ANGLE: RIPLEY
is the last to get out, but the pressure change SUCKS HER she flies backwards, the section
door coming down just in time as she SLAMS into it, the door closing fully as she falls,
lack of pressure sucks at the door itself, it creaks and be inward slightly, but it holds.
The others have exited into the next hall. They've been tossed about, but not as badly.
Call stops, runs back to Ripley, helps her up. Ripley is dazed; the door hit the back of
her head solidly.
CALL
Can you walk?
RIPLEY
I think I...
CALL
I'm not fucking carrying you
Ripley doesn't even hear her; something else drowns Call out. Ripley puts her hands over
her ears.
RIPLEY
Mistake ... mistake...
CALL
Ripley.
RIPLEY
I can hear them, in the hive... it's close... We're on the hive.
CALL
Jesus. Come on.
RIPLEY
I can hear them... the queen...
CALL
What... ?
RIPLEY
She's in pain.
They CRASH UP through the floor panels, six of them, surrounding the two women.
Call can barely spin before Ripley GRABS her and HURLS her fifteen feet down the corridor,
out of harm's way.
The aliens close on Ripley. She struggles but she's still weak. One slams her onto the ground
call recovers, looks back at Ripley
As the aliens drag her unconscious body back down under the floor.
CALL
RIPLEY!
CUT TO: INT. AIR VENT - CONINUOUS
Dark, cramped, and already covered with a hardening layer of resin.
Skittering, inse ctile motion at one end heralds the aliens, as two of them crawl rapidly along. The third craw upside down, the semiconscious Ripley draped over its chest If she were awake, and out.vf her mind, she could be kissin the beast.
Her eyes flutter open, but she is obviously still groggy.
ANGLE: RIPLEY'S POV
Alien head, dark tunnel passing beneath.
Scuttling through a small maze, the aliens come out into:
INT. WASTE TANK 5 - CONTINUOUS
A vast, dark chamber, entirely encrusted with alien goo. air vent opens about three
quarters of the way up the chamber. The aliens pour out and imediately scuttle UP,
carrying Ripley to the top of the chamber.
They circle her and begin secreting resin , spinning a web around her.
The resin comes out of ther backs in spits and globs.
It isn't pleasant, and Ripley struggles feebly as they begin to cocoon her.
CUT TO: INT. ANTECHAMBER CONTINUOUS
The crew piles through it on their way to the loading dock.
Call brings up the rear, still looking back regretfully.
She hesitates, and Purvis takes hold of her arm.
PURVIS
We got to be moving, miss. Best gift you can give her right now is a quick death.
CALL
It's not right...
PURVIS
I've been saying that all day, we need your help.
A moment more, and she heads out with him.
CUT TO: WASTE, TANK 5 - CONTINUOTJS
The aliens have finished webbing Ripley, and climb away.
When it is done she finds herself basically hung from the ceiling , her legs encased
and glued with glistening strands to the roof. She hangs therefore at an angle, looking
down on the chamber.
And so it is with her, as she swims to full consciousness, we get our first real look at
where we are.
There are no less than ten people strung up exactly as Ripley is, encircling the chamber,
and all looking some forty feet down at:
The Queen. Lying on her back at the bottom of the-chamber, belly swollen and distended.
She is herself partially cocooned, strapped down to the at the edge of a black pool of
blood and ichor. Her head moves slowly back and forth, in delierium of pain.
There are a four or five aliens tending her, spinning goo around her, vomiting blood onto
her belly. They might be serving her, or imprisoning her. Both, in fact .
There is one thing missing from this tableau.
RIPLEY (softly)
No eggs ...
GEDIMAN (OS)
Multiple reproductive systems.
Ripley.turn's slowly, to see the person next to her. It's Gediman, looking wane and haggard.
He may be speaking to her but he stares straight ahead, his eyes glowing with near insanity.
GEDIMAN
Complete asexual reproductive cycle, self-impregnating, we found six different sets
of ovaries in her. Egg laying is the first cycle, immature. Redundancies, redundancies
... she'll bring forth legion.
RIPLEY
They didn't impregnate you?
Now he looks at her, regret and glee at what has happened battling for his expression.
GEDIMAN
No... they've just been draining me.
She looks down, to see
ANGLE : GEDIMAN'S FEET
As blood from various wounds seeps slowly past his toes, dripping into the pool.
A keening SHRIEK comes out of the queen, as her limbs begin thrashing.
The aliens around her back off slightly.
The bulge in her belly starts moving.
Ripley starts struggling with her bonds, terror and determination in her.eyes.
RIPLEY
I'm getting out of here. Goddamnit, I'm getting the fuck out of here!
He looks at her, the last glimmerof his sanity sinking beyond the horizon.
GEDIMAN
Don't you want to see what happens next?
CUT TO: INT: LOADING DOCK - CONTINUOUS
The crew rushes in, heads for the Betty.
JOHNER
How long till we can get airborn?
VRIESS
I'll need Call to patch in to the ship again, open the hatch.
CALL
Right.
JOHNER
We hit atmo in a few minutes, only gonna make it harder.
