ALIENS versus PREDATOR by Jonathan Eyers 16/10/00 - 27/10/00 NB: please, for the love of god, read this script with tongue firmly in cheek, got it? EXT. DEEP SPACE - DAY/NIGHT/WHO CAN TELL? A small starship surges through the eternal blackness. It is shaped like a giant sausage, with a bell at one end and two meatballs at the other. Apart from that, it's not at all suggestive. As the ship passes, we see the name etched onto the side in ten-foot letters: EJACULE IV. Those meatball engines are roaring their little rivets out. And as it passes before us, we see why. Chasing from behind is a huge Predator mothership. This is one big 'n' nasty mothership, and it's gaining on the puny Ejacule. Warning shots are fired. Direct hits! INT. EJACULE BRIDGE - DITTO Sparks are flying and klaxons blaring. People throw themselves about with gay abandon. There's some screaming from behind. In the centre of the action is CAPTAIN BOLLUX, a rough and ready man's man type, with just enough charm in his teeth to keep getting the ladies. ENSIGN Direct hit! We're losing her... BOLLUX I gotta protect the cargo. With that he leaps from his chair and surges down the back passage (filthy mind!) into the hangar. Central to the hangar is a frosted cryotube. He approaches. There's another explosion, nearby. He's thrown off his feet. There's screaming from the bridge. He grabs hold of the cryotube for support, presses a few buttons. Its cradle whirrs to life, and he's able to manoeuvre the thing. He begins pushing it down a narrow corridor. This cradle is like a shopping trolley. It goes in every direction but the one you push it. BOLLUX gives it a shove and it bounces off the wall and bangs against an airlock door. BOLLUX slams against the door, fingers a few buttons. It slides open. Beyond is a cargo EEV. He pushes the cryotube in as far as it will go, steps out again and closes the door. Through the glass he sees the EEV pop out of the ship and drift into the orbit of the planet they are approaching. INTERCOM (o/s) Captain! We're in orbit! BOLLUX thumbs the reply button and takes a breath. BOLLUX All hands... abandon ship! With that he ducks around the corner and into the EEV launch bay. He jumps into the first one, locks himself in and presses the right key combination. EXT. SPACE - DITTO (AGAIN) The bell-end of the ship (yes, the bit at the front) opens up and out pops the captain's EEV. It soars off into space. Moments later, a whole series of similar craft shoot out, and enter the planet's atmosphere. The Predator mothership slows overhead and locks the Ejacule in a menacing tractor beam. EXT. BATTLEFIELD - DAY LEGEND: Four months later... It's an arid environment. Not exactly desert - too many plants. Could be Nevada after a tree-planting campaign. The sun is high in the sky. The horizon shimmers. There's silence. Into this run a grab-bag of soldier types. Five of them. They're not running to battle in tight formation. They're running from battle in a hysterical panic, occasionally daring a backwards glance to let off a few shots. The five of them all carry standard issue rifles. One, a bird-like man also cradles a grenade launcher. Setting a pace is the unfortunately named PRIVATE CONNIE LINGUS, 23, tall, dashing with petite, elven features. She's breathing harder than any of them as she pushes on, now several yards ahead of them. The bird-like man starts running backwards, letting off grenades, which pop up out of his gun and streak into the air, out of sight. We hear one explode, and strangled alien shrieks. But the view behind them is not clear. There are peaks and troughs, dunes, and we can't see any of the aliens. But we can hear them. They can't be more than 100 yards behind. CONNIE frowns as she looks ahead of them, then suddenly freezes. CONNIE Freeze! The minefield! Three of the marines stop beside her, a tad puzzled, immediately turning to cover rear-guard. But the bird-like man doesn't freeze. He's still running backwards, letting off unprintable curses with each shot. He runs backward. Past CONNIE. Ten yards. Twenty. Hits a mine. Is blown into the air. Maimed. Killed instantly. All four are taking point simultaneously, waiting for the first attack. Nothing. No sounds now but their own breathing. Suddenly they come. Out of a dune an alien leaps. And God can it leap! It's up in the air about 20 feet, arms and legs swept back, head tucked forward, tail straight. More aliens leap... They begin shooting. Some aliens are caught in mid-air. Others are caught as they land running. But they keep on coming, and for each one that gets shot, another one lands ever closer. CONNIE and her men are backing toward the minefield. The bird-like man's remains are only feet behind them. CONNIE lets her gun swing down on its strap, reaches up with her communication unit, turns her back to the offensive and plugs her other ear with her finger. CONNIE We need evac! We need it now! Over. EVAC (o/s) We read you. Repeat: ETA 2 minutes. CONNIE drops the unit onto its strap and retakes the weapon. She begins firing as desperately as the others. One alien leaps horizontally, traversing a great distance. She catches it in the head, which pops open. There's a lull, and they stop their sporadic fighting. One of the men reloads his gun. Takes about seven seconds. He's got it up and is ready to fight again. MARINE Where the fuck are they?! CONNIE Two minutes... MARINE Meant the creatures... CONNIE slowly looks back. The bird-like man's bloody pieces are mere feet away. So is the grenade launcher. Quickly she drops down, as if she was doing a press- up. Switches to one hand, reaches out with the other. Stretches. It's just out of her reach. The poor guy's arm is still clinging on to the launcher, even if it isn't attached to his body anymore. The tips of her fingers can just touch his dismembered forearm. She reaches. Grabs... and her fingers go. She falls onto her belly and braces for the mine. Nothing. So she's up on her feet with the launcher. She tries getting the arm out, but it's lodged in the broken trigger mechanism. She growls. They hear an alien shriek, but they can't see it. One of the men lets off a few rounds reflexively. CONNIE takes the grenade launcher, aims it up at 80 degrees or so and tugs on the arm's trigger finger. The grenade heads up, then drops down behind the dune. It goes off immediately, blowing a few aliens out of the dunes, where they're promptly torn to pieces by a quick volley of rifle fire. MARINE I can see it! I can see it! He reaches his rifle out, pointing toward the horizon. There is a dark blot pushing through the shimmer, growing ever slightly, heading straight for them. CONNIE We're gonna make it. Okay? But the aliens are having none of it. Four of them fly from the dunes in unison, followed by more. As they hurtle down toward the marines they begin running and clawing in the air. They shoot them down. CONNIE needs to reload. The others cover her. One alien gets particularly close. They all miss. She's reloaded in time, lifting it up and firing and bringing the alien flopping just ahead. Acid spurts out, catching her boot. She buries it in the dirt, bringing it out and continuing the fight. They're beginning to back off again, into the minefield. CONNIE Careful! Catching them off guard is an alien that runs from the dune. Not leap. Run. They're all aiming up, and only just catch it in time, getting it in the legs. It drops, but not before spitting in their general direction. One of the marines gets it in the face. He drops back, screaming, clawing at his face, then falling quiet and limp. One of the other marines pulls the gun off the corpse and takes it in his spare hand, firing them consecutively. A row of alien corpses has collected not far beyond them. An alien leaps again in a short burst, avoiding fire, and landing behind several corpses, crouching down. The marines are distracted by the other aliens. But the hiding alien doesn't hang about, he leaps again, precisely, and lands between CONNIE and another marine, straight on top of the third marine! The victim lets off a couple of rounds, which get the other marine in the leg. The alien makes short work of him, and they make short work of the alien, which spurts acid all about, causing them to back into the minefield. CONNIE slides her companion's arm around her neck, puts the guns round her neck and cradles the grenade launcher. She lets off one grenade with a cry as an alien hurls itself toward them. It explodes. They barely avoid the acid. The marine is whimpering. In agony. She ejects the grenade canister and slams in a new one. She turns, backing further into the minefield, firing off a series toward the aliens. There's a delay. Then they explode, one by one. They're fragmentation grenades, and send shrapnel flying into the aliens heading straight for them, which stop dead. CONNIE looks up to the blot on the horizon. It's clearly a craft, and coming in fast, but it's still a minute or so away. CONNIE Come on, goddamnit! She turns and, hoisting her injured comrade up, begins picking her way further and further into the minefield, step by step, breathing hard, watching for little markers in the dirt. About thirty yards into the minefield, and she looks back. Aliens are clawing their way forward, ducking into explosion pits and behind their fallen kin. She fires off two more frag grenades then picks her way forward. The marine winces. An alien rises to the top of the dune behind and does a stupendous leap. It lands within the minefield, already running, and hits a mine straight away. It is blown apart, and as the corpse hits the deck, sets off another mine. There is the most unholiest of shrieking coming from the alien bastards, and CONNIE looks genuinely sick from exhaustion. But she keeps going, her partner ever more groggy. About fifty yards into the minefield, she fires one last grenade high into the air and lets the launcher fall slack on its strap, the disembodied arm dripping blood all over her armour. The grenade explodes on the edge of the minefield, taking out a few aliens. The others gathering decide to charge the minefield. Every other yard one hits a mine and gets blown up. But they keep on coming up from behind. CONNIE takes up each rifle, firing behind her without looking until they are empty. Suddenly there is a dull throbbing sound from above. CONNIE looks up, squinting in the sun, sweat dripping off her face. The escape craft arrives quickly, and starts circling, getting lower with each pass. The ramp opens. EVAC (o/s) Drop the cripple and move it, Private! She looks up. The craft is hovering, rocking gently as it slows. The downdraft is refreshingly cool. The marine slips into unconsciousness at her feet. Six more feet and she can jump. Five. Four. The craft backs away. Nears again. Three feet. Two. Suddenly an alien does an almighty leap from the edge of the minefield (which is now ten yards nearer than before they surged forward). It lands about fifteen yards away, stops. Freezes. There is a mine right before it, and it knows it. It ducks down. CONNIE tries to fire. Grenades all gone. Rifles empty. The bastard is preparing to leap again... and the ramp is too far... With a shriek CONNIE yanks the disembodied arm from the launcher and throws it (the arm) straight at the alien. It hits the mine in front and blows the alien back, skidding across the dirt, taking a few mines and a few aliens with it. Suddenly the craft dips down. She can reach! Using all her strength she hoists the marine onto the end of the ramp, leaps on herself and begins pulling him in. The ramp begins to close, and the craft rise up. The aliens below are getting desperate. They're shrieking away, hitting mines all over the shop and some are trying for the craft. They all miss, landing slapbang amongst the mines. The craft surges upward, just in case. INT. EVAC CRAFT - DAY CONNIE literally collapses inside the craft, breathing so noisily it's hard to tell whether she's experiencing pleasure or pain. After a moment's rest, as the craft rocks about, she hefts the fallen man up and pushes him into a nearby seat. She slides in next to him, and locks them into it. Then she relaxes, unties her long hair, controls her breathing, and begins to reflect. EXT. ENCAMPMENT - DAY The craft passes over the minefield, to what looks like a jury-rigged fortress/encampment sitting incongruously in this terrain. It's quite an extensive arrangement. Beyond the high walls dotted with countless sentry posts are quick-to-build army huts crammed in tightly and a few landing grids. The evac craft lowers slowly onto one such grid. INT. BAR - DAY It's a dark tavern, built into one of those army huts. And it's full of people. The atmosphere is not jolly. It's pretty quiet. Some people whisper. Most are drowning their sorrows. And they're not all army guys, either. Many look like civilians. More than that. Dirty, tired, rough-looking. Refugees... Sitting at the bar on a stool is BOLLUX, the captain of the Ejacule. He has a series of dirty shot glasses before him, several empty, most waiting to be drunk. He lifts another to his mouth and pours it back. At this point, the creaky door of the bar is slid to one side and in steps ELLEN RIPLEY. She lets it slide back closed behind her, and heads for the bar. RIPLEY is in her forties, getting older by the minute, with dark hair tied back. She's wearing plain dark clothes that reveal very little skin. Even wearing gloves. BOLLUX regards her, not exactly like a drunk, just a little slow. BOLLUX What are you having? RIPLEY Nothing. BOLLUX These hard times. People need drink. Don't begrudge... RIPLEY just nods, and waits for the waiter, who is serving a young woman nearby. BOLLUX continues to watch her, so she checks him over, then looks back toward the waiter. BOLLUX Get your pill? RIPLEY gives him a quick glance, then just nods. BOLLUX Pretty, ain't they? (a beat) All my fault, you know. All this... alien invasion shit. (a beat) You might wanna shoot me if I told you 'bout it. RIPLEY looks at him again, as if daring him to stare her out, then blinks and looks away again. BOLLUX Coulda stopped it... me. (sing-song voice) My fault! My fault! My fault! At this point the door is slid open again and in steps JOHNER, who slams the door back across, spies RIPLEY, and makes a move toward her. JOHNER is a hard-boiled man, 40s, with a permanent frown and ugly scars across his bald features. He looks down at BOLLUX and sneers. JOHNER This rubber bothering you, Rip? RIPLEY shakes her head and looks back at BOLLUX. She takes a deep breath and clears her throat. RIPLEY He's gonna buy you a drink. BOLLUX looks a bit intimidated, then nods meekly. He gives RIPLEY an apologetic glance, then buries himself back in his search for enlightenment at the bottom of a glass. The waiter approaches at this point, giving a practised false smile and raising his eyebrows. RIPLEY We're looking for someone. Wondering if you could help. The waiter nods and chews at something in his mouth. WAITER Name? RIPLEY and JOHNER exchange a quick glance. RIPLEY No name. Just a freighter pilot. BOLLUX begins paying attention at this point, stopping his drinking and glancing up as subtly as a drunk can. WAITER Why? You got a freighter? JOHNER leans forward, breathes on the man. Nasty. JOHNER Not yet. The waiter gives a breathy snort and leans back. He looks down at the end of the bar. Two off-duty corps men with their uniforms flapped open are paying attention. JOHNER tries staring them out. RIPLEY dares them a glance. Then