mike.
873
874 ANNE
875 Mayday! Mayday! This is
876 Alpha Kilo Two Four Niner
877 calling Hadley Control.
878 Repeat. This is...
879
880 As Anne shouts the mayday Newt looks past her, to the
881 ground. Russ Jorden lies there inert, dragged somehow
882 by Anne from inside the ship. There is SOMETHING ON
883 HIS FACE. An appalling MULTILEGGED CREATURE, pulsing
884 with obscene life. Newt begins to SCREAM hysterically,
885 competing with the shrieking wind which rises to a
886 crescendo as we:
887
888 CUT TO:
889
890 INT. RIPLEY'S APARTMENT - GATEWAY - DAY 20
891
892 Silence. Ripley, looking haggard, sits at a table in
893 the dining alcove contemplating the smoke rising from
894 her cigarette. The place is modest, to be charitable,
895 and there are few personal touches. Though it's late
896 in the day Ripley is still wearing a robe. The bed is
897 unmade. Dishes in the sink. Jones prowls across the
898 counter. The WALLSCREEN is on, blaring vapidly.
899
900 VOICE FROM VIDEO
901 (o.s.)
902 Hey, Bob! I heard you and the
903 family are heading off for the
904 colonies!
905
906 BON
907 (o.s.)
908 Best decision I ever made, Bill.
909 We'll be starting a new life
910 from scratch, in a clean world.
911 No crime. No unemployment...
912
913 The door BUZZES. Ripley jumps like a cat. Jones doesn't.
914
915 INT. CORRIDOR 21
916
917 Carter Burke stands in the narrow, dingy corridor with
918 LIEUTENANT GORMAN, Colonial Marine Corps. Young and
919 severe in his officer's dress-black. The door opens
920 slightly.
921
922 BURKE
923 Hi, Ripley. This is
924 Lieutenant Gorman of the...
925
926 SLAM. Burke buzzes again. Talks to the door...
927
928 BURKE
929 Ripley we have to talk.
930 (pause)
931 They've lost contact with the
932 colony on Acheron.
933
934 The door opens. Ripley considers the ramifications of
935 that. She motions them inside.
936
937 INT. RIPLEY'S APARTMENT - A LITTLE LATER 22
938
939 Burke and Gorman are seated, nursing coffee. Ripley
940 paces, very tense.
941
942 RIPLEY
943 No. There's no way!
944
945 BURKE
946 Hear me out...
947
948 RIPLEY
949 I was reamed, steamed and
950 dry-cleaned by you guys...and
951 now you want me to go back out
952 there? Forget it.
953
954 We SEE that she's gut scared, covering it with anger.
955 Burke sees it.
956
957 BURKE
958 Look, we don't know what's going
959 on out there. It may just be a
960 down transmitter. But if it's
961 not, I want you there...as an
962 advisor. That's all.
963
964 GORMAN
965 You wouldn't be going in with the
966 troops. I can guarantee your
967 safety.
968
969 BURKE
970 These Colonial Marines are
971 some tough hombres, and they're
972 packing state-of-the-art firepower.
973 Nothing they can't handle...right,
974 Lieutenant?
975
976 GORMAN
977 (cool)
978 We're trained to deal with these
979 kinds of situations.
980
981 RIPLEY
982 (to Burke)
983 What about you? What's your
984 interest in this?
985
986 BURKE
987 Well, the corporation co-financed
988 that colony with the Colonial
989 Administration, against mineral
990 rights. We're getting into a lot
991 of terraforming...'Building Better
992 Worlds.'
993
994 Burke is revealing his early days in sales.
995
996 RIPLEY
997 Yeah, yeah. I saw the commercial.
998
999 BURKE
1000 I heard you were working in the
1001 cargo docks.
1002
1003 RIPLEY
1004 (defensive)
1005 That's right.
1006
1007 BURKE
1008 Running loaders, forklifts, that
1009 sort of thing?
1010
1011 RIPLEY
1012 (shrugging)
1013 It's all I could get. Anyway,
1014 it keeps my mind off of...
1015 everything. Days off are worse.
1016
1017 BURKE
1018 What if I said I could get you
1019 reinstated as a flight officer?
1020 And that the company has agreed
1021 to pick up your contract?
1022
1023 RIPLEY
1024 If I go.
1025
1026 BURKE
1027 If you go.
1028 (pause)
1029 It's a second chance, kiddo. And
1030 it'll be the best thing in the
1031 world for you to face this fear
1032 and beat it. You gotta get back
1033 on the horse...
1034
1035 RIPLEY
1036 (frosty)
1037 Spare me, Burke. I've had my
1038 psych evaluation this month.
1039
1040 Burke leans close, a let's-cut-the-crap intimacy.
1041
1042 BURKE
1043 Yes, and I've read it. You
1044 wake up every night, sheets
1045 soaking, the same nightmare
1046 over and over...
1047
1048 RIPLEY
1049 (shouting)
1050 No! The answer is no. Now
1051 please go. I'm sorry. Just
1052 go, would you.
1053
1054 Burke nods to Gorman who rises with him. He slips a
1055 TRANSLUCENT CARD onto the table, heads for the door.
1056
1057 BURKE
1058 Think about it.
1059
1060 EXT. ACHERON LANDSCAPE - NIGHT 23
1061
1062 As the wind HOWLS through tormented rock, BUILDING IN
1063 PITCH until we:
1064
1065 CUT TO:
1066
1067 INT. APARTMENT 24
1068
1069 Ripley lunges INTO FRAME with an animal outcry. She
1070 clutches her chest, breathing hard. Bathed in sweat
1071 she lights a cigarette with trembling hands. Do we
1072 hear a faint, desolate wind?
1073
1074 TIGHT ON PHONE CONSOLE as Ripley's hand inserts Burke's
1075 card into a slot. "STAND BY" prints out on the screen
1076 and is replaced by Burke's face, bleary with sleep.
1077
1078 BURKE
1079 (on video phone)
1080 Yello? Oh, Ripley. Hi...
1081
1082 RIPLEY
1083 Burke, just tell me one thing.
1084 That you're going out there to
1085 kill them. Not study. Not bring
1086 back. Just burn them out...clean
1087 ...forever.
1088
1089 BURKE
1090 That's the plan. My word on it.
1091
1092 CLOSEUP - RIPLEY taking a deep slow breath. It's time
1093 to look the demon in the eye.
1094
1095 RIPLEY
1096 All right. I'm in.
1097
1098 She punches off before Burke replies, before she can
1099 change her mind. She turns to Jones sitting on the
1100 bed and her tone becomes admonishing...
1101
1102 RIPLEY
1103 And you my dear, are staying
1104 right here.
1105
1106 Jones blinks, cynical cat eyes..."count me right
1107 out."
1108
1109 CUT TO:
1110
1111 EXT. DEEP SPACE - THREE WEEKS LATER 25
1112
1113 An empty starfield. Metal spires slice ACROSS FRAME.
1114
1115 A mountain of steel following. A massive military
1116 transport ship, the SULACO. Ugly, battered...
1117 functional.
1118
1119 INT. CORRIDOR TO CARGO LOCK 26
1120
1121 An empty corridor, seemingly miles long. No movement.
1122 The THRUMMING of hyperdrive engines.
1123
1124 INT. CARGO LOCK 27
1125
1126 An enormous chamber, cavernous and dark. Squatting
1127 in the shadows are two orbit-to-surface shuttles.
1128 DROP-SHIPS. Heavy machinery all around them...
1129 cranes, loading equipment.
1130
1131 INT. BRIDGE 28
1132
1133 Dark electronic womb. CAMERA DOLLIES SLOWLY among
1134 murmuring instrumentation. A sudden high-pitched
1135 TRILLING accompanies a sequence of lights. An alarm.
1136
1137 INT. HYPERSLEEP VAULT 29
1138
1139 Blackness, until a bank of indicators lights up.
1140 Hydraulics lift a grid of equipment from a row of
1141 horizontal HYPERSLEEP CYLINDERS. It reaches the
1142 ceiling. Locks.
1143
1144 CLOSE ON RIPLEY'S CAPSULE as trickles of water run
1145 down the frosted canopy.
1146
1147 DISSOLVE TO:
1148
1149 INT. HYPERSLEEP VAULT 30
1150
1151 Lit up, white and sterile.
1152
1153 The canopies of the row of capsules are raised. Ripley
1154 sits up. Rubs her arms briskly. Next to her Gorman
1155 and Burke are stirring and beyond them the troopers,
1156 wearing shorts and dog tags. They are:
1157
1158 MASTER SERGEANT APONE UNIT LEADER
1159
1160 CORPORAL HICKS B-TEAM LEADER
1161
1162 CORPORAL DIETRICH (female) MED-TECH
1163
1164 PFC HUDSON COM-TECH
1165
1166 PFC VASQUEZ (female) 'SMART-GUN' OPERATOR
1167
1168 PRIVATE DRAKE 'SMART-GUN' OPERATOR
1169
1170 PRIVATE FROST TROOPER
1171
1172 PRIVATE CROWE TROOPER
1173
1174 PRIVATE WIERZBOWSKI TROOPER
1175
1176 CORPORAL FERRO (female) DROP-SHIP PILOT
1177
1178 PFC SPUNKMEYER DROP-SHIP CREW CHIEF
1179
1180 The ship is fully automated in interstellar flight so
1181 there is no crew, except for EXECUTIVE OFFICER (ECA) Bishop,
1182 who supervises planetary maneuvering.
1183
1184 GROANS echo across the chamber.
1185
1186 SPUNKMEYER
1187 Arrgh. I'm getting too old for
1188 this shit.
1189
1190 SPUNKMEYER says this sincerely, though he must have
1191 enlisted underage not long ago. Looking surly, DRAKE
1192 sits up. He's young as well but street-tough. Nasty
1193 scar curling his lip into a sneer.
1194
1195 DRAKE
1196 They ain't payin' us enough
1197 for this.
1198
1199 DIETRICH
1200 Not enough to have to wake up
1201 to your face, Drake.
1202
1203 DRAKE
1204 Suck air. Hey, Hicks...you look
1205 like I feel.
1206
1207 HICKS, an older lifer-type who keeps his own counsel,
1208 just snorts good-naturedly.
1209
1210 Ripley scans the group as they shuffle past her to a
1211 bank of lockers. Though not supermen they are lean and
1212 hardened...tough, capable, jaded. They combine the
1213 specialized techno-combat training of the twenty-first
1214 century fighting man with those qualities universal to
1215 "grunts" through the ages. SERGEANT APONE moves down the
1216 row of freezers.
1217
1218 HUDSON
1219 This floor's freezing.
1220
1221 APONE
1222 Christ. I never saw such a
1223 buncha old women. You want me
1224 to fetch your slippers, Hudson?
1225
1226 HUDSON
1227 Would you, Sir?
1228
1229 Ripley steps back as the troopers shuffle past nodding
1230 cursory hellos. She feels isolated by the camaraderie
1231 of this tightknit group.
1232
1233 VASQUEZ eyes her coldly as she passes. Like Drake,
1234 Vasquez is younger then the rest and her combat-primer
1235 was the street in a Los Angeles barrio. She is tough
1236 even by the standards of this group. Hard-muscled.
1237 Eyes cunning and mean.
1238
1239 HUDSON
1240 Hey, Vasquez...you ever been
1241 mistaken for a man?
1242
1243 VASQUEZ
1244 No. Have you?
1245
1246 She slaps Drake's open palm and it clenches into a
1247 greeting which is part contest. It gets rougher.
1248 Painful. Until she cuffs him hard and they break with
1249 vicious laughter. Dobermans playing. Conscripted from
1250 juvenile prison, the two of them were trained to
1251 operate the formidable "SMART-GUNS." That is part
1252 of their bond.
1253
1254 BISHOP is helping everyone like a valet. As he passes
1255 close to her Ripley notices a strange TATTOO across
1256 the back of his left hand...an ALPHA-NUMERIC CODE.
1257
1258 FROST
1259 Hey, hand job, you take my
1260 towel?
1261
1262 SPUNKMEYER
1263 (overlapping)
1264 I need some slack, man. How
1265 come they send us straight back
1266 out like this? We got some slack
1267 comin', man.
1268
1269 HICKS
1270 You just got three weeks.
1271
1272 SPUNKMEYER
1273 I mean breathing, not this frozen
1274 shit.
1275
1276 DIETRICH
1277 Yeah, 'Top'...what about it?
1278
1279 APONE
1280 You know it ain't up to me.
1281 (louder)
1282 Awright! Let's knock off the
1283 grabass. First assembly's in
1284 fifteen...let's shag it.
1285
1286 INT. SHOWERS 31
1287
1288 High pressure water jets and a blast of hot air when
1289 you step out...a drive through car wash for people.
1290 Through the swirling steam Hudson, Vasquez and FERRO
1291 are watching Ripley dry off.
1292
1293 VASQUEZ
1294 Who's the fresh meat again?
1295
1296 FERRO
1297 She's supposed to be some kinda
1298 consultant...
1299 (exaggerated)
1300 ...She was an alien once.
1301
1302 HUDSON
1303 Whoooah! No shit? I'm impressed.
1304
1305 APONE
1306 Let's go...let's go. Cycle through!
1307
1308 INT. MESS HALL 32
1309
1310 An unconscious segregation takes place at the troopers
1311 assemble at one long table while Gorman, Burke, Bishop
1312 and Ripley sit at another. Everybody is nursing a
1313 coffee, waiting for eggs from the AUTOCHEF. Among the
1314 troopers dress discipline is lax...fatigues customized
1315 and emblazoned with patches. Drake's tunic is cut off
1316 to a vest and has "Eat the apple and fuck the Corps"
1317 stenciled on back. "Peace Through Superior Firepower,"
1318 "Pray for War" and "I've Served My Time in Hell: Cetti
1319 Epsilon NC-104" are some others.
1320
1321 HUDSON
1322 Hey, 'Top.' What's the op?
1323
1324 APONE
1325 Rescue mission. There's some
1326 juicy colonists' daughters we
1327 gotta rescue from virginity.
1328
1329 Apone is stocky, grizzled, with peregrine eyes. He runs
1330 it loose and fair, but only because he knows his people
1331 are the best.
1332
1333 SPUNKMEYER
1334 Shee-it. Dumbass colonists.
1335 What's this crap supposed to be?
1336
1337 WIERZBOWSKI
1338 Cornbread, I think. Hey, I wouldn't
1339 mind getting me some more a
1340 that Arcturan poontang. Remember
1341 that time?
1342
1343 HICKS
1344 (low)
1345 Looks like that new Lieutenant's
1346 too good to eat with us grunts.
1347
1348 WIERZBOWSKI
1349 (glancing
1350 over shoulder)
1351 Yeah. Got a corn cob up his ass,
1352 definitely.
1353
1354 Across the room, at the other table, Gorman sits with
1355 his creases perfect...the consummate strack NCO. Bishop
1356 takes a seat beside Ripley, who pointedly gets up and
1357 moves to the far side of the table. He looks wounded.
1358
1359 BISHOP
1360 I'm sorry you feel that way
1361 about Synthetics, Ripley.
1362
1363 Ripley spins on Burke, her tone accusing.
1364
1365 RIPLEY
1366 You never said anything about an
1367 android being here! Why not?
1368
1369 BURKE
1370 Well, it didn't occur to me. It's
1371 been policy for years to have a
1372 synthetic on board.
1373
1374 BISHOP
1375 I prefer the term 'artificial person'
1376 myself. Is there a problem?
1377
1378 BURKE
1379 A synthetic malfunctioned on her
1380 last trip out. Some deaths were
1381 involved.
1382
1383 BISHOP
1384 I'm shocked. Was it an older model?
1385
1386 BURKE
1387 Cyberdyne Systems 120-A/2.
1388
1389 Bishop turns to Ripley, very conciliatory.
1390
1391 BISHOP
1392 Well, that explains it. The
1393 A/2's were always a bit twitchy.
1394 That could never happen now with
1395 out behavioral inhibitors. Impossible
1396 for me to harm or, by omission of
1397 action, allow to be harmed a
1398 human being.
1399 (smiling)
1400 More cornbread?
1401
1402 WHAM! Ripley knocks the plate out of his hand, halfway
1403 across the room.
1404
1405 RIPLEY
1406 Just stay away from me, Bishop!
1407 You got that straight?
1408
1409 Burke and Gorman exchange glances.
1410
1411 Wierzbowski, at the next table, shrugs and turns back
1412 to the other troopers.
1413
1414 WIERZBOWSKI
1415 She don't like the cornbread
1416 either.
1417
1418 INT. READY ROOM - TIGHT ON APONE - ARMORY 33
1419
1420 bellowing.
1421
1422 APONE
1423 Tench-hut!
1424
1425 WIDER ANGLE as the troops snap to from their lounging
1426 among the racks of high-tech weaponry. Gorman enters
1427 with Burke and Ripley.
1428
1429 GORMAN
1430 At ease. I'm sorry we didn't
1431 have time to brief before we
1432 left Gateway but...
1433
1434 HUDSON
1435 Sir?
1436
1437 GORMAN
1438 (annoyed)
1439 Yes, Hicks?
1440
1441 HUDSON
1442 Hudson, Sir. He's Hicks.
1443
1444 GORMAN
1445 What's the question?
1446
1447 HUDSON
1448 Is this going to be a stand-up
1449 fight, Sir, on another bug-hunt?
1450
1451 GORMAN
1452 All we know is that there's
1453 still no contact with the colony
1454 and that a xenomorph may be
1455 involved.
1456
1457 WIERZBOWSKI
1458 A what?
1459
1460 HICKS
1461 (to Wierzbowski;
1462 low)
1463 It's a bug-hunt.
1464 (louder)
1465 So what are these things?
1466
1467 Gorman nods to Ripley, who stands before the troops.
1468 She sets some RECORDING DISKETTES on the table.
1469
1470 RIPLEY
1471 I've dictated what I know on
1472 these.
1473
1474 APONE
1475 Tease us a bit.
1476
1477 SPUNKMEYER
1478 Yeah...previews.
1479
1480 RIPLEY
1481 Okay. It's important to understand
1482 this organism's life cycle. It's
1483 actually two creatures. The first
1484 form hatches from a spore...a sort
1485 of large egg, and attaches itself
1486 to its victim. Then it injects
1487 an embryo, detaches and dies.
1488 It's essentially a walking sex organ.
1489 The --
1490
1491 HUDSON
1492 Sounds like you, Hicks.
1493
1494 RIPLEY
1495 (controlled)
1496 The embryo, the second form, hosts
1497 in the victim's body for several
1498 hours. Gestating. Then it...
1499 (with difficulty)
1500 ...then it...emerges. Moults.
1501 Grows rapidly --
1502
1503 VASQUEZ
1504 I only need to know one thing.
1505
1506 RIPLEY
1507 Yes?
1508
1509 VASQUEZ
1510 Where they are.
1511
1512 Vasquez coolly points her finger, cocks her thumbs, and
1513 blows away an imaginary alien.
1514
1515 DRAKE
1516 Yo! Vasquez. Kick ass!
1517
1518 VASQUEZ
1519 Anytime. Anywhere.
1520
1521 HUDSON
1522 Somebody said alien...she
1523 thought they said illegal alien
1524 and signed up.
1525
1526 VASQUEZ
1527 Fuck you.
1528
1529 HUDSON
1530 Anytime. Anywhere.
1531
1532 RIPLEY
1533 (icy)
1534 Am I disturbing you conversation
1535 Mr. Hudson?
1536
1537 Hudson settles down, smirking. Ripley locks eyes with
1538 Vasquez.
1539
1540 RIPLEY
1541 I hope you're right. I really
1542 do.
1543
1544 BURKE
1545 (to all)
1546 I suggest you study the disks
1547 Ripley has been kind enough to
1548 prepare for you.
1549
1550 GORMAN
1551 Are there any questions? Hudson?
1552
1553 HUDSON
1554 How do I get out of this
1555 chicken-shit outfit?
1556
1557 Gorman scowls then, thanking Ripley with a nod, takes
1558 over the predrop briefing.
1559
1560 GORMAN
1561 All right. I want this to go
1562 smooth and by the numbers. I
1563 want DCS and tactical database
1564 assimilation by 0830.
1565 (some groans)
1566 Ordnance loading, weapons strip and
1567 drop-ship prep details will have
1568 seven hours...
1569
1570 EXT. SPACE - ACHERON 34
1571
1572 They have arrived. From orbit the planet looks serene
1573 ...Pearlescent cloud cover masking the environmental
1574 torment beneath. The SULACO floats, its MANEUVERING
1575 JETS FIRING. A bluish glow. Then twice more, rapidly.
1576
1577 INT. BRIDGE 35
1578
1579 Bishop is installed in his command seat, hemmed in by
1580 instrumentation.
1581
1582 BISHOP
1583 (into mike)
1584 Attention. This concluded final
1585 maneuvering operations. Thank
1586 you for your cooperation. You
1587 may resume work.
1588
1589 INT. LOADING BAY - TIGHT ON MASSIVE FORKS - CARGO LOCK 34
1590
1591 sliding into a heavy ordnance rack with an echoing
1592 CLANG. PULL BACK as the rack of tactical missiles is
1593 lifted, REVEALING two powerful hydraulic arms.
1594
1595 Spunkmeyer, seated inside a POWER LOADER, swings the
1596 ordnance up into a belly nacelle of the DROP-SHIP where
1597 it locks into place. As he exerts pressure with his
1598 hands against the servo-controls the hydraulic arms
1599 move correspondingly...but with a thousandfold increase
1600 in power. The forklift-style CLAWS on each arm can
1601 crush with tons of pressure. The loader has an open
1602 ROLL CAGE to protect the operator, and is supported
1603 by squat HYDRAULIC LEGS which also move correspondingly
1604 with the driver's movements.
1605
1606 You have never seen anything like this before.
1607 Advanced as it is to us, it's only an old forklift
1608 to them...battered and well used. Covered with grease.
1609 Repainted many times. Across the back is stencilled
1610 "CATERPILLAR."
1611
1612 Spunkmeyer's machine swings out from under the drop-ship
1613 and we become aware of the intense activity throughout
1614 the cavernous loading bay. Troopers on foot or driving
1615 TOW-MOWERS, OVERHEAD LOADING ARMS...all in motion.
1616 Hicks checks off items on an electronic manifest.
1617
1618 INT. READY ROOM - ARMORY 37
1619
1620 Wierzbowski, Drake and Vasquez are fieldstripping
1621 light weapons with precise movements. Around them,
1622 in racks, is an arsenal of advanced personal
1623 artillery.
1624
1625 Vasquez likes the feel of the guns, the weight...the
1626 authority. Her hands move without hesitation. CLACK.
1627 CLACK. CLACK. She swings one of the SMART-GUNS out
1628 on a work stand. Using a body brace and GYRO-STABILIZED
1629 SUPPORT ARM, it is a computer-aimed, video targeted
1630 automatic weapon. The futuristic equivalent of a .30
1631 caliber light machine gun. Sort of a steadicam that
1632 kills.
1633
1634 INT. LOADING BAY - ANGLE ON BURKE AND GORMAN 38
1635
1636 with pre-flight activity b.g.
1637
1638 BURKE
1639 Still nothing from the colony?
1640
1641 GORMAN
1642 Dead on all channels.
1643
1644 Ripley watches the drop-ship being loaded. A cross
1645 between a Huey Aircobra gunship and the space shuttle
1646 might describe it. An orbit-to-surface troop carrier,
1647 heavily armed for the close support of ground missions.
1648 She watches a six-wheeled APC, ARMORED PERSONNEL
1649 CARRIER, being raised hydraulically into the ship's
1650 belly. Ripley looks around as Frost wheels a rack of
1651 incomprehensible equipment toward her.
1652
1653 FROST
1654 Clear, please.
1655
1656 Ripley jumps aside, nodding apologetically. She turns.
1657 Steps hastily back. Hudson cruises by with a laden
1658 forklift.