They all run on board
INT. THE BETTY
and head for the cockpit. DiStephano deposits Vriess in a wheelchair.
CALL
Johner, take Purvis to the freezer.
JOHNER
All right.. Nap time, buddy.
A GUNSHOT and Purvis goes flying, blood spurting out of his shoulder, Johner draws but
Wren emerges from the shadows too fast.
Wren grabs Call and very carefully holds his gun to her back right below her shoulderblades.
WREN
Fuck with me and I put a bullet where her brain is!
Johner stands, uncertain.
WREN
DiStephano! Take their weapons.
DISTEPHANO
Begging your pardon, sir, but eat my fuck.
DiStephano aims at Wren. Wren backs up a step.
WREN
Drop it! Drop it or we all die together!
Heaped in the, corner, Purvis suddenly jerks forward. His eyes go wide.
CUT TO: INT. WASTE TANK 5 CONTINUOUS
Ripley is frantically trying to pull at her bonds. It's just beginning to work.
But the noise in here is getting worse, the aliens franitcally agitated as the Queens
belly begins moving more violently. SHRIEKS, and RIPLEY does as well, from effort
or sympathy, it is hard to tell, as
THE QUEENS BELLY POPS OPEN. Blood shoots everywhere, burning into the walls.
And all the screaming stops. The movement stops. Even Ripley stops. Silence.<
br />
Something emerges from the wound.
An alien, to be sure, but nothing we've seen so far, its forelegs arch out of its back
like spiders legs, its back legs set on enormous haunches, thick and powerful.
Its head is long, eyeless, like the others, but along its white expanse red veins,
coming out of the skin and running like thick black hairs to the back.
It has retracted pincers at the side of head that come out when its tongue does.
Its much bigger the the others, nearly the size of the queen herself.
And it's bone white.
GEDIMAN
Beautiful.... beautiful butterfly...
He is crying with revelatory joy. Ripley is not. Grimacing the sight and smell of
the new beast, she begins pulling again at her bonds.
One of the soldiers, at the 'other end of the room from Ripley wakes up.
Dangling uselessly at his side is a rifle -- the real deal, not a burner.
SOLDIER
No, God...
He SCREAMS in uncomprehending horror. The newborn stops, tilting its head:
It LEAPS up to the ceiling in a second, quick and effortless as a monstrous flea.
Leaps again and lands on the screaming soldier, gripping his sides with its four forelegs
as he screams lustily.
pincers SWING out and pin either side of his head.. His eyes go wide as:
Its tongue SHOOTS into his throat. Stays there, and we watch it drain the blood
from his body. We can see it, see its stomach swell, red tinged, as his body goes
blue and slack. .His rifle drops into the black pool.
Gediman stares, transfixed, and it LANDS ON HIM.
CUT TO: INT. BETTY - CONTINUOUS
Johner's gun drops to the floor.
Everyone backs off.
WREN
The fucking robot is going to plug back into the Auriga and land it according to standard
operational procedure.
CALL
No she's not.
DISTEPHMO
You're fucking nuts. You still want to bring those things back to earth?
JOHNER
Have you been paying any attention today?
WREN
I can handle the animals!
CALL
Fucking shoot me.
WREN
Shut up!!!
And Purvis LAUNCHES from the corner, screaming, jumps on wren - Wren gets off a couple of
shots -- nails DiStephano in the face. The soldier drops like a sack.
The other shots hit the ship, Call dives for cover as Purvis SLAMS his fist across Wren's
face, Wren fires again and Jo is on the ground, rolling, grabbing his gun --
Purvis is a man possessed. He grabs Wren's gunhand and SMAS it against an instrument panel,
bone cracking audibly as wren drops the gun.
Purvis jerks. Blood blooms in his chest.
Everybody stops, mesmerized. wren drops to his knees, going for the gun, and Purvis grabs
him from behind, pulls him so that the back of Wren's head is against his chest.
Purvis jerks again. It takes Wren a moment to understand what's happening.
They both scream.
Then alien BURSTS out of Purvis's chest, STRAIGHT INTO WRENS SKULL.
Everyone else is still frozen. Then the little critter bursts out of Wrens face,
flying straight at Vriess.
CUT TO: INT. WASTE TANK 5 - CONTINUOUS
Ripley TEARS one of her arms free as the newborn feeds beside her.
Gediman is already a shell.
Having drained the scientist, it leaps blindingly fast onto the ceiling. Looks around.
Targets Ripley.
It has no eyes, but she can feel them on her anyway. She rips at her bonds with a
terrible effort -- the newborn LEAPS at her and she PULLS FREE with a scream, PLUNGING
the thirty feet to the pool as the alien flies over her, missing, landing
on the far wall instead.
Ripley disappears beneath the surface of the water.
The newborn turns its head, trying to locate its lost prey. other aliens scutter closer
to the pool.
Ripley stands up out of the pool, covered in blood, HOISTING THE SOLDIERIS GUN.
Killshriek rising from her throat as she FIRES, taking out a host of aliens in a single
sweep, just tagging the newborn as it leaps out of the way. Aliens jump at her,
trying to kill and trying to protect the newborns, but she blows them out of the air.
It feels pretty good.