nods. She stands up and heads for the door. JOHNER lags behind, trying to keep up but look as laid-back as you can when beating a stealthy retreat. BOLLUX watches them go, looks at the last glass, then staggers erect. EXT. BAR - DAY It's late afternoon, and the sun is setting above the encampment wall as RIPLEY and JOHNER come out of the bar. RIPLEY Very covert, Johner. Very covert indeed. JOHNER snorts, and they start off down the people-filled passages between huts. BOLLUX slips noisily and clumsily out of the bar and tries to regain his composure. BOLLUX Hey! I'm a pilot! I can fly your freighter! JOHNER stops and turns, giving BOLLUX an ugly look. RIPLEY turns slowly, looking him in the face as he approaches. RIPLEY You're a drunk. BOLLUX grins, giving out a breathy laugh. He seems to have trouble saying what he does: BOLLUX Pre-req-uisite. INT. ADMIN CENTRE - DAY CONNIE enters this particular hut, which is well lit. There are rows of benches, all full of tired people. Others are standing. Some are even sitting on the floor. There are some bawling infants as well. CONNIE passes them all, moving out back. She is now clean and wearing a fresh corps uniform. Her minor injuries have been tended to. She approaches a desk with a young Chinese man behind it. CONNIE Private Lingus to see an adviser. I have an appointment. The Chinese man stands up, takes up his clipboard and smiles. He gestures toward a doorway. CHINESE MAN This way. Please. He leads her through a door and across into another, separate hut. This one is full of partitioned booths, each with a suited adviser in, and many with irate refugees talking to them. CHINESE MAN I've got Lingus, C, here. Who wants Connie Lingus? There is silence in the room. A few puzzled looks. A few women at the back put their hands up. The Chinese man looks puzzled himself. Some of the people with their hands up are refugees themselves. A tall, pale man with dark hair steps out, offers his hand and a smile. This is HAMMOND, 30s. HAMMOND I'm Corporal Hammond. I'll take you now. CONNIE smiles, the Chinese man nods, and HAMMOND leads his charge to an empty booth nearby. They sit, and he skim-reads through her documents. HAMMOND Right. Okay. So you wanna quit? CONNIE swallows hard, and prepares herself. CONNIE If I can't get compassionate leave, yes. HAMMOND Why do you want compassionate leave? In the middle of a war particularly. CONNIE I have to go home. I have to. They've reached Michigan now. CONNIE seems to tail off. HAMMOND nods. He clasps his hands over her documents and leans forward a bit. HAMMOND Well, they're everywhere. You know that. We couldn't let everyone go, though, could we? CONNIE shakes her head, looking a tad dejected. HAMMOND So, why you? Why are you the special case? CONNIE looks on the verge of tears. She uses the best of her soldiering abilities to maintain a collected composure. HAMMOND Look, I'm not trying to hammer you down. I'm just asking. They might let you go. If... if you have a good enough reason. CONNIE nods, takes a deep breath, exhales and puts her hands on the desk before her. CONNIE They were refused access to the camps. They're on their own. They need me. HAMMOND America needs you as well. CONNIE gives a bitter, cynical chuckle. CONNIE Yeah. That was the remit, wasn't it? HAMMOND delivers a supportive smile. Reaches a hand out and places it over hers. He takes a deep breath and sighs. He leans forward, so her head is just inches away. HAMMOND (whisper) Michigan's gone. Everything north of here is gone. CONNIE looks up, leans back, starts to shake her head. Stops. Eyes well up. She takes a deep breath. HAMMOND That's not common knowledge. You should keep it that way. CONNIE draws her hand away from his and drives it through her hair slowly. HAMMOND I'm sorry. I'm in the same boat myself. Hell, I guess we all are. CONNIE Yeah. (a beat) Thanks for jack... With that she stands and turns. HAMMOND stands as well, to shake her hand, bid her farewell, or something, but she ignores him and drifts slowly out. EXT. LANDING GRID - DAY A small freighter is parked on landing grid 17. It's about sixty feet long, with oversized engines, and a hexagonal tug mechanism at the rear. The landing field is a cluttered place. Refuelling carriages sit idly by between the ships. Engineering droids and lifters wait inactive between the landing grids. And there is all sorts of mechanical litter across the decks. The freighter on grid 17 is being refuelled. Two carriages (look a bit like heavy-duty freezers) have been pushed up to one side, plugged in. There is a soft humming. A technician monitors everything. The name etched into the side of the ship is FRANK. There's a souped up powerloader not far away from the Frank. Lying around it are dumped cargo carriers. In between them appears to be a shopping trolley half- hidden under a tarpaulin. Up pops the head of VRIESS, early 40s, small and in need of a good shave. He's sitting in the shopping trolley, with the tarpaulin over him. A young woman stands up from her hiding place behind the trolley. This is ANNALEE CALL, late 20s, petite, serious-looking. Both of the refuelling carriages beep and the technician unplugs them. Though they look like blocks of solid lead, he's able to push them away, one with each hand. As he approaches the shopping trolley, VRIESS holds the tarpaulin up high, concealing both him and CALL. He gives the tech a few seconds, then pulls the tarp clear, dumping it to one side. VRIESS Now... Call... go... shit! CALL starts sprinting across the landing grid, pushing VRIESS in the shopping trolley before her. She doesn't stop until they're up Frank's ramp, and that's no cheeky metaphor. INT. FRANK - DAY VRIESS has a bumpy ride as CALL pushes his trolley up the grated ramp, but the vibrations look quite pleasant. CALL stops at the top of the ramp and looks into the ship. She looks back, and she looks forward. VRIESS God... Call... quick! She nods and pushes him further into the ship, down a very narrow passage the trolley barely fits through. They come into the cockpit. It's a two-seater job, with a glare-compensated viewing window that looks out over the landing grid. It's a tight squeeze. CALL leaves VRIESS at the entrance and drops down into one of the seats. She examines the controls about her. Cranes her neck down and looks under the panel. CALL Shit! It's the same as the others. VRIESS pulls himself up, frowns and mutters an inaudible curse to himself. CALL gets up and starts to pull herself back toward him. VRIESS Card, Call. Look for... card! She nods, then squats down and feels around the chair and the panels, under flaps and in little holes. Her fingers make quick work of the cockpit's orifices... ho hum! CALL Nothing. Let's leave it... VRIESS nods, sits back down in his shopping trolley and begins to sulk. CALL pushes him backwards to the ramp, swings him around and charges down onto the landing grid. She pushes the trolley back past the powerloader and toward the army huts some fifty yards away. Both of them look thoroughly dejected. EXT. RESIDENTIAL HUT - DAY The sun is starting to set now. This is an establishing shot of the residential hut, which looks just like all the other huts, except this has people milling in and out, or just hanging around the doorways. Two figures stand out from the crowd: RIPLEY and JOHNER. BOLLUX is still scuttling along behind them, though he's not exactly sober yet. The three of them enter the hut. INT. RESIDENTIAL HUT - DAY There are artificial-sunlight lamps lighting up this drab interior. Windows are small and many are blocked or covered up. The place looks like it smells... The hut consists of row after row of bunks, partitioned into 'cubicles' of two bunks (four beds) by battered cardboard/MDF-type walls. Comfort is not the name of the game here. Efficiency is. People fill up every available space. Those not on bunks (and often its two to each bed) are sitting or lying on the floor. Men. Women. Children. Dirty. Tired. All in together. RIPLEY and JOHNER push their way through the mass of people with BOLLUX straggling behind them. They come to one cubicle tucked into the corner. There's a man rifling through a bag here. JOHNER's immediately atop him, grabbing him by the neck and banging him a little too heavily against the partition. JOHNER Hey, Rip, we got a fucking scab! They fry these rubbers if ya ask nicely... you wanna? RIPLEY ignores him and snatches the bag from the man's fingerless-gloved hands. He looks terrified, and starving. RIPLEY opens up the bag wide, lifts it to his face and shows him the contents. Just a few scraps of clothing. And the butt of a lean, mean pistol sticking out. RIPLEY There's nothing you want. The thief nods frantically and makes a break for it. JOHNER releases him and grins, satisfied. BOLLUX stumbles in. At this point CALL arrives with VRIESS in the shopping trolley. Both freeze at the sight of BOLLUX and throw glances in RIPLEY's general direction. RIPLEY This is our pilot. BOLLUX smiles and holds out his hand to CALL. BOLLUX Bollux. CALL Bollocks to you too, shithead. BOLLUX Nah, nah, that's my name... CALL isn't convinced. She looks to RIPLEY, who is reaching into her pocket. She brings out two red pills and hands them over to CALL. RIPLEY You missed them give out these. Standard issue suicide pills. CALL hands VRIESS his one and then examines her own. CALL Why do they make these things look so unappetising? Red, with a black skull and crossbones... Hardly saying 'Eat me', is it? VRIESS' ears prick up at this. VRIESS Eat you? Call... yes... fuck. RIPLEY takes a deep breath. JOHNER plants himself on the edge of one bunk and starts rolling his shoulders back and forth, rubbing his neck free of a crick. RIPLEY What did you find? CALL Oh, yeah. Right, well, grids 13 through 17 have just what we're after. Small. Medium range. Quite fast. RIPLEY But... CALL New stock. Automated and secure. We'd need a clearance pass just to switch it on. RIPLEY nods, thinking this over. RIPLEY Then we need a pass. JOHNER lets out a haughty, snorty laugh, shakes his head like a mane and buries his face in his hands. JOHNER Face it, Rip, the only way we're getting outta this one is the pills. RIPLEY doesn't look so sure, and looks to CALL. Then BOLLUX faints on the floor. EXT. ENCAMPMENT WALL - NIGHT It is sunset, and the temperature is dropping. People in the camp are seeking shelter, if not in the huts, then in makeshift tents built between walls. CONNIE strides through the people, up to the wall. She starts up the steps to a sentry post at the top. She reaches the top and finds a marine at the post. The marine gives her a double take. MARINE Oh, Connie, hey! Really hoping I wouldn't be seeing you. Sorry, man. Tough break. CONNIE nods, silently helping the marine off with his headset and night vision goggles (a tad more compact than their modern counterpart). CONNIE slides into his chair and puts the headset on. She starts adjusting the goggles to fit. The marine goes to the steps and then turns back. MARINE We're not gonna make it, are we? CONNIE places the goggles to one side, looks down at the automated sentry gun attached to the chair and then out toward the horizon. CONNIE If you had seen... what I've seen today... (a beat) If there were enough of them... and they kept coming... they could be here in days... days... She throws him a look. It's a 'fuck off' look. Being an intuitive soul, he picks it up, open-mouthed, gives her a nod and a smile, then starts down the steps. Alone at last, CONNIE sighs. She rubs her eyes delicately. As the light fades, she looks out over the minefield once more, looking from side to side, in her whole field of vision. Waiting for the inevitable. INT. RESIDENTIAL HUT - NIGHT VRIESS, CALL and BOLLUX are sleeping. VRIESS is on the bottom of JOHNER's bunk; CALL on the top of RIPLEY's. BOLLUX is slumped against the partition, snoring. RIPLEY is lying back, looking straight up. JOHNER is fidgeting. RIPLEY looks over to him. He sits up on the edge of the bed. JOHNER Dunno about you, but I can't just sit here. With that he gets up and departs. RIPLEY watches him go, then closes her eyes. EXT. SENTRY POST - NIGHT Night has really set in now. It's quite quiet, and that quiet is unsettling. CONNIE looks tired. She's distracted by the sound of a door, and looks down. She sees JOHNER come out of a nearby residential hut, stop and light a cigarette. Hands in his pockets, he begins a slow amble about the encampment. There's a quiet pop and a brief flash of fire out in the minefield, no more than 500 yards out. It grabs her attention back. She fumbles for the night-vision goggles and begins a scan of the minefield. Can't see anything. Then another mine blows, about 100 yards further east of the other one. CONNIE presses a button on her headset control. CONNIE Sentry post N4 requesting mine activation confirmation. Over. There's a brief pause and crackle of static. HEADSET (o/s) Er, that's a negative. What you got, N4? Over. CONNIE Two detonations. No detectable cause. Over. There's another pause. Longer this time. HEADSET (o/s) Okay... we'll check it out. Out. CONNIE isn't so confident. She takes off the headset and slides the goggles on properly. She sits back in her seat, locking into a stable position, then presses a button on the side of the goggles. The grainy night-vision shot zooms in fast, so we've got a jerky close-up image of the dirt. Another mine blows up directly in front, whiting out the goggles. CONNIE tears them off her head and throws them down to one side. She rubs her eyes, then looks down to the next sentry post along the wall, some 200 yards away. Suddenly the chair begins to move, which makes her jump. The whole minigun turret she's sitting in begins to hum to life and autoaim. CONNIE grabs the headset, presses it to her ear, presses a button on the control and looks down the wall. CONNIE N3, have you got motion detection? N3 (o/s) No, I haven- (a beat) Wait, wait, now I have! Jesus Christ, what the hell's that?! CONNIE drops the headset and takes the goggles back up, adjusting the zoom. Panning across. There they are... A swarm of them... probably more than 200... Fachuggers... picking their way through the mines! CONNIE gasps, drops the goggles in a panic, fumbles with the headset, trying to regain control. There's a small plastic cover on the side of the headset control, she flips it open and presses the red button. All around the wall klaxons begin to wail and red lights begin to flash. At this point the minigun turret bursts into life. It's erratic and firing widely. CONNIE observes the counter as it dips quickly from 2000 to 1800 then to 1600 and on... She can hear other miniguns starting up along the wall, and can see the flash lighting up her fellow sentries. Meanwhile, JOHNER is standing with the last of his cigarette at the bottom of the wall, looking around puzzled. People start surging from the residential huts, all in a panic. There's screaming and shouting and general cacophony. The realisation finally hits him, he dumps the butt and draws a small, grubby pistol from under his vest. Then he's up the steps to the sentry. CONNIE is here, listening to hysterical voices on the headset, nodding away, trying to hear over the minigun. JOHNER looks out over the minefield, seeing mines going up left, right and centre. He begins to gape, looks to CONNIE, her look back telling all. CONNIE What the fuck are you doing?! Look what's happening! JOHNER does look. Again. Realises. The minigun runs dry and CONNIE's seat slides