1659
1660 HUDSON
1661 Excuse me.
1662
1663 ANGLE ON APONE standing with Hicks, as Ripley approaches
1664 him
1665
1666 RIPLEY
1667 I feel like a fifth wheel
1668 here. Is there anything I can
1669 do?
1670
1671 APONE
1672 I don't know. Is there anything
1673 you can do?
1674
1675 RIPLEY
1676 (pointing)
1677 I can drive that loader. I've
1678 got a Class Two rating. My
1679 latest career move.
1680
1681 Apone turns. A SECOND POWER LOADER sits unused in
1682 an equipment bay.
1683
1684 TWO SHOT APONE AND HICKS skeptical. Considering.
1685
1686 TIGHT ON POWER SWITCH as Ripley's finger punches it on.
1687 A RISING WHINE of power.
1688
1689 TIGHT ON THE HYDRAULICS as the massive machine stirs
1690 to life.
1691
1692 FULL, as the loader starts. Ripley is strapped into
1693 the safety cage, her arms and legs inserted in the
1694 servo-sensor assemblies. She takes a step. BOOM!
1695 Two tons of hardened steel takes a step.
1696
1697 Ripley spins the wrist servos. The huge claws swing,
1698 open...slide smoothly into lifting brackets on a
1699 cargo module, nearby. She raises it deftly.
1700
1701 RIPLEY
1702 Where you want it?
1703
1704 Hicks looks at Apone, cocks an eyebrow appreciatively.
1705
1706 INT. READY ROOM - ARMORY 39
1707
1708 The troopers are suiting up for the drop. Strapping on
1709 their bulky COMBAT-ARMOR...interlocking plates like
1710 football padding. They tape their wrists. Draw on
1711 segmented boots. The sole cleats CLACK like hooves
1712 on the deck plates. Lockers SLAM.
1713
1714 WEB BELTS. PACKS. HARNESSES. HELMETS. COM-SETS.
1715 Their fingers move methodically over the fastenings.
1716 It has its own rhythm...CLICK. CLICK. CLICK.
1717
1718 APONE
1719 Let's move it, girls! On
1720 the ready line. Let's go,
1721 let's go.
1722
1723 INT. DROP-SHIP - APC 40
1724
1725 Ripley, wearing a flight jacket and headset, files into
1726 the ship with the hulking troopers. Inside they pass
1727 directly into the APC we saw loaded earlier and take
1728 seats facing each other across a narrow aisle. They will
1729 drop already strapped into their ground vehicle for
1730 rapid deployment. A KLAXON SOUNDS, signalling
1731 depressurization of the cargo lock.
1732
1733 Hudson prowls the aisle, his movements predatory and
1734 exaggerated. Ripley watches him working his way toward
1735 her.
1736
1737 HUDSON
1738 I am ready, man. Ready to get
1739 it on. Check-it-out. I am the
1740 ultimate badass...state of the
1741 badass art. You do not want to
1742 fuck with me. Hey, Ripley, don't
1743 worry. Me and my squad of
1744 ultimate badasses will protect you.
1745 Check-it-out...
1746
1747 He slaps the SERVO-CANNON controls in the GUN BAY
1748 above them.
1749
1750 HUDSON
1751 Independently targetting
1752 particle-beam phalanx. VWAP!
1753 Fry half a city with this puppy.
1754 We got tactical smart-missles,
1755 phased-plasma pulse-rifles,
1756 RPG's. We got sonic eeelectronic
1757 ballbreakers, we got nukes, we
1758 got knives...sharp sticks --
1759
1760 Hicks grabs Hudson by his battle harness and pulls him
1761 into a seat. His voice is low, but it carries.
1762
1763 HICKS
1764 Save it.
1765
1766 HUDSON
1767 Sure, Hicks.
1768
1769 Ripley nods her thanks to Hicks. MOTORS WHINE and the
1770 craft lurches. Burke, next to Ripley, grins eagerly
1771 like this is a sport fishing trip.
1772
1773 BURKE
1774 Here we go.
1775
1776 She looks like she's in a gas chamber waiting for the
1777 pellet to drop.
1778
1779 EXT. SULACO 41
1780
1781 The drop-ship lowers from the cargo-lock on a massive
1782 launch rig. The night side of Acheron yawns below...
1783 enigmatic.
1784
1785 INT. COCKPIT 42
1786
1787 Ferro and Spunkmeyer run rapidly through the switches.
1788
1789 FERRO
1790 Initiate release sequencer on my
1791 mark. Three. Two. One. Mark!
1792
1793 EXT. SULACO - DROP-SHIP 43
1794
1795 Hydraulic WHINE. Clamps SLAM BACK. The ship drops.
1796
1797 INT. DROP-SHIP - APC 44
1798
1799 Apone, stalking the aisle, snatches for a handhold.
1800 Bishop, Burke and Gorman groan at the sudden gees.
1801 Ripley closes her eyes...the point of no return.
1802
1803 EXT. DROP-SHIP 45
1804
1805 It screams down through the stratosphere, plunging
1806 into dark turbulence.
1807
1808 INT. COCKPIT 46
1809
1810 Beyond the canopy is gray limbo. The craft shudders
1811 and lurches.
1812
1813 FERRO
1814 (icy calm)
1815 Switching to DCS ranging.
1816
1817 SPUNKMEYER
1818 Two-four-o. Nominal to profile.
1819 Picking up some hull ionization.
1820
1821 FERRO
1822 Got it. Rough air ahead.
1823
1824 INT. HOLD - APC 47
1825
1826 TIGHT ON HICKS asleep in his harness.
1827
1828 FERRO
1829 (voice over;
1830 filtered)
1831 Stand by for some chop.
1832
1833 TIGHT ON GORMAN as the ship begins to buck, his eyes
1834 closed. Pale. Sweating. He rubs his hands on his
1835 knees repeatedly.
1836
1837 RIPLEY
1838 How may drops is this for you,
1839 Lieutenant?
1840
1841 GORMAN
1842 Thirty-eight...simulated.
1843
1844 VASQUEZ
1845 How many combat drops?
1846
1847 GORMAN
1848 Well...two. Three, including
1849 this one.
1850
1851 Vasquez and Drake exchange do-you-believe-this-shit
1852 expressions. Ripley looks accusingly at Burke.
1853
1854 INT. COCKPIT 48
1855
1856 FERRO
1857 Turning on final. Coming around to
1858 a seven-zero-niner. Terminal
1859 guidance locked in. Where's
1860 the damn beacon?
1861
1862 EXT. DROP-SHIP 49
1863
1864 It emerges from the low cloud ceiling. From the twilight
1865 haze ahead the distant colony LANDING BEACONS become
1866 visible.
1867
1868 INT. HOLD - APC 50
1869
1870 Stumbling as the ship pitches, Ripley makes her way
1871 forward to the MOBILE TACTICAL OPERATIONS BAY (MTOB),
1872 a control console lined with monitor screens. She
1873 joins Burke watching over Gorman's shoulder as the
1874 Lieutenant plays the board like a video director.
1875
1876 TIGHT ON MONITOR CONSOLE REVEALING screens labelled with
1877 the names of the troopers. Two for each soldier. The
1878 upper screens show images from the IMAGE-INTENSIFIED
1879 VIDEO CAMERAS in their helmets. The lower screens are
1880 BIO-MONITORS: EEG, EKG, and other graphic life-function
1881 readouts. Other screens show EXTERIOR VIEWS.
1882
1883 GORMAN
1884 Let's see. Everybody on line.
1885 Drake, check you camera. There
1886 seems to be a...
1887
1888 CLOSE ON DRAKE as he whacks himself on the head with
1889 an ammo case. A familiar malfunction.
1890
1891 GORMAN
1892 (o.s)
1893 ...that's better. Pan it around
1894 a bit.
1895
1896 APONE
1897 Awright. Fire-team A. Gear up.
1898 Let's move. Two minutes.
1899 Somebody wake up Hicks.
1900
1901 A clatter of activity as they don backpacks and weapons.
1902 Vasquez and Drake buckle on their smart-gun body
1903 harnesses.
1904
1905 Ripley watches the AP station loom on the exterior
1906 screens.
1907
1908 RIPLEY
1909 That the atmosphere processor?
1910
1911 BURKE
1912 Uh-hunh. One of thirty or so,
1913 all over the planet. They're
1914 completely automated. We
1915 manufacture them, by the way.
1916
1917 EXT. SHIP - AP STATION 51
1918
1919 The tiny ship circles the roaring tower. A metal
1920 volcano thundering like the engines on God's Lear jet.
1921
1922 INT. HOLD - APC 52
1923
1924 Gorman plays with the controls, zooming the image of
1925 the colony.
1926
1927 GORMAN
1928 (to Ferro via mike)
1929 Hold at forty. Slow circle of
1930 the complex.
1931
1932 RIPLEY
1933 The structure seems intact. They
1934 have power.
1935
1936 On the screen the colony buildings loom in and the low
1937 visibility like wrecks of freighters on the sea floor.
1938
1939 GORMAN
1940 (to Apone)
1941 Okay, let's do it.
1942
1943 APONE
1944 Awright! I want a nice clean
1945 dispersal this time.
1946
1947 Ripley turns as Vasquez squeezes past her.
1948
1949 VASQUEZ
1950 You staying in here?
1951
1952 RIPLEY
1953 You bet.
1954
1955 VASQUEZ
1956 (turning away)
1957 Figures.
1958
1959 GORMAN
1960 (to Ferro via mike)
1961 Set down sixty meters this side
1962 of the telemetry mast. Immediate
1963 dust off on my 'clear,' then stay
1964 on station.
1965
1966 APONE
1967 Ten seconds, people. Look sharp!
1968
1969 EXT. COLONY COMPLEX 53
1970
1971 Landing beacons sweep harsh light across the wet Tarmac.
1972 The ship roars down, extending the loading ramp. Slams
1973 down on hydraulic LANDING LEGS. The APC hits the ground
1974 a moment later, pulling away from the ship as it leaps
1975 up in a cloud of spray and peels off, circling.
1976
1977 The APC pulls to the edge of the complex. The CREW DOOR
1978 opens. Troopers hit the ground running. Spread out.
1979 They drop behind immediate cover. Apone scans with
1980 him image intensifier visor lowered.
1981
1982 APONE'S P.O.V. through the starlight-scope visor.
1983 Bright as a sunny day, though contrasty and lurid, we
1984 SEE the colony buildings. Trash blows in the street.
1985 No other movement.
1986
1987 GORMAN
1988 (voice over;
1989 filtered)
1990 First squad up, on line. Hicks,
1991 get yours in a cordon. Watch the
1992 rear.
1993
1994 APONE
1995 Vasquez, take point. Let's move.
1996
1997 Sprinting in a skirmish line, Apone's team advances on
1998 the colony main entry-lock. Parked tightly across the
1999 doors are two heavy-duty tractors. Vasquez reaches one
2000 of the tractors, looks inside. The controls are ripped
2001 out, as if by a crowbar or axe. She moves on.
2002
2003 EXT. COLONY BUILDING 54
2004
2005 Vasquez reaches the main doors, Drake flanking on the
2006 right. Apone tries the door controls. Nothing.
2007
2008 APONE
2009 Sealed. Hudson, run a bypass.
2010
2011 Hudson, all business now, moves up and studies the
2012 door control panel. He pries off the facing and starts
2013 clipping on the bypass wires.
2014
2015 APONE
2016 First squad, assemble on me at
2017 the main lock.
2018
2019 The wind roars around the bleak structures. A neon sign
2020 creaks overhead. Hudson makes a connection. The door
2021 shrieks in its tracks and rumbles aside. It jams
2022 partway open. Apone motions Vasquez inside. She
2023 eases over the wrecked tractor, through the doors.
2024 The others follow.
2025
2026 GORMAN
2027 (voice over;
2028 filtered)
2029 Second team, move up.
2030 Flanking positions.
2031
2032 INT. COLONY - MAIN CONCOURSE 55
2033
2034 DOLLYING SLOWLY FORWARD, following Vasquez and Apone as
2035 they move into the broad corridor. A few emergency
2036 lights are still on. Wind moans along the concourse.
2037 Pools of water cover the floor. Farther down, rain drips
2038 through blast holes in the ceiling. Evidence of a
2039 fire fight with pulse-rifles.
2040
2041 ON VASQUEZ moving forward. Taut. Alert. Her smart-gun
2042 cannon swinging slowly in an arc. She studies the
2043 video aiming monitor, looking down rather than ahead.
2044 Their footsteps echo.
2045
2046 INT. APC 56
2047
2048 Ripley watches as the bobbing images reveal the empty
2049 colony building.
2050
2051 GORMAN
2052 Quarter and search by twos. Second
2053 team move inside. Hicks, take the
2054 upper level. Use your motion
2055 trackers.
2056
2057 INT. MAIN CONCOURSE - SECOND LEVEL 57
2058
2059 Hicks leads his squad up the stairwell to second level.
2060 They emerge cautiously. An empty corridor recedes into
2061 the dim distance. Hicks unslings a rugged piece of
2062 equipment. Aims it down the hall. He adjusts the
2063 "gain." It remains silent.
2064
2065 HICKS
2066 Nothing. No movement.
2067
2068 They pass rooms and offices. Through doors they see
2069 increasing signs of struggle. Furniture overturned.
2070 Papers scattered...floating sodden in the puddles.
2071
2072 INT. APC 58
2073
2074 Ripley et al watching.
2075
2076 BURKE
2077 Looks like my room in college.
2078
2079 Nobody laughs.
2080
2081 INT. SECOND LEVEL 59
2082
2083 Hicks' group passes several burnt-out rooms. There are
2084 no bodies. In several offices the exterior windows are
2085 blown out, admitting wind and rain. Hicks picks up a
2086 half-eaten donut beside a coffee cup overflowing with
2087 rainwater.
2088
2089 INT. LOWER LEVEL - QUARTERS 60
2090
2091 Apone's men are searching systematically in pairs. They
2092 pass through the colonists' modest apartments, little
2093 more than cubicles. Hudson, on tracker, flanks Vasquez
2094 as they move forward. Hudson touches a splash of color
2095 on the wall. Dried blood. His tracker BEEPS.
2096
2097 Vasquez whirls, cannon aimed. The BEEPING grows more
2098 frequent as Hudson advances toward a half open door. The
2099 door is splintered partway out of its frame. Holes
2100 caused by pulse-rifle rounds pepper the walls. Vasquez
2101 eases up to the door. Kicks it in. Tenses to fire.
2102
2103 Inside, dangling from a piece of flex conduit, a
2104 junction-box swings like a pendulum in the wind from a
2105 broken window. It clanks against the rails of a child's
2106 bunkbed as it swings.
2107
2108 INT. DROP-SHIP - APC 61
2109
2110 Ripley watches Hicks' monitor.
2111
2112 RIPLEY
2113 Wait! Tell him to...
2114 (plugs in
2115 headset jack)
2116 ...Hicks. Back up. Pan left.
2117 There!
2118
2119 TIGHT ON MONITOR as the image shifts, revealing a
2120 section of wall corroded almost through in an irregular
2121 pattern.
2122
2123 TIGHT ON RIPLEY knowing what it is.
2124
2125 HICKS
2126 (voice over;
2127 filtered)
2128 You seeing this okay? Looks
2129 melted.
2130
2131 Burke raises an eyebrow at Ripley.
2132
2133 BURKE
2134 Hmm. Acid for blood.
2135
2136 HICKS
2137 (voice over;
2138 filtered)
2139 Looks like somebody bagged them
2140 one of Ripley's bad guys here.
2141
2142 INT. FIRST LEVEL 62
2143
2144 Hudson is looking at something.
2145
2146 HUDSON
2147 Hey, if you like that, you're gonna
2148 love this...
2149
2150 WIDER ANGLE showing the trooper standing beneath a
2151 gaping hole. Another hole, directly beneath, is at his
2152 feet. The acid has melted right down through two levels
2153 into the maintenance level. Revealing pipes, conduit,
2154 equipment...eaten away by the ferocious substance.
2155
2156 APONE
2157 Second squad? What's your status?
2158
2159 HICKS
2160 (voice over;
2161 filtered)
2162 Just finished our sweep.
2163 Nobody home.
2164
2165 APONE
2166 (to Gorman)
2167 The place is dead, Sir. Whatever
2168 happened, we missed it.
2169
2170 INT. APC 63
2171
2172 Gorman turns to the others.
2173
2174 GORMAN
2175 All right, the area's secured.
2176 Let's go in and see what their
2177 computer can tell us.
2178 (into mike)
2179 First team head for operations.
2180 Hudson, see if you can get their
2181 CPU on line. Hicks, meet me at
2182 the south lock by the up-link
2183 tower...
2184
2185 INT. FIRST LEVEL 64
2186
2187 GORMAN
2188 (voice over)
2189 ...We're coming in.
2190
2191 HUDSON
2192 (cupping his mike)
2193 He's coming in. I feel safer
2194 already.
2195
2196 VASQUEZ
2197 (sotto voice)
2198 Pendejo jerkoff.
2199
2200 EXT. COLONY COMPLEX 65
2201
2202 Lights arc across the dormant buildings as the APC turns
2203 onto the "main drag." It trundles down the rutted
2204 street, throwing up sheets of filthy water as the
2205 massive wheels hit pondlike potholes. Windblown rain
2206 lashes across the headlights.
2207
2208 Hicks emerges from the south lock just as the APC rolls
2209 up close to the entrance. The crew-door slides back.
2210 Gorman emerges, followed by Burke, Bishop, and
2211 Wierzbowski. Burke looks back to see Ripley stop in the
2212 APC doorway, eyeing the ominous colony structure. She
2213 meets his eyes. Shakes her head "no." Not ready.
2214
2215 HUDSON
2216 (voice over;
2217 filtered)
2218 Sir, the CPU is on-line.
2219
2220 GORMAN
2221 Okay, stand by in operations.
2222 (to those present)
2223 Let's go.
2224
2225 INT. APC 66
2226
2227 The crew-door cycles home with a clang. Ripley sits in
2228 the dark interior, lit by the tactical displays. The
2229 wind howls outside, an incredibly desolate sound. She
2230 hugs herself. Alone. Unarmed. She knows she's in a
2231 tank, but remembers the acid. Leaps up. Hits the door
2232 switch.
2233
2234 EXT. APC - SOUTH LOCK 67
2235
2236 The crew-door opens and Ripley emerges. In time to see
2237 the lock doors rumbling closed.
2238
2239 RIPLEY
2240 (shouting)
2241 Burke!
2242
2243 The wind snatches her words away. The crew door whines
2244 shut behind her. She walks to the exterior lock
2245 door-controls and studies them. She punches some
2246 unfamiliar buttons. Nothing happens. She looks really
2247 nervous, alone in the howling wind. She hits another
2248 button. The door-motors come to life and she relaxes
2249 a little. Glances behind her. AND SCREAMS! There's
2250 a face right there! Right at her shoulder. She jumps
2251 back, gasping for breath.
2252
2253 WIERZBOWSKI
2254 Scare you?
2255
2256 RIPLEY
2257 Christ, Wierzbowski!
2258
2259 WIERZBOWSKI
2260 Sorry. Hicks said to keep an
2261 eye on you.
2262
2263 He gestures for her to precede him inside.
2264
2265 INT. CONTROL BLOCK CORRIDOR 68
2266
2267 Ripley catches up with the others as they move into the
2268 bowels of the complex.
2269
2270 GORMAN
2271 (to Burke)
2272 Looks like you company can write
2273 off its share of this colony.
2274
2275 BURKE
2276 (unconcerned)
2277 It's insured.
2278
2279 ON RIPLEY as they move along the corridor...reacting to
2280 the fact that she is back in alien country. She sees
2281 the ravaged administration complex. Fire-gutted offices.
2282 Hicks notices her looking around nervously. He motions
2283 to big Wierzbowski with his eyes and the trooper casually
2284 falls in beside her on the other side, rifle at ready.
2285 a two-man protective cordon. She glances at Hicks. He
2286 winks, but so fast maybe it's something in his eye.
2287
2288 Trooper Frost emerges from a side corridor ahead.
2289
2290 FRONT
2291 Sir, you should check this out...
2292
2293 He leads the way into the corridor.
2294
2295 INT. CORRIDOR 69
2296
2297 This wing is completely without power. The troopers
2298 switch on their pack lights and the beams illuminate
2299 a scene of devastation worse than they have seen. Her
2300 expression reveals that Ripley is about to turn and flee.
2301
2302 FROST
2303 Right ahead here...
2304
2305 They approach a barricade blocking the corridor, a
2306 hastily welded wall of pipes, steel-plate, outer-door
2307 panels. Acid holes have slashed through the floor and
2308 walls in several places. The metal is scratched and
2309 twisted by hideously powerful forces, peeled back like
2310 a soup can on one side. They squeeze through the
2311 opening.
2312
2313 INT. MEDICAL WING 70
2314
2315 They pack-lights play over the devastation of the
2316 colonists' last ditch battle. The equipment of the med
2317 labs has been uprooted to add to the barrier. The walls
2318 are perforated by pulse-rifle fire and acid. Scorched
2319 by untended fires to bare metal. A few instruments glow
2320 with emergency power.
2321
2322 WIERZBOWSKI
2323 Last stand.
2324
2325 GORMAN
2326 No bodies?
2327
2328 FROST
2329 No, Sir. Looks like it was a
2330 helluva fight.
2331
2332 TIGHT ON RIPLEY transfixed by something.
2333
2334 RIPLEY
2335 (low)
2336 Over there.
2337
2338 The others turn and approach, seeing what she sees. She
2339 has entered a second room, part of the med lab area. In
2340 a storage alcove at near eye level stand seven
2341 transparent cylinders. STASIS TUBES. They glow faintly
2342 with an eerie violet light given off by the field which
2343 preserves the specimens inside.
2344
2345 They look like jars containing SEVERED ARTHRITIC HANDS,
2346 the palsied fingers curled in a death-rictus.
2347 Structurally they are more like spiders with sickening
2348 translucent skin, a flacid scrotal body, gill-like
2349 organs underneath drifting in the suspension fluid.
2350 Something you definitely do not want on your face, for
2351 example.
2352
2353 BURKE
2354 Are these the same...?
2355
2356 Ripley nods, unable to speak. Burke leans closer in
2357 fascination. His face almost touching one cylinder, is
2358 lit by its glow.
2359
2360 RIPLEY
2361 Watch it, Burke...
2362
2363 The creature inside lunges suddenly, slamming against
2364 the glass. Burke jumps back. From the palm of the
2365 thing's handlike body emerges a pearl-escent TUBULE.
2366 like a tapered piece of intestine, which slithers
2367 tonguelike over the inside of the glass. Then it
2368 retracts into a sheath between the "gills."
2369
2370 HICKS
2371 (to Burke)
2372 It likes you.
2373
2374 Only two of the creatures seem to pulse with life.
2375 Burke taps the other stasis cylinders but the
2376 hand-things remain inertly clenched.
2377
2378 BURKE
2379 These are dead. There's just
2380 the two alive.
2381
2382 On top of each cylinder is a file folder. Ripley takes
2383 a folder from above one of the live specimens. Inside
2384 is a medical chart printout with handwritten entries.
2385
2386 RIPLEY
2387 (reading)
2388 Removed surgically before embryo
2389 implantation. Subject: Marachuk,
2390 John L. Died during procedure.
2391 (looking up)
2392 They killed him getting it off.
2393
2394 HICKS
2395 Poor bastard.
2396
2397 They are startled by a LOUD BEEP. They turn. Hicks
2398 is intent on his motion tracker, aimed back toward the
2399 shattered barricade. BEEP. BEEP.
2400
2401 HICKS
2402 Behind us.
2403
2404 He gestures at the corridor they just passed through.
2405
2406 RIPLEY
2407 One of us?
2408
2409 GORMAN
2410 (into headset)
2411 Apone...where are your people?
2412 Anybody in D-Block?
2413
2414 APONE
2415 (voice over; filtered)
2416 Negative. We're all in Operations.
2417
2418 Vasquez swings the smart-gun to ready position on
2419 its support arm, locking it with an authoritative
2420 CLICK. She and Hicks head toward the source of the
2421 signal, the others following.