A few shots go wild, and punch big holes in the side of the tank.
Light streams in through them. Ripley sees -- and continues firing in that direction.
She makes a big enough hole that she can run and SMASH through to
INT. BY TANK - CONTINUOUS
rolling and coming up in an instant. She looks around her. exit this way, but there is
a vent above her.
The newborn's head lunges at her, the small hole making it impossible for the creature
to get all the way through. But it wriggles,pushing...
Ripley jumps up, grabbing a pipe, and KICKS open the vent grate, throwing herself
up the vertical shaft with astonishi ng ease.
CUT TO: INT. BETTY - CONTINUOUS---
Vriess is scrambling away, knocking over things to avoid the baby alien.
Johner SHOOTS at the creature as it speeds-towards Vriess.
CALL
Don't shoot it! Betty's hull is too thin!
JOHNER
Look out!
it knocks over cannisters as it speeds across the table and behind some instruments.
VRIESS
Where'd it go?
CALL
Don't shoot it!
JOHNER
Fuck that!
It LEAPS out of the darkness and heads straight for Call ,she stumbles back,
trips -- it comes at her, leaps right at her face, she pulls her hand back --
and-flicks her wrist The stilletto pops out as the creatu flies at it, the blade slides
right into its mouth, ramming eight inches through its innards before it
pokes out the other end.
Blood spurts on Call, on the floor. The creature wriggles and finally falls free as
the stilletto melts inside it.
JOHNER
Vriess! Get behind the fucking wheel!
CUT TO: INT. VERTICAL AIR SHAFT - CONTINUOUS
Ripley is climbing up the cramped vent with the speed and agility of an alien.
Unfortunately, so are the aliens, twenty feet below her. Two drones in front,
with the newborn sqeezing close behind.
Ripley grabs a pole and her hand begins to steam, it's so hot. She cries out, lets go...
then looks down. Grabs the pole again and, ignoring the searing agony, pulls, pulls...
RIPS out of the wall, burning steam GUSHING out below her, slowing down the aliens.
She continues climbing, then kicks through a grate.
CUT TO:
EXT. SPACE
The Auriga races toward:
EARTH. But not as we've seen it.
The planet is still blue, but almost two thirds of it is obscured by a giant
orbitting latticework of metal, a part shell that rotates sligtly faster than the
planet itself.
The Auriga heads for a section of exposed earth. Not long now .
CUT TO: INT. ANTE CHAMBER - CONTINUOUS
Ripley drops to the ground and heads for the dock.
CALL/SHIP
Airlock doors closing. Stand clear.
RIPLEY
No!
She doesn't bother to try the door, she HURLS herself through the window, landing
INT. DOCKING BAY
in a hail of gla
ss.
She is on the platform that. runs the length of the dock. Betty. is barely visible
past the far end, - sinking into the airlock as the massive airlock doors. slide slowly
shut.
RIPLEY
NO!!
A SLAM against the metal door behind her tells her the aliens are here.
She picks herself up and RUNS -- and she can run fast.
Speeds across the platform, faster, faster, the Betty sinks of sight as the airlock
doors move closer together, fifteen feet apart, ten...
Ripley reaches the edge of the platform and LEAPS, just hurls herself off of the platform,
sails through the air, thirty, forty feet, and down, the airlock doors thirty feet below
almost closed
She DROPS right through just before they close, falls another fifteen feet and lands
-- WHAM!! -- on top of-the Auriga, hard, rolls, lies there in extremes of pain.
CUT TO:
INT. BETTY - CONTINUOUS
The crew look up at the sound.
VRIESS
Something's on us!
JOHNER
Forget it! we'll shake it off on descent.
Airlock secure. Outer doors opening... . CUT TO:
INT. AIRLOCK - CONTINUOUS
Ripley tries to pick herself up, is momentarily too wiped. breathes heavily,
gets to her knees.
ANGLE: FROM ABOVE-
we see Ripley crawling toward the hatch, and the huge outer airlock door opening beneath
the ship. Blue sky and wind the screen below.
ANGLE: RIPLEY
Struggling to get to the hatch.
RIPLEY
God'...
And above her, through a window into the docking bay, we see the newborn appear.
CUT TO: INT. BETTY - CONTINUOUS
CALL
Almost there...
JOHNER
We got about forty seconds till we kiss the ground!
Go full thrust on the downdraft! We'llget clear!
JOHNER
It's gonna be fucking close.
CALLSHIP
Warning. Procedural interruption. Ship not leveling for vertical drop. Braking
system nonfunctional. Collision imminent.
JOHNER
No shit.
CALL
Almost there.
CUT TO:
INT. AIRLOCK - CONTINUOUS
The airlock doors are almost.. completely open. Ripley has reached the hatch, but cannot
get it open. She pounds on it frustration -- and the newborn SMASHES through the window,
JUMPS DOWN onto the ship.
RIPLEY
NOO!! NOOO!
CUT TO:
INT. BETRY - CONTINUOUS
CALL
NOW!!!
Vriess punches it
CUT TO:
INT. AIRLOCKEXT. SKY CONTINUOUS
Terry Bisson Page 8