back. JOHNER immediately grabs her from the seat by the neck and rams the pistol into her midriff. JOHNER If the shit's flying, you're coming with me. She struggles at first, like a good feminist marine, but he just jabs her harder and helps push her down the steps. EXT. RESIDENTIAL HUT - NIGHT RIPLEY comes out into the mass of panicking people, calm, yet concerned. BOLLUX charges after her, shocked into sobriety. CALL rams people out of the way with VRIESS' shopping trolley. CALL What about Johner? At this point, JOHNER appears from the crowd with CONNIE. They all look from CONNIE to JOHNER. JOHNER I got our pass, so let's move like we got something to live for. RIPLEY pulls the other gun from the bag and throws it to CALL. VRIESS takes it from her and sits back in his trolley. And then they're off, heading toward the landing grid, pushing through people, taking the dark back passages. They pass a family, two parents and two kids in the middle of taking their suicide pills. They push on, breaking out onto to the edge of the landing field. A whole stream of marines are here, armed to the teeth, keeping the baying crowds back. There's pushing and shoving galore. MARINE Get the fuck back or I'll shoot ya in the fucking head! A woman is suddenly shoved forward, completely unwittingly. Two marines shoot her down and give her a few shots in the head for luck. Suddenly there is uproar. People are surging forward, many getting shot down, but gradually overwhelming the marines. RIPLEY and co edge around the rioters and avoid the marines as they rush to control the crowds. CALL That one! The Frank! She points, RIPLEY sees and they head for it. Suddenly, there is screaming behind them. They look behind, and see the facehuggers arrive. They're running up people and clamping around their faces. Gunfire. So many of them... More facehuggers pass the group and start heading for the pirates, who break out into a sprint. On their reaching the landing ramp, the commandant marches around from the other side, with his lackeys scuttling and snivelling around him. They stop short when they see the pirates. The lackeys flip open their holsters and try to draw their guns. JOHNER and VRIESS shoot them down. The commandant just freezes, taking a step back, raising his hands and nodding. RIPLEY and JOHNER (with CONNIE) enter the ship first, followed by the others and head straight for the cockpit. The pilot suddenly leaps up in surprise and pulls a gun. JOHNER shoots him and throws CONNIE onto the other seat. He then drags the pilot out and dumps him in the passage. CALL is trying to speed up the closing ramp. A facehugger catches the commandant. Another leaps for the ramp. VRIESS, from his trolley, empties his clip before the beastie is felled. RIPLEY If you wanna live, you help us. CONNIE You gonna shoot me too? RIPLEY We won't need to... This hits home and CONNIE tears open her breast pocket and pulls out a card. She flicks it into a socket on the controls. They light up and the ship hums to life. CONNIE Can you fly these things? BOLLUX appears in the cockpit, surveys the controls. RIPLEY (to Connie) Get out. CONNIE clambers out of the seat and backs against the cockpit wall. BOLLUX slides in and straps himself in. RIPLEY does the same. He begins thumbing the controls. The ship begins to vibrate. BOLLUX Better tie yourselves down. These bitches don't have atmo comp. EXT. LANDING GRID 17 - NIGHT Facehuggers have claimed most of the people. More people are surging through, screaming, with facehuggers all around. People still outnumber the beasts though. Ships like the Frank, and even smaller vessels begin to take-off. The Frank is the last remaining. The engines spark. People reach the ship and start banging on the sides hysterically. As the engines start to roar over their heads, one man picks up a discarded gun and shoots himself in the right temple. Facehuggers swarm around as the Frank's engines blast down. People and aliens are swallowed up indiscriminately by the blast. Slowly at first the Frank rises, then faster and faster, getting higher and higher. It begins to pitch. Then the huge engines to the rear burst into life and the Frank powers up into the atmosphere. INT. FRANK COCKPIT - NIGHT They're being thrown around like nobody's business. BOLLUX has control of the ship, though. RIPLEY straps herself in, then settles back, watching the other ships breaking through the clouds ahead of them. CONNIE falls over. Twice. She stays down, clinging to the floor. The sound of the shopping trolley sliding back and forth can be heard, accompanied by yelps from VRIESS. Suddenly the ship breaks through the cloud cover and settles down. The roaring becomes a gentle throbbing hum, and they can hear the console beep at last. BOLLUX presses a few more buttons. BOLLUX You got a plan, then? They'll fry us for this. RIPLEY Take us off autopilot. We're not going to Gateway. BOLLUX We're not? Why not? RIPLEY doesn't answer as she unstraps herself and helps CONNIE back to her feet. She then heads into the ship, where JOHNER and CALL are helping VRIESS back into his trolley. They all stand here, looking at each other for a second. Made it... CONNIE comes in nervously, and stands by the wall, behind RIPLEY. JOHNER So... where we going? Xarem? New Kansas? BOLLUX (o/s) How about Erebus? They turn to look as he enters. BOLLUX Don't worry. We've changed course. Right now we're going straight for the core systems. (a beat) So how about it? It's about as far away as you can get. Great place for people who don't wanna be found... RIPLEY looks around the blank faces of her comrades. She doesn't look to CONNIE. RIPLEY Erebus it is, then. BOLLUX nods and disappears back into the cockpit. JOHNER plants himself down on a supply box and starts prising open another. CONNIE That's predator territory... CALL That's why there's no aliens out there... RIPLEY throws CONNIE a menacing grin. EXT. SPACE - DAY/NIGHT/YOU REMEMBER An establishing shot of the Frank as it pushes its way through space at a significant speed. It's a pretty fine-looking ship when it's not planted on the ground. There are no stars or planets nearby. The Frank and her passengers might as well be alone in the universe. INT. FRANK COCKPIT - DITTO BOLLUX is here, looking a bit tired, lying back and monitoring the console. RIPLEY comes in. He looks up at her and she sits in the other chair. RIPLEY I've got a few questions, and I'd like a few answers, if that's okay with you. He yawns and nods. RIPLEY Are you a mole? BOLLUX What?! That's bullshit! RIPLEY Well, I figure you hafta be military to've been to Erebus, or anywhere in the vicinity. I know what goes on there... BOLLUX looks at her and nods. This one's smarter than she looks. He licks his lips. BOLLUX I was under military contract, yeah. But I'm freelance, through and through. RIPLEY So what were you doing? BOLLUX sighs, does a quick check over the console. Delaying tactics. He chuckles hoarsely. BOLLUX Saving the Earth... INT. FRANK HANGAR - DITTO (AGAIN) CALL and VRIESS are sleeping side by side on makeshift bunks. CALL appears to be having a bad dream. JOHNER has several cargo crates torn open, with the contents strewed across the decks. He's midway through examining another, full of food, casually picking out bits, tasting them and then replacing them. Watching him is CONNIE, slouched on another bunk. She looks numbed, but not tired. She takes a deep breath, stands and approaches JOHNER. CONNIE Connie Lingus... of CLIT... JOHNER looks up and pulls a face. JOHNER Fuck off. We just met. CONNIE No, no, that's my name. I'm Private Lingus, of the Central Louisiana Intersteallar Task- force... CLIT. JOHNER nods then tears off the corner of a sachet and begins pouring the powder into his mouth. CONNIE So what's your story? Guessing you're not your average group of 'fugees. JOHNER snorts. JOHNER I'm Johner. The guy's Vriess... the bitch is Call. Girl in front is Ripley. And no, we ain't your usual refugees. At this point CALL awakes from her bad dream and sits bolt upright. She looks to JOHNER and CONNIE, examines her surroundings. CONNIE I suppose I should thank you. I mean, I would be dead now if you hadn't stuck a gun in my face and taken me hostage. JOHNER grins sheepishly and gives a chuckle. She smiles and sighs. Then she takes a sachet from the box and perches on the edge of her bunk. She begins to pour the stuff down her throat just like him. He laughs. JOHNER You wanna know our story? Okay, then... where shall I begin? (a beat) How about the day we brought the aliens to Earth? INT. FRANK COCKPIT - NIGHT BOLLUX is midway through his story. RIPLEY is giving him her 'deep' look. BOLLUX They never said what it was... they just said it could win the war for us. I never even saw what was in the cryotube. RIPLEY nods. RIPLEY Do you think the predators got their hands on it, whatever it was? BOLLUX shrugs. BOLLUX Who knows? I jettisoned the tube in orbit... if they boarded the ship they could have tracked it down to the surface. RIPLEY starts looking out the viewing window. An endless expanse of stars. It looks cold out there. RIPLEY I wouldn't say anything about this to the others... BOLLUX goes to speak, but the words are taken straight out of his mouth by CALL, now standing at the doorway: CALL Why not? RIPLEY and BOLLUX look up to her. RIPLEY looks away again. RIPLEY No more crusades, Call. We did all we could. CALL gives a breathy, derisive snort to that, and enters the cockpit. She stands behind BOLLUX, gripping the seat's headrest with whitening fingers. CALL The hell we did! I can't believe you sometimes, Ripley. RIPLEY doesn't respond to this. CALL I'm telling the others. With this she disappears into the passage. RIPLEY quickly unstraps and chases after her. BOLLUX follows. INT. FRANK HANGAR - NIGHT CALL comes in and kicks one of JOHNER's discarded cargo crates out of her way. The sound commands silence and attention, and wakes up VRIESS. CALL looks seriously pissed. VRIESS What is it? Call... Jesus... RIPLEY comes in. CALL looks to her. The menacing glare works on CALL everytime... except for now. CALL There might be a way we can stop them... Ripley didn't want me to tell you. VRIESS Stop them? Fuck... Jesus... CONNIE is paying particular attention now. CALL approaches BOLLUX. He's a bigger man than she had anticipated. He doesn't look particularly threatened. CALL Tell them what you told her. Tell them about your mission. JOHNER Mission? What mission? What the fuck's going on here? BOLLUX looks to RIPLEY for guidance. She crosses her arms and gives him a blank stare. He nods. BOLLUX A genetically engineered weapon. I was transporting it through the Erebus system, back to Earth. It might've been able to stop 'em. CONNIE What weapon? BOLLUX shrugs, looks to RIPLEY again. Same old stare. BOLLUX I dunno. But... there's a strong chance it's still on Erebus. It- CALL interrupts now. CALL If there's a chance, we have to do this. We're responsible for those things. We're responsible for this, too. VRIESS I agree... shit... we gotta. CONNIE So do I... I agree. They all look at her. She shrinks back a little, as if maybe she's being a little presumptuous. She diverts attention to JOHNER, who's rolling his eyes. She takes a deep breath and puffs out her chest. Like, BIG. JOHNER's transfixed. JOHNER Hmm. I could be persuaded. At this point RIPLEY disappears back into the cockpit, and they all look to BOLLUX. BOLLUX Hey, yeah, sure. You're paying for my time, anyway. None of them look amused. BOLLUX Joke. Still none of them look amused. EXT. SPACE - DAY The Frank continues through space. It's entering a new star system now. As it passes through a close-up, it eclipses the excessively yellow sun. Panning further across, it arrives in the orbit of a dull, tawny-coloured world. This, ladies and gentlemen, is Erebus. INT. FRANK COCKPIT - DAY The ship is shuddering a lot. BOLLUX is fighting the controls. RIPLEY is in the co-pilot seat helping him. They have to raise their voices to be heard. The ship is pushing through the cloud-cover, which obscures their view of the surface. BOLLUX Switch dampeners to full... RIPLEY reaches over and presses a button. Some of the shuddering calms down - it's more of a violent vibration now. BOLLUX There we go... that's better... Suddenly the Frank breaks through the clouds and we can see the surface rushing toward us head on. BOLLUX Levelling descent... The ship slowly begins to pull up by the nose. An alarm blares, BOLLUX chuckles and slows the levelling. Still gonna crash at this rate, though. Gradually the nose comes up sufficiently so that they can't see the ground beneath them any more. BOLLUX Switching to atmosphere... They feel a sudden drag that yanks them down into their seats. BOLLUX groans. RIPLEY looks indignantly out the viewing window. BOLLUX Uh-oh, too fast... Gradually the extra gees wear off, and the ship glides gracefully (well, nearly) through the atmosphere. BOLLUX Lower landing gear... there, the four yellow buttons. RIPLEY presses them. Each one beeps, and the ship can be seen to slow from the viewing window. EXT. PLAIN - DAY The plain is quite even. A light breeze whips up the loose material all around. The sun is very small in the sky - a long way off. The Frank drops steadily, at an angle. The landing gear slides down but the ship looks like it's going too fast. Touching down at this speed would rip the landing gear (and probably the hull) off the ship. INT. FRANK COCKPIT - DAY RIPLEY can see they're still going too fast. RIPLEY Coming in too fast... BOLLUX I know! I know! I know! He gives the controls a sudden jerk upwards. An alarm blares. The ship is stalling, slowing quickly. BOLLUX knocks off two engines. Waits. The other two. Silence... Then BANG - the ship touches down... Both RIPLEY and BOLLUX are thrown as far as their harnesses will let them. Alarms blare and steam vents above their heads, but the ship grinds to a quick halt. BOLLUX looks to RIPLEY with a sense of pride. They unstrap. INT. FRANK HANGAR - DAY VRIESS is already in his shopping trolley. CALL and JOHNER are concealing guns on their person. RIPLEY and BOLLUX enter as CONNIE lowers the ramp. Only CONNIE is still wearing the same clothes (her corps uniform). BOLLUX is wearing something of JOHNER's. RIPLEY is wearing a fetching plain grey leather number. JOHNER Where do we start looking? RIPLEY looks to BOLLUX. BOLLUX Wreckage. Look for wreckage. Maybe find a settlement or something... ask around. JOHNER Right. So, Call, Vriess and me will take the north hemisphere, you three take the south, and we'll meet back here for tea. CONNIE hides her smile by ducking her head down. BOLLUX just shrugs, a tad irritated. The others are nonplussed. CONNIE What about a beacon? If the EEV landed in one piece, a beacon would be transmitted on auto. RIPLEY nods. VRIESS looks like he's itching to speak. VRIESS What frequency... goddamnit... RIPLEY It wouldn't be standard, I'm guessing. Military band? BOLLUX nods. RIPLEY looks to CONNIE. CONNIE 217.6 no fluctuations. RIPLEY turns to VRIESS. Without having to ask him, he holds out some stolen meters, grubby yellow plastic things with digital displays. JOHNER takes one, gives it a shake. CALL saves it from him. BOLLUX takes the other, offers it to RIPLEY. After a moment's hesitation, she takes it and sets it to the right frequency. Nothing yet. RIPLEY Vriess, I want you to stay here, okay? If we spread out too much, we'll need to use the ship as relay. (a beat) And we don't want to attract any attention, do we? VRIESS nods