2422
2423 INT. CORRIDOR 71
2424
2425 Hicks' tracker is reading out more rapidly. They
2426 turn into the kitchens, a stainless steel labyrinth.
2427
2428 Ripley hangs back. Then realizes there is nothing
2429 behind her but darkness. She catches up to the group.
2430
2431 INT. KITCHENS 72
2432
2433 The troopers enter, their lights bouncing around the
2434 stainless steel surfaces.
2435
2436 HICKS
2437 It's moving.
2438
2439 Vasquez is scanning, gaze intense. The other troops
2440 grip their weapons tightly.
2441
2442 VASQUEZ
2443 Which way?
2444
2445 Hicks nods toward a complicated array of food
2446 processing equipment. They move forward, weapons
2447 leveled.
2448
2449 Ripley shuffles forward in the dark. Wierzbowski
2450 trips over a metal cannister, sending it CLANGING.
2451 Ripley half climbs the wall.
2452
2453 Hicks' tracker beeps steadily. The beeps merge.
2454 Become a solid tone. CRASH. Something moves in the
2455 dark, toppling a rack of stockpots.
2456
2457 ON VASQUEZ pivoting smoothly to fire. In the same
2458 instant Hicks' rifle slashes INTO FRAME. Slams
2459 Vasquez' barrel upward. A STREAM OF TRACER FIRE rips
2460 into the ceiling, the rounds SEARING LIKE LIGHTNING.
2461
2462 VASQUEZ
2463 You fuck!
2464
2465 Hicks ignores her, moving past and aiming his light
2466 under a row of steel cabinets. He gestures to Ripley,
2467 who steps forward. Trusting his judgment. She
2468 crouches beside him.
2469
2470 RIPLEY'S P.O.V. lit by Hicks' pack-light...a tiny
2471 cowering figure. A very dirty, very terrified
2472 NEWT JORDEN. She clutches a plastic food packet in
2473 one hand, its top gnawed partway through. In the other
2474 hand she grips the HEAD OF A LARGE DOLL, holding it by
2475 the hair. Just the head. Eyes staring. Newt is
2476 pathetically emaciated...fragile-looking as Dresden
2477 china, her hair tangled and matted.
2478
2479 RIPLEY
2480 (soothingly)
2481 Come on out. It's all right...
2482
2483 Ripley moves toward her, reaching slowly under the
2484 cabinet. Newt backs away, trembling visibly, her
2485 vision fixated like a rabbit blinded by headlights.
2486 Ripley's hand almost reaches her.
2487
2488 The kid bolts like a shot, scuttling along beneath the
2489 cabinetry. Ripley scrambles to follow...to keep her
2490 in sight. Crabbing frantically sideways. Hicks makes
2491 a grab, catching one tiny ankle. He snaps his hand
2492 out a moment later.
2493
2494 HICKS
2495 Ow! Shit. Watchit, she bites.
2496
2497 The girl reaches a ventilation duct set in the
2498 baseboard, its grille kicked out. She scrambles
2499 inside, her tiny body barely fitting, wriggling like
2500 a fish.
2501
2502 In his bulky armor Hicks knows he'll never make it
2503 into the tiny duct. Ripley dives. She squirms into
2504 the duct without thinking. Just ahead she sees Newt
2505 enter a dark space and slam a steel hatch. Ripley
2506 pushes the hatch open before the child can latch it,
2507 and crawls in after her.
2508
2509 Newt is backed into a cul-de-sac in the tiny steel
2510 chamber. Ripley shines her light around in amazement.
2511 It is a NEST. A nest built by a child. Wadded up
2512 blankets and pillows line the space, mixed up with a
2513 haphazard array of TOYS, STUFFED ANIMALS, DOLLS, CHEAP
2514 JEWELRY, COMIC BOOKS, EMPTY FOOD PACKETS, even a
2515 battery operated TAPE PLAYER. All foraged from the
2516 wrecked colony. Ripley marvels at the child's
2517 incredible adaptability, the ability to functions even
2518 in this nightmarish environment.
2519
2520 Newt edges along the far wall and dives for the hatch.
2521
2522 Ripley grabs her, controlling her in a bear hug. The
2523 kid struggles wildly, like a cat at the vets. Eyes
2524 wide, hands lashing out in a frenzy...but silent. No
2525 scream.
2526
2527 RIPLEY
2528 It's okay, it's okay. It's over...
2529 you're going to be all right now...
2530 it's okay...you're safe...
2531
2532 Newt goes limp, almost catatonic.
2533
2534 CLOSE ON NEWT'S TRAUMATIZED, VACANT STARE her lips
2535 are white and trembling, her eyes track wildly and
2536 she flinches from unseen terrors. We READ a dark
2537 nightmare world in her eyes.
2538
2539 Ripley's light falls on something amidst the debris...
2540 a FRAMED PHOTOGRAPH of Newt, dressed up and smiling,
2541 a ribbon in her hair. In embossed gold letters
2542 underneath it says:
2543
2544 FIRST GRADE CITIZENSHIP AWARD
2545 REBECCA JORDEN
2546
2547 INT. OPERATIONS - ON NEWT - MANAGER'S OFFICE 73
2548
2549 sitting huddles in a chair, arms around her knees.
2550 Looking at a point in space.
2551
2552 GORMAN
2553 (o.s.)
2554 What's her name again?
2555
2556 DIETRICH
2557 (o.s.)
2558 Rebecca.
2559
2560 WIDER ANGLE REVEALING Gorman sitting in front of her
2561 while Dietrich watches the readouts from a
2562 BIO-MONITORING CUFF wrapped around Newt's tiny arm.
2563
2564 GORMAN
2565 Now think, Rebecca.
2566 Concentrate. Just start at
2567 the beginning...
2568
2569 No response. Ripley enters, carrying a coffee mug.
2570
2571 GORMAN
2572 Where are your parents? You
2573 have to try...
2574
2575 RIPLEY
2576 (sharply)
2577 Gorman! Give it a rest would
2578 you.
2579
2580 Gorman stands with a sigh of dismissal.
2581
2582 GORMAN
2583 Total brain-lock.
2584
2585 DIETRICH
2586 (shrugs)
2587 Physically she's okay.
2588 Borderline malnutrition, but
2589 I don't think any permanent
2590 damage.
2591
2592 She unsnaps the bio-monitoring cuff.
2593
2594 GORMAN
2595 Come on, we're wasting our
2596 time.
2597
2598 Gorman and the others exit, leaving only Ripley with
2599 Newt. Through the window of the office, out on the
2600 main floor of the operations room, we SEE Gorman
2601 join Burke and Bishop at a computer terminal.
2602
2603 Ripley kneels beside Newt, brushing the girl's unkempt
2604 hair out of her eyes in a gentle, maternal fashion.
2605
2606 RIPLEY
2607 Here, try this. A little
2608 instant hot chocolate.
2609
2610 She wraps the child's hands around the cup. Raises
2611 it to her lips for her. The girl drinks mechanically,
2612 spilling down her chin.
2613
2614 RIPLEY
2615 (soothing)
2616 Poor thing. You don't talk
2617 much do you? That's okay by
2618 me. Most people do a lot of
2619 talking and they wind up not
2620 saying very much.
2621
2622 She sets the cup down and wipes the child's chin clean.
2623
2624 RIPLEY
2625 Uh oh. I made a clean spot
2626 here. Now I've done it. Guess
2627 I'll just have to do the whole
2628 thing.
2629
2630 She pours water from a squeeze bottle onto a small
2631 cloth and gently washes the little girl's face.
2632 Newt's eyes seem to focus on her for the first time.
2633
2634 RIPLEY
2635 Hard to believe...there's a
2636 little girl under all this.
2637 And a pretty one at that.
2638
2639 Newt gazes at her. Ripley smiles.
2640
2641 INT. OPERATIONS 74
2642
2643 The ground teams are gathered around a terminal in
2644 the computer center. Hudson has the CPU main computer
2645 on-line and reading out.
2646
2647 TIGHT ON MONITOR SCREEN as an abstract of the main
2648 colony ground plan drifts across the screen.
2649 Searching.
2650
2651 Hudson bashes at the keyboard, his fingers dancing
2652 expertly.
2653
2654 BURKE
2655 (to Gorman)
2656 What's he scanning for?
2657
2658 GORMAN
2659 PDT'S. Personal-Data Transmitters.
2660 Every adult colonist had one
2661 surgically implanted.
2662
2663 HUDSON
2664 If they're within twenty
2665 klicks we'll read it out here,
2666 but so far...zip.
2667
2668 INT. OFFICE 75
2669
2670 Ripley is washing Newt's tiny hands with a cloth,
2671 pink skin emerging from black grime.
2672
2673 RIPLEY
2674 I don't know how you managed
2675 to stay alive but you're one
2676 brave kid, Rebecca.
2677
2678 Newt's voice is almost inaudible.
2679
2680 NEWT
2681 N-newt.
2682
2683 Ripley leans closer. Feels like she's breathing
2684 on coals. The sound was incomprehensible.
2685
2686 RIPLEY
2687 What did you say?
2688
2689 NEWT
2690 Newt. My n-name's Newt.
2691 Nobody calls me Rebecca except
2692 my dork brother.
2693
2694 Ripley grins inanely, not wanting to move or speak...
2695 or break the spell.
2696
2697 RIPLEY
2698 Well, Newt it is then. My
2699 name's Ripley...and people
2700 call me Ripley.
2701
2702 Ripley picks up her tiny limp hand, shaking it
2703 formally.
2704
2705 RIPLEY
2706 Pleased to meet you. And who
2707 is this? Does she have a
2708 name?
2709
2710 Newt glances at the disembodied doll, still clutched
2711 in one filthy hand.
2712
2713 NEWT
2714 Casey. She's my only friend.
2715
2716 RIPLEY
2717 What about me?
2718
2719 Newt's reply is flat, neutral.
2720
2721 NEWT
2722 I don't want you for a friend.
2723
2724 RIPLEY
2725 Why not?
2726
2727 NEWT
2728 Because you'll be gone soon,
2729 like the others. Like
2730 everybody. You'll be dead
2731 and you'll leave me alone.
2732
2733 Ripley gazes at her, chilled both by the ominous
2734 statement and by the situation which could have
2735 produced this outlook in a child.
2736
2737 RIPLEY
2738 Oh, Newt. You mom and dad
2739 went away like that, didn't
2740 they?
2741
2742 Newt nods, staring at her knees.
2743
2744 RIPLEY
2745 (soothingly)
2746 They'd be here if they could,
2747 honey. I know they would.
2748
2749 NEWT
2750 (with cold certainty)
2751 They're dead.
2752
2753 RIPLEY
2754 Newt. Look at me...Newt. I
2755 won't leave you. I promise.
2756
2757 NEWT
2758 You promise?
2759
2760 RIPLEY
2761 Cross my heart.
2762
2763 NEWT
2764 And hope to die?
2765
2766 Ripley smiles grimly at the inadvertently macabre
2767 expression.
2768
2769 RIPLEY
2770 (quietly)
2771 And hope to die.
2772
2773 And because she's a child, the darkest terrors, even
2774 the ones seen and not imagined, can still be banished
2775 by a smile and a single promise.
2776
2777 Newt's eyes brim as she gazes at Ripley. Her lower
2778 lip starts to tremble, and her face slowly deforms
2779 into an abject mask. She sobs as she clamps her arms
2780 around Ripley's neck. The sobs come in waves as
2781 Ripley rocks her, tears of suppresses terror and
2782 grief and hurt rolling down her face. It is a
2783 breakthrough.
2784
2785 Ripley closes her eyes, hoping that this promise
2786 can be kept.
2787
2788 INT. OPERATIONS 76
2789
2790 Everyone jumps as Hudson cries out triumphantly.
2791
2792 HUDSON
2793 Hah! Stop your grinnin' and
2794 drop your linen! Found 'em.
2795
2796 GORMAN
2797 Alive?
2798
2799 HUDSON
2800 Unknown. But, it looks like
2801 all of them. Over at the
2802 processing station...sublevel
2803 'C' under the south tower.
2804
2805 TIGHT ON SCREEN showing an amoebalike cluster of
2806 flashing blue dots clumped tightly in one area.
2807
2808 HICKS
2809 Looks like a Goddamn town
2810 meeting.
2811
2812 GORMAN
2813 Let's saddle up.
2814
2815 APONE
2816 Awright, let's go girls, they
2817 ain't payin' us by the hour.
2818
2819 EXT. ACHERON - TWILIGHT 77
2820
2821 The APC roars across the stygian landscape, traversing
2822 the causeway which connects the colony to the
2823 ATMOSPHERE STATION a kilometer away. Behind it the
2824 drop-ship settles to the ground at the colony landing
2825 field.
2826
2827 PAN WITH THE APC TO REVEAL the massive structure.
2828 Like a vast foundry the conical exhaust tower
2829 flickers with spectral light.
2830
2831 INT. APC 78
2832
2833 The troopers sit, more subdued now, swaying and
2834 bouncing in the heavily sprung vehicle. Wierzbowski
2835 is in the saddle. Ripley and Newt sit side by side
2836 just aft of the driver's cockpit.
2837
2838 NEWT
2839 I was the best at the game.
2840 I knew the whole maze.
2841
2842 RIPLEY
2843 The 'maze'? You mean the
2844 air ducts?
2845
2846 NEWT
2847 Yeah, you know. In the walls,
2848 under the floor. I was the
2849 ace. I could hide better
2850 than anybody.
2851
2852 RIPLEY
2853 You're really something, ace.
2854
2855 Ripley's gaze shifts out the windshield as the
2856 processing station looms ahead.
2857
2858 EXT. APC/STATION 79
2859
2860 The vast structure towers above the parked personnel
2861 carrier. Deploying in front of the APC, backlit by
2862 its lights, the troopers cast long shadows. They
2863 look ominous. Hulking techno-samurai.
2864
2865 The base of the station is a depthless maze of
2866 conduits and pressure vessels, like an oil refinery.
2867 Or a Dantean version of one. The THRUM of
2868 functioning machine systems echoes through the
2869 labyrinth.
2870
2871 GORMAN
2872 (voice over; static)
2873 Forty meters in. Ramp on
2874 axial two-two. Access to
2875 sublevels.
2876
2877 The troopers start down the open rampway. Light
2878 filters down through several levels of steel mesh
2879 floor, catwalks and pipes. Below that is darkness.
2880
2881 GORMAN
2882 (voice over; static)
2883 B-Level. Next one down.
2884
2885 The thrumming of machines grows louder as they
2886 descend.
2887
2888 INT. APC 80
2889
2890 Huddles around the screens are Ripley, Burke and
2891 Gorman. Newt squeezes in from behind. Gorman is
2892 doing his video wizard bit, dancing on the buttons.
2893
2894 GORMAN
2895 (to team)
2896 We're not making that out too
2897 well. What is it?
2898
2899 HUDSON
2900 (voice over; static)
2901 You tell me. I only work
2902 here.
2903
2904 INT. COMPLEX 81
2905
2906 The group stands before a bizarre tableau. Among
2907 the refinerylike lattice of pipes and conduits
2908 something new and not of human design had been
2909 added.
2910
2911 It is a structure of some sort, extending from and
2912 crudely imitating the complex of plumbing, but made
2913 of some strange encrusted substance. It vaguely
2914 resembles the chambered nests of swallows on a much
2915 larger scale, and it attenuates so gradually into
2916 the original hardware that it is hard to see where
2917 one ends and the other begins.
2918
2919 The alien structure seems to extend far back into
2920 the complex of machinery. The plant thrums loudly,
2921 its functioning seemingly not impaired.
2922
2923 INT. APC 82
2924
2925 Ripley stares at the scene in dread fascination.
2926
2927 GORMAN
2928 What is it?
2929
2930 RIPLEY
2931 I don't know.
2932
2933 GORMAN
2934 (to team)
2935 Proceed inside.
2936
2937 INT. ALIEN STRUCTURE 83
2938
2939 They enter the organic labyrinth, playing their
2940 lights over the walls. Revealing a BIO-MECHANICAL
2941 LATTICE, like the marrow of some vast bone. The air
2942 is thick with STEAM. Trickling water. The place
2943 seems almost alive.
2944
2945 INT. APC 84
2946
2947 They watch in various helmet-camera P.O.V.'s of the
2948 wall detail.
2949
2950 RIPLEY
2951 (low)
2952 Oh God...
2953
2954 CLOSE ON VIDEO as it PAN SLOWLY...REVEALING a
2955 bas-relief of detritus from the colony: furniture,
2956 wiring, human bones, skulls...Fused together with a
2957 translucent, epoxylike substance.
2958
2959 DIETRICH
2960 (voice over; static)
2961 Looks like some sort of secreted
2962 resin.
2963
2964 GORMAN
2965 They ripped apart the colony
2966 for building materials.
2967
2968 RIPLEY
2969 And the colonists...When they
2970 were done with them.
2971 (turning)
2972 Newt, you better go sit up
2973 front. Go on.
2974
2975 INT. ALIEN STRUCTURE 85
2976
2977 Steam swirls around them as the troopers move deeper
2978 inside.
2979
2980 FROST
2981 Hotter'n hell in here.
2982
2983 HUDSON
2984 Yeah...but it's a dry
2985 heat.
2986
2987 INT. APC 86
2988
2989 Ripley leans forward suddenly, studying the graphic
2990 readout of the STATION GROUND PLAN.
2991
2992 RIPLEY
2993 They're right under the
2994 primary heat exchangers.
2995
2996 BURKE
2997 Yeah? Maybe the organisms like
2998 the heat, that's why they built...
2999
3000 RIPLEY
3001 That's not what I mean. Gorman,
3002 if your men have to use their
3003 weapons in there, they'll rupture
3004 the cooling system.
3005
3006 BURKE
3007 (realizing)
3008 She's right.
3009
3010 GORMAN
3011 So.
3012
3013 RIPLEY
3014 So...then the fusion
3015 containment shuts down.
3016
3017 GORMAN
3018 (impatient)
3019 So? So?
3020
3021 BURKE
3022 We're talking thermonuclear
3023 explosion.
3024
3025 GORMAN
3026 Shit.
3027 (into
3028 mike)
3029 Apone, collect magazines
3030 from everybody. We can't
3031 have any firing in there.
3032
3033 INT. ALIEN STRUCTURE 87
3034
3035 The troopers look at each other in dismay.
3036
3037 WIERZBOWSKI
3038 Is he fucking crazy?
3039
3040 HUDSON
3041 What're we supposed to use,
3042 man? Harsh language?
3043
3044 GORMAN
3045 (voice over; static)
3046 Flame-units only. I want
3047 rifles slung.
3048
3049 APONE
3050 Let's go. Pull 'em out.
3051
3052 He walks among the troopers, collecting the magazines
3053 from each one's weapon.
3054
3055 Vasquez turns hers over reluctantly.
3056
3057 The three who are carrying them get out small
3058 incinerator units. When Apone moves on, Vasquez
3059 slips a spare magazine from concealment and inserts
3060 it in her weapon. Drake does the same. Hicks hangs
3061 back in the shadows. He opens a cylindrical sheath
3062 attached to his battle-harness. Slides out an
3063 old style PUMP TWELVE-GAUGE with a sawed-off butt
3064 stock. Chambers a round.
3065
3066 HICKS
3067 (low,
3068 to Hudson)
3069 I always keep this handy.
3070 For close encounter.
3071
3072 APONE
3073 (o.s.)
3074 Let's move. Hicks, back
3075 us up.
3076
3077 INT. LARGER CHAMBER 88
3078
3079 The air is thick. Lights flare.
3080
3081 GORMAN
3082 (voice over;
3083 very faint)
3084 Any movement?
3085
3086 Hudson watches his tracker, scanning.
3087
3088 HUDSON
3089 Nothing. Zip.
3090
3091 Apone stops, his expression changing. They face a
3092 wall of living horror. The colonists have been
3093 brought here and entombed alive...
3094
3095 COCOONS protrude from the niches and interstices
3096 of the structure. The cocoon material is the same
3097 translucent epoxy. The bodies are frozen in
3098 carelessly twisted positions. Macabre image of
3099 frozen agony. Many are disiccated. Skeletal.
3100 Rip-cages burst outward, as if exploded from within.
3101 Paralyzed, brought here, entombed in living death
3102 as hosts for the embryos growing within then.
3103
3104 Dietrich moves close to examine one of the figures,
3105 perhaps the most "recent." A WOMAN, ghost-white
3106 and drained. The WOMAN'S EYES SNAP OPEN...They
3107 seem to plead.
3108
3109 DIETRICH
3110 Sir!
3111
3112 The woman's lips move feebly.
3113
3114 WOMAN
3115 Please...God...kill me.
3116
3117 INT. APC 89
3118
3119 Ripley watches the woman, white knuckled. The
3120 sound of RETCHING comes over the general frequency.
3121
3122 INT. COCOON CHAMBER 90
3123
3124 The woman begins to convulse. She SCREAMS, a
3125 sawing shriek of mindless agony.
3126
3127 APONE
3128 Flame thrower! Move!
3129
3130 Frost hands it to him. Suddenly, the woman's chest
3131 EXPLODES in a gout of blood. A SMALL FANGED HEAD
3132 EMERGES, HISSING VICIOUSLY.
3133
3134 Apone pulls the trigger. Then the other troopers
3135 carrying flame throwers open fire. An orgy of
3136 purging fire. The cocoons vanish in the shimmering
3137 heat.
3138
3139 A SHRILL SCREECHING begins, like a siren made from
3140 fingernails on blackboards.
3141
3142 ANGLE ON WALL as something begins to emerge. Dimly
3143 glimpsed, a glistening bio-mechanoid creature larger
3144 then a man. Lying dormant, it had blended perfectly
3145 with the convoluted surface of fused bone. The
3146 troopers don't see it. Smoke from the burning cocoons
3147 quickly fills the confined space. Visibility drops
3148 to zero.
3149
3150 HUDSON
3151 Movement!
3152
3153 APONE
3154 Position?
3155
3156 HUDSON
3157 Can't lock up...
3158
3159 APONE
3160 (with an edge)
3161 Talk to me, Hudson.
3162
3163 HUDSON
3164 Uh, seems to be in front
3165 and behind.
3166
3167 INT. APC 91
3168
3169 Gorman is plating with the gain controls on the
3170 monitors.
3171
3172 GORMAN
3173 We can't see anything back
3174 here, Apone. What's going on?
3175
3176 Ripley senses it coming, like a wave at night. Dark,
3177 terrifying and inevitable.
3178
3179 RIPLEY
3180 (low)
3181 Pull you team out, Gorman.
3182
3183 INT. COCOON CHAMBER - TIGHT ON SEVERAL WALLS AND 92
3184 CEILING NICHES
3185
3186 as they come alive. Bonelike, tubelike shapes shift,
3187 becoming emerging ALIENS. Dimly glimpsed...glints
3188 of slime. Silhouettes.
3189
3190 APONE
3191 Go to infrared. Looks sharp
3192 people!
3193
3194 The squad members snap down their image-intersifier
3195 visors.
3196
3197 HUDSON
3198 Multiple signals. All round.
3199 Closing.
3200
3201 Dietrich turns to retreat, her flamethrower held
3202 tightly. A nightmarish silhouette materializes out
3203 of the smoke behind her! It strikes like lightning.
3204 SEIZES HER. She fires reflexively, wild. The jet
3205 of flame engulfs Frost nearby.
3206
3207 Apone spins as the double SCREAM. Can't see anything
3208 in the think smoke.
3209
3210 INT. APC 93
3211
3212 Ripley watches Frost's monitor go black. His
3213 bio-readouts flatten. The other screens show glimpses
3214 of shimmering infrared silhouettes of the aliens, the
3215 images bobbing and panning confusedly.
3216
3217 INT. COCOON CHAMBER 94
3218
3219 Vasquez nods to Drake with grim satisfaction.
3220
3221 VASQUEZ
3222 Let's rock.
3223
3224 They OPEN UP simultaneously, lighting up the smoke
3225 like welders' arcs.
3226
3227 GORMAN
3228 (voice over; static)
3229 Who's firing? I ordered a
3230 hold fire, dammit!
3231
3232 Vasquez rips off her headset. She is riveted to the
3233 targetting screen, moving ferret-quick in a pivoting
3234 dance. Thunder and lightning. Better than sex for
3235 her. FLASH-CRACK! An alien SCREECH from the darkness.
3236
3237 INT. APC 95
3238
3239 The battle of phantoms unfolds on the video screens.
3240 Ripley flinches as another scream comes over the
3241 open frequency. Wierzbowski's monitor breaks up.
3242 His life signs plummet. Voices blend and overlap.
3243
3244 HUDSON
3245 (voice over)
3246 Let's get the fuck out of
3247 here!
3248
3249 HICKS
3250 (voice over)
3251 Not that tunnel, the other
3252 one!
3253
3254 CROWE
3255 (voice over)
3256 You sure? Watch it...behind
3257 you. Fucking move, will you!
3258
3259 Gorman is ashen. Confused. Gulping for air like a
3260 grouper. How could the situation have unravelled
3261 so fast?
3262
3263 RIPLEY
3264 (to Gorman)
3265 GET THEM OUT OF THERE! DO
3266 IT NOW!
3267
3268 GORMAN
3269 Shut up. Just shut up!
3270
3271 CRASH! Crowe's telemetry cuts off like the plug was
3272 pulled. Flat line.
3273
3274 GORMAN
3275 Uh,...Apone, I want you to
3276 lay down a suppressing fire
3277 with the incinerators and
3278 fall back by squads to the
3279 APC, over.
3280
3281 APONE
3282 (voice over;
3283 heavy static)
3284 Say again? All after
3285 incinerators?
3286
3287 Ripley watches it fall apart.
3288
3289 GORMAN
3290 I said...
3291
3292 INT. COCOON CHAMBER 96
3293
3294 Apone adjusts his headset.
3295
3296 GORMAN
3297 (voice over;
3298 static)
3299 ...lay down (garbled) ...by
3300 squads to...(garbled)
3301
3302 Gorman's voice breaks up completely. A SCREAM.
3303 Apone whirls, uncertain.
3304
3305 APONE
3306 Dietrich? Crowe? Sound
3307 off! Wierzbowski?
3308
3309 Nothing. He spins. Almost blows Hudson's head
3310 off.
3311
3312 HUDSON
3313 (freaked)
3314 We're getting juked! We're
3315 gonna die in here!
3316
3317 Apone hands him a magazine. Hudson slaps it home,
3318 looking truly terrified.
3319
3320 APONE
3321 Yeah. Right. Right! Fuck
3322 the heat exchanger!
3323
3324 He FIRES. Vasquez, nearby, is laying down a
3325 horrendous field of fire. Strobe-bright flashes
3326 sear the darkness. She pivots, firing mechanically
3327 in controlled bursts. Scoring points in her own
3328 private video game.
3329
3330 She SPINS as Hicks approached laterally. WHAM! She
3331 fires "at" him. Hicks whirls...to see a nightmarish
3332 figure right behind him, catapulted backwards by
3333 Vasquez' blast.
3334
3335 INT. APC 97
3336
3337 Apone's monitor SPINS CRAZILY AND GOES DARK.
3338
3339 GORMAN
3340 (distantly)
3341 I told them to fall back...
3342
3343 RIPLEY
3344 (viciously)
3345 They're but off! Do something!
3346
3347 But he's gone. Total brain-lock.
3348
3349 TIGHT ON RIPLEY as she struggles with a decision.
3350 She's terrified...of what she knows she's about to
3351 do. But more than that, she's furious. Shouldering
3352 past a paralyzed Gorman she runs up the aisle of the
3353 APC.
3354
3355 RIPLEY
3356 (in passing)
3357 Newt, put your seatbelt on!
3358
3359 Ripley jumps into the driver's seat of the APC. Takes
3360 a deep breath. Starts slapping switches.
3361
3362 GORMAN
3363 Ripley, what the hell...?
3364
3365 She slams the tractor into gear.
3366
3367 EXT. APC 98
3368
3369 as the drive-wheels spin on the wet ground. The
3370 massive machine leaps forward.
3371
3372 INT. APC 99
3373
3374 Ripley sees smoke pouring out of the complex ahead
3375 as she slides sideways onto the descending rampway.
3376 She slams the left and right drive-wheel actuators
3377 viciously, spinning the machine in a roaring pivot.
3378 Gorman lunges forward along the aisle, abandoning
3379 his command center.
3380
3381 GORMAN
3382 (shrill)
3383 What are you doing? Turn
3384 around! That's an order!
3385
3386 He claws at her, hysterical. Burke pulls him off.
3387
3388 INT. ALIEN STRUCTURE 100
3389
3390 The APC roars down into the smoky structure, tearing
3391 away outcroppings of alien-encrustation. Ripley hits
3392 the floodlights. Strobe-beacon. Siren. She homes
3393 on the flash of weapons fire ahead.
3394
3395 INT. COCOON CHAMBER 101
3396
3397 The APC crashes inside, showering debris. Hicks,
3398 supporting a limping Hudson, appears out of the smoke.
3399 The APC pulls up broadside and Burke gets the crew-door
3400 open.
3401
3402 Drake and Vasquez back out of the dense mist, firing as
3403 they fall back.
3404
3405 Drake goes empty, slams the buckles cutting loose his
3406 smart-gun harness, and unslings a flame thrower.
3407
3408 Hicks pushes Hudson inside, leaps in after him and
3409 drags Vasquez inside, massive gear and all. She sees
3410 a DARK SHAPE lunge toward Drake. She fires one burst,
3411 prone. Clean body hit.
3412
3413 The flash lights up the hideous inhuman grin, blowing
3414 open the thing's thorax. A spray of BRIGHT YELLOW
3415 ACID slashes across Drake's face and chest, eating
3416 into him like a hot knife through butter. He drops
3417 in boiling smoke, reflexively triggering his flame
3418 thrower.
3419
3420 The jet of liquid fire arcs around as he falls,
3421 engulfing the back half of the APC.
3422
3423 INT. APC 102
3424
3425 Vasquez rolls aside as a gout of napalm shoots
3426 through the crew-door, setting the interior on fire.
3427 Hicks is rolling the door closed when Vasquez lunges,
3428 clawing out the opening. He stops her, dragging her
3429 inside.
3430
3431 VASQUEZ
3432 Drake! He's down!
3433
3434 Hicks screams right in her face.
3435
3436 HICKS
3437 He's gone! Forget it, he's
3438 gone!
3439
3440 VASQUEZ
3441 (irrational)
3442 No.. No, he's not. He's --
3443
3444 Burke and Hudson help him drag her from the door.
3445
3446 HICKS
3447 (to Ripley)
3448 Let's go!
3449
3450 Ripley jams reverse. Nails the throttle. The APC
3451 bellows backward up the ramp. Hudson disappears
3452 under a pile of equipment as a storage rack breaks
3453 free. Hicks gets the door almost closed. Suddenly
3454 CLAWS appear at the edge. Newt screams. Against
3455 the combined efforts of Hicks, Burke and Vasquez
3456 the door is being SLOWLY WRENCHED OPEN FROM OUTSIDE.
3457 Hicks yells at a paralyzed Gorman.
3458
3459 HICKS
3460 Get on the Goddamn door!
3461
3462 Gorman backs away, eyes wide. Hicks jams his shoulder
3463 against the latching lever and frees one hand to raise
3464 his 12-gauge. An alien head wedges through the opening,
3465 its hideous mouth opening. And Hicks jams his SHOTGUN
3466 MUZZLE between its jaws and pulls the trigger! BLAM!
3467 The creature is flung backward, its shattered head
3468 fountaining acid blood. The spray eats into the door,
3469 the deck, hits Hudson on the arm. He shrieks. They
3470 slide the door home and dog it tight.
3471
3472 EXT. APC 103
3473
3474 The armored vehicle roars backward up the ramp. Slams
3475 into a mass of conduit. Tears free. Ripley works the
3476 shifters, pivoting the massive machine. Everybody's
3477 shouting, trying to put out the fire. Pandemonium.
3478
3479 INT./EXT. APC 104-
3480 105
3481
3482 Something lands on the roof with a metallic clang.
3483
3484 Gorman has plastered himself against a wall, as far
3485 from the door as possible. A latch lever behind his
3486 head turns. The small hatch against which he was
3487 leaning is ripped away and SOMETHING snatches him out
3488 the opening He disappears to the waist with a shriek,
3489 legs kicking. The alien clings to the roof, pulling
3490 him out. Its tail whips over, scorpionlike, and
3491 buries a four inch stinger in Gorman's shoulder.
3492 Hicks grabs a joy stick at the FIRE-CONTROL CONSOLE
3493 and turns it rapidly. On the roof the alien looks up
3494 as servo-motors whir. A remote control turret cannon,
3495 a 20mm chain-gun, swivels toward it in a curt arc.
3496 VOOM. The creature is blasted off the vehicle's
3497 armored back and tumbles away. Gorman, slumped
3498 unconscious, is dragged back inside.
3499
3500 The APC rips away a section of catwalk and heads for
3501 clear air, its flank trailing fire like a comet.
3502 Ripley fights the controls as the big machine slews,
3503 broadsiding a control-room out-building. Office
3504 furniture and splintered wall sections are strewn in
3505 the APC's wake.
3506
3507 Suddenly, an alien arm arcs down, right in front of
3508 Ripley's face. It smashes the windshield. Glistening,
3509 hideous jaws lunge inside...
3510
3511 Ripley recoils. Face to face once again with the same
3512 mind-numbing horror. She reacts instinctively. Slams
3513 both sets of brakes with all her strength. The huge
3514 wheels lock. The creature flips off, landing in the
3515 headlights. Ripley hits full throttle. The APC roars
3516 forward, smashing over the abomination. Its skeletal
3517 body is crushed under the massive wheels. It rolls,
3518 tumbling...lost in the darkness behind as the machine
3519 thunders onto the causeway and away from the station.
3520
3521 A sound like bolts dropped in a meat grinder is coming
3522 from the APC's rear end. Hicks eases Ripley's hand
3523 back on the throttle lever. Her grip is white knuckled.
3524
3525 HICKS
3526 It's okay...we're clear. We're
3527 clear. Ease up.
3528
3529 The grinding clatter becomes deafening even as she
3530 slows the machine.
3531
3532 HICKS
3533 Sounds like a blown transaxle.
3534 You're just grinding metal.
3535
3536 EXT. APC 106
3537
3538 The tractor limps to a halt. A HALF-KILOMETER from the
3539 atmosphere processing station. The APC is a smoking,
3540 acid-scarred mess.
3541
3542 INT. APC 107
3543
3544 Ripley, still running on the adrenalin dynamo, spins
3545 out of her seat into the aisle.
3546
3547 RIPLEY
3548 Newt? Where's Newt?
3549
3550 Feeling a tug at her pants leg she looks down. Newt
3551 is wedged into a tiny space between the driver's seat
3552 and a bulkhead. She is trembling, and looks terrified,
3553 but it's not the basket case catatonia of before.
3554
3555 RIPLEY
3556 You okay?
3557
3558 Newt gives her a THUMBS-UP, wan but stoic. Ripley goes
3559 back to the others. Hudson is holding his arm and
3560 staring in stunned dismay at nothing, playing it all
3561 back in his mind.
3562
3563 HUDSON
3564 Jesus...Jesus...I don't believe
3565 it.
3566
3567 Burke tries to have a look at Hudson's arm.
3568
3569 HUDSON
3570 (jerking away)
3571 I'm all right, leave it!
3572
3573 Ripley joins Hicks who is bent over Gorman, checking
3574 for a pulse.
3575
3576 HICKS
3577 He's alive. I think he's paralyzed.
3578
3579 VASQUEZ
3580 He's fucking dead!
3581
3582 She grabs Gorman by the collar, hauling him up roughly,
3583 ready to pulp him with her other fist.
3584
3585 VASQUEZ
3586 (to Gorman)
3587 Wake up pendejo! I'm gonna kill
3588 you, you useless fuck!
3589
3590 Hicks pushes her back. Right in her face.
3591
3592 HICKS
3593 Hold it. Hold it. Back off, right
3594 now.
3595
3596 Vasquez releases Gorman. His head smacks the deck.
3597 Ripley opens Gorman's tunic, revealing a bloodless
3598 purple puncture wound.
3599
3600 RIPLEY
3601 Looks like it stung him.
3602
3603 HUDSON
3604 Hey...hey! Look, Crowe and
3605 Dietrich aren't dead, man.
3606
3607 They turn to see Hudson at the MTOB monitors, pointing
3608 at the bio-function screens.
3609
3610 HUDSON
3611 They must be like Gorman. Their
3612 signs are real low but they ain't
3613 dead!
3614
3615 Hudson is pale, panicky, and his voice echoes around
3616 the tiny metallic space and comes back to all of them
3617 as the near hysteria they all feel, fluttering just
3618 at the edges of their minds.
3619
3620 RIPLEY
3621 You can't help them. Right now
3622 they're being cocooned just like
3623 the others.
3624
3625 HUDSON
3626 (sagging)
3627 Oh, God. Jesus. This ain't
3628 happening.
3629
3630 Ripley and Vasquez lock eyes. Ripley doesn't want
3631 it to be "I told you so" but Vasquez reads it that
3632 way. She turns away with a snap.
3633
3634 INT. MED LAB 108
3635
3636 Bishop is hunched over an occular probe doing a
3637 dissection of one of the dead parasites. Spunkmeyer
3638 enters with some electronics gear on a hand truck
3639 and parks it near Bishop's work table.
3640
3641 SPUNKMEYER
3642 Need anything else?
3643
3644 Bishop waves "no" without looking up.
3645
3646 EXT. COLONY - DROP-SHIP 109
3647
3648 Spunkmeyer emerges, crossing the Tarmac to the loading
3649 ramp of the ship. As he nears the top of the ramp,
3650 his boot slips...skidding on something wet. Kneeling,
3651 he touches a small puddle of thick slime. He shrugs,
3652 and hits the controls to retract the ramp and close
3653 the doors.
3654
3655 INT. APC 110
3656
3657 ON VASQUEZ wired and intense.
3658
3659 VASQUEZ
3660 All right, we can't blow the fuck
3661 out of them...why not roll some
3662 canisters of CN-20 down there.
3663 Nerve gas the whole nest?
3664
3665 HUDSON
3666 Look, man, let's just bug out and
3667 call it even, okay?
3668
3669 RIPLEY
3670 (to Vasquez)
3671 No good. How do we know it'll
3672 effect their biochemistry? I say
3673 we take off and nuke the entire
3674 site from orbit. It's the only
3675 way to be sure.
3676
3677 BURKE
3678 Now hold on a second. I'm not
3679 authorizing that action.
3680
3681 RIPLEY
3682 Why not?
3683
3684 Burke senses the challenge in her tone and backpedals
3685 flawlessly into conciliatory mode.
3686
3687 BURKE
3688 Well, I mean...I know this is an
3689 emotional moment, but let's not
3690 make snap judgments. Let's move
3691 cautiously. First, this physical
3692 installation had a substantial
3693 dollar value attached to it --
3694
3695 RIPLEY
3696 They can bill me. I got a tab
3697 running. What's second?
3698
3699 BURKE
3700 This is clearly an important
3701 species we're dealing with here.
3702 We can't just arbitrarily
3703 exterminate them --
3704
3705 RIPLEY
3706 Bullshit!
3707
3708 VASQUEZ
3709 Yeah, bullshit. Watch us.
3710
3711 HUDSON
3712 Maybe you haven't been keeping up
3713 on current events, but we just got
3714 out asses kicked, pal!
3715
3716 Ripley faces Burke squarely and she's not pleased.
3717
3718 RIPLEY
3719 Look, Burke. We had an agreement.
3720
3721 Burke moves in, lowering his voice. He takes her aside
3722 from the others.
3723
3724 BURKE
3725 I know, I know, but we're dealing
3726 with changing scenarios here. This
3727 thing is major, Ripley. I mean
3728 really major. You gotta go with
3729 its energy. Since you are the
3730 representative of the company who
3731 discovered this species your
3732 percentage will naturally be
3733 some serious, serious money.
3734
3735 Ripley stares at his like he's a particularly
3736 disagreeable fungus.
3737
3738 RIPLEY
3739 You son of a bitch.
3740
3741 BURKE
3742 (hardening)
3743 Don't make me pull rank, Ripley.
3744
3745 RIPLEY
3746 What rank? I believe Corporal Hicks
3747 has authority here.
3748
3749 BURKE
3750 Corporal Hicks!?
3751
3752 RIPLEY
3753 This operation is under military
3754 jurisdiction and Hicks is next in
3755 chain of command. Right?
3756
3757 HICKS
3758 Looks that way.
3759
3760 Burke starts to lose it and it's not a pretty sight.
3761
3762 BURKE
3763 Look, this is a multimillion
3764 dollar operation. He can't make
3765 that kind of decision. He's just
3766 a grunt!
3767 (glances at Hicks)
3768 No offense.
3769
3770 HICKS
3771 (coolly)
3772 None taken.
3773 (into mike)
3774 Ferro, you copying?
3775
3776 FERRO
3777 (voice over; static)
3778 Standing by.
3779
3780 HICKS
3781 Prep for dust-off. We're gonna
3782 need an immediate evac.
3783 (to Burke)
3784 I think we'll take off and nuke
3785 the site from orbit. It's the
3786 only way to be sure.
3787
3788 He winks. Burke looks like a kid whose toy has been
3789 snatched.
3790
3791 BURKE
3792 This is absurd! You don't have
3793 the authority to --
3794
3795 CLACK! The sound of a rifle bolt snapping home
3796 truncates his rant. Vasquez has a pulse-rifle cradled,
3797 not exactly aimed at Burke but not exactly aimed away
3798 either. Her expression is masklike. End of discussion.
3799
3800 Ripley sits behind Newt, putting her arm around her.
3801
3802 RIPLEY
3803 We're going home, honey.
3804
3805 EXT. DROP-SHIP 111
3806
3807 The ship rises through the spray thrown up by the
3808 downblast of the VTOL jets, hovering above the complex
3809 like a huge insect, its searchlights blazing.
3810
3811 EXT. APC 112
3812
3813 The group is filing out of the personnel carrier, which
3814 is clearly a write off. Hicks and Hudson have Gorman
3815 between them, and the others emerge into the wind.
3816 They watch the ship roar in on its final approach.
3817
3818 INT. DROP-SHOP COCKPIT 113
3819
3820 Ferro flicks the intercom switch several times. Thumps
3821 her headset mike.
3822
3823 FERRO
3824 Spunkmeyer? Goddammit.
3825
3826 The compartment door behind her slides slowly back.
3827
3828 FERRO
3829 (turning)
3830 Where the fu --
3831
3832 Her eyes widen. It's not Spunkmeyer.
3833
3834 Am impression of leering jaws which blur forward, then
3835 a whirl of motion and a truncated scream. The throttle
3836 levers are slammed forward in the melee.
3837
3838 EXT. APC - LANDSCAPE - STATION 114
3839
3840 They watch in dismay as the approaching ship dips and
3841 VEERS WILDLY. Its main engines ROAR FULL ON and the
3842 craft accelerates toward them even as it loses altitude.
3843 It skims the ground. Clips a rock formation. The
3844 ship slews, sideslipping. It hits a ridge. Tumbles,
3845 bursting into flame, breaking up. It arcs into the
3846 air, end over end, a Catherine wheel juggernaut.
3847
3848 RIPLEY
3849 Run!
3850
3851 She grabs Newt and sprints for cover as a tumbling
3852 section of the ship's massive engine module slams
3853 into the APC and it explodes into twisted wreckage.
3854
3855 The drop-ship skips again, like a stone, engulfed in
3856 flames...AND CRASHES INTO THE STATION. A TREMENDOUS
3857 FIREBALL.
3858
3859 The remainder of the ground team watches their hopes
3860 of getting off the planet, and most of their superior
3861 fire power, reduced to flaming debris.
3862
3863 There is a moment of stunned silence, then...
3864
3865 HUDSON
3866 (hysterical)
3867 Well that's great! That's just
3868 fucking great, man. Now what the
3869 fuck are we supposed to do, man?
3870 We're in some real pretty shit now!
3871
3872 HICKS
3873 Are you finished?
3874 (to Ripley)
3875 You okay?
3876
3877 She nods. She can't disguise her stricken expression
3878 when she looks at Newt, but the little girl seems
3879 relatively calm. She shrugs with fatalistic acceptance.
3880
3881 NEWT
3882 I guess we're not leaving, right?
3883
3884 RIPLEY
3885 I'm sorry, Newt.
3886
3887 NEWT
3888 You don't have to be sorry. It
3889 wasn't your fault.
3890
3891 HUDSON
3892 (kicking rocks)
3893 Just tell me what the fuck we're
3894 supposed to do now. What're we
3895 gonna do now?
3896
3897 BURKE
3898 (annoyed)
3899 May be could build a fire and
3900 sing songs.
3901
3902 NEWT
3903 We should get back, 'cause it'll
3904 be dark soon. They come mostly
3905 at night. Mostly.
3906
3907 Ripley follows Newt's look to the AP station looming
3908 in the twilight, the burning drop-ship wreckage jammed
3909 into its basal structure.
3910
3911 EXT. CONTROL BLOCK - NIGHT 115
3912
3913 The wind howls mournfully around the metal buildings,
3914 dry and cold.
3915
3916 INT. OPERATIONS 116
3917
3918 The weary and demoralized group is gathered to take
3919 stock of their grim options. Vasquez and Hudson are
3920 just setting down a scorched and dented packing case,
3921 one of several culled from the APC wreckage.
3922
3923 Hicks indicates their remaining inventory of weapons,
3924 lying on a table.
3925
3926 HICKS
3927 This is all we could salvage. We've
3928 got four pulse-rifles with about
3929 fifty rounds each. Not so good.
3930 About fifteen M-40 grenades and
3931 two flame throwers less than
3932 half full...one damaged. And
3933 We've got four of these
3934 robot-sentry units with scanners
3935 and display intact.
3936
3937 He opens one of the scorched cases, revealing a
3938 high-tech servo-actuated machine gun with optical
3939 sensing equipment, packed in foam.
3940
3941 RIPLEY
3942 How long after we're declared
3943 overdue can we expect a rescue?
3944
3945 HICKS
3946 About seventeen days.
3947
3948 HUDSON
3949 Man, we're not going to make it
3950 seventeen hours! Those things
3951 are going to come in here, just
3952 like they did before, man...
3953 they're going to come in here
3954 and get us, man, long before...
3955
3956 RIPLEY
3957 She survived longer than that
3958 with no weapons and no training.
3959
3960 Ripley indicates Newt, who salutes Hudson smartly.
3961
3962 RIPLEY
3963 So you better just start dealing
3964 with it. Just deal with it,
3965 Hudson...because we need you and
3966 I'm tired of your bullshit. Now
3967 get on a terminal and call up some
3968 kind of floor plan file.
3969 Construction blueprints,
3970 maintenance schematics, anything
3971 that shows the layout of this
3972 place. I want to see air ducts,
3973 electrical access tunnels,
3974 subbasements. Every possible way
3975 into this wing.
3976
3977 Hudson gathers himself, thankful for the direction.
3978 Hicks nods approval of her handling of it.
3979
3980 HUDSON
3981 Aye-firmative. I'm on it.
3982
3983 BISHOP
3984 I'll be in medical. I'd like to
3985 continue my analysis.
3986
3987 RIPLEY
3988 Fine. You do that.
3989
3990 INT. OPERATIONS 117
3991
3992 Burke, Ripley, Hudson and Hicks are bent over a large
3993 HORIZONTAL VIDEOSCREEN, like an illuminated chart table.
3994 Newt hops from one foot to the other to see.
3995
3996 RIPLEY
3997 This service tunnel is how they're
3998 moving back and forth.