with a scowl. JOHNER jerks his head toward the ramp at CONNIE, who nods and follows him down. RIPLEY, BOLLUX and CALL follow together shortly thereafter. VRIESS watches them go. VRIESS Discrim-ination... bitch... EXT. FRANK - DAY The five of them stop outside the ship, adjusting to the cold. CONNIE has some goggles out, and holds them up to her eyes. CONNIE Looks like some sorta camp over in that direction. Maybe a click or two. RIPLEY nods. They start walking. POV SHOT: Predator infrared vision We see them walking off through the eyes of a Predator, perhaps some 500 yards away. The shot zooms in at terrific speed, so we can even make out who is who. We hear those clicking sounds we connect with a Predator. EXT. PREDATOR SHIP - DAY There is a small Predator vessel concealed behind a rock formation. The ramp is down. The shimmering shape of a Predator approaches, and, once behind the rock formation, decloaks. Fully armoured, but without its weapons. It has dyed dreadlocks, yellow. The Predator enters its ship. It brings out a long, ornate box, a bit like a violin case. It presses a button on the box, places it on the ground, then retreats into the ship. The ramp closes. Symbols on the box flash in some sort of sequence, then stop. The top of the box slips open and out crawls a facehugger. The creature heads back the way the Predator had come. EXT. SHANTY TOWN - DAY RIPLEY and co are at the edge of a shanty town. Tents, huts and shacks - all forms of minimal shelter. It's just like Earth, just further along the way to the dogs. A few people mill about. Rising up from the squalor quite a distance in is what looks like a small, modified atmosphere processing station. Kind of like the 24th century variation. CONNIE rejoins the group. She was conversing with a woman sitting outside a tent. CONNIE Says there's a considerable army presence here... but they're all inside the complex. RIPLEY nods. RIPLEY Then we're fortunate you're here. (a beat) Johner, these are your people. Talk to them. Ask about the EEV. JOHNER grins at CONNIE. RIPLEY Take Call with you. The private here will get me into the complex. CONNIE grins at JOHNER. RIPLEY's off, with BOLLUX trailing behind her. CONNIE flashes JOHNER another smile and catches up. CALL watches them go. JOHNER My people... my ass... INT. FRANK COCKPIT - DAY VRIESS has pulled his trolley along the passage to the cockpit with his hands. The trolley is now right behind the seats. Using all his strength, he pulls himself up, out of the trolley (which promptly falls over) and over the back of the pilot's chair. He goes head over heels and ends up stuck in an awkward position. Having considerable upper-arm strength, he pulls himself upright, but then has to take a breather after all that effort. After a second or two he starts pressing buttons, checking out the ship. When he presses one button, a small digital read-out starts filling with text: SHIP DETECTED, ID: 26346A, SS EJACULE, ORBIT: GEOSYNCHRONOUS. He frowns. There is a tiny, tinny sound behind him. He ignores it. EXT. SOUTH LOCK - DAY RIPLEY, BOLLUX and CONNIE have reached the wide doorway to the colony complex. It's closed. It is battered, and there is graffiti over it: FUCKING PIGS, etc, etc. CONNIE What do we do? Knock? RIPLEY looks up at the two CCTV cameras, one on each side of the gate, protected behind an unbreakable glass sheet. INTERCOM (o/s) How many times do we hafta tell you people? There's no more food in here! Beat it! That throws BOLLUX, who raises his eyebrows and takes a step back, ready to follow orders. CONNIE looks to RIPLEY. RIPLEY We've come from Earth... Silence. No response. They wait and then the doorway begins to open. EXT. SHANTY TOWN - DAY JOHNER and CALL are walking through the planet's sunset district. There's a half-buried corpse at one end, and someone wracked by dysentery at the other. Hate-filled eyes set in sunken, starving faces observe these well-fed, well- clothed, clean Hollywood archetypes. JOHNER looks for the least intimidating, and most intimidated face in the crowds. Finds a small, elderly black woman. JOHNER Hey, you up to answering some questions, mam? She pulls an antique Colt 45 and points it at him. WOMAN Go fuck yourself, jerk off! JOHNER is thrown, blinks and steps back to CALL, who is doing her best to conceal an amused look. JOHNER jerks his head further down the 'street' and CALL follows him. They get a little further when a few Mexican types step out and bar their way. JOHNER sighs and leans further toward CALL. JOHNER I think we just entered the ghetto... The lead Mexican pulls a dirty machete on them. MEXICAN No, amigo, you just entered the poh-lice station... The Mexican smirks. His comrades laugh. CALL edges behind JOHNER, who puts his hands behind his back. She places her pistol into his palms... slowly... INT. CORRIDOR - DAY It's your typical Alien saga corridor. Grating floor. Wall panels. Pipes overhead. No windows. Strip lighting. Loads of grey. A man in corps uniform opens a door manually and gestures RIPLEY, CONNIE and BOLLUX inside. MAN If you'll wait here... the colony co-ordinator will want to talk to you. BOLLUX enters without further invitation. RIPLEY and CONNIE hold back, then enter. RIPLEY Can we have those back? She points at the communication devices and scanning hand-helds that the man has confiscated. MAN If you'll wait here... the colony co-ordinator will speak to you shortly. With that he leaves, closes the door. They hear a click. The room is pretty sparse. It's a waiting room. There is one of those wall- hugging seats that starts next to the door and stretches around the walls, right up to the other side of the door. In the centre of the room is a table, atop which is an underlit aquarium. A few tropical fish are swimming around. BOLLUX is examining them. BOLLUX Holographic fish... now I know this gotta be a trap. INT. CONTROL CENTRE - DAY It's a busy control centre, a bit like Hadley's Hope Operations. The man hurries through this and into a small office, sheltered behind the glass. Two authoritative-looking men are here. Both are clichés. One (FRED) is a big, gruff man in a corps uniform. The other (TED) is a small, pleasant-looking fellow in a one-piece suit. They're watching the waiting room on a monitor, but they look up as the man enters. He dumps the equipment on the desk before them. TED Are the medbays ready? The man nods. TED nods back. FRED Use the gas. These look like tricky customers. Their friends just shot up a few cops. INT. WAITING ROOM - DAY RIPLEY is staring straight into the CCTV camera. BOLLUX is sprawled across the seat, watching the holographic fish. CONNIE is standing by the door, clasping her elbows. CONNIE I don't understand it. This isn't protocol... BOLLUX snorts. RIPLEY turns around. BOLLUX Protocol don't count out here. They mull this over for a second. Then both CONNIE and BOLLUX start rubbing their eyes. CONNIE sits out, rubbing her throat and mopping at her watering eyes. She looks up to BOLLUX. RIPLEY regards them both. CONNIE What the hell is this? Then BOLLUX starts gasping. Like a retching, but struggling for air. A second later CONNIE does too. RIPLEY closes her mouth, holds her breath. She goes to BOLLUX, pushes him forward and sees a vent. She puts her hand up against it, feeling for draft. Then BOLLUX slides unconscious to the floor. RIPLEY looks to CONNIE, who is choking. There is fear in her eyes, which suddenly roll back as CONNIE slips unconscious. RIPLEY turns to the CCTV camera, holding her breath, trying to stare it out. The invisible gas is starting to get to her eyes. She lasts a good few seconds before she also collapses to the floor. As soon as she has, there is the sound of air being sucked out of the room quickly. RIPLEY's hair flaps in the breeze as her body lies prone. INT. MEDBAY - DAY RIPLEY, BOLLUX and CONNIE (oh, yeah!) have all been stripped to their necessities, strapped onto vertical frames on slightly raised, circular podiums, several metres apart. Soldiers stand at the two entrances, shockrifles cradled in their hands. A few medical technicians flutter about, and that man hugs a clipboard as he looks over the consoles. The medical technicians start running a program. All three podiums hum into life. A large ring drops down from the ceiling over each, passing over their bodies from head to foot, flashing bright white light over them, much like a computer scanner. The rings reach the floor, halt for a second, then rise up again to the ceiling. RIPLEY's eyelids are fluttering, like she's dreaming. INT. RECOVERY ROOM - DAY RIPLEY is stirring slowly. There are distant voices. CONNIE and JOHNER muttering to each other. RIPLEY opens her eyes with a start, suddenly looks down and feels her chest. Checks herself over. Then slowly rises herself up on her elbows. CONNIE and JOHNER notice and come over. They are already dressed. BOLLUX is by the next bed, dressing. CONNIE They gassed us! Can you believe it? They gassed us! RIPLEY looks across the faces. Focuses. Rises up into a sitting position and examines the room. It's dim and cold-looking, as sterile medical environments oft are. RIPLEY How long? JOHNER rubs his stubble with his fingers. Grins. JOHNER Could be days. Dunno. Might be hours. Didn't shave this morning. RIPLEY nods, then looks like a thought strikes her. RIPLEY Where's Call? At this point the door opens and in comes TED, smiling apologetically and trying to look open and welcoming. TED Hi, I'm Ted. I'm with colonial administration. I'm the colony co-ordinator here. (a beat) Sorry about the rude welcome. We just hafta be careful with all incomings from Earth. I'm sure you understand. (a beat) But hey, don't worry. You're all in the clear, and are free to leave whenever you want. JOHNER snorts and RIPLEY catches the glances of several of her colleagues. She's just been elected spokeswoman. RIPLEY Where's Call? INT. MAINTENANCE CORRIDOR - DAY It's one of those low-level places, darker than the rest of the colony. Quiet. Distant. Empty. Narrow corridors. Manual-operation doors. Two engineers arrive at one access hatch. It's a square thing, about a metre up and across. The engineers kneel down, one on each side, and begin unfastening the bolts in each corner with a small electronic screwdriver. ENGINEER #1 Hey, meant to ask you: you catch "Transmission X"? They had that Salvaje on it again. ENGINEER #2 God, really? You know, I thought he was being satire-wotsit at first, but ya know, I think he's serious! They both laugh. The hatch comes clear, and they place it down to one side. A second later they hold their wrists to their mouths and reel back. Through the hatch we can see an open sewer (one metre across, two up), with all sort of muck floating through the bootom. ENGINEER #2 God, I can smell the blockage from here. ENGINEER #1 Price of survival. Wanna flip? He nods. ENGINEER #1 takes off his glove and flips a battered ancient coin. ENGINEER #2 Bush. The coin lands. ENGINEER #1 gives a cruel false laugh. ENGINEER #1 Gore. Get in the hole, bubba! ENGINEER #2 snorts, switches on his shoulder flashlight and peers into the sewer. He spits into the flow and looks disgusted. Then he climbs on through, landing in the muck with a disgusted groan. He almost retches. He turns back to the hatch and ENGINEER #1 hands him over some probing equipment. ENGINEER #2 flashes him a look, then starts wading down through the darkness. We wait with ENGINEER #1, squatting at the hatch. He looks down the corridor toward a flickering strip light. Yawns. Looking back to the hatch, and the flashlight suddenly goes. ENGINEER #1 Hey, bubba, you okay in there? Nothing. He waits a little, sighs and leans forward, switching on his own flashlight. He peers down the sewer. Nothing there. He leans a little further in... Suddenly an alien arm, dripping in thick mucous and sewage reaches out from the muck and grabs his face. He begins kicking and screaming, flailing back. Agonising screams. He reaches for a handset clipped to his belt in a panic. Fumbles across it. He jolts, groans in agony and is sprayed in his own blood. But before he goes limp, he flips open the little plastic panel and presses the red button. INT. OPERATIONS CORRIDOR - DAY Klaxons are wailing. Lights flashing. People in a state of near panic, but still doing their job. Into this comes TED, with RIPLEY and the others in tow. BOLLUX is towing the rear with JOHNER, looking thoroughly shocked. BOLLUX An auton? Call's a fucking android?! Jesus... anyone else got any secrets they wanna share? He catches up with RIPLEY, who throws him a wicked smile. RIPLEY Yes. I'm half alien. This throws him, and he slips back. Someone runs into him from behind, and he catches up again. The four of them stand back and watch the proceedings. There are two big screens on the wall, which most people are either watching of controlling. On the first is a schematic of the complex which someone is scrolling through. On the second is a quickly flipping view of the many CCTV cameras. JOHNER's sure he catches a porn channel slipped into there... Nearby is FRED, barking inaudible orders. TED stands in his shadows, asking equally inaudible questions, but being ignored. Something grabs JOHNER's attention behind them. VRIESS' voice can be heard, quiet and filtered. JOHNER Vriess? Vriess? I can hear Vriess... hey, Vriess! He looks. There is a communication console, abandoned. JOHNER presses a few buttons, nothing happens, so he kicks it. CONNIE slides into the seat, begins controlling it with ease. CONNIE It's a repeating transmission, sent from the Frank. There's some data attached... She plays the transmission. VRIESS (o/s) Hey... Johner... Ripley! Shit! Can't hear me? God... I found ship... in orbit... Ejacule. Contact... At this sound, BOLLUX approaches. RIPLEY is also drawn over. They watch as CONNIE brings up the attached data. A navigational schematic comes up, showing the Ejacule's position and geosynchronous course in orbit. BOLLUX That's it! That's my ship! That's the Ejacule! TED is looking at them whilst FRED continues to shout over the klaxons. They now have the CCTV image up on the second screen, but the scrolling of the map is incomplete. FRED There! That's the place! Stop moving the damn fucking map! They do. A small dot of light is flashing in the correct spot. RIPLEY looks over. FRED turns, coming to the communication console and glaring at CONNIE. TED joins him. FRED What the fuck are you 'fugees doing?! Get outside! Ted, why are they in here, huh? RIPLEY faces off to the man. RIPLEY You got an alien in here? In your super-secure colony base? FRED Just get outside. RIPLEY looks to TED. RIPLEY Seeing as I can't make a deal with this human, how about I make one with you? TED raises a suspicious eyebrow. RIPLEY We'll find your alien, take it out, whatever. You release Call and give us a docking shuttle. We want this ship here. TED looks to FRED. FRED We don't need you, lady. We got our own guys. RIPLEY Fine. Send them out too. If we find it first, you honour the deal. Got it? FRED No offence, but I think trained soldiers can handle this better than a bunch o' 'fugees. CONNIE snorts, attracting her superior's attention. CONNIE God, you are such a cliché! FRED I like being a cliché. Gives me an excuse. Now get outta my way. FRED goes back to supervising the operation. A group of four marines, all ready to rumble appear to one side of the room. FRED goes over to them. TED turns back to RIPLEY. TED Okay. He won't ever let the auton go, but I can get her out. What do you need? INT. LOWER LEVEL CORRIDOR - DAY TED leads RIPLEY and the others round a corner toward a pressure door. They all have weapons now. A flame unit for RIPLEY, shockrifles for JOHNER and BOLLUX, and a standard issue rifle for CONNIE. TED slows as he approaches. TED This door should be closed... RIPLEY passes him by, flicking the flare on the end of her weapon into action. JOHNER follows without hesitation. BOLLUX and CONNIE hold back with TED. CONNIE Why are you helping us? TED licks his lips. TED Cause you're helping me... Now, move it. Fred's guys've got a head-start on you. With that, CONNIE nods and catches up with JOHNER. BOLLUX raises his eyebrows, as you do, and then follows them. TED comes to the door, gives a luck-wishing smile, and closes the door. INT. CORRIDORS - DAY Various views of similar pressure doors being slammed shut and locked down. INT. LOWER LEVEL CORRIDOR - DAY RIPLEY leads, with CONNIE bringing up the rear and JOHNER and BOLLUX taking the sides. All have their weapons raised, ready to fire, except RIPLEY, who just keeps it to hand. They approach a corner. BOLLUX goes to strafe around it, but RIPLEY holds him back. She fires a blast of flame against the opposite wall and it flares off around the corner. BOLLUX grins. They proceed down the next corridor. There's silence, except for a gentle humming in the pipes above them, and a hissing noise from around the next corner. RIPLEY fires another burst of flames around that corner, and the hissing just gets louder. She looks to CONNIE, who takes point, then strafes around the corner, ready to fire. There's a hissing vent (what else in this film?)