3999
4000 HUDSON
4001 Yeah, right, it runs from the
4002 processing station right into
4003 the sublevel here.
4004
4005 He traces a finger along the abstract ground plan.
4006
4007 RIPLEY
4008 All right. There's a fire door
4009 at this end. The first thing we
4010 do is put a remote sentry in the
4011 tunnel and seal that door.
4012
4013 HICKS
4014 We gotta figure on them getting
4015 into the complex.
4016
4017 RIPLEY
4018 That's right. So we put up
4019 welded barricades at these
4020 intersections...
4021 (pointing)
4022 ...and seal these ducts here
4023 and here. Then they can only
4024 come at us from these two
4025 corridors and we create a free
4026 field of fire for the other
4027 two sentry units, here.
4028
4029 Hicks contemplates her game plan and raises his hand,
4030 satisfied.
4031
4032 HICKS
4033 Outstanding. Then all we need's
4034 a deck of cards. All right, let's
4035 move like we got a purpose.
4036
4037 HUDSON
4038 Aye-firmative.
4039
4040 NEWT
4041 (imitating Hudson)
4042 Aye-firmative!
4043
4044 INT. SERVICE TUNNEL - SUBLEVEL 118
4045
4046 A long straight service tunnel, lined with conduit,
4047 seems to go on forever. Vasquez and Hudson have
4048 finished setting up two of the robot sentry guns on
4049 tripods in the tunnel.
4050
4051 VASQUEZ
4052 (shouting)
4053 Testing!
4054
4055 She hurls a wastebasket down the tunnel, into the
4056 automatic field of fire. The sentry guns swivel
4057 smoothly, the wastebasket bounces once...and is riddled
4058 by two quick bursts of EXPLODING 10MM ROUNDS into
4059 dime-sized shrapnel. They retreat behind a heavy steel
4060 FIRE DOOR which they roll closed on its track. Vasquez,
4061 using a PORTABLE WELDING TORCH, begins sealing the door
4062 to its frame, as Hudson paces nervously.
4063
4064 HUDSON
4065 Hudson here. A and B
4066 sentries are in place and
4067 keyed. We're sealing the
4068 tunnel.
4069
4070 INT. SECOND LEVEL CORRIDOR 119
4071
4072 Hicks pauses in his work.
4073
4074 HICKS
4075 (into mike)
4076 Roger.
4077
4078 He and Ripley are covering an air duct opening with
4079 a metal plate, welding it in place, showering sparks
4080 in the dark corridor. Behind them Burke and Newt
4081 are moving back and forth with cartons of food on a
4082 hand truck, stacking it inside the operations center.
4083 Hicks sets down his welder and pulls a small object
4084 out of a belt pouch. A braceletlike EMERGENCY
4085 LOCATING BEEPER.
4086
4087 HICKS
4088 Here, put this on. Then
4089 I can locate you anywhere
4090 in the complex on this --
4091
4092 He indicates a tiny TRACKER hooked to his battle
4093 harness. He shrugs, a little self-consciously.
4094
4095 HICKS
4096 Just a...precaution. You
4097 know.
4098
4099 Ripley pauses for a moment, regarding him
4100 quizzically.
4101
4102 RIPLEY
4103 (strapping
4104 it on)
4105 Thanks.
4106
4107 HUDSON
4108 Uh, what's next?
4109
4110 She consults a printout of the floor plan.
4111
4112 EXT. CONTROL BLOCK 120
4113
4114 The wind has died utterly and in the even more eerie
4115 stillness a diffuse mist has rolled into shroud
4116 the complex. Visibility is low in the fog.
4117 Everything looks underwater. There is no movement.
4118
4119 INT. CORRIDOR 121
4120
4121 In the barricaded corridor sentry-gun "C" sits waiting,
4122 its "ARMED" light flashing green. Through a hole
4123 torn in the ceiling at the far end of the corridor
4124 the fog swirls in. Water drips. An expectant hush.
4125
4126 INT. MED LAB ANNEX - OPERATING ROOM 122
4127
4128 Ripley carries an exhausted Newt through the inner
4129 connecting rooms of the medical wing. She reaches
4130 an OPERATING ROOM which is small but very high-tech
4131 ...vaultlike metal walls, strange equipment.
4132 Several metal cots have been set up, displacing O.R.
4133 equipment which is pushed into one corner.
4134
4135 Newt is resting her head on Ripley's shoulder, barely
4136 awake...out of steam. Ripley sets her on one of
4137 the cots and Newt lies down.
4138
4139 RIPLEY
4140 Now you just lie here and
4141 have a nap. You're exhausted.
4142
4143 NEWT
4144 I don't want to...I have
4145 scary dreams.
4146
4147 This obviously strikes a chord with Ripley, but she
4148 feigns cheerfulness.
4149
4150 RIPLEY
4151 I'll bet Casey doesn't have
4152 bad dreams.
4153
4154 Ripley lifts the doll's head from Newt's tiny fingers
4155 and looks inside. It is, of course, empty.
4156
4157 RIPLEY
4158 Nothing bad in here. Maybe
4159 you could just try to be like
4160 her.
4161
4162 Ripley closes the doll's eyes and hands her back.
4163 Newt rolls her eyes as if to say "don't pull that
4164 five-year-old shit on me, lady. I'm six."
4165
4166 NEWT
4167 Ripley...she doesn't have
4168 bad dreams because she's just
4169 a piece of plastic.
4170
4171 RIPLEY
4172 Oh. Sorry, Newt.
4173
4174 NEWT
4175 My mommy always said there
4176 were no monsters. No real
4177 ones. But there are.
4178
4179 Ripley's expression becomes sober. She brushes damp
4180 hair back from the child's pale forehead.
4181
4182 RIPLEY
4183 (quietly)
4184 Yes, there are, aren't there.
4185
4186 NEWT
4187 Why do they tell little kids
4188 that?
4189
4190 Newt's voice reveals her deep sense of betrayal.
4191 She's seen that the world can be just as terrifying
4192 as her most primal child's nightmare if not more
4193 so, and that's a lot worse than finding out there is
4194 no Santa.
4195
4196 RIPLEY
4197 Well, some kids can't handle
4198 it like you can.
4199
4200 NEWT
4201 Did one of those things grow
4202 inside her?
4203
4204 Ripley begins pulling blankets up an tucking them in
4205 around her tiny body.
4206
4207 RIPLEY
4208 I don't know, Newt. That's
4209 the truth.
4210
4211 NEWT
4212 Isn't that how babies come?
4213 I mean people babies...they
4214 grow inside you?
4215
4216 RIPLEY
4217 No, it's different, honey.
4218
4219 NEWT
4220 Did you ever have a baby?
4221
4222 RIPLEY
4223 Yes. A little girl.
4224
4225 NEWT
4226 Where is she?
4227
4228 RIPLEY
4229 (quietly)
4230 Gone.
4231
4232 NEWT
4233 You mean dead.
4234
4235 It's more statement than question. Ripley nods slowly.
4236
4237 She turns, reaching for a PORTABLE SPACE HEATER
4238 sitting nearby, and slides it closer to the bed. She
4239 switches it on. It HUMS and emits a cozy orange
4240 glow.
4241
4242 NEWT
4243 Ripley, I was just thinking...
4244 Maybe I could do you a favor and
4245 fill in for her. Just for a
4246 while. You can try it and if
4247 you don't like it, it's okay.
4248 I'll understand. No big deal.
4249 Whattya think?
4250
4251 Ripley gazes at her a long time before answering...
4252 a conflict between the urge to crush the child to her
4253 in a forever hug and the knowledge that neither of them
4254 may see another dawn.
4255
4256 RIPLEY
4257 I think it's not the worst idea
4258 I've heard all day. Let's talk
4259 about it later.
4260
4261 She switches off the light and starts to rise. Newt
4262 grabs her arm. A plaintive voice in the dark.
4263
4264 NEWT
4265 Don't go! Please.
4266
4267 RIPLEY
4268 I'll be right in the other
4269 room, Newt. And look...I can
4270 see you on that camera right
4271 up there.
4272
4273 Newt looks at the VIDEO SECURITY CAMERA above the door.
4274 Ripley unsnaps the TRACKER BRACELET given to her by
4275 Hicks and puts it on Newt's tiny wrist, cinching it
4276 down.
4277
4278 RIPLEY
4279 Here. Take is for luck. Now
4280 go to sleep...and don't dream.
4281
4282 Ripley walks away and Newt rolls on her side, hugging
4283 Casey and gazing at the hypnotically pulsing function
4284 light on the bracelet. The space heater hums
4285 comfortingly.
4286
4287 INT. MED LAB 123
4288
4289 ECU Gorman, his eyelids slitted open like those of a
4290 corpse, but with the eyes tracking erratically. The
4291 only sign of life.
4292
4293 RIPLEY
4294 (voice over)
4295 How is he?
4296
4297 Ripley stands over the Lieutenant, who is lying
4298 motionless on an examining table. Bishop looks up
4299 from his instruments nearby, the light of a single
4300 gooseneck lamp giving his features a macabre cast.
4301
4302 BISHOP
4303 I've isolated a neuro-muscular
4304 toxin responsible for the
4305 paralysis. It seems to be
4306 metabolizing. He should wake
4307 up soon.
4308
4309 RIPLEY
4310 Now let me get this straight.
4311 The aliens paralyzed the colonists,
4312 carried them over there,
4313 cocooned them to be hosts for
4314 more of those...
4315
4316 Ripley points at the stasis cylinders containing the
4317 face-hugger specimens.
4318
4319 RIPLEY
4320 Which would mean lots of
4321 those parasites, right? One
4322 for each person...over a hundred
4323 at least.
4324
4325 BISHOP
4326 Yes. That follows.
4327
4328 RIPLEY
4329 But these things come from
4330 eggs...so where are all the
4331 eggs coming from.
4332
4333 BISHOP
4334 That is the question of the
4335 hour. We could assume a parallel
4336 to certain insect forms who
4337 have hivelike organization.
4338 An ant of termite colony, for
4339 example, is ruled by a single
4340 female, a queen, which is the
4341 source of new eggs.
4342
4343 RIPLEY
4344 You're saying one of those things
4345 lays all the eggs?
4346
4347 BISHOP
4348 Well, the queen is always physically
4349 larger then the others. A
4350 termite queen's abdomen is so
4351 bloated with eggs that it can't
4352 move at all. It is fed and tended
4353 by drone workers, defended by
4354 the warriors. She is the center
4355 of their lives, quite literally
4356 the mother of their society.
4357
4358 RIPLEY
4359 Could it be intelligent?
4360
4361 BISHOP
4362 Hard to say. It may have been
4363 blind instinct...attraction to
4364 the heat of whatever...but she
4365 did choose to incubate her eggs
4366 in the one spot where we couldn't
4367 destroy her without destroying
4368 ourselves. That's if she exists,
4369 of course.
4370
4371 Ripley ponders the ramifications of Bishop's analysis.
4372
4373 RIPLEY
4374 (rising)
4375 I want those specimens destroyed
4376 as soon as you're done with them.
4377 You understand?
4378
4379 Bishop glances at the creatures, pulsing malevolently
4380 in their cylinders.
4381
4382 BISHOP
4383 Mr. Burke have instructions
4384 that they were to be kept alive
4385 in stasis for return to the
4386 company labs. He was very specific.
4387
4388 Ripley feels the fabric of her self-restraint tearing.
4389 She slaps the intercom switch.
4390
4391 RIPLEY
4392 Burke!
4393
4394 INT. MED LAB ANNEX 124
4395
4396 In a small observation chamber separated from the med
4397 lab by a glass partition, Ripley and Burke have
4398 squared off.
4399
4400 BURKE
4401 Those specimens are worth
4402 millions to the bio-weapons
4403 division. Now, if you're smart
4404 we can both come out of this
4405 heroes. Set up for life.
4406
4407 RIPLEY
4408 You just try getting a dangerous
4409 organism past ICC quarantine.
4410 Section 22350 of the Commerce Code.
4411
4412 BURKE
4413 You've been doing your homework.
4414 Look, they can't impound it if
4415 they don't know about it.
4416
4417 RIPLEY
4418 But they will know about it, Burke.
4419 From me. Just like they'll know
4420 how you were responsible for the
4421 deaths of one hundred and fifty-seven
4422 colonists here --
4423
4424 BURKE
4425 Now, wait a second --
4426
4427 RIPLEY
4428 (stepping on him)
4429 You sent them to that ship. I
4430 just checked the colony log...
4431 directive dates six-twelve-seventy-nine.
4432 Signed Burke, Carter J.
4433
4434 Ripley's fury is peaking, now that the frustration and
4435 rage finally have a target to focus on.
4436
4437 RIPLEY
4438 You sent them out there and you
4439 didn't even warn them, Burke.
4440 Why didn't you warn them?
4441
4442 BURKE
4443 Look, maybe the thing didn't even
4444 exist, right? And if I'd made it
4445 a major security situation, the
4446 Administration would've stepped
4447 in. Then no exclusive rights,
4448 nothing.
4449
4450 He shrugs, his manner blase, dismissive.
4451
4452 BURKE
4453 It was a bad call, that's all.
4454
4455 Ripley snaps. She slams him against the wall, surprising
4456 herself and him, her hands gripping his collar.
4457
4458 RIPLEY
4459 Bad call? These people are fucking
4460 dead, Burke! Well, they're going
4461 to nail your hide to the shed...
4462 and I'll be there when they do.
4463
4464 She steps back, shaking, and looks at him with utter
4465 loathing, as if the depths of human greed are a far
4466 more horrific revelation than any alien.
4467
4468 BURKE
4469 (sadly)
4470 I expected more of you, Ripley.
4471 I thought you would be smarter
4472 than this.
4473
4474 RIPLEY
4475 Sorry to disappoint you.
4476
4477 She turns away and strides out. The door closes.
4478 Burke stares after her, his mind a whirl of options.
4479
4480 INT. CORRIDOR 125
4481
4482 Ripley is walking toward operations when a STRIDENT
4483 ALARM begins to sound. She breaks into a run.
4484
4485 INT. OPERATIONS 126
4486
4487 Ripley double-times it to Hicks' TACTICAL CONSOLE
4488 where Hudson and Vasquez have already gathered. Hicks
4489 slaps a switch, killing the alarm.
4490
4491 HICKS
4492 They're coming. They're in
4493 the tunnel.
4494
4495 The TRILLING of the motion sensor remains, speeding up.
4496 TWO RED LIGHTS on the tactical display light up
4497 simultaneously with an echoing crash of gunfire which
4498 vibrates the floor.
4499
4500 HICKS
4501 Guns A and B. Tracking and firing
4502 on multiple targets.
4503
4504 The RSS guns pound away, echoing through the complex.
4505 Their separate bursts overlap in an irregular rhythm.
4506 A counter on the display counts down the number of
4507 rounds fired.
4508
4509 HUDSON
4510 They must be wall to wall in
4511 there. Look at those ammo counters
4512 go. It's a shooting gallery down
4513 there.
4514
4515 INT. SERVICE TUNNEL - TIGHT ON RSS GUNS 127
4516
4517 blasting stroboscopically in the tunnels. Their barrels
4518 are overheating, glowing cherry red. One CLICKS empty
4519 and sits smoking, still swiveling to track targets it
4520 can't fire upon.
4521
4522 INT. OPERATIONS 128
4523
4524 The digital counter on B gun reads zero.
4525
4526 HICKS
4527 B gun's dry. Twenty on A.
4528 Ten. Five. That's it.
4529
4530 SILENCE. Then a GONGLIKE BOOMING echoes eerily up from
4531 sublevel.
4532
4533 RIPLEY
4534 They're at the fire door.
4535
4536 The BOOMING INCREASES in volume and ferocity.
4537
4538 HUDSON
4539 Man, listen to that.
4540
4541 Mixed with the echoing crash-clang is a nerve-wrecking
4542 SCREECH of claws on steel. The intercom buzzes,
4543 startling them.
4544
4545 BISHOP
4546 (voice over)
4547 Bishop here. I'm afraid I have
4548 some bad news.
4549
4550 HUDSON
4551 Well, that's a switch.
4552
4553 INT. OPERATIONS - MINUTES LATER 129
4554
4555 Everyone, including Bishop, is crowded at the window,
4556 intently watching the AP station which is a dim
4557 silhouette in the mist. Suddenly a column of flame,
4558 like an acetylene torch, jets upward from the complex
4559 at the base of the cone.
4560
4561 BISHOP
4562 That's it. See it? Emergency
4563 venting.
4564
4565 RIPLEY
4566 How long until it blows?
4567
4568 BISHOP
4569 I'm projecting total systems
4570 failure in a little under four
4571 hours. The blast radius will be
4572 about thirty kilometers. About
4573 equal to ten megatons.
4574
4575 HICKS
4576 We got problems.
4577
4578 HUDSON
4579 I don't fucking believe this.
4580 Do you believe this?
4581
4582 RIPLEY
4583 And it's too late to shut it down?
4584
4585 BISHOP
4586 I'm afraid so. The crash did too
4587 much damage. The overload is
4588 inevitable, at this point.
4589
4590 HUDSON
4591 Oh, man. And I was gettin' short,
4592 too! Four more weeks and out.
4593 Now I'm gonna buy it on this fuckin'
4594 rock. It ain't half fair, man!
4595
4596 VASQUEZ
4597 Hudson, give us a break.
4598
4599 They watch as another gas jet lights up the fog-shrouded
4600 landscape.
4601
4602 RIPLEY
4603 (to Hicks)
4604 We need the other drop-ship. The
4605 on one the Sulaco. We have to
4606 bring it down on remote, somehow.
4607
4608 HUDSON
4609 How? The transmitter was on the
4610 APC. It's wasted.
4611
4612 RIPLEY
4613 (pacing)
4614 I don't care how! Think of a
4615 way. Think of something.
4616
4617 HUDSON
4618 Think of what? We're fucked.
4619
4620 RIPLEY
4621 What about the colony transmitter?
4622 That up-link tower down at the
4623 other end. Why can't we use that?
4624
4625 BISHOP
4626 I checked. The hard wiring
4627 between here and there was severed
4628 in the fighting.
4629
4630 Ripley is wound up like a dynamo, her mind spinning out
4631 options, grim solutions.
4632
4633 RIPLEY
4634 Well then somebody's just going
4635 to have to go out there. Take a
4636 portable terminal and go out there
4637 and plug in manually.
4638
4639 HUDSON
4640 Oh, right! Right! With those
4641 things running around. No way.
4642
4643 BISHOP
4644 (quietly)
4645 I'll go.
4646
4647 RIPLEY
4648 What?
4649
4650 BISHOP
4651 I'm really the only one qualified
4652 to remote-pilot the ship anyway.
4653 Believe me, I'd prefer not to. I
4654 may be synthetic but I'm not stupid.
4655
4656 RIPLEY
4657 All right. Let's get on it. What'll
4658 you need?
4659
4660 VASQUEZ
4661 Listen. It's stopped.
4662
4663 They listen. Nothing. An instant later comes the
4664 HIGH-PITCHED TRILLING of a motion-sensor alarm. Hicks
4665 looks at the tactical board.
4666
4667 HICKS
4668 Well, they're into the complex.
4669
4670 INT. MED LAB 130
4671
4672 One of the acid holes from the colonists' siege has
4673 yielded access to subfloor conduits. Bishop lying in
4674 the opening, reaches up to graph the portable terminal
4675 as Ripley hands it down to him. He pushes it into
4676 the constricted shaft ahead of him. She then hands him
4677 a small satchel containing tools and assorted patch
4678 cables, a service pistol and a small cutting torch.
4679
4680 BISHOP
4681 This duct runs almost to the
4682 up-link assembly. One hundred
4683 eighty meters. Say, forty minutes
4684 to crawl down there. One hour
4685 to patch in and align the antenna.
4686 Thirty minutes to prep the ship,
4687 then about fifty minutes flight time.
4688
4689 Ripley looks at her watch.
4690
4691 RIPLEY
4692 It's going to be closer. You
4693 better get going.
4694
4695 BISHOP
4696 (cheerfully)
4697 See you soon.
4698
4699 She squirms into the shaft, pushing the equipment along
4700 ahead of him with a scraping rhythm. The diameter of
4701 the conduit is barely larger than the width of his
4702 shoulders. Vasquez slides a metal plate over the hole
4703 and begins spot welding it in place.
4704
4705 INT. CONDUIT 131
4706
4707 Bishop looks back as the welder seals him in. He sighs
4708 fatalistically and squirms forward. Ahead of him the
4709 conduit dwindles straight to seeming infinity. Like
4710 being in the bore of a very long Howitzer.
4711
4712 INT. MED LAB 132
4713
4714 Ripley jumps as an ALARM suddenly blares through the
4715 complex.
4716
4717 HICKS
4718 (voice over)
4719 They're in the approach corridor.
4720
4721 RIPLEY
4722 (into mike)
4723 On my way.
4724
4725 Ripley jumps up, unslinging a FLAMETHROWER from her
4726 shoulder in one motion, and sprints for Operations with
4727 Vasquez. The sound of SENTRY GUNS opening up in
4728 staccato bursts echoes from close by.
4729
4730 INT. OPERATIONS 133
4731
4732 Ripley runs to the tactical console where Hicks is
4733 mesmerized by the images from the surveillance cameras.
4734 The flashes of the sentry guns flare out the sensitive
4735 video, but impressions of figures moving in the smoky
4736 corridor are occasionally visible. The robot sentries
4737 hammer away, driving streamers of tracer fire into
4738 the swirling mist.
4739
4740 HICKS
4741 Twenty meters and closing.
4742 Fifteen. C and D guns down
4743 about fifty percent.
4744
4745 The digital readout whirl through descending numbers.
4746 An inhuman SHRILL SCREECHING is audible between bursts
4747 of fire.
4748
4749 RIPLEY
4750 Now many?
4751
4752 HICKS
4753 Can't tell. Lots. D gun's
4754 down to twenty. Ten. It's out.
4755
4756 Then the firing from the remaining guns stop abruptly.
4757 The video image is a swirling wall of smoke. Small fires
4758 burn, dim glows in the mist. There are black and
4759 twisted shapes, and pieces of twisted shapes, scattered
4760 at the edge of visibility. However, nothing emerges
4761 from the wall of smoke. The motion sensor TONE shuts off.
4762
4763 RIPLEY
4764 They retreated. The guns stopped
4765 them.
4766
4767 The moment stretches. Everyone exhales slowly.
4768
4769 HICKS
4770 Yeah. But look...
4771
4772 The digital counters for the two sentry guns read "0"
4773 and "10" respectively. Less than a second's worth of
4774 firing.
4775
4776 HICKS
4777 Newt time then can walk right
4778 up and knock.
4779
4780 RIPLEY
4781 But they don't know that. They're
4782 probably looking for other ways
4783 to get in. That'll take them awhile.
4784
4785 HUDSON
4786 Maybe we got 'em demoralized.
4787
4788 HICKS
4789 (to Vasquez
4790 and Hudson)
4791 I want you two walking the perimeter.
4792 I know we're all in strung out
4793 shape but stay frosty and alert.
4794 We've got to stop any entries before
4795 they get out of hand.
4796
4797 The two troopers nod and head for the corridor. Ripley
4798 sighs and picks up a cup of cold coffee, draining it in
4799 one gulp.
4800
4801 HICKS
4802 How long since you slept?
4803 Twenty-four hours?
4804
4805 Ripley shrugs. She seems soul weary, drained by the
4806 nerve-wracking tension. When she answers, her voice
4807 seems distant, detached.
4808
4809 RIPLEY
4810 (grimly)
4811 They'll get us.
4812
4813 HICKS
4814 Maybe. Maybe not.
4815
4816 RIPLEY
4817 Hicks, I'm not going to wind up like
4818 those others. You'll take care of
4819 it won't you, it if comes to that?
4820
4821 HICKS
4822 If it comes to that, I'll do us
4823 both. Let's see that it doesn't
4824 Here, I'd like to introduce you to
4825 a close personal friend of mine.
4826
4827 He picks up his pulse-rifle and with the casually precise
4828 movements of long practice he snaps open the bolt, drops
4829 out the magazine and hands it to her.
4830
4831 HICKS
4832 M-41A 10mm pulse-rifle, over and
4833 under with a 30mm pump-action
4834 grenade launcher.
4835
4836 Ripley hefts the weapon. It is heavy and awkward. But
4837 there is an irrational promise of security in its lethal
4838 cold steel lines, to at least the sense that she will
4839 be in some greater measure the master of her own fate.
4840 She raises it clumsily.
4841
4842 RIPLEY
4843 What do I do?
4844
4845 INT. CONDUIT 134
4846
4847 Bishop is in claustrophobic limbo between two echoing
4848 infinities. The pipe rings with his scraping advance.
4849 He approaches an irregular hole which admits a tiny
4850 shaft of light. He puts his eyes up to the acid-etched
4851 opening.
4852
4853 HIS P.O.V. as drooling jaws flash toward us, SLAMMING
4854 against the steel with a vicious scraping SNAP.
4855
4856 Bishop flattens himself away from the opening and
4857 inches along, looking pale and strained. He glances at
4858 his watch.
4859
4860 INT. OPERATIONS 135
4861
4862 Ripley has the stock of the M-41A snugged up to her cheek
4863 and is awkwardly trying to keep up with Hicks'
4864 instructions. The Corporal is standing close behind her,
4865 positioning her arms. It's intimate but that's the
4866 last thing on their minds.
4867
4868 HICKS
4869 Just pull it in real right. It
4870 will kick some. When the counter
4871 here heads zero, hit this...
4872
4873 He thumbs a button and the magazine drops out, clattering
4874 on the floor.
4875
4876 HICKS
4877 Just let it drop right out. Get
4878 the other one in quick. Just
4879 slap it in hard, it likes abuse.
4880 Now, pull the bolt.
4881
4882 CLACK.
4883
4884 HICKS
4885 You're ready again.
4886
4887 Ripley repeats the action, not very smoothly. Her hands
4888 are trembling. She indicates a stout TUBE underneath
4889 the slender pulse-rifle barrel.
4890
4891 RIPLEY
4892 What's this?
4893
4894 HICKS
4895 Well, that's the grenade launcher
4896 ...you probably don't want to
4897 mess with that.
4898
4899 RIPLEY
4900 Look, you started this. Now show
4901 me everything. I can handle myself.
4902
4903 HICKS
4904 Yeah. I've noticed.
4905
4906 INT. CORRIDOR 136
4907
4908 DOLLYING WITH Ripley walking down the corridor, now
4909 carrying the newfound friend, the M-41A. Gorman steps
4910 out of the door to the med lab, looking weak but sound.
4911 Burke is right behind him.
4912
4913 RIPLEY
4914 How do you feel?
4915
4916 GORMAN
4917 All right, I guess. One hell
4918 of a hangover. Look, Ripley...
4919 I...
4920
4921 RIPLEY
4922 Forget it.
4923
4924 She shoulders by him into the med lab. Gorman turns to
4925 see Vasquez staring at him with cold, slitted eyes.
4926
4927 GORMAN
4928 You still want to kill me?
4929
4930 VASQUEZ
4931 (turning away)
4932 It won't be necessary.
4933
4934 INT. MED LAB - ANNEX 137
4935
4936 Ripley crosses the deserted lab, passing through the
4937 annex to the small O.R. where she left Newt.
4938
4939 INT. MED LAB - O.R. 138
4940
4941 Entering the darkened chamber, Ripley looks around.
4942 Newt is nowhere to be seen. On a hunch she kneels down
4943 and peers under the bed. Newt is curled up there,
4944 jammed as far back as she can get, fast asleep. Still
4945 clutching "Casey."
4946
4947 Ripley stares at Newt's tiny face, so angelic despite
4948 the demons that have chased her through her dreams and
4949 the reality between dreams. Ripley lays the rifle on
4950 top of the cot and crawls carefully underneath. Without
4951 waking the little girl, she slips her arms around her.
4952
4953 Ripley becomes merely the larger of two children huddling
4954 together in the darkness under their bed.
4955
4956 Newt's face contorts with the externalization of some
4957 tormented dreamscape. She cries out, a vague inarticulate
4958 plea. Ripley rocks her gently.
4959
4960 RIPLEY
4961 There, there. Sssshh. It's all
4962 right.
4963
4964 EXT. Up-LINK TOWER - VIEW OF AP STATION 139
4965
4966 A VIEW OF the processing station from the colony landing
4967 platform. A rising wind is clearing out the low fog and
4968 the silhouette of the station grows sharper. Several
4969 systems of high pressure conduits at the base of the
4970 conical tower are actually glowing dull red with heat in
4971 the darkness. High voltage discharges arc around the
4972 upper latticework, lighting the blighted landscape
4973 with irregular glaring flashes.
4974
4975 PAN ONTO BISHOP, F.G. hunched against the wind at the
4976 base of the telemetry tower. He has a TEST-BAY PANEL
4977 open and the portable terminal patched in. His jacket
4978 is draped over the keyboard and monitor unit to protect
4979 it from the elements and he is typing frenetically.
4980
4981 BISHOP
4982 (to himself)
4983 Now, if I did it right...
4984
4985 He punches a key marked "ENABLE."
4986
4987 INT. SULACO CARGO LOCK - IN ORBIT 140
4988
4989 The drop bay is empty and silent, with the remaining
4990 ship brooding in the shadows. A KLAXON sounds and
4991 rotating clearance lights come on. Hydraulics whine
4992 to life. Drop-ship two moves out on its overhead track
4993 and is lowered into the drop bay fro launch-prep.
4994 Service booms and fueling couplers move in automatically
4995 around the hull. A recorded announcement echoes across
4996 the huge chamber.
4997
4998 FEMALE VOICE
4999 Attention. Attention. Automatic
5000 fueling operations have begun.
5001 Please extinguish all smoking
5002 materials.
5003
5004 INT. OPERATING ROOM - TIGHT ON RIPLEY - MED LAB 141
5005
5006 as she awakens with a start. She checks her watch...
5007 an hour has passed. She gently disengages herself from
5008 Newt and is about to crawl out from beneath the cot
5009 when she sees something and FREEZES.
5010
5011 Across the room, just inside the door to the med lab,
5012 are two innocuous but nonetheless chilling objects.
5013 TWO STASIS CYLINDERS. Their tops are hinged open, and
5014 the suspension fields are switched off. They are both
5015 EMPTY. Ripley feels a slow upwelling wave of terror
5016 rise through her in that silent frozen moment...the
5017 inescapable certainty of a lethal presence. Unable to
5018 move or breathe, she looks around frantically, assessing
5019 the situation.
5020
5021 RIPLEY
5022 (whispers)
5023 Newt. Newt, wake up.
5024
5025 NEWT
5026 Wah...? Where are...?
5027
5028 RIPLEY
5029 (whispers)
5030 Sssh. Don't move. We're in
5031 trouble.
5032
5033 Newt nods, now wide awake. They listen in the darkness
5034 for the slightest betrayal of movement. The scrabble
5035 of multiple legs across the polished floor, for example.
5036
5037 There is only the droning HUM of the little space heater.
5038 Ripley reaches up and, clutching the springs of the
5039 underside of the cot, begins to inch it away from the
5040 wall.
5041
5042 The SQUEAL OF METAL as the legs scrape across the floor
5043 is jarringly loud in the stillness.
5044
5045 When the space is wide enough she cautiously slides
5046 herself up between the wall and the edge of the cot,
5047 reaching for the rifle she left lying on top of the
5048 mattress. Here yes clear the edge of the bed. The rifle
5049 is GONE.
5050
5051 She snaps her head around. A SCUTTLING SHAPE LEAPS
5052 TOWARD HER from the foot of the bed! She ducks with
5053 a startled cry. The obscene thing hits the wall above
5054 her, legs moving lightning fast. Reflexively she slams
5055 the bed against the wall, pinning the creature inches
5056 above her face. Its legs and tail writhe with
5057 incredible ferocity and it emits a demented, piercing
5058 SQUEAL.
5059
5060 Ripley heaves Newt across the polished floor and in a
5061 frenzied scramble rolls from beneath the cot. She
5062 flips it over, trapping the creature underneath.
5063
5064 They back away, gasping. Ripley's eyes flash around
5065 the shadowed room where every corner of space
5066 between equipment holds lethal promise. The creature
5067 scuttles from beneath the bed and disappears under a
5068 back of cabinets in a blur. Ripley hugs Newt close
5069 and heads toward the door, moving as if every object in
5070 the room had a million volts running through it. She
5071 reaches the door. Hits the wall switch. Nothing
5072 happens. Disabled from outside. She tries the lights.
5073 Nothing. She pounds on the door. The acoustically
5074 dampened door panel thunks dully. She moves to the
5075 observation window, glancing frantically over her
5076 shoulder. The bare floor behind her is like a screaming
5077 threat.
5078
5079 RIPLEY
5080 (shouting)
5081 Hey...hey!
5082
5083 She pounds on the window. Through the double
5084 thickness window we can SEE that the lab is dark and
5085 empty. Ripley whirls, hearing a loathsome scrabbling
5086 behind her. Newt starts to whimper, feeding off her
5087 fear. She steps in front of the video surveillance
5088 camera and waves her arms in a circle.
5089
5090 RIPLEY
5091 Hicks! Hicks!
5092
5093 INT. OPERATIONS - TIGHT ON VIDEO MONITOR 142
5094
5095 showing Ripley waving her arms. There is no sound,
5096 a surreal pantomime.
5097
5098 A hand ENTERS FRAME and switches off the monitor.
5099 Ripley's image vanishes.
5100
5101 WIDER ANGLE as Burke straightens casually from
5102 the console. Hicks is talking via headset with
5103 Bishop and hasn't noticed Ripley's plight or
5104 Burke's action.
5105
5106 HICKS
5107 (into mike)
5108 Roger. Check back when you've
5109 activated the ship.
5110 (turning)
5111 He's at the up-link tower.
5112
5113 BURKE
5114 (calmly)
5115 Excellent.
5116
5117 INT. OPERATING ROOM 143
5118
5119 Ripley picks up a steel chair and slams it against
5120 the observation window. It bounces back from the
5121 high-impact material. She tries again.
5122
5123 REVERSE ANGLE from the med lab side, showing her
5124 futile efforts, the chair hitting with a dull THWACK
5125 barely audible through the double thickness pressure
5126 port.
5127
5128 Ripley turns, studying the room. She fumbles through
5129 a clutter of equipment on a counter next to her and
5130 finds a SMALL EXAMINATION LIGHT. Snapping it on she
5131 plays the beam over the walls. Tall assemblies of
5132 surgical and anaethesiology equipment loom in the
5133 dark. She hears, ot thinks she hears, movements. The
5134 light spins across the room, swiveling and bobbing
5135 frantically. Like an indicator of her growing panic.
5136 Newt starts a thin, high wailing.
5137
5138 NEWT
5139 Mommy...mommmyyyyy...
5140
5141 Ripley steadies herself, realizing Newt's terror and
5142 the child's dependence on her. She plays the beam
5143 across the ceiling. Holds on something. Gets an idea.
5144 She removes her lighter from a jacket pocket and picks
5145 up some papers from the counter. Moving cautiously
5146 she boosts Newt up onto the SURGICAL TABLE in the center
5147 of the room and clambers up after her.
5148
5149 NEWT
5150 Mommy...I mean, Ripley...I'm
5151 scared.
5152
5153 RIPLEY
5154 I know, honey. Me too.
5155
5156 Ripley lights the papers and holds the flaming mass
5157 under the temperature sensor of a fire control system
5158 SPRINKLER HEAD. It triggers, spraying the room from
5159 several sources with water. An ALARM sounds throughout
5160 the complex.
5161
5162 INT. OPERATIONS 144
5163
5164 Hicks jumps at the sound of the alarm, finally
5165 identifying its source among the lights flashing on
5166 his board. He bolts for the door, yelling into his
5167 headset as he moves.
5168
5169 HICKS
5170 Vasquez, Hudson, meet me in
5171 medical! We got a fire!
5172
5173 INT. OPERATING ROOM 145
5174
5175 Ripley and Newt are drenched as the sprinklers
5176 continue to drizzle in the darkness. The SIREN
5177 hoots maniacally, masking all other sound. Ripley
5178 scans the room with her light, her hair plastered
5179 to her face, wiping water out of her eyes. She is
5180 eye level with a complex surgical MULTILIGHT. She
5181 looks into its tangle of arms and cables, inches away.
5182 Looks away. Her eyes snap back. SOMETHING LEAPS AT
5183 HER FACE. She SCREAMS and topples off the table,
5184 splashing to the floor. Newt shrieks and scrambles
5185 away as Ripley hurls the CHITTERING creature off of
5186 her. It slams against a wall of cabinets, clings
5187 for a moment, then leaps back as if driven by a
5188 steel spring. Ripley scrambles desperately, pulling
5189 equipment over on top of herself, clawing across the
5190 floor in a frenzy of motion. In a blurr of
5191 multijointed legs the creature scuttles up her body.
5192
5193 She tears at it, but it is incredibly powerful for
5194 its size. It moves like lightning toward her head,
5195 avoiding her fumbling hands. Newt screams abjectly,
5196 backing away, until she is pressed up against a
5197 desk in one corner.
5198
5199 Ripley has both hands up, forcing the pulsing body
5200 back from her face. The thing's tail whips around
5201 her throat and begins to tighten, forcing the underside
5202 of its body close to her. Ripley thrashes about,
5203 knocking over equipment, sending instruments CLATTERING.
5204 Water streams over her, into her eyes, blinding her
5205 and making it impossible to get a grip on the creature's
5206 body.
5207
5208 ANGLE ON NEWT as crablike legs appear from behind the
5209 desk, right behind her. She sees it and, thinking
5210 fast, jams the desk against the wall, pinning the
5211 writhing thing. The desk jumps and shudders against
5212 all the pressure her tiny body can bring to bear on it.
5213 She wails between gritted teeth as the second creature
5214 gets one leg free, then another and another. Squeezing
5215 itself inexorably onto the desk top...toward her.
5216
5217 The legs of the chittering thing claw at Ripley's
5218 head, getting a surer grip even as she whips her head
5219 from side to side. The obscene TUBULE extrudes wetly
5220 from the sheath on the creature's underside, forcing
5221 itself between the arms she has crossed tightly over
5222 her face.
5223
5224 A figure appears at the observation window, a silhouette
5225 behind the misted-over glass. A hand wipes a clear spot.
5226 Hick's eyes appear. He steps back. WHAM! A burst of
5227 pulse-rifle fire shatters the tempered glass. Hicks
5228 dives into the crazed spider web pattern and explodes
5229 into the room in a shower of fragments. He hits
5230 rolling, his armor grinding through the shards, and
5231 slides across to Ripley. He gets his fingers around the
5232 thrashing legs of the vicious beast and pulls. Between
5233 the two of them they force is away from her face,
5234 though Ripley is losing strength as the tail tightens
5235 sickeningly around her throat. Hudson leaps into the
5236 room, flings Newt away from the desk to go skidding
5237 across the wet floor, and blasts the second creature
5238 against the wall. Point-blank. Acid and smoke.
5239
5240 Gorman appears at Ripley's side and grabs the tail,
5241 unwinding its writhing length like a boa constrictor
5242 coil from her throat. All of them grip the struggling,
5243 SHRIEKING creature.
5244
5245 HICKS
5246 The corner! Ready?
5247
5248 HUDSON
5249 Do it!
5250
5251 Hicks hurls the thing into the corner. It scrabbles
5252 upright in an instant and leaps back toward them.
5253 WHAM! Hudson gets it clean.
5254
5255 Ripley collapses, gagging. The alarm and sprinklers
5256 shut off automatically. Hicks sees the stasis
5257 cylinders.
5258
5259 RIPLEY
5260 (coughing)
5261 Burke...it was Burke.
5262
5263 INT. OPERATIONS - ANGLE ON HUDSON 146
5264
5265 looking decidedly stressed-out. He grips his rifle
5266 tightly, AIMED RIGHT AT CAMERA.
5267
5268 HUDSON
5269 (intense)
5270 I say we grease this rat-fuck
5271 son of a bitch right now!
5272
5273 THE GROUP is gathered around Burke who sits in a
5274 chair, maintaining an icy calm although beads of
5275 sweat betray intense concealed tension. Only a few
5276 minutes have passes and everyone is still buzzed on
5277 adrenaline, as if the whole group is charged with
5278 high voltage.
5279
5280 HICKS
5281 (pacing)
5282 I don't get it. It doesn't
5283 make any Goddamn sense.
5284
5285 Ripley stands in front of Burke, every fiber of
5286 her being accusing him with absolute outrage. Burke
5287 tries to break Ripley's stare, which is like a
5288 diamond drill. He can't.
5289
5290 RIPLEY
5291 He wanted an alien, only he
5292 couldn't get it back through
5293 quarantine. But if we were impregnated
5294 ...whatever you call it...and then
5295 frozen for the trip back at just
5296 the right time...then nobody would
5297 know about the embryos we were carrying.
5298 We and Newt.
5299
5300 Ripley glances at the little girl, a frail figure
5301 sitting nearby, hugging her knees and watching the
5302 proceedings with somber eyes. She is all but lost in
5303 an adult jacket someone has found for her, and her still
5304 damp hair is plastered to her forehead and cheeks.
5305
5306 HICKS
5307 Wait a minute. We'd know about it.
5308
5309 RIPLEY
5310 The only way it would work is if
5311 he sabotaged certain freezers
5312 on the trip back. Then he could
5313 jettison the bodies and make up
5314 any story he liked.
5315
5316 HUDSON
5317 Fuuuck! He's dead.
5318 (to Burke)
5319 You're dogmeat, pal.
5320
5321 BURKE
5322 This is total paranoid delusion.
5323 It's pitiful.
5324
5325 RIPLEY
5326 (wearily)
5327 You know, Burke, I don't know
5328 which species is worse. You don't
5329 see them screwing each other over
5330 for a fucking percentage.
5331
5332 HICKS
5333 (serious)
5334 Let's waste him.
5335 (to Burke)
5336 No offense.
5337
5338 Ripley shakes her head, the rage giving way to a
5339 sickened emptiness.
5340
5341 RIPLEY
5342 Just find someplace to lock him
5343 up until it's time to --
5344
5345 THE LIGHTS GO OUT. Everyone stops in the sudden darkness,
5346 realizing instinctively it is a new escalation in the
5347 struggle. Hicks looks at the board. Everything is out.
5348 Doors. Video screens.
5349
5350 RIPLEY
5351 They cut the power.
5352
5353 HUDSON
5354 What do you mean, they cut the
5355 power? How could they cut the
5356 power, man? They're animals.
5357
5358 Ripley picks up her rifle and thumbs off the safety.
5359
5360 RIPLEY
5361 Newt! Stay close.
5362 (to the others)
5363 Let's get some trackers going.
5364 Come on, get moving. Gorman, watch
5365 Burke.
5366
5367 Hudson and Vasquez pick up their scanners and move to
5368 the door. Vasquez has to slide it open manually on its
5369 track.
5370
5371 INT. CORRIDOR 147
5372
5373 The two troopers separate and move rapidly to the
5374 barriers at opposite ends of the control block.
5375
5376 DOLLYING WITH VASQUEZ as she moves forward with feral
5377 steps in the darkness.
5378
5379 ON HUDSON scanning the med lab and the nearby barrier.
5380
5381 RIPLEY
5382 (voice over)
5383 Anything?
5384
5385 BEEP. Hudson's tracker lights up, a faint signal.
5386
5387 HUDSON
5388 There's something.
5389
5390 He pans it around. Back down the corridor. It beep
5391 again, louder.
5392
5393 HUDSON
5394 It's inside the complex.
5395
5396 VASQUEZ
5397 (voice over)
5398 You're just reading me.
5399
5400 HUDSON
5401 No. No! It ain't you. They're
5402 inside. Inside the perimeter.
5403 They're in here.
5404
5405 RIPLEY
5406 Hudson, stay cool. Vasquez?
5407
5408 ANGLE ON VASQUEZ swinging her tracker and rifle together.
5409 She aims it behind her. BEEP.
5410
5411 VASQUEZ
5412 (cool)
5413 Hudson may be right.
5414
5415 INT. OPERATIONS 148
5416
5417 Ripley and Hicks share a look..."here we go."
5418
5419 HICKS
5420 (low)
5421 It's game time.
5422
5423 RIPLEY
5424 Get back here, both of you. Fall
5425 back to Operations.
5426
5427 INT. CORRIDOR 149
5428
5429 Hudson backtracks nervously, peering all around. He
5430 looks stretched to the limit.
5431
5432 HUDSON
5433 This signal's weird...must be
5434 some interference or something.
5435 There's movement all over the
5436 place...
5437
5438 RIPLEY
5439 (voice over)
5440 Just get back here!
5441
5442 Hudson reaches the door to operations at a run, a
5443 moment before Vasquez. They pull the door shut and
5444 lock it.
5445
5446 INT. OPERATIONS 150
5447
5448 Hudson joins Ripley and Hicks, who are laying out their
5449 armament. Flamethrowers. Grenades. M-41A magazines.
5450 Hudson's tracker beeps. Then again. The tone continues
5451 through the SCENE, its rhythm increasing.
5452
5453 HUDSON
5454 Movement! Signal's clean.
5455
5456 He pans the scanner. Stops. The range display reads
5457 out, counting down.
5458
5459 HUDSON
5460 Range twenty meters.
5461
5462 RIPLEY
5463 (to Vasquez)
5464 Seal the door.
5465
5466 Vasquez picks up a hand-welder and moves to comply.
5467
5468 HUDSON
5469 Seventeen meters.
5470
5471 HICKS
5472 Let's get these things lit.
5473
5474 He hands one flamethrower to RIpley and begins priming
5475 the other himself. It lights with a muffled POP.
5476 Ripley's lights a moment later. Sparks shower around
5477 Vasquez as she begins welding the door. Hudson's tracker
5478 is beeping like mad now, as fast as their hearts.
5479
5480 RIPLEY
5481 They learned. They cut the power
5482 and avoided the guns. They must
5483 have found another way in, something
5484 we missed.
5485
5486 HICKS
5487 We didn't miss anything.
5488
5489 HUDSON
5490 Fifteen meters.
5491
5492 RIPLEY
5493 I don't know, an acid hole in
5494 a duct. Something under the
5495 floors, not on the plans.
5496 I don't know!
5497
5498 She picks up Vasquez' scanner and aims it the same
5499 direction as Hudson's.
5500
5501 HUDSON
5502 Twelve meters. Man, this is a big
5503 fucking signal. Ten meters.
5504
5505 RIPLEY
5506 They're right on us. Vasquez,
5507 how you doing?
5508
5509 Vasquez is heedlessly showering herself with molten metal
5510 as she welds the door shut. Working like a demon.
5511
5512 HUDSON
5513 Nine meters. Eight.
5514
5515 RIPLEY
5516 Can't be. That's inside the room!
5517
5518 HUDSON
5519 It's readin' right. Look!
5520
5521 Ripley fiddles with her tracker, adjusting the tuning.
5522
5523 HICKS
5524 Well you're not reading it right!
5525
5526 HUDSON
5527 Six meters. Five. What the fu --
5528
5529 He looks at Ripley. It dawns on both of them at the same
5530 time. She feels a cold premonitory dread as she angles
5531 her tracker upward to the ceiling, almost overhead. The
5532 tone gets louder.
5533
5534 Hicks climbs onto a file cabinet and raises a panel of
5535 acoustic drop-ceiling. He shines his light inside.
5536
5537 HICKS' P.O.V. 151
5538
5539 A soul-wrenching nightmare image. Moving in the beam of
5540 light are aliens. Lots of aliens. They are crawling
5541 like bats, upside down, clinging to the pipes and beams
5542 of the structural ceiling, not touching the flimsy
5543 acoustic panels. They glisten hideously as they claw
5544 their way forward in silence. They cover the ceiling
5545 of the operations room. The inner sanctum is utterly
5546 violated.