... They proceed on, down a long corridor which gets darker to the end. There are those lights that flash in a sequence, pointing in a direction to travel on the ceiling (the lights are on the ceiling, not travel on the ceiling). BOLLUX God, I feel like I'm in a video game... JOHNER Yeah, well I know I ain't got three lives left... INT. CORRIDOR (ELSEWHERE) - DAY The four marines are heading down remarkably similar corridors. They each have a rifle and flame unit. The rearguard also has a grenade launcher. There is hissing from around the corner. Sounds like another hissing vent. The leader strafes round. The hissing stops. Nothing there... but all the lights along the ceiling have been smashed, and the corridor is in darkness. The leader nods, and they proceed along. A few steps in, and they're walking through puddles of mucous. Alarmed expressions grace their faces. INT. LOWER LEVEL CORRIDOR - DAY RIPLEY and CONNIE are leading, with JOHNER and BOLLUX bringing up the rear now. They are walking toward a junction, with three routes to choose. CONNIE You shoulda asked for better weapons, Ripley. We're the easy target, here. RIPLEY clears her throat. RIPLEY On the contrary, we're just the lesser threat. They hear a burst of gunfire and shouting voices several corridors away. They freeze at first, then BOLLUX pinpoints the direction and turns left at the junction. The others follow. RIPLEY See what I mean? INT. CONTROL CENTRE - DAY Apart from the occasional beep from a computer, the room is in silence. People either work silently, or watch the two monitors. One shows the relative positions of both groups on the schematic. The other shows alternating views through the CCTV cameras. FRED and TED are standing at the back, watching the proceedings. TED clasps his elbows. FRED maintains a stiff, military expression. A man comes in with a cuffed CALL. FRED jerks his head toward their office, nods at his man, and then leads CALL in. TED watches them go. INT. LOWER LEVEL CORRIDOR - DAY RIPLEY and co arrive at the position of the other group. There are three bloody corpses here, killed in a variety of ways. They hold back, watching for trouble. BOLLUX God, they didn't even see it coming... RIPLEY Of course not. They had guns. It wasn't gonna allow them a clear shot. They hear gunfire again. Rapid, longer in duration. There are no guns left amongst the corpses. JOHNER looks up into the CCTV camera and grins. JOHNER Are we having fun yet? INT. OPERATIONS OFFICE - DAY FRED sees JOHNER's ugly mug on his own small screen and switches it off. He looks up to CALL, then holds up a small key, holds it out toward her. She reaches forward with her cuffs slowly, and he takes them off her. She rubs her wrists. FRED Auton, eh? Wow... Don't see them around much these days. Heard the bottom fell right outta the sex slave market. CALL's expression remains quite, quite blank, if a little nervous. FRED gives her a brutish smile. FRED See, I'm still not convinced you aren't here on some dirty covert op. Maybe you should try and convince me... CALL gives him a dirty look. CALL You want me to suck you off? FRED looks genuinely surprised. Shakes his head, then chortles merrily. FRED Old programming dies hard, eh? No. I want you to go back to your ship, and take some of my men with you. We could use a ship like that. CALL eyes him suspiciously, sits back in her chair and goes to speak, but nothing comes out. INT. CORRIDOR - DAY A marine is running with his weapons, through darker and darker corridors. He's in a bit of a flap now, firing sporadically and uncontrolled. Naughty soldier boy... He has the weapons of his fallen comrades, which are all covered in blood. He himself is also splattered in the red stuff. He darts around a corner, half strafing, half stumbling. It's completely dark, so he slows. He fires off several rifle shots in quick succession. This lights up the corridor ahead like a strobe light. Nothing there. He proceeds along, right to the next corner, where he presses himself against the wall. There are noises coming from around the corner. Clickings... footsteps..? He slowly raises his rifle, ready to blow the head off whatever comes round the corner. He holds his breath. Red in the face. He's concentrating so hard he doesn't see the alien slip silently down behind him and go straight for his head. He has time to let off a few shots before he's dead. RIPLEY and co charge around this corner in time to see the alien making off down the corridor, leaping from wall to wall. CONNIE lets rip. Might have hit, but not kill-shot. JOHNER goes for the weapons, not at all fazed that they're covered in blood and trapped under a mutilated corpse. RIPLEY steps on the barrel of a rifle he tries to grasp. RIPLEY Leave it here... don't give it a reason to kill you. JOHNER Fuck that! It's gonna kill me anyways... 'less I have this. He pulls it out from under her foot, checks it over, wipes it clean and slings the burner to the floor. BOLLUX stands over, checking out the weapons himself. He looks to RIPLEY. She shakes her head ever so slightly. He reads her look, nods, and passes on by. CONNIE Let's keep it moving, shall we? It's ahead of us, now. They start off again. EXT. FRANK - DAY The sun is beginning to set over the endless, unobscured horizon. It's quite, quite beautiful. CALL comes up to the ship's open ramp. She has with her four marines. All male. She throws them a look. The lead marine nods. CALL goes up the ramp. Three of the marines follow. The fourth awaits at the foot of the ramp, standing guard. CALL Vriess? Vriess? Where are you? She proceeds down the passage, to the cockpit. She can see him sitting in the pilot's chair, his arm resting on the side, his long, floppy hair dangling off the back. CALL Vriess? What are you doing? But he ignores her... She comes up behind him, slips down into the cockpit and stops with a start... She sees VRIESS' final expression. One of agonising pain, and a relief come too late. And his chest is exploded outward... CALL Somebody get in here! She stumbles back as the lead marine approaches. He sees the hole in VRIESS' chest and immediately raises his rifle, first pointing it at VRIESS, then panning it across the cockpit. The other marines follow suit. Except for the one outside... He looks back in their direction, but doesn't enter the ship. He cranes his head, trying to look up into it. Then three red dots of light appear on his head, in a triangle formation. INT. LOWER LEVEL CORRIDOR - DAY RIPLEY and the others are heading deeper and deeper into this maze of corridors. They pass a few open doorways. CONNIE checks each with a pan of her rifle, then shuts the door. They hear an alien shriek, not too far ahead. It gives them a jolt. They stop. CONNIE I musta hit it... hurt it... RIPLEY nods. They reach another corner. She doesn't bother firing her flame unit around it. She stops. The stretch of corridor beyond is quite dark. The light above them is flashing. This is the same corridor where the engineers opened the access hatch... JOHNER suddenly grabs CONNIE by the arm and stops her stepping forward. JOHNER Look! He points with his rifle. Some blood drips off it. They're looking at a burn mark in the floor. Acid has eaten through some of the grating. CONNIE would have stepped on it. RIPLEY proceeds forward slowly. Sure enough, there is another burn mark a little way forward. Larger. And another, further on, the same size as the first. By following the burns, they reach the access hatch. JOHNER goes a little further, but returns. JOHNER Stops here... look there... Indeed, there is a large acid burn on one side of the hatch. Little plumes of white smoke spiral up. RIPLEY nears the opening, holds the nozzle of her weapon into the hatch and fires. She moves it around, sending flame all around the vicinity. Then she stops, and they listen. They hear nothing. RIPLEY leans forward, takes a quick peek inside. BOLLUX Who gets to go in the tube? For some reason, they all look to JOHNER. Including JOHNER! RIPLEY We all do. Two directions. Two pairs. Unless anyone wants to go it alone... She quickly checks over their faces. As if they'd disagree. She nods, then slips down into the murk. BOLLUX follows her. Both of them sidle off down one way, and wait for JOHNER and CONNIE to follow, which they do. JOHNER Jesus! This is sloppy shit and piss and stuff! God! CONNIE That guy said they'd shut off the exterior access runs. Means these tunnels go in a circle, and meet at a junction. RIPLEY Well, that's good. Means we've got it trapped. JOHNER gives one of those 'I'm-so-fucking-pleased' faces. She smiles back, then heads off into the darkness. BOLLUX keeps close, wading through behind her. With a sigh, JOHNER starts off in his direction. CONNIE keeps close behind him, holding her rifle above the sewage. JOHNER Keep it close, babe... INT. FRANK HANGAR - DAY CALL comes away from the passage slowly, head drooped, in shock, artificial or otherwise. The marines are poking around in the opened cargo boxes. The one behind her is performing a scan. She stops at the top of the ramp. Suddenly the marine at the bottom flops down onto it. He is bleeding copiously from the back of his head. The other two marines notice and hurry down to him. One seems to be hit in the stomach and lets out a gurgling scream. He collapses to the floor, bleeding everywhere. The other marine starts firing with his weapon, aiming wildly. He's caught in the face in a similar way. As he flops down dead and his head lolls back, CALL can see one of those tiny Predator spears embedded in his forehead. The final marine shoves CALL out of the way and drops to a firing position at the top of the ramp, ready for whatever comes for him. In the flickering lights and near-darkness, he only just sees the shimmering come up to him... but too late, he's caught in the throat by a cloaked wrist- blade and falls down dead. CALL freezes. Doesn't even blink. Watches the shimmering as it forms into a huge Predator. It doesn't seem to see her, passing into the passageway. CALL waits a few seconds, lets her eyes fall in that direction, then breaks into a run, darting down the ramp and away. She just keeps on running, toward the settlement, over a mile away... INT. FRANK COCKPIT - DAY The Predator looks over the equipment. It heaves VRIESS' corpse out of the seat and dumps it behind him. Then it starts on the controls. Seems to be pressing random buttons. But then a large plastic cover between the two seats flaps open and it has access to more buttons. It presses a few in sequence, then returns to the corpse. It drags it down the passage with one hand, heading for the ramp. Lights begin to flash and a single klaxon wail. COMPUTER (v/o) Attention! Attention! This ship will self-destruct in t minus thirty seconds! You have t minus thirty seconds to evacuate! The Predator slips out of the ship at a casual pace, dragging the corpse with ease. At a short distance away, it cloaks, making it look like the corpse is moving on its own. Behind it, shortly thereafter, the Frank explodes. The blast envelops the whole ship, and then some. Debris rains down about. The Predator is caught in a strong gust of smoke and dust, revealing his shape momentarily. The voice that comes from the Predator is a digitised sample. It's JOHNER, filtered: PREDATOR Meet back here for tea... CALL trips when the ship explodes, and spins around to watch it go up. She watches it burn for a while, then starts running again. INT. SEWER - DAY We flick back and forth between RIPLEY and JOHNER, both moving through, occasionally firing off their respective weapons into the darkness and around corners. Now we're on RIPLEY as she turns the final corner. She stops. Listens. There is the sound of what appears to be running water. They carry on, the sound getting louder. Suddenly RIPLEY sees a shape moving through the murk about ten yards ahead. She gets her flame unit up and fires a quick blast. JOHNER Hey, what the fuck are you playing at, Ripley?! He comes out of the darkness, mopping burnt eyebrows and grimacing not entirely seriously. They have reached the junction. To the left it is sealed off. To the right it remains open. They proceed through. RIPLEY There... She points ahead. There is a hole torn in the wall of the sewer. The metal has been bent and scratched, and burnt with acid. The hole is big enough for a big, mean alien, so big enough for JOHNER as well. Sewage spills through it slowly. RIPLEY fires a burst through the hole. Nothing. She climbs through quickly, then helps CONNIE and BOLLUX. JOHNER follows. Beyond the hole is a narrow walkway along the edge of wide, twisting waterway. Above them is grated floor. It's a bit like the Hadley's Hope sewer. The water is running away quickly, and the level is gradually dropping. They can hear the squeal of a whirlpool, just round the bend. They hurry round. Sure enough the water is being sucked down here. RIPLEY gets closer, looking nearer. She sees the alien lurking down there, in the water, concealed by the swirling water. It begins to make moves to leap... BOLLUX fires his shockrifle into the water. Electric charge spreads out through the liquid. The shrieking alien dances out of the water and CONNIE and JOHNER catch it several times in the chest. It flops down, floating in the water. BOLLUX stops firing. They stop for a moment, resting. JOHNER I'll get our proof... He drops into the water, wades across to the alien and puts his hand in its mouth. He uses all his strength to rip out the inner tongue and tosses it back to RIPLEY. As he starts wading backwards away from the creature, it suddenly stirs to life. It charges him, catching him in the stomach and winding him. It forces him through the water, swimming away from the others at ferocious speed. They're caught off guard, and by the time they start firing at the alien, it's too far away, leaving only a wake splashing over the walkway and their