5547
5548 ON HICKS 152
5549
5550 blasted by fear.
5551
5552 Something moves...he snaps the light around. It's a
5553 meter behind him. IT LUNGES! He drops reflexively,
5554 the claws raking across his armor.
5555
5556 Hicks falls into the room just as the creatures detach
5557 en masse from the handholds. THE CEILING EXPLODES,
5558 raining debris. Nightmare shapes drop into the room.
5559 Newt screams. Hudson opens fire. Vasquez grabs Hicks,
5560 pulls him up, firing one handed with her flamethrower.
5561 Ripley scoops up Newt and staggers back. Gorman turns
5562 to fire and Burke bolts for the only remaining exit,
5563 the corridor connecting to the med lab. In the
5564 strobelike glare of the pulse-rifles we SEE flashes
5565 of aliens, moving forward in the smoke from the
5566 flamethrower fires. They move like nothing human...
5567 leaping quick as insects at times or gliding with
5568 powerful, balletic grace.
5569
5570 RIPLEY
5571 Medical! Get to medical!
5572
5573 She dashes for the corridor.
5574
5575 INT. MED LAB CORRIDOR 153
5576
5577 DOLLYING BEHIND HER as she sprints, the walls becoming
5578 a frenzied blur. Ahead of her Burke clears the door to
5579 the med lab. HE SLIDES IT CLOSED. Ripley slams into
5580 the door. Tries the latch. Hears it LOCK from the far
5581 side.
5582
5583 RIPLEY
5584 Burke! Open the door!
5585
5586 NEWT
5587 Look!
5588
5589 Behind her an alien is moving down the corridor like a
5590 locomotive, a graceful skeleton shape as lethal and
5591 inhuman as you can imagine. Strobe flashes backlight
5592 the demented silhouette. Shaking, Ripley raises her
5593 rifle. She squeezes the trigger. NOTHING HAPPENS.
5594 The creature HISSES, baring its teeth as it advances.
5595 Ripley checks the SAFETY. The safety is off. The
5596 DIGITAL COUNTER. The magazine is full. Newt begins to
5597 wail. Ripley's hands, slick with sweat, are trembling
5598 so much she almost drops the rifle. Panic screams in
5599 her brain. The thing is almost on her, filling the
5600 corridor, when she remembers. She snaps the bolt back,
5601 chambering a round. Whips the stock to her shoulder.
5602 FIRES. FLASH-CRACK! A FLASHBULB GLIMPSE OF shrieking
5603 jaws as the silhouette is hurled back, screeching
5604 insanely.
5605
5606 Ripley is slammed against the door by the recoil,
5607 blinded by the flash and deafened by the concussion.
5608
5609 INT. OPERATIONS 154
5610
5611 Hicks looks up. Fires POINT-BLANK at a leaping
5612 silhouette. SCREEEECH! The fire-control system has
5613 tripped, with sprinklers spraying the room and a
5614 mindless SIREN wailing. Total pandemonium.
5615
5616 HUDSON
5617 (hysterical)
5618 Let's go! Let's go!
5619
5620 HICKS
5621 Fuckin' A!
5622
5623 Hudson screams as floor panels lift under him, and clawed
5624 arms seize him lightning fast, dragging him down.
5625 Another skeletal shape leaps on him from above. He
5626 disappears into the subfloor crawlway. Hicks, Vasquez
5627 and Gorman make it to the med lab access corridor.
5628
5629 INT. CORRIDOR
5630
5631 Stunned, Ripley sees through dissipating smoke the
5632 creature rising to advance again. Flinching against
5633 blast and glare she drills it POINT-BLANK with a
5634 BLINDING BURST that carries the M-41A's muzzle right
5635 up toward the ceiling. Newt covers her ears against
5636 the CONCUSSION.
5637
5638 HICKS
5639 (o.s.)
5640 Hold you fire!
5641
5642 The troopers seem to materialize out of the smoke.
5643
5644 RIPLEY
5645 (indicating door)
5646 Locked.
5647
5648 HICKS
5649 Stand back.
5650
5651 Hicks snaps the torch off his belt and cuts into the
5652 lock. Inhuman shapes enter the far end of the corridor.
5653 Vasquez hands her flamethrower to Gorman and unslings
5654 her rifle. She starts loading 30mm grenades into the
5655 launcher, like oversize 12-guage shells.
5656
5657 GORMAN
5658 You can't use those in here!
5659
5660 VASQUEZ
5661 Right. Fire in the hole!
5662
5663 She pumps a round up and fires. The grenade EXPLODES and
5664 the blast almost knocks them down. Hicks kicks the door
5665 open, molten droplets flying.
5666
5667 HICKS
5668 (shouting at Vasquez)
5669 Thanks a lot! Now I can't hear shit.
5670
5671 VASQUEZ
5672 (shouting)
5673 What?
5674
5675 INT. MED LAB ANNEX 156
5676
5677 Vasquez slides the door almost closed, then fires three
5678 grenades rapid-fire through the gap. She slams the door
5679 home as the grenades detonate, the explosion sounding
5680 gonglike through the metal.
5681
5682 Ripley sprints across the room, trying the far door.
5683 Burke has locked it as well. Hicks switches his
5684 hand-torch from CUT to WELD and starts sealing the door
5685 they just passed through.
5686
5687 INT. MED LAB 157
5688
5689 Burke, hyperventilating with terror, backs across the
5690 dark chamber. Gasping, almost paralyzed with fear, he
5691 crosses the chamber to the door leading to the main
5692 concourse. His fingers reach for the latch. It moves
5693 by itself. The door opens slowly.
5694
5695 ON BURKE his eyes wide, transfixed by his fate. We
5696 hear the BULLWHIP CRACK of a tail-stinger striking as we:
5697
5698 CUT TO:
5699
5700 INT. MED LAB ANNEX 158
5701
5702 The door dimples with a clanging impact, separating
5703 slightly from its frame. Another crash, the squeal of
5704 tortured steel. Newt grabs Ripley by the hand and
5705 tugs her across the room.
5706
5707 NEWT
5708 Come on! This way.
5709
5710 She leads Ripley to an air vent set low in the wall and
5711 expertly unlatches the grille, swinging it open. Newt
5712 starts inside but Ripley pulls her back.
5713
5714 RIPLEY
5715 Stay behind me.
5716
5717 Ripley trades her rifle for Gorman's flamethrower before
5718 he can protest and enters the air shaft, which is a
5719 tight fit. Newt scrambles in behind, followed by Hicks,
5720 Gorman and Vasquez on rearguard. Glancing back
5721 fearfully Newt pushes on Ripley's butt as they crawl
5722 rapidly through the shaft.
5723
5724 NEWT
5725 Come on. Crawl faster.
5726
5727 RIPLEY
5728 DO you know how to get to the
5729 landing field from here?
5730
5731 NEWT
5732 Sure. Go left.
5733
5734 Ripley turns into a larger MAIN DUCT where there is
5735 enough room to crab-walk in a low crouch. She runs,
5736 scraping her back on the ceiling. The troopers' armor
5737 clatters in the confined space. They approach an
5738 intersection. She fires the flamethrower around the
5739 corner, the looks. Clear.
5740
5741 NEWT
5742 Go right.
5743
5744 They sprint into the narrow connecting duct, the maze
5745 becoming a blur. Ripley fires the flamethrower
5746 periodically, as they pass side ducts covered by
5747 louvered grilles or vertical shafts going to higher or
5748 lower levels.
5749
5750 HICKS
5751 (into headset)
5752 Bishop, you read me? Come in, over.
5753
5754 There is a long pause then Bishop's VOICE, almost
5755 unintelligible with interference, comes over the radio.
5756
5757 BISHOP
5758 (voice over;
5759 static)
5760 Yes, I read you. Not very well...
5761
5762 EXT. UP-LINK RELAY - LANDING FIELD 159
5763
5764 Bishop is huddled against the base of the telemetry
5765 mast, out of the wind which is now gusting viciously.
5766
5767 BISHOP
5768 (yelling;
5769 over enunciating)
5770 The ship is on its way. ETA
5771 about sixteen minutes. I've
5772 got my hands full flying...
5773 the weather's come up a bit.
5774
5775 Bishop's fingers are blurring over the terminal keys and
5776 he squints, watching the screen as the flight telemetry
5777 updates rapidly.
5778
5779 In the b.g. the AP station has become a raging demon,
5780 wreathed in boiling steam and electrical discharges.
5781
5782 INT. AIR DUCT 160
5783
5784 HICKS
5785 All right, stand by there. We're
5786 on out way. Over.
5787
5788 The beam of Ripley's light wavers hypnotically in the
5789 tunnel ahead. She blinks, seeing something...not sure.
5790 A GLINTING OBSCENE FORM MOVING TOWARD THEM, filling the
5791 tunnel at the absolute limit of the light's power.
5792
5793 RIPLEY
5794 Back. Go back!
5795
5796 They try to crawl back, jamming together. Behind them,
5797 the way they have come, a GRATING is battered in with a
5798 FEROCIOUS CLANG and the deadly silhouette of a warrior
5799 flows into the duct. They are trapped. Vasquez uses
5800 her flamethrower, bathing the tunnel in fire. Hicks
5801 snaps out his hand-welder and cuts into the wall of the
5802 duct. Molten metal spatters him, as sparks fill the
5803 tunnel with lurid light. Vasquez' flamethrower sputters.
5804
5805 VASQUEZ
5806 (icy)
5807 Losing fuel.
5808
5809 Between eye-searing bursts of flame Ripley sees the
5810 glistening apparitions closing in. Hicks' torch feathers
5811 out. Empty. Bracing his back he kicks hard at the
5812 cherry-hot metal. It bends aside.
5813
5814 Beyond is a narrow SERVICE WAY, lined with pipes and
5815 conduit. Hicks slides through the searing hole,
5816 lifting Newt safely through as Ripley hands her out.
5817 Ripley follows and turns to help Gorman. Vasquez'
5818 flamethrower goes dry. She draws her SERVICE PISTOL.
5819 Suddenly she looks up as a WARRIOR SCREECHES DOWN FROM
5820 A VERTICAL SHAFT, right above her.
5821
5822 She fires with incredible rapidity...BAM! BAM! BAM!
5823 Rolls aside. It lands on her legs and she snaps her head
5824 to one side just as its TAIL STINGER buries into the
5825 metal wall beside her cheek. She fires again, emptying
5826 the pistol, kicking the thrashing shape away.
5827
5828 Acid cuts through her chickenplate armor, searing into
5829 her thigh. She cries out, gritting her teeth against
5830 the white-hot pain. Gorman sees Vasquez hit, unable to
5831 move. Sees the creatures coming the other way...and
5832 turns away from the escape hole. He crawls back to her,
5833 grabs her battle harness and starts dragging her towards
5834 safety. Too late. The approaching alien warriors have
5835 reached and passed the opening. Vasquez sees him,
5836 barely conscious.
5837
5838 VASQUEZ
5839 (hoarse whisper)
5840 You always were an asshole, Gorman.
5841
5842 She seizes his hand in a deadly drip, but we RECOGNIZE
5843 it as the "power greeting" she shared with Drake...
5844 something for the chosen few. Gorman returns the grip.
5845 He hands her two grenades and arms two himself as the
5846 creatures are upon them.
5847
5848 INT. SERVICE WAY 161
5849
5850 RUSHING WITH Ripley, Newt and Hicks as a full tilt run.
5851 The service way lights up with a POWERFUL BLAST behind
5852 them and they stumble with the shock wave. Newt breaks
5853 out ahead and it's all Ripley and Hicks can do to keep
5854 up.
5855
5856 NEWT
5857 This way. Come on, we're almost
5858 there!
5859
5860 RIPLEY
5861 Newt, wait!
5862
5863 The kid moves like lightning, diving and dodging around
5864 obstacles. If it wasn't clear before it's clear now
5865 that we are on her turf, and she's the ace. Running on
5866 and on, their breathing loud and echoing...the walls
5867 a directionless blur. Newt never hesitates.
5868
5869 They reach a junction with a narrow ANGLED CHUTE which
5870 runs upward at a steep 45 degrees.
5871
5872 NEWT
5873 Here! Go up.
5874
5875 INT. CHUTE 162
5876
5877 Ripley looks up the angles shaft, seeing light at the
5878 top...an exterior vent hood. The sound of wind booms
5879 down from above. Like blowing across a bottle top
5880 vastly amplified.
5881
5882 Ripley enters, bracing her feet on perilously narrow
5883 side ribs in the shaft. She looks down. The chute
5884 descends far into the depths, lost in shadow. She
5885 starts to climb with Next behind/below her, and Hicks,
5886 just emerging from the side duct.
5887
5888 NEWT
5889 Just up there --
5890
5891 Newt slips, a rusted rib collapsing under her foot. She
5892 slides...catches herself with one hand. Ripley reaches
5893 for her, dropping her light. The hand-light goes
5894 skittering and bumping down the chute, around a bend,
5895 and disappears.
5896
5897 Ripley strains, reaching, her hand groping for Newt's.
5898 They miss, inches apart.
5899
5900 NEWT
5901 Riiiiipppleee --
5902
5903 She slips. Hicks lunges, grabbing her oversized jacket.
5904 AND SHE SLIPS OUT OF IT. With an echoing scream Newt
5905 plummets, sliding down the chute into darkness.
5906
5907 MOVING WITH HER, the walls racing by in a dizzy blur like
5908 a bobsled ride. THe shaft pitches left. Newt bounces,
5909 sliding halfway up the wall. The chute forks ahead.
5910 Newt tumbles into the right shaft, which drops at a
5911 steeper angle into the depths. Just disappearing down
5912 the LEFT SHAFT we SEE Ripley's light.
5913
5914 Ripley looks Hicks in the eye. And kicks free...sliding
5915 down the chute after Newt. Ripley slams her feet into
5916 the side-ribs, bracing herself in a controlled descent.
5917 Ripley reaches the "V." Sees the glow of the light in
5918 the left fork. She goes left.
5919
5920 RIPLEY
5921 Newt!
5922
5923 She hears a plaintive reply, so echoey and distorted it
5924 has no direction.
5925
5926 NEWT
5927 (o.s.)
5928 Mommy...where are you?
5929
5930 Ripley reaches the bottom of the chute where it
5931 intersects with a HORIZONTAL SERVICE TUNNEL. The light
5932 is lying there, but no Newt. The echoing wail comes
5933 again.
5934
5935 NEWT
5936 (o.s.)
5937 Moooommeeee...
5938
5939 Ripley starts down the tunnel, answering. Newt's call
5940 comes again. Fainter? She can't tell. She spins in
5941 a growing panic, starts the other way.
5942
5943 RIPLEY
5944 (to her headset)
5945 Hicks, get down here. I need
5946 that locator.
5947
5948 INT. SUBBASEMENT 163
5949
5950 Newt is in a low grottolike chamber, filled with pipes
5951 and machines. It is flooded, almost up to Newt's waist.
5952 She looks up, seeing light streaming through a grating.
5953 Ripley's voice seems to come from there.
5954
5955 RIPLEY
5956 (o.s.)
5957 Newt! Star wherever you are!
5958
5959 Newt climbs some pipes, straining to reach the grating.
5960
5961 INT. SERVICE TUNNEL 164
5962
5963 Hicks joins Ripley, unsnapping the emergency-locator
5964 from his belt. They follow the signal into a lighted
5965 area where the power apparently was not cut.
5966
5967 HICKS
5968 This way. We're close...
5969
5970 Following the signal they come to a grating set in the
5971 floor.
5972
5973 NEWT
5974 Here! I'm here. I'm here.
5975
5976 Ripley runs to the grating. Looking down she sees Newt's
5977 tearstreaked face. Newt reaches up. Her tiny fingers
5978 wriggle up through the bars of the grate. Ripley
5979 squeezes the child's precious fingertips.
5980
5981 RIPLEY
5982 Climb down, honey. We have to
5983 cut through this grate.
5984
5985 Newt backs away, climbing down the pipe as Hicks cuts
5986 into the bars with his hand-torch.
5987
5988 INT. SUBBASEMENT 165
5989
5990 Newt, standing waist deep in the water, watches sparks
5991 shower blindingly as Hicks cuts. She bites her lip,
5992 trembling. Cold and terrified. Silently a glistening
5993 shape rises in one graceful motion from the water behind
5994 her. It stands, dripping, dwarfing her tiny form. Newt
5995 turns, sensing the movement...She SCREAMS as the
5996 shadow engulfs her.
5997
5998 INT. SERVICE TUNNEL 166
5999
6000 Ripley panics, hearing screaming below, then splashing.
6001 She and Hicks kick desperately at the grating, smashing
6002 it down. Heedless of the cherry-hot edges Ripley
6003 lunges into the hole with her light.
6004
6005 RIPLEY
6006 Newt! Newt!
6007
6008 The surface of the water reflects the beam placidly.
6009 Newt is gone. Bobbing in the water, eyes staring, is
6010 "Casey" the doll head. In sinks slowly, distorting,
6011 vanishing in darkness.
6012
6013 Hicks pulls Ripley away from the hole. She struggles
6014 furiously, trying to tear out of his grip.
6015
6016 RIPLEY
6017 No! Noooo!
6018
6019 He drags her back. It takes all of his strength.
6020
6021 HICKS
6022 (intense)
6023 She's gone! Let's go!
6024
6025 He sees something moving toward them through a lattice
6026 of pipes. Ripley is irrational. Hysterical.
6027
6028 RIPLEY
6029 No! No! She's alive! We
6030 have to --
6031
6032 HICKS
6033 All right! She's alive. I
6034 believe it. But we gotta get
6035 moving! Now!
6036
6037 He drags her toward an ELEVATOR not far away at the
6038 end of the tunnel. Gets her inside, slamming her against
6039 the back wall. Hits the button to go to surface level.
6040 An alien warrior leaps into the tunnel, starts
6041 toward them. The doors are closing. Not fast enough.
6042 The creature gets one arm through, the doors closing on
6043 it. THEY OPEN AGAIN, an automatic safety feature. THE
6044 WARRIOR HISSES, LUNGING. Hicks FIRES, POINT-BLANK. It
6045 spins away, SCREECHING. Acid sluices between the closing
6046 doors, across Hicks' armored chest plate, as he shields
6047 Ripley with his body. The lift starts upward. Hicks'
6048 fingers race with the clasps as the stuff eats its way
6049 toward his skin. Galvanized out of her hysteria, Ripley
6050 claws at his armor, helping him as much as she can. He
6051 screams as the acid contacts his chest and arm. He
6052 shucks out of the combat armor like a madman, dropping
6053 the smoking pieces to the floor. Acrid fumes fill the
6054 air, searing eyes and lungs. The elevator stops. The
6055 doors part and they stumble out, Ripley supporting Hicks
6056 who is doubled over in agony.
6057
6058 RIPLEY
6059 Come on, you can make it.
6060 Almost there.
6061
6062 EXT. LANDING FIELD 167
6063
6064 Drop-ship two descends toward the landing grid,
6065 side-slipping in hurricane gusts. Bishop stands, guiding
6066 it with the portable terminal. The ship sets down hard.
6067 Slides sideways. Stops. Bishop turns as Ripley and
6068 Hicks stumble out of a doorway in the colony building
6069 behind him. He goes to them, helping to support Hicks
6070 and they run toward the ship, buffeted by the gale.
6071 Ripley shouts, her words barely audible over the wind.
6072
6073 RIPLEY
6074 HOW MUCH TIME?
6075
6076 BISHOP
6077 PLENTY! TWENTY-SIX MINUTES!
6078
6079 RIPLEY
6080 WE'RE NOT LEAVING!
6081
6082 The loading ramp deploys and they run into the ship.
6083
6084 EXT. PROCESSING STATION 168
6085
6086 An infernal engine, roaring out of control. Steam blasts
6087 and swirls, lightning zaps around the superstructure and
6088 columns of incandescent gas thunder hundreds of feet into
6089 the air.
6090
6091 We APPROACH, hypnotically. The drop-ship ENTERS FRAME,
6092 moving toward the station. It pivots, hovering in the
6093 blasting turbulence, and settles onto a NARROW LANDING
6094 PLATFORM ten levels above the ground, or about a third
6095 of the way up the enormous structure.
6096
6097 INT. DROP-SHIP 169
6098
6099 Ripley finishes winding tape around a bulky object and
6100 drops the roll. She has crudely fastened a M-41A
6101 assault rifle together, side by side, with a flamethrower.
6102 A massive, unwieldy package of absolute firepower. Her
6103 movements are curt, precise...determined. She works
6104 rapidly, snatching magazines, grenades, belts and other
6105 gear from the fully stocked ordnance racks of the
6106 drop-ship.
6107
6108 Bishop comes aft from the pilot's compartment to help
6109 Hicks dress his injuries. Hicks is sprawled in a flight
6110 seat, the contents of a FIELD MEDICAL KEY strewn around
6111 him. He's out of the game...contorted with pain.
6112
6113 BISHOP
6114 Ripley...
6115
6116 RIPLEY
6117 She's alive. They brought her
6118 here and you know it.
6119
6120 BISHOP
6121 In seventeen minutes this place
6122 will be a cloud of vapor the
6123 size of Nebraska.
6124
6125 Ripley is stuffing gear rapidly into a satchel, her hands
6126 flying.
6127
6128 RIPLEY
6129 Hicks, don't let him leave.
6130
6131 HICKS
6132 (grimacing with
6133 pain)
6134 We ain't going anywhere.
6135
6136 She hefts the hybrid weapon, grabs the satchel and spins
6137 to the door controls. The door opens. Wind and
6138 machine-thunder blast in.
6139
6140 RIPLEY
6141 See you, Hicks.
6142
6143 Hicks is holding a wad of gauze plastered over his face.
6144
6145 HICKS
6146 Dwayne. It's Dwayne.
6147
6148 Ripley grabs his hand. They share a moment, albeit
6149 brief. Mutual respect in the valley of death.
6150
6151 RIPLEY
6152 Ellen.
6153
6154 HICKS
6155 (nods with
6156 satisfaction)
6157 Don't be long, Ellen.
6158
6159 Ripley runs down the ramp, crossing the platform to the
6160 open doors of a LARGE FREIGHT ELEVATOR. The doors close.
6161
6162 INT. FREIGHT ELEVATOR 170
6163
6164 The elevator descends. Bars of light move rhythmically
6165 across her as Ripley stands facing the doors, watching
6166 the landings go by. The heat grows more intense. Pipes
6167 glowing cherry-red pass by. Steam hisses and billows.
6168 The lift clatters in a steady beat. Hypnotic.
6169
6170 Ripley removes her jacket and dons a battle harness
6171 directly over her T-shirt. Her hair is matted, and
6172 she glistens with sweat. Her eyes burn with a
6173 determination that holds the gut-panic in check.
6174
6175 The elevator descends. She checks her weapon. Attaches
6176 a BANDOLIER OF GRENADES to her harness. Primes the
6177 flamethrower. Checks the rifle's magazine. Racks the
6178 bolt, chambering the first round. She checks the
6179 MARKING FLARES jammed in the thigh pockets of her
6180 jump pants. She drops an unprimed grenade, trembling,
6181 forcing herself to be strong. We SEE she doesn't
6182 know doodley about grenades.
6183
6184 This is the most terrifying thing she has ever done. She
6185 begins to hyperventilate, soaking with sweat. Her fingers
6186 slick and slippery on the rifle. The elevator descends.
6187
6188 The lift motors whine, slowing. It hits bottom with a
6189 bump. The safety cage retracts. Slowly, expectantly,
6190 the doors open.
6191
6192 HER P.O.V. THROUGH the parting doors...an empty
6193 corridor. Dark, swirling with steam, a ruddy glow
6194 VISIBLE here and there. It seems to have been a descent
6195 into Dantean Hell. The air itself vibrates with heat
6196 distortion. Couplings groan. Machinery whines and
6197 throbs. Like the beating of a vast heart the pounding
6198 of massive pumps echoes through the station.
6199
6200 INT. CORRIDOR 171
6201
6202 Ripley moves out of the lift, knuckles white on the
6203 rifle. Her eyes dart, straining to penetrate the lethal
6204 gloom. Behind her we SEE a SECOND ELEVATOR next to
6205 hers, its lift cage somewhere on a higher floor. Ahead
6206 the corridor is encrusted with the alien excressence
6207 and not far down the bio-mechanoid catacomb begins.
6208 She enters the maze, darting glances at Hick's LOCATOR,
6209 taped to the top of her kludge weapon.
6210
6211 A VOICE echoes down the tunnels, calm and mechanical.
6212
6213 VOICE
6214 Attention. Emergency. All
6215 personnel must evacuate
6216 immediately. You now have
6217 fourteen minutes to reach
6218 minimum safe distance.
6219
6220 INT. CATACOMB 172
6221
6222 Range and direction read out in rapid-fire alpha-numerics
6223 on the locator display.
6224
6225 Ripley blinks sweat out of her eyes, moving through the
6226 swirling steam of the alien maze. She approaches an
6227 intersecting tunnel. Flashing emergency lights
6228 illuminate the insane fresco of the walls. She spins,
6229 firing the flamethrower. Nothing there. She whirls
6230 back. Moves forward, trembling and adrenalized.
6231
6232 Skeletal figures drown in the walls, frozen in macabre
6233 tormented positions like human insects in amber.
6234 Steam blasts, blinding her. The locator signal
6235 strengthens an she turns, crouches through a low
6236 passage, turns again. At each intersection she quickly
6237 lights a FIFTEEN-MINUTE MARKING FLARE and drops it.
6238 For the way back. She has to turn sideways, inching
6239 through a fissure between two walls of death...cocoon
6240 niches, human bas-relief sealed in resin.
6241
6242 SUDDENLY SOMETHING SHOOTS OUT, GRABBING HER! A hand.
6243 She recovers , then recognizes the face sealed in
6244 the wall. Carter Burke.
6245
6246 BURKE
6247 Ripley...help me. I can feel
6248 it...inside. Oh, God...it's
6249 moving! Oh gooood...
6250
6251 She looks at him. No one deserves this.
6252
6253 RIPLEY
6254 Here.
6255
6256 She hands him a grenade, wrapping his fingers around
6257 the spoon, and pulls the primer. She moves on.
6258
6259 VOICE
6260 You now have eleven minutes to
6261 reach minimum safe distance.
6262
6263 Ripley moves ahead. The locator signals shows she is
6264 almost there. A CONCUSSION rocks the place, like an
6265 earthquake, jarring her almost off her feet. Then
6266 another. The whole station seems to shudder. A SIREN
6267 begins to wail a demented rhythm. Following the tracker
6268 she turns a corner and stops. The RANGE INDICATOR READS
6269 ZERO. She looks down, horrified to see Newt's tracer
6270 bracelet lying on the floor of the tunnel. All hope
6271 recedes, disintegrating into mindless chaos.
6272
6273 INT. EGG CHAMBER 173
6274
6275 Newt is cocooned in a pillarlike structure at the
6276 edge of a cluster of upright OVOID SHAPES...alien
6277 eggs. Her eyelids flutter open and she becomes
6278 aware of her surroundings. The egg nearest her
6279 begins to move...opening like an obscene flower at
6280 its top to reveal something stirring within. Newt
6281 stares, transfixed by terror, as the jointed legs
6282 appear over the lip of the ovoid one by one. She
6283 SCREAMS.
6284
6285 INT. CATACOMBS 174
6286
6287 Ripley hears the scream and breaks into a run.
6288
6289 INT. EGG CHAMBER 175
6290
6291 Newt watches the face-hugger emerge and turn toward
6292 her. Ripley runs in just as it is tensing to leap,
6293 and FIRES, blasting it with a burst from the assault
6294 rifle. The flash illuminates the figure of an
6295 adult warrior, nearby. It spins, moving straight
6296 for Ripley. Firing from the hip she drills it with
6297 two controlled bursts which catapult it back. She
6298 steps toward it, FIRING AGAIN. Her expression is
6299 murderous. AND AGAIN. It spins onto its back.
6300 She unleashes the flamethrower and it vanishes in
6301 a fireball. Ripley runs to Newt and begins tearing
6302 at the fresh resinous cocoon material, freeing the
6303 child. She swings her up onto her back.
6304
6305 NEWT
6306 (weakly)
6307 I knew you'd come.
6308
6309 RIPLEY
6310 Newt, I want you to hang on,
6311 now. Hang on tight.
6312
6313 Groggily Newt hooks her arms and legs through the belts
6314 of Ripley's battle harness as Ripley picks up her
6315 weapon. More warriors are moving toward her among
6316 the eggs. She fires the flamethrower. The eggs are
6317 engulfed. One of the warriors lunges forward, a
6318 living fireball. She blasts it in half with two
6319 bursts from the M-41A. Ripley retreats, ducking under
6320 a glistening cylindrical mass. A PIERCING SHRIEK
6321 fill the chamber. She turns. And there it is.
6322
6323 A massive silhouette in the mist, the ALIEN QUEEN
6324 glowers over her eggs like a great, glistening black
6325 insect-Buddha. What's bigger and meaner than the
6326 Alien? His momma. Her fanged head is an unimaginable
6327 horror. Her six limbs, the four arms and two
6328 powerful legs, are folded grotesquely over her
6329 distended abdomen. The egg-filled abdomen swells
6330 and swells into a great pulsing tubular sac, suspended
6331 from a lattice of pipes and conduits by a weblike
6332 membrane as if some vast coil of intestine were draped
6333 carelessly among the machinery. Ripley realizes
6334 she ducked under part of it a moment before. Inside
6335 the abdominal sac can be SEEN the forms of countless
6336 eggs, churning their way toward the pulsating ovipositor
6337 where they emerge glistening, to be picked up by
6338 DRONES. The drones are tiny scuttling albino versions
6339 of the "warrior" aliens we have already seen.
6340
6341 Ripley pumps the slide on her grenade launcher. She
6342 fires. Pumps and fires again. Four times. The
6343 grenades punch deep into the egg sac and EXPLODE,
6344 ripping it open from within. Eggs are tons of gelatinous
6345 matter pour across the chamber floor. The Queen goes
6346 berserk, SCREECHING like some psychotic steam whistle.
6347 Ripley lays about her with the flamethrower, igniting
6348 everything in sight with an insane fury. Eggs shrivel
6349 in the inferno, and figures of warriors and drones
6350 vanish in frenzied thrashing. Over all is the Queen's
6351 shrieking as she struggles in the flames. Two
6352 warriors emerge from the boiling smoke, closing on
6353 her. She pulls the trigger...an empty click. DIGITAL
6354 COUNTER flashing crimson zeroes. She drops the
6355 magazine, grabs another from her belt, rams it home
6356 and OPENS UP.
6357
6358 The creatures vanish in rapid-fire flashes. Ripley
6359 backs away, venting her terror in a sustained orgy
6360 of fire as she blasts everything that moves in one
6361 long eye-searing expenditure of energy. Then she
6362 dashes into the catacombs, navigating by sheer primal
6363 instinct.
6364
6365 INT. CATACOMBS 176
6366
6367 Ripley runs, blindly, with panting intensity verging
6368 on hysteria. Impressions crash upon her...the maze
6369 blurring by, sirens howling, the station rocking with
6370 explosions, emergency lights flashing, steam blasting,
6371 red-hot steel hissing. Reality itself is reduced to
6372 a concussive series of strobelike instants of
6373 relentless forward motion.
6374
6375 She sees one of the flares she dropped and turns.
6376 Sees another, sprinting toward it as the foundations
6377 of the world shake.
6378
6379 INT. EGG CHAMBER 177
6380
6381 Lashing in a frenzy, the QUEEN DETACHES FROM THE EGG
6382 SAC, ripping away and dragging torn cartilage and
6383 tissue behind it. SEEN DIMLY THROUGH swirling smoke,
6384 it rises on its powerful legs and steps forward.
6385
6386 INT. CATACOMBS - CORRIDOR 178-
6387 179
6388
6389 Ripley uses the flamethrower ahead of her, firing
6390 bursts of pulse-rifle fire down side corridors at
6391 indistinct shapes and shadows. The weapon is empty
6392 when she reaches the freight elevators. A mass of
6393 debris, falling down the shaft from a higher level,
6394 has demolished the life cage she descended in. She
6395 slams the control for the other cage and hears the
6396 sound of the LIFT MOTOR'S WHINE as it begins its
6397 slow descent from several levels up. AN ENRAGED
6398 SCREECH ECHOES in the corridor. Ripley sees a
6399 silhouette moving in the smoke...a glistening black
6400 shape which FILLS THE CORRIDOR TO THE CEILING...THE
6401 QUEEN. Her last cartridge is reading zeroes. The
6402 flamethrower sputters uselessly when she tries that.
6403 The grenades are gone. Ripley drops the weapon and
6404 looks up the shaft to the descending lift...then at
6405 the approaching FIGURE. The elevator won't be in time.
6406 She runs to a ladder set in the wall as a horrendous
6407 screech beats in her ears. She scrambles up the
6408 rungs.
6409
6410 INT. SECOND LEVEL 180
6411
6412 Ripley struggles up through a narrow hatch, Newt
6413 clinging to her. She dives aside as a POWERFUL
6414 BLACK ARM shoots up through the opening, its
6415 razor claws slamming into the grille-floor inches
6416 from her. Looking down through the grille she
6417 sees the great horrifying jaws directly below her,
6418 wet and leering. She scrambles up, running, as
6419 the grille-floor lifts and buckles behind her
6420 with the titanic force of the creature below.
6421 It hurls itself with insane ferocity against the
6422 metal, pacing her from below as she runs.
6423
6424 INT. STAIRWELL 181
6425
6426 Ripley reaches an open-grid emergency stairwell and
6427 sprints upward. It rocks and shudders with the
6428 station's death throes.
6429
6430 VOICE
6431 You now have two minutes
6432 to reach minimum safe
6433 distance.
6434
6435 INT. CORRIDOR - ELEVATORS 182-
6436 183
6437
6438 The lift reaches bottom, the doors rolling open.
6439 The Queen turns and freezes, as if contemplating
6440 the open lift cage.
6441
6442 INT. STAIRWELL 184
6443
6444 Ripley stumbles, smashing her knees against the
6445 metals stairs. As she rises she hears the LIFT
6446 MOTORS start up. Looking down through the lattice
6447 work of the station she sees the life cage start
6448 ominously upward. She knows there is only one
6449 explanation for that. She runs on, the stairwell
6450 becoming a crazy whirl around her.
6451
6452 EXT. LANDING PLATFORM 185
6453
6454 Ripley, with Newt still clinging to her, slams
6455 through the door opening onto the platform.
6456 Through wind-whipped streamers of smoke she
6457 sees...THE SHIP IS GONE.
6458
6459 RIPLEY
6460 BISHOP!
6461
6462 Her shouts become inarticulate screams of hatred,
6463 outrage at the final betrayal. She scans the sky.
6464 Nothing.
6465
6466 RIPLEY
6467 (hysterical)
6468 BISHOP!
6469
6470 Newt is sobbing.
6471
6472 The lift rises ponderously INTO VIEW. Ripley turns,
6473 backing away from the doors toward the railing. There
6474 is no place to run to on the platform. EXPLOSIONS
6475 detonate in the complex far below and huge fireballs
6476 swell upward through the machinery. The platform bucks
6477 wildly. Nearby a cooling tower collapses with a
6478 THUNDEROUS ROAR and the SHRIEK OF RENDING STEEL. More
6479 EXPLOSIONS, one after another, rocketing up from below.
6480 Ripley stares transfixed as the lift stops. The
6481 safety cage parts.
6482
6483 RIPLEY
6484 (to Newt; low)
6485 Close your eyes, baby.
6486
6487 The lift doors begin to open. A glimpse of the
6488 apparition within.
6489
6490 ANGLE ON RIPLEY AND NEWT as the drop-ship RISES RIGHT
6491 BEHIND THEM, its hovering jets roaring.
6492
6493 VOICE
6494 You now have thirty seconds to
6495 reach...
6496
6497 Ripley leaps for the loading boom projecting down from
6498 the cargo bay and it raises them into the ship. A
6499 TREMENDOUS EXPLOSION RIPS THROUGH THE COMPLEX nearby,
6500 slamming the ship sideways. Its extended landing legs
6501 foul in a tangle of conduit, grinding with a hideous
6502 squeal of metal on metal.
6503
6504 INT./EXT. DROP-SHIP - STATION 186-
6505 187
6506
6507 Ripley leaps into a seat with Newt, cradling her. Begins
6508 strapping in. Bishop wrestles with the controls. The
6509 landing legs retract, ripping free. Ripley slams her
6510 seat harness latches home.
6511
6512 RIPLEY
6513 Punch it, Bishop!
6514
6515 The entire lower level of the station disappears in a
6516 fireball. The air vibrates with intense heat waves and
6517 concussion. The drop-ship engines fire. Ripley is
6518 slammed back in her seat. The ship vaults out and up,
6519 Bishop standing it on its tail, pouring on the gees.
6520 Ripley and Newt see everything shake into a blur.
6521
6522 EXT. STRATOSPHERE 188
6523
6524 The drop-ship lunges up and out of the cloud layer into
6525 the clear high night. Below, the clouds light up from
6526 beneath from horizon to horizon.
6527
6528 A SUN HOT DOME OF ENERGY bursts up through the cloud
6529 layer, WHITING OUT THE FRAME. The tiny ship is slammed
6530 by the shockwave, tossed forward...and climbs, scorched
6531 but functioning, toward the stars.
6532
6533 INT. DROP-SHIP 189
6534
6535 Ripley and Newt watch the blinding glare fade away and
6536 they sit, wide-eyed, trembling, realizing they are
6537 finally and truly safe. Newt starts to cry quietly,
6538 and Ripley strokes her hair.
6539
6540 RIPLEY
6541 It's okay, baby. We made it. It's
6542 over.
6543
6544 INT. SULACO CARGO LOCK - IN ORBIT - LATER 190
6545
6546 The scorched and battered ship once again sits in its
6547 drop-bay, steam blasting from cooling vents beside the
6548 engine. Rotating clearance lights sweep the dark chamber
6549 hypnotically.
6550
6551 INT. DROP-SHIP 191
6552
6553 Bishop stands behind Ripley as she kneels beside a
6554 comatose Hicks.
6555
6556 BISHOP
6557 I gave him a shot, for the pain.
6558 We'll need to get a stretcher to
6559 cart him up to medical.
6560
6561 Ripley nods and, picking up Newt, precedes Bishop down
6562 the aisle to the loading ramp.
6563
6564 BISHOP
6565 I'm sorry if I gave you a scare
6566 but that platform was just becoming
6567 too unstable...
6568
6569 INT. CARGO LOCK - DROP-SHIP 192
6570
6571 Bishop continues as they move down the ramp.
6572
6573 BISHOP
6574 I had to circle and hope things
6575 didn't get too rough to take you
6576 off.
6577
6578 Ripley turns to him, stopping partway down the ramp.
6579 She puts her hand on his shoulder.
6580
6581 RIPLEY
6582 You did okay, Bishop.
6583
6584 BISHOP
6585 Well, thanks, I --
6586
6587 He notices a tiny innocuous drop of liquid splash onto the
6588 ramp next to his shoe. SSSSSS. Acid. SOMETHING BURSTS
6589 FROM HIS CHEST, spraying Ripley with milklike android blood.
6590 It is the razor-sharp scorpion TAIL of the alien QUEEN.
6591 Driven right through him from behind. Bishop thrashes,
6592 seizing the protruding section of tail in his hands, as is
6593 slowly lifts him off the deck. Above them the Queen
6594 glowers from its place of concealment among the hydraulic
6595 mechanisms inside one landing-leg bay. It blends perfectly
6596 with the machinery until it begins to emerge. Seizing
6597 Bishop in two great hands it rips him apart and flings him
6598 aside, shredded, like a doll. It descends slowly to the
6599 deck, the rotating lights glistening across its shiny black
6600 limbs, dripping acid and rage. Still smoking where Ripley
6601 half-fried it. The Queen is huge, powerful...and very
6602 pissed off. It descends slowly, its six limbs unfolding in
6603 inhuman geometries.
6604
6605 Ripley moves with nightmarish slowness herself, staring
6606 hypnotized...terrified to break and run. She lowers Newt
6607 to the deck, never taking her eyes off the creature.
6608
6609 RIPLEY
6610 (to Newt)
6611 Go!
6612
6613 Newt runs for cover. The Alien drops to the deck, pivoting
6614 toward the motion. Ripley waves her arms, decoying.
6615
6616 RIPLEY
6617 Here!
6618
6619 Without warning it moves like lightning, straight at her.
6620 Ripley spins, sprinting, as the creature leaps for her.
6621 Its feet slam, echoing, on the deck behind her. She clears
6622 a door. Hits the switch. It WHIRRS closed. BOOM. The
6623 Alien hits a moment later.
6624
6625 INT. DARK CHAMBER 193
6626
6627 Ripley moves ferret-quick among dark, unrecognizable
6628 machines.
6629
6630 VARIOUS ANGLES VERY TIGHT ON what she is doing...her feet
6631 going into stirruplike mechanisms. Velcro straps
6632 fastened over them. Fingers stabbing buttons in a sequence.
6633 Her hand closing on a complex grip-control. The HUM of
6634 powerful motors. The WHINE of hydraulics.
6635
6636 INT. CARGO LOCK 194
6637
6638 The Queen turns its attention from the doors to Newt as
6639 the little girl crawls into a system of trenchlike
6640 service channels which cross the deck. The channels are
6641 covered by steel grillework and barely big enough for her
6642 to crawl through.
6643
6644 INT. CHANNEL 195
6645
6646 Newt scurries like a rabbit as the looming figure of the
6647 Alien appears above, seen through the bars. A section of
6648 grille is ripped away behind her. She scrambles
6649 desperately. Another section is ripped away right at her
6650 heels. Light pouring in. The next will be right above
6651 her.
6652
6653 INT. CARGO LOCK 196
6654
6655 The Queen spins at the sound of door motors behind her.
6656 The parting doors REVEAL an inhuman silhouette standing
6657 there.
6658
6659 Ripley steps out, WEARING TWO TONS OF HARDENED STEEL.
6660 THE POWER LOADER. Like medieval armor with the power of
6661 a bulldozer. She takes a step...the massive foot
6662 CRASH-CLANGS to the deck. She takes another, advancing.
6663
6664 Ripley's expression is one you hope you'll never see...
6665 Hell hath no fury like that of a mother protecting her
6666 child and that primal, murderous rage surges through her
6667 now, banishing all fear.
6668
6669 RIPLEY
6670 Get away from her, you bitch!
6671
6672 The Queen SCREECHES pure lethality and leaps.
6673
6674 WALLOP! A roundhouse from one great hydraulic arm catches
6675 it on its hideous skull and slams it into a wall. It
6676 rebounds into a massive backhand. CRASH! It goes
6677 backward into heavy loading equipment.
6678
6679 RIPLEY
6680 (screaming)
6681 Come on!
6682
6683 The Queen emerges as a blur of rage, lashing with
6684 unbelievable fury. The battle is joined.
6685
6686 Claws swipe, tail lashes. Ripley parries with radical
6687 swipes of the steel forks. They circle in a whirling
6688 blur, demolishing everything in their path. The cavernous
6689 chamber echoes with nightmarish sounds...WHINE, CRASH,
6690 CLANG, SCREECH.
6691
6692 They lock in a death embrace. Ripley closes the forks,
6693 crushing two of the creature's limbs. It lashes and
6694 writhes with incredible fury, coming within inches of her
6695 exposed body. She lifts it off the ground. The hind
6696 legs rip at her, slamming against the safety cage, denting
6697 it in. The striking teeth extend almost a meter from
6698 inside its fanged maw, shooting between the crash-bars.
6699 She ducks and the teeth slam into the seat cushion
6700 behind her dead in a spray of drool. Yellow acid foams
6701 down the hydraulic arms toward her. The creature rips
6702 at high-pressure hoses. Purple hydraulic fluid sprays
6703 ...machine blood mixing with alien blood. They topple,
6704 off balance. The Queen pins her. Ripley hits a switch.
6705 The power loader's CUTTING TORCH flares on, directly in
6706 the thing's face. They roll together, over the lip of
6707 a RECTANGULAR PIT, A VERTICAL LOADING AIRLOCK.
6708
6709 INT. LOADING LOCK 197
6710 https://www.instagram.com/amitgoffmanlevi
6711
6712
6713 They crash together four meters below, twisted in the
6714 loader's wreckage. The Alien shrieks, pinned.
6715 https://imgur.com/a/snhbdnS
6716
6717 https://imgur.com/a/kzvHU1y
6718
6719 https://imgur.com/a/I95jq2c
6720
6721 https://imgur.com/a/I95jq2c
6722 https://imgur.com/a/snhbdnS
6723 JessicaCunningtonthx1138
6724 Ripley pulls her arm out of the controls of the loader
6725 and claws toward a panel of airlock actuating buttons.
6726 She slaps the red "INNER DOOR OVERRIDE" and latches the
6727 "HOLD" locking-key down. A KLAXON begins to sound. She
6728 hits "OUTER DOOR OPEN" and there is a hurricane shriek of
6729 air as the doors on which they are lying separate,
6730 REVEALING the infinite pit of stars, below.
6731
6732 All this time the Alien has been lashing at her in a
6733 frenzy and she has been parrying desperately in the
6734 confined space. The airlock becomes a wind tunnel,
6735 blasting and buffetting her as she struggles to unstrap
6736 from the loader. The air of the vast ship howls past her
6737 into space as she claws her way up a service ladder.
6738
6739 INT. CARGO BAY 198
6740
6741 Newt screams as the hurricane airstream sucks her across
6742 the floor toward the airlock. Bishop, torn virtually in
6743 two, his pastalike internal organs whipped by the wind,
6744 grips a stanchion and reaches desperately for Newt as she
6745 slides past him. He catches her arm and hangs on as she
6746 dangles, doll-like, in the airblast.
6747
6748 INT. LOADING LOCK 199
6749
6750 The Alien seizes Ripley's ankle. She locks her arms
6751 around a ladder rung, feels them almost torn out of
6752 their shoulder sockets.
6753
6754 The door opens farther, all of space yawning below. The
6755 loader tumbles clear, falling away. It drags the Alien,
6756 still clutching one of Ripley's lucky hi-tops, into the
6757 depths of space. Its SHRIEK fades, it gone.
6758
6759 With all her strength Ripley fights the blasting air,
6760 crawling over the lip of the inner doorway. She releases
6761 the OVERRIDE from a second panel. The inner doors close.
6762 The turbulent air eddies and settles.
6763
6764 She lies on her back, drained of all strength. Gasping
6765 for breath. Weakly she turns her head, seeing Bishop
6766 still holding Newt by the arm. Encrusted with his own
6767 vanilla milkshake blood. Bishop gives her a small, grim
6768 smile.
6769
6770 BISHOP
6771 Not bad for a human.
6772
6773 He winks.
6774
6775 Ripley crosses to Newt.
6776
6777 NEWT
6778 (weakly)
6779 Mommy...Mommy?
6780
6781 RIPLEY
6782 Right here, baby. Right here.
6783
6784 Ripley hugs her desperately.
6785
6786 INT. CORRIDOR 200
6787
6788 Ripley limps along the corridor, carrying Newt on her hip.
6789 The ship's systems hum comfortingly. Newt's head rests
6790 on her shoulder.
6791
6792 NEWT
6793 Are we going to sleep now?
6794
6795 RIPLEY
6796 That's right.
6797
6798 NEWT
6799 Can we dream?
6800
6801 RIPLEY
6802 Yes, honey. I think we both can.
6803
6804 HOLD ON THEM AS they recede down the long straight
6805 corridor.
6806
6807 FADE OUT
6808
6809
6810 THE END