feet. RIPLEY is most shocked. She grabs JOHNER's rifle, drops into the water and starts wading through like you've never seen anyone wade before. BOLLUX and CONNIE start along the walkway at best speed, but RIPLEY is faster. The alien finally reaches the end of the waterway and rams JOHNER against the sealed pressure door at top speed. He moans, pretty badly hurt. The alien bites down, under the water, tearing at JOHNER's stomach with teeth and claws. JOHNER tries to fight it initially, but blood starts spurting out of his mouth and he becomes all floppy. RIPLEY arrives behind the alien, aims her rifle for its head and fires. The alien is dead, but when CONNIE arrives she lets off quite a few rounds into the beast as it floats away from JOHNER and his blood. RIPLEY pushes the alien aside and wades through the water and JOHNER's blood. BOLLUX slips into the water with her and they both hold JOHNER above the water. CONNIE just stands stunned. RIPLEY Johner... She hasn't got any more to say. JOHNER smiles meekly, his lips dripping with his own blood. He licks them, slightly, lolling back in their arms. When he speaks, its slurred, like a drunk (so, like he normally speaks, but more distant). JOHNER What you want me ta say? I love you? Well, I love ya, Rip. And you... and her... Call... Vriess... They smile. CONNIE drops into the water and wades up to him. He lifts his hand out of the water as much as he can. She takes it. Clasps it. Her strength his strength. JOHNER Stop 'em fuckin' us, Rip... He looks into her eyes. Can this be JOHNER, being serious? The moment does not last. He stops in this position. He's dead. For a moment longer they hold him there, head above water, then RIPLEY lets him go. Then BOLLUX. CONNIE holds on the longest, but then ducks the corpse beneath the surface. RIPLEY wades away, out of the blood, into clear water, which is down to her thighs now. She takes it up in cupped hands and splashes it over her face. When she turns, BOLLUX and CONNIE are standing in the water, wet and shivering, looking like lost children. RIPLEY Okay. Let's win this war... INT. PREP ROOM - NIGHT It's later. RIPLEY, BOLLUX and CONNIE have changed and cleaned up. They're now wearing colony uniforms, which they're finishing putting on. This room is beside a hangar, in which a small shuttle with a docking port on the top is waiting. FRED is supervising them. The door opens and TED comes in with CALL. FRED raises an eyebrow. TED She says your men were killed by a predator. FRED Predator? Here? Looks like they finally want a piece of us... With that he marches past CALLout the door, shouldering her out of the way like a school bully. She approaches RIPLEY. RIPLEY Where's Vriess? CALL Where's Johner? They stop at this point. No-one knows what to say. CONNIE There... was a creature here. CALL looks to her, realising. CALL Then... I know where it came from... RIPLEY Vriess? CALL nods meekly. She looks about them. They spend an uncomfortable moment in reflective silence. TED looks most uncomfortable. TED I dunno what you guys are gonna do, but if it's gonna help us, I wish you all the luck in the world. He smiles. BOLLUX claps him on the shoulder supportively and he nods. With the pleasantries over, he opens the door to the hangar, and the noises of said place flood in. They pass him, RIPLEY holding back to last. They have to shout over the noise. TED Sure you won't at least spend the night? RIPLEY shakes her head. RIPLEY Not enough time. But thank you. She gives him a meaningful look, then follows the others to the shuttle. A technician with a refuelling carriage draws away and the shuttle is free to go. INT. SHUTTLE - NIGHT BOLLUX is first in, followed by CONNIE and CALL. BOLLUX takes the pilot's seat and powers up. The others strap in behind him. It's a cramped little shuttle, with only the room for six people at most. RIPLEY, tall as she is, has to duck down a tad as she enters. She closes the narrow rear door behind her and sits down. OPERATOR (o/s) This is traffic control. You are cleared, repeat, cleared. Good luck. Above them the ceiling parts, and a clear night sky fills their field of vision. The small shuttle begins to rumble. In another second, they are lifting up, up and are through the ceiling and heading for the stars... CALL can't but help give a sorrowful glance back down at the planet as they break through the atmosphere. EXT. EJACULE - NIGHT The Ejacule hangs in space, drifting slowly on a geosynchronous orbit. It looks like a ghost ship. There are only a few lights on inside, most flickering. Toward the ship comes the docking shuttle, extremely agile like some sort of wasp. In fact, it does bear a resemblance to a bee. INT. SHUTTLE - NIGHT CALL spies the Ejacule and looks to BOLLUX. CALL Bollux... your ship... you know it looks- BOLLUX Like a phallus, yeah, I know. But at least it's circumcised, so the ladies like it. CONNIE can't hide her cheeky schoolgirl smile any other way but looking straight at the wall beside her. RIPLEY and CALL don't look that moved by his smut. EXT. SHUTTLE - NIGHT The shuttle ducks underneath the Ejacule, coming to a docking port directly behind the bell-end. It manoeuvres into position slowly, gets nearer, nearer, and locks down, or, indeed, up. INT. SHUTTLE - NIGHT The shuttle jolts as it docks. BOLLUX presses a few buttons on the console and they can the pressure equalise behind the circular port in the roof. The women unstrap themselves and stand up. CALL reaches down into her keks as if to finger herself, but brings out a pistol. BOLLUX grins, and takes it off her without a second thought. INT. EJACULE DOCKING PORT - NIGHT There is a single flickering light above the port, which suddenly starts turning, like the top of the bottle. It hisses and pops and then flips open. BOLLUX with his pistol comes up first, followed by RIPLEY, then CONNIE and CALL. BOLLUX We're three levels below the bridge here... INT. LADDER SHAFT - NIGHT A hatch opens at the bottom of this shaft and BOLLUX's head pops through. He climbs through, and starts up the dimly-lit ladder. The others follow. INT. BRIDGE - NIGHT The bridge is dead. A hazy smoke hangs in the air. A few machines flicker in and out of life. A few sparks fly sporadically. A warped pipe vents a little steam silently. There are a few corpses lying about the place. Most are in a late stage of decomposition. It's hard to tell whether they looked as bad before, because of injuries, or something... One corpse is propped up against a hatch, which begins moving. BOLLUX can be heard grunting behind. He forces the hatch open, pushing the corpse over. He rears back, then composes himself. As they climb out onto the bridge, CONNIE holds her sleeve to her nose. BOLLUX looks hurt, seeing his ship and crew in this state. BOLLUX Guess none of them made it... RIPLEY Looks that way... But there's something unsure in RIPLEY's voice. She's looking about, unfazed by the corpses. Looking for something, maybe. BOLLUX approaches a console and CALL looks over his shoulder. He hesitates, then boots it up. The machines whirr to life all around him. CONNIE is standing back, away from the others, and the corpses. Backs against a row of lockers. The door bounces open and out drops a corpse... fresh. CONNIE's little yelp attracts the others, and RIPLEY and CALL are over immediately. CALL looks to RIPLEY, and they both look equally puzzled. CALL He's not been dead any more than a few days. Decomposition's only just begun... RIPLEY And there's no doubt what killed him as well... She holds up his wrists. They are both slit, in several places. Dried blood is all over him, the floor of the locker and his clothes. BOLLUX looks over their shoulders. BOLLUX It's the first officer... CONNIE Why'd he kill himself? BOLLUX I got an idea. Come an' look. They follow him back to the console. They look at the screen. Nothing. They look puzzled. He leans to one side, looking down the side of the console. They do as well. There's another one of those Predator spears embedded in the side... They stand absolutely still, as if they're likely to be any safer that way. CALL Could it still be on board? BOLLUX It? Them, more like. Whole ship of the Nazi bastards... RIPLEY Can you do a motion sensor sweep of the whole ship? BOLLUX nods. He sweeps his hands across the console and waits. Nothing on the ship schematics that pop up is highlighted, except for them on the bridge. CONNIE So that means we're fine... unless it's standing still. There's an uneasy pause as they mull this over. BOLLUX returns to the controls and performs another scan. BOLLUX All the EEVs are gone... some of them got out, at least. RIPLEY I'm sorry about your ship and crew, captain, but what we need now is data. Make it worth it. BOLLUX nods. He stands up, pushes past and goes to another console. They stand back, watching him and waiting. The console beeps a few times, and BOLLUX rears back. BOLLUX Well, this can't be right... CALL What is it? BOLLUX shakes his head. Snorts derisively. BOLLUX It says the tube is still on board. INT. HANGAR - NIGHT Not too big a hangar. Bigger than the Frank, of course, but we're not talking Sulaco-scale here. There's an airlock in the floor. A door opens, and BOLLUX is behind it with his pistol. Behind him are the three woman. He steps in slowly and hits the light panel. Powerful white lights flicker on overhead. They see the cryotube sitting ominously in the middle of the hangar. RIPLEY That the same tube? BOLLUX nods and proceeds slowly, gun in front, as if the cryotube is about to leap from its cradle and attack him. He stops beside it, checking it out. The others group around it. They just standing there, looking at it, not entirely sure that it won't leap out. CONNIE Gonna open it? They look up at her. What a stupid idea, huh? BOLLUX This is what we came back for, right? No point in being scared now... He presses a few buttons. A few small lights flash on the cradle and the cryotube itself. Then it hisses as gas is released. There's a short pause and then the lid begins that low moaning noise as it rises back. They all take a small step back. Not taking any chances. The lid is open now, and they stand looking at the stirring figure. Shaggy hair. Buck teeth. Chest rug. Union Jack boxer shorts. Late 30s. BOLLUX What... the... fuck? The man opens his eyes, blinks his eyes, trying to focus. He can barely make out the figures, but he props himself up on his elbows. In a single movement he swings out of the cryotube. Those around him step clear. He strikes a pose. AUSTIN POWERS Yeah, baby, YEAH!!! INT. PASSAGE - NIGHT The five of them are heading back toward the bridge. RIPLEY and BOLLUX are leading ahead of CONNIE and CALL, who are enamoured with the newly vocal AUSTIN, now kitted out in a corps uniform. AUSTIN Grr! I just hate this new kit, girls... ker-pow! Sure you got nothing in velvet? No ruffled cuffs? Whoa, baby, this gig is not swinging, big time! AUSTIN begins to strut, taking the hands of CONNIE and CALL and swinging them as he walks. CONNIE and CALL may be amused, as is BOLLUX, who flashes a smile back. RIPLEY, however, is the stoic spoilsport. RIPLEY Great weapon... INT. BRIDGE - NIGHT The five of them come onto the bridge. BOLLUX goes straight to one console, presses a few buttons and they hear the engines rumbling to life some distance away. AUSTIN plants himself on a seat, and wiggles his backside into the seat. He's still got CONNIE and CALL by the hands, and a quick jerk has them sitting on his armrests. Only RIPLEY stands off to the side. Something not quite right here... BOLLUX Ripley, take that console. I'm setting a course for Earth. Call, you wanna help? Connie? They stand, though AUSTIN pulls them back down. RIPLEY shakes her head. RIPLEY Let's wait a minute here. Let's think this through. They all look to her. Except for AUSTIN, who is kissing up CALL and CONNIE's arms, alternating between the two. RIPLEY He's not the weapon. CONNIE What?! RIPLEY Oh, come on. Does he look like a genetically engineered super soldier? At this remark, AUSTIN jumps up and gives a pelvic thrust. AUSTIN I'm a super soldier, baby! Yeah! CONNIE grins and almost giggles as he tickles her midriff. RIPLEY shakes her head and turns to BOLLUX. RIPLEY You... you said you ejected the cryotube. That means some nice guy just returned it. And those nice guys are probably predators. They all stop, and think this through. RIPLEY Think about it... if they wanted your weapon, Bollux, and knew someone would come back looking for it, and knew that chances are they wouldn't know what they're looking for... CALL He's a decoy..? RIPLEY looks to her and nods. BOLLUX thinks over this a second, then turns to another console and taps away. BOLLUX I'm tracking the ship that attacked us. If we can find it... With that he trails off, looking to RIPLEY for confirmation. She nods. She looks back to the others. CONNIE is standing there, listening. She looks around too. AUSTIN and CALL are gone. BOLLUX Found it. Planet three months out. Time for bed, methinks. RIPLEY nods, looking to a rejected, dejected CONNIE. BOLLUX starts to plot the course. EXT. SPACE - DAY/NIGHT/ETC. The Ejacule's engines (yes, the meatball bits) roar into life. Slow at first, but then faster and faster, the ship breaks orbit, heading further and further away from Erebus. But we stick with the planet for just a little while longer. There is another ship rising out of the atmosphere. The Predator vessel begins its pursuit of the Ejacule... INT. CORRIDOR - NIGHT RIPLEY comes striding down the corridor. Unexpectedly a door slips open and out comes AUSTIN, slipping back into his corps uniform, zany specs all wonky. AUSTIN Oh, androids, don't you just wanna eat 'em? Hmm, baby, hmm! CALL comes out of the room, zipping up her own uniform. She looks slightly embarrassed, seeing RIPLEY's surprised expression. AUSTIN Now, did THAT feel artificial? INT. CRYOTUBE PREP ROOM - NIGHT RIPLEY, CALL and AUSTIN come into the room. BOLLUX is stripped off, and CONNIE is stripping off, and not at all doing a striptease for those of us who are interested. Honest. BOLLUX is initiating the cryotube procedure on a wall console between two doors. Above the left-hand room is the tag: MEN. Above the right-hand room is the tag: WOMEN. RIPLEY raises an eyebrow at this, which BOLLUX sees. RIPLEY So, we have unisex changing, unisex showers... but separate cryorooms... BOLLUX grins. RIPLEY zips down her corps uniform. BOLLUX Given us three months sleep time. Any cryophobics? AUSTIN rips his corp uniform clear and poses. AUSTIN I'm a cryophile, baby! Yeah! CONNIE and CALL exchange bemused looks. RIPLEY shakes her head. INT. CRYOROOM - NIGHT We flick between the two rooms. RIPLEY, CONNIE and CALL are sleeping in adjacent cryotubes. In the other room, so are BOLLUX and AUSTIN. The ship is silent, except for a low hum, and some pitter-pattering of indiscernible source... EXT. SPACE - DAY/NIGHT/ETC. The Ejacule slides through space effortlessly, the engines glowing like a nice, warm fire. Space is silent, and there is no sign of the Predator vessel in pursuit. INT. LOWER DECKS - NIGHT We peruse the corridors. The lights that are still on are dimmed. Just orange safety lights. Everything is still and quiet. We pass through an open door into a dark chamber. It's difficult to see anything in there, but there is the occasional spark flying from a broken panel on the wall. Suddenly there is a whole shower of sparks, and we can see organic material and mucous lit up. There are about twenty alien eggs here, all lined up in neat rows... The next time the sparks shower, they all drift down onto the egg nearest the wall. It opens, and out rise the legs of a stirring facehugger... EXT. SPACE - DAY/NIGHT/ETC. The Ejacule is still going through space at a significant rate of knots. However, it is now approaching a small, grey world with masses of swirling storm clouds. Still about an hour away, though. INT. CRYOROOM - DAY The cryotubes of RIPLEY, CONNIE and CALL start the rising and moaning process and the inhabitants begin to stir. CALL is awake the fastest, and sits up straight. As RIPLEY and CONNIE begin massaging the stiffness out of their joints, and rubbing the circulation into their arms, CALL swings herself out of the cryotube and opens the door to the prep room. INT. PREP ROOM - DAY RIPLEY comes in whilst CALL is at her locker. CONNIE can be seen stretching through the door. Doesn't it just make you wanna? RIPLEY looks toward the men's door. Does a double take. The door is warped, mangled and ripped open. There are scratch marks on it... Before she can think this through there is a voice: BOLLUX (o/s) Ripley?! CALL turns, sees, and her and RIPLEY are already heading for the door. CONNIE, hearing the voice, quickly comes through the prep room and into the men's cryoroom. She gasps. AUSTIN's cryotube is covered in blood... on the inside. It is dripping down the inside of the lid. There is a large acid burn, facehugger size, on the lid, where his head would be. The plasti-glass is also cracked and broken. RIPLEY approaches, the others stand back. BOLLUX is sitting up in his tube, feeling his mouth. The corpse has remained fresh, and so has the blood, which has only coagulated slightly around AUSTIN's manky chest rug, which now has a large hole torn in the middle of it. It's a pitiful sight. CALL If there was an egg, it wouldn't have appeared on the motion sweep. RIPLEY nods. That's just common sense, the silly girl. CONNIE Only one, though. We're not infected... are we? RIPLEY throws her a glare. BOLLUX swings himself out of his tube, does a few stretches, clears his throat. BOLLUX I'll break out the weapons... He reaches under his pillow and brings out the pistol he secreted away. Flicks off the safety catch, looks to RIPLEY. INT. BRIDGE - DAY The bridge is now quite clean. Still messy, but the blood and corpses have been washed away. RIPLEY comes in first, striding at a pace more nervous than confident. CALL follows with CONNIE, who is just finishing with her clothes. They see the grey planet across the viewscreen. CONNIE Hmm, interstellar equivalent of a welcome mat, that... RIPLEY goes straight to one of the consoles, thinks, then taps away. The computer is running another motion sweep. Nothing. She murmurs something inaudible. CALL comes over her shoulder. CALL What about a heat signature? Something... RIPLEY shakes her head. Brings up a menu and starts running down options. Taps one. Computer brings up nothing. She shakes her head again. CALL Well, it's here somewhere... BOLLUX An' we're ready for it... He comes in carrying assault rifles. Not the nice, compact, cool rifles the marines get issued with. These are big, bulky and look thoroughly masculine. CONNIE takes one and begins checking it over. RIPLEY Computer says we'll arrive in under an hour. BOLLUX nods, hands CALL her rifle and offers one to RIPLEY. She pretends not to see it, so he places it before her, then swings his own onto his shoulder. He goes to a nearby console. BOLLUX I'll seal off the bridge. RIPLEY Good idea. Trap us in here. BOLLUX Fine. I'll leave the door open for the sonofabitch. RIPLEY shakes her head and sighs gently, not making eye contact. CALL turns to BOLLUX. CALL If we've got guns, it'll be looking for a back door. BOLLUX This room don't have no back door. Check it out. RIPLEY gives a little snort. RIPLEY Every room has a back door... Suddenly RIPLEY's console bleeps. Even RIPLEY is given a little jolt by it. At first, none of them dare look, but then they approach. There's a repeating heat signal on a lower deck. BOLLUX Oh, shit... CONNIE What is that? BOLLUX Steam. Pressure build up. Same old faulty valve... meant to get it fixed. RIPLEY looks round to him. A questioning look. BOLLUX Yeah, yeah, you guessed it. We gotta go and do it manually. CALL shakes her head, delivers a wry little smile. CALL This about makes my day... INT. LOWER DECK - DAY CALL has a headset on, and is holding her assault rifle out in front. She proceeds quickly through the corridors. All the doors off the corridor are shut, and as she passes through pressure doors and bulkheads, they close off too. She slows as she approaches another pressure door, steps through and stops. CALL I'm through the next pressure door. Close it. It grinds closed. She pushes on. INT. BRIDGE - DAY The grey planet has about doubled in size. They're much nearer now, but still a good half-hour off. BOLLUX is at a panel of switches, operating doors. CONNIE is perched beside him, with the headset. RIPLEY is sitting at another console, rifle still to one side, flicking across the fuzzy CCTV images. Occasionally CALL passes by one of her cameras, seemingly moving in different directions because of their different angles. RIPLEY continues flicking through. Comes to one pointed directly at an open door. RIPLEY Did you close B3? BOLLUX and CONNIE look over. BOLLUX Yeah... RIPLEY You sure? BOLLUX Yeah... RIPLEY shakes her head. The large pressure door on her screen is well and truly open. RIPLEY Well, it's open now... BOLLUX finds the switch on his panel and flicks it. The door on RIPLEY's monitor shudders closed. She looks to him. He shrugs. INT. LOWER DECK - DAY CALL is coming up for a wide bulkhead. Beyond we can see the venting steam. It's coming out so fast, and not condensing that quickly, so there is a fine layer of mist pouring across the floor. CALL steps through the bulkhead and breaks the steam. She heads over to the large pipe, avoiding the vent's aperture and the direct blast. This is a huge pipe, about a metre high, passing along the floor, from one end of this small, long room to the other, disappearing into each wall. The fog is so thick in places it could easily conceal a hiding alien... She slides the rifle onto her shoulder and adjusts the headset. CALL I'm at the pipe. What do I do? CONNIE (o/s) Bollux says find a valve... big and red, just like his... oi, be quiet! CALL smiles. Then she sees the valve, on top of the pipe, nearer the other end. She has to pass through the mist and avoid the venting steam to reach it. Now, CALL is only a petite girl, and needs to get on top of the pipe to reach it. So, she clambers up, gets the valve between her legs and begins turning it. Slowly at first, but finds it getting easier. The venting steam slows, then stops. The lights flicker overhead. CONNIE (o/s) That's it! You did it! CALL smiles again. She climbs down off the pipe, and looks back the way she came. She looks down toward her feet. Something is moving in the mist behind her... it's creating suction... the dissipating steam is being drawn by an air current. CALL slips the rifle off her shoulder and aims it ahead of her, toward the steam. CALL Uh, Connie, how far away is the hull? Am I close? INT. BRIDGE - DAY RIPLEY turns round at this point, looking to CONNIE and BOLLUX, who look just as concerned. BOLLUX takes the headset from CONNIE. BOLLUX You're right next to it. Why? Is it there? RIPLEY stands and comes over. CALL is silent for a moment. CALL (o/s) There's something here... BOLLUX takes the rifle off his shoulder and stands up. CONNIE checks her own is ready as well. BOLLUX Okay, Call. Ripley's gonna open all the doors. Start running. We'll meet you halfway. INT. LOWER DECK - DAY Suddenly there is even more suction, and the mist apparently concealing an alien is blown away. CALL almost sighs with relief. She checks around her. Silence. The sound of the bulkhead opening back up nearly makes her jump. She can hear doors and bulkheads opening up all over the ship. She breaks into a run. INT. BRIDGE - DAY RIPLEY is operating the doors. BOLLUX and CONNIE break into a run, away from RIPLEY. She looks out after them, then back to the panel. She's alone now. There's a faint dripping noise coming from the other side of the bridge. She only just notices, and looks up. INT. CORRIDOR - DAY CALL breaks around a corner, sprinting now. She comes to a door, open of course, and jumps back against the wall, frozen. Inside are alien eggs. All in rows. Plenty for the four of them, and then some. Now, the important thing for us to notice is that NOT ONE of them has opened, and there is NO sparking wall panel. CALL fumbles with her weapon, takes a step closer to the door and fires her weapon. Eggs begin to open, but she blows them away. Soon there's nothing but organic material. INT. LOWER DECK - DAY BOLLUX and CONNIE freeze at the sound of gunfire, then start up again, sprinting themselves, round a blind corner. Very dangerous. BOLLUX CALL!!! INT. CORRIDOR - DAY CALL steps out of the egg room and into the corridor. She starts sprinting again. Not long before she runs round a corner straight into BOLLUX and CONNIE and they all jump. CALL looks behind her. CALL Eggs! I got rid of them... They start running back again. INT. BRIDGE - DAY RIPLEY is sitting at the panel, looking behind her, trying to pinpoint the dripping. It's back toward the main door, the one that they came in by, and the one BOLLUX and CONNIE left by. She stands, turning to face that direction. But she doesn't go there. She edges back, back towards her previous position. She reaches back, not looking, groping for the rifle. It's not there... But there is some alien slime in its place, and her fingers catch in it. She jerks her head round. Looks all about for the gun, the nearest RIPLEY 8 will EVER get to a panic. There is a hissing behind her. She turns, slowly, backing away at the same time, behind the consoles, nearer the viewscreen. There is an alien in the doorway. Hissing and dripping all over the place. Regarding her. Moving slowly and gently. RIPLEY freezes. She sees the other three running round the corner and freezing in the passage. The alien throws them and their three aimed rifles a spit wad of acid. CONNIE goes to shoot, but BOLLUX bats her rifle out of the way, and the three back off to avoid the acid. CONNIE gives him a look. BOLLUX You shoot from here you take its head off... and the viewer out. Sure enough, mere metres behind the snarling alien is the viewscreen looking out on the massive planet they are approaching fast now. RIPLEY looks weak and prone, framed by that window. The alien backs off, more and more into the bridge. RIPLEY presses herself as far back as possible, but she can't avoid it forever. BOLLUX takes some quick action. Jerks forward, making the alien jerk a reaction, but not too much, the gun pointing at it. BOLLUX fires a few shots into the grated floor. The alien hisses, annoyed. BOLLUX Ripley, you're the only one with a clear shot... I'm gonna throw you my rifle, and you better use it, got it? With that he hauls his rifle as hard as he can into the room, immediately ducking back away from the alien. The rifle clatters against the viewer and ricochets off at an angle, nearer RIPLEY. RIPLEY sees it. Make your mind up time, gal. The alien looks to her, rears up and begins to prepare to move. RIPLEY is on the rifle in an instant. The alien is charging her in an instant. She brings it up, just in time, and blows the bastard's head off. At first she looks confused, then she steps back as the acid eats into the floor. She smiles. That felt good... BOLLUX, CONNIE and CALL creep slowly into the room as RIPLEY hefts the smoking rifle against her shoulder. She smiles at them. CALL Ripley..? RIPLEY looks jubilant. She looks toward the viewer, which they're all ignoring, opting to gape at her instead. The planet now fills the entire screen. They're in orbit. RIPLEY So, are we gonna land, or are we gonna crash? Then they hit atmosphere, and the ship begins to buckle. EXT. ATMOSPHERE - DAY The Ejacule is passing rapidly through the grey clouds. Lightning flickers around them, inside the clouds. It's very wet and very obscured. It levels up, and slows down, dropping vertically. This isn't the Frank, after all. This is more like the Nostromo. Down it goes... then it breaks the cloud cover. The grey, Giger-esque landscape looms up jolly quick. All swirling shapes and biomechanical structures. Apart from that, it's a desert of grey sand, beneath a steel sky. INT. BRIDGE - DAY The four of them are strapped in as the ship starts its final descent. Nearly there. And down... The ship shakes, but it has atmospheric compensation, so not too badly. Once everything is silent, the engines off, they just sit there, looking to each other. What now? BOLLUX is up from his console, and over to another. Begins running a scan. BOLLUX Ship's still here... about ten clicks away... and air's all nice and breathable. RIPLEY nods, looks to CALL. EXT. EJACULE - DAY The dust is settling around the Ejacule now. In the dust are several shimmering shapes. Yep, you guessed it: Predators. About ten. Hard to tell, to be honest. POV SHOT: Predator infrared vision We see the ship through the eyes of one of these Predators. It's hot along the base of the hull and toward the back. Its here, in comparison with the planet's surface, and the Predators, we see how big this mother is. INT. EJACULE - DAY The four of them are standing at the top of a ramp-type airlock, bit like the Frank's but wider. They're suited up in environment suits (minus breathing apparatus). RIPLEY finishes zipping herself up. BOLLUX offers them their weapons (he himself is carrying a small box, but we don't see that clearly yet), leans against the wall and fingers the ramp controls. It begins to lower, but he doesn't let off the button until it's down. He looks to his comrades, and looking as apprehensive as they do, heads down onto the grey sand. POV SHOT: Predator infrared vision The Predators are lurking nearby. They're watching the four of them, though CALL only shows up because she's a patch of blue in front of so many oranges. The Predators zoom in. We can see the faces of BOLLUX. He's talking. We hear his digitised speech through the Predator's filter: BOLLUX Think they'll let us walk right in, Ripley? RIPLEY does not reply. The Predators start to move. They aren't auto-targetting, though they're in the right mode. Their wrist-blades shoot out, ready for a mauling session. Out of Predator vision, and back with the group of four. BOLLUX We should be packing a... He trails off. He raises the small box (like a matchbox). It's a miniature motion detector, and clips onto his rifle. He does so quickly, then steps forward and fires. He fires all the way across, aiming widely, the box giving the direction in which there is movement. RIPLEY, CONNIE and CALL step back, out of his way, raising their own weapons. Sure enough, CONNIE sees a shimmering Predator running at them and shoots it, bright green fluid blowing from the wound. A Predator spear suddenly gets CALL in the arm and she hisses, bringing up her weapon and ready to fight. RIPLEY is also alert, looking around. BOLLUX stops firing. Motion detector not picking anything up. But there is shimmering... standing still! He fires again. As the Predators die (and not all die quickly) they decloak. RIPLEY catches wind of three red dots travelling up her chest toward her head. She jerks up, following the dots back. Aims. Single shot. Blue tesla electricity crackles about the Predator as it decloaks and lets off an unholy wail. RIPLEY fires again, several times. CONNIE joins her. They fell the beast. The four of them back off, not seeing any more of the shimmering Predator shapes, and not aware of any targetting. Suddenly a Predator decloaks as it swings around the side of the ramp, hacking off CALL's arm from the wrist down with a wrist-blade. White android fluid spurts out. The other three all turn on the beast, which gives CONNIE a back-hander, sending her flying onto the ramp. It is left to RIPLEY and BOLLUX to blow it away. And then there is quiet. BOLLUX That the lot of 'em? But not for long. BOLLUX's motion detector picks up a single signal, heading their way. Walking pace. He raises his gun. It decloaks, and speaks in a filtered human voice: HUMAN Please! No! Don't shoot me! Indeed, the Predator mask is humanoid, and the creature has no dreadlocks. It's also shorter, and slighter of figure. As it removes its mask, we see why; it's a human, with an acid-scarred face. BOLLUX's jaw drops. So does his rifle. BOLLUX Doctor St Just?! ST JUST (pronounced San-Joost) is a man in his early 40s, gaunt, anaemic with crew-cut black hair. He smiles meekly. CONNIE and CALL look up. CONNIE recognises him too. She steps forward, covered in some of CALL's fluid. CONNIE You're St Just! You're the one developing the stuff to wipe them out! You're dead!!! ST JUST smiles again. Licks his lips. Nervous type. ST JUST Please, if you'll bear with me, you'll see why you couldn't have come a moment too soon. At this point a group of Predators decloak all around them. Things just got a lot better, or a lot worse... EXT. STYX - DAY This is the planet Styx, and no, they haven't yet run out of planets named after underworld rivers for aliens to infest. Grey is the predominate theme. We pan across the landscape, across a valley. This is like the Grand Canyon and Death Valley all in one, and just a little bit bigger. It's very dark in the bottom. Set into the wall of the valley, like some sort of growth is an observation station. Not of human origin. Reeks of Predator design schemes and styles. INT. STATION - DAY ST JUST leads RIPLEY and co through the awkward Predator architecture. It's tall, because they're tall, but it's not very wide, and has nasty angles where there should be curves, and curves where there should be nasty angles. Predators, some armoured and some not, stand or walk about proudly. Many seem to be avoiding the humans, though. One gives them a few talon clicks as they pass. CALL has wrapped her stump in a stretch of material, bound around her forearm with a strip of ripped clothing. There is still white fluid all about her, though. ST JUST is talking to a nodding BOLLUX. RIPLEY is following behind, listening, but taking everything around her in. ST JUST Shortly after you left the station we took on some infected 'fugees. God, the station... we set it to blow... I was rescued from my EEV. BOLLUX By the predators? ST JUST nods, swallows hard. Dabs his raw, scarred face with a cloth from his pocket. ST JUST They had a deal for me... ST JUST leads them into a large room full of strange viewscreens. They show various locations of the valley. Quite clearly. One that attracts attention is that of a large cargo container being lowered to the valley floor. RIPLEY What's in there? ST JUST looks to her. Checks her out. ST JUST The deal... EXT. VALLEY - DAY We see the cargo container, of human origin, being lowered down on some classy Predator crane apparatus. Getting lower and lower, further into the darkness. We can just about hear the screeching of aliens, but not from within the container. As the container reaches the bottom, we see aliens are crouching in the darkness. Some leap for the container. Some get on top. Ride it down. The aliens want in! INT. STATION - DAY ST JUST handles the Predator controls like a pro. All the cameras now show the aliens around the container. Could be hundreds of aliens, but the ten angles probably just make the most of there being ten or fifteen. ST JUST This planet used to be a prime predator breeding ground... they bred everything here... to hunt. CALL Including aliens? ST JUST looks to her and nods. ST JUST But... they can't control them any more than we can. They had to do here what we'd never do to our worlds... He lets them think this over. They still look blank. RIPLEY Nuke it. ST JUST looks to RIPLEY, nods quickly. Likes this girl. CALL and CONNIE tense up at this. EXT. VALLEY - DAY The container touches down. The aliens are going mad, spitting, clawing, scratching, biting and shrieking as they try to get in. But this is one tough cargo container. Several start running circles around it, shrouded in the darkness and the cold. INT. CONTAINER - DAY There are orange safety lights inside the container, but it's still darker inside than out. Now, it's important, but we're right at the back of the container here, facing forward. We get a good view of the soldiers' backs, armour and helmets. They all look identical from here. Suddenly the lights go red and a klaxon begins to blare. The doorway at the front opens up, letting in the screeching. Aliens are clawing through the doors. The soldiers at the front let fly. But we're still at the back, so don't get a good view. A few of the soldiers are torn apart, but more aliens are. Soon there is a lull, the aliens gone, and the soldiers begin pouring out of the craft. INT. STATION - DAY RIPLEY watches this nonchalant. The others are pretty disgusted. They can see another group of aliens pouring down through the dark valley toward the container. ST JUST seems to be delivering a running commentary: ST JUST Super soldiers... genetically enhanced. This is the fifth run. Others all failed. EXT. VALLEY - DAY As we come back down into the valley, we finally see the soldiers. And they're just as identical from the front as they are from the back. Each and every one is a clone of HICKS... The aliens arrive and begin their merciless attack. The soldiers defend, firing well, leaping clear and even fighting through injuries. But there are more aliens than men, and half the HICKS' have been wiped out. The remainders begin backing into the container, keeping the aliens off long enough for the door to close. But the aliens are still wanting in, and the metal doors and walls begin to buckle. INT. STATION - DAY RIPLEY leans toward a screen, trying to get a close-up view of one of the soldiers for long enough to identify. She does, as one stands up and uses the visual intercom. She puts her hand up to the screen, frowns. She can't quite place it... ST JUST is facing a masked Predator. ST JUST I don't know what it is. I just don't know! They've got 45% alien DNA... any more than that and they won't be controllable! POV SHOT: Predator infrared vision The Predator looks him up and down. His chest is particularly red, and the Predator can hear his heart beating fast and hard. Back to normal, and the Predator watches ST JUST a second longer, then moves away without another word. ST JUST looks to the others, desperation gracing his face. RIPLEY I know this man... They all look to her. She turns slowly. ST JUST Uh-uh. Can't do... He died centuries ago. Best guy the old marine corps ever had. That's why I chose him... RIPLEY looks back, touching the video face. Feeling it. ST JUST gives CALL a puzzled look. She nods. CALL She knows him... EXT. VALLEY - DAY The crane kicks back into action and the cargo container begins to rise. There are aliens atop it, but as it gets higher, they launch themselves off, and into the darkness below. INT. STATION - DAY ST JUST leads the group through the station again, with RIPLEY trailing dazed behind. They come out onto a gusty platform. The cargo container has reached the top of the valley, and is being winched horizontally toward the platform. They await as it arrives, standing back from the edge. ST JUST steps forward to greet the many HICKS clones. RIPLEY also takes a tentative step in that direction. CALL watches her, concerned. The container locks into position at the edge of the platform. It really is badly mangled. The battered door begins to open. RIPLEY gets a hold of herself. The door opens and the HICKS file out. ST JUST holds up his hands in defeat and gives them a weak smile. The leader of the HICKS stops and holds a brief, inaudible conversation with ST JUST. All the other HICKS' file out of the container and off the platform. They all ignore our heroes. RIPLEY almost goes to speak to one, but he doesn't even see her. She looks to each new face as it passes and watches the last one go longingly. The leader starts nodding, ST JUST claps him on the shoulder supportively, and then passes RIPLEY by. He nods and smiles, but out of politeness. Nothing more. RIPLEY They don't know me... EXT. SPACE - DAY/NIGHT/ETC. Arriving in orbit of the planet is a Predator craft. Yes, the same one from Erebus. It heads down into the atmosphere. INT. PREDATOR SHIP - NIGHT The Predator is not piloting his ship at this moment. He is in the rear, preparing a skeleton. It is mounted, with near-invisible wire holding the bones together. He then pins it up. It's a small skeleton. The legs, we see, are crooked, the bones look like they were completely crushed, and have been stuck together amateurishly. And the rib bones are exploded out. Yes, this is VRIESS. EXT. STATION - NIGHT Night falls on the station. Rain starts packing it down, and lightning arcs across the heavens. Makes you cold just watching it. INT. STATION - NIGHT RIPLEY is alone, standing in the dark by a great oval portal, looking out into the valley. She is lit only by the flashing lightning. She's thinking hard. CALL slips into the room quietly. RIPLEY turns to look. CALL lifts up her stump. There's some Predator construct clamped onto her forearm. She smiles. RIPLEY turns back to the portal. CALL joins her looking out. CALL I've been talking to St Just. (a beat) Apparently, they were trying to make alien-human hybrids. They have some theory the aliens won't attack their own... RIPLEY smiles. Licks her lips delicately. She looks to CALL, giving her an almost patronising look. RIPLEY That's not how it works. CALL Oh, I know... I know... Nice theory, though. RIPLEY smiles. Nods, pursing her lips. Almost sarcastic. They stand in silence for some time, looking out onto the landscape at the nuclear winter as it wreaks havoc with the planet. CALL shakes her head and sighs, turning from the portal and leaning against it. CALL Is this it, then? Game over? RIPLEY looks at her, then looks back. RIPLEY You tell me. You think we have a chance? CALL rubs her eyes with her one hand. CALL I don't know. Not any more. They are both drawn to the sound of footsteps behind them. In the darkness. RIPLEY turns as the figure steps out of the shadows. It is ST JUST. He steps up to the portal, looking out. ST JUST Nuclear winter... helluva alternative... CALL steps back, further into the shadows. RIPLEY is close to ST JUST. She checks him out. ST JUST Well... we tried... RIPLEY looks down at the floor. Frowns. Looks back and forth, thinking. It's as if she's reading the solutions to all their problems on the floor. She opens her mouth to speak. Suddenly CALL darts forward, in front of ST JUST. We see the red dots on her chest mere moments before a Predator pulse bites through her and she crumples. ST JUST immediately has a pistol from nowhere, firing into the darkness, hand steady, just like a pro, until the clip is empty. Then there is nothing. RIPLEY drags CALL to her feet and reaches inside her uniform, pulling out that ever-handy uniform. She eases the damaged android's arm around her shoulders and readies the pistol to fire. ST JUST Never were our allies, the motherfuckers... got nothing to offer 'em now. RIPLEY Get us back to our ship... ST JUST nods, and together they are all out the door, RIPLEY supporting CALL, into the bowels of the Predator station. There is running, shouting and gunfire erupting all over the place. Screaming. ST JUST One thing you gotta do for me. RIPLEY looks to ST JUST as he hesitates outside the door. EXT. STYX - NIGHT The wind is howling. The rain is pouring. A great door opens up at the back of the platform, at the top of the valley. Out come all of the HICKS clones, armed to the teeth, running in formation, limiting their firing. Leading them is BOLLUX and CONNIE, now with some tip-top Predator weaponry, just like the marines around them. There's a load of shouting, but we're damned if we can hear a word of it. They're leaving the station now, out the door, firing back. Through the rain they can hardly see the shimmering Predators just inside the doorway, firing their weapons and taking out the clones rapidly. HICKS LEADER Get them outside! Get 'em out! They all pull back, heading into the darkness. The Predators follow. As soon as they're in the rain, the water streaming off them shows up the Predators clearly, and the HICKS' start picking them off with ease. Too much water does no good for the cloak, so soon they start decloaking, and fighting back with a vengeance. Spearguns. Shoulder cannons. Charge pistols. HICKS LEADER Pull back! Pull back! Other HICKS' take up the call, echoing it amongst the large group as it disperses. Soon there is less fighting and more running. Only a few HICKS' get picked off this way, as the Predator clan pushes out after them. BOLLUX Follow me! Follow me! Follow me! The leading HICKS gives him a sign and the HICKS immediately match BOLLUX's course. CONNIE catches up with BOLLUX, narrowly avoiding a Predator blast as it hits the ground behind her. They have to shout: CONNIE What about Ripley and Call?! BOLLUX What?! CONNIE Ripley and Call. BOLLUX can't hear. Just shakes his head. They push on. INT. STATION - NIGHT The station appears near-empty, but with cloaked Predators, don't believe it for a second. Predator alarms wail throughout the complex as ST JUST, RIPLEY and CALL push through the corridors. RIPLEY Where are you leading us?! This isn't the way out! ST JUST Not yet it isn't... He comes to a door, yanks it open. Inside are a few Predator speeders. He looks to RIPLEY and nods. EXT. STATION - NIGHT We're tucked away in quite a sheltered corner, right on the edge of the precipice. Mere yards away is the steep drop-off of the valley. Suddenly the wall of the station warps, seeming to bulge out like an air bubble. There is a low, muffled booming from behind. A few more booms, and energy charges blow that bubble wide open. In an instant the Predator speeder launches through the hole and out into the rain, ST JUST piloting. He turns it a sharp left, away from the edge. The speeder is hovering above the ground by less than a foot. It has roaring engines behind, and some sort of enlarged energy cannon mounted on either side. RIPLEY is on the back, holding on tight to CALL. ST JUST steers them in the direction of the gunfire and Predator charges that light up the darkness. He increases speed as he nears the Predators, then opens fire. He blows several of them apart as they turn to defend. He powers the machine faster, straight into the face of one, further on than the others, as it targets him. The beast is felled. A stray shot from the Predators takes CALL's dangling foot off, but she holds on tight to RIPLEY, bleeding from her chest wound. EXT. EJACULE - NIGHT BOLLUX, CONNIE and all the HICKS' have arrived at the Ejacule. BOLLUX begins to lower the ramp from a panel on the hull. Terribly slow. The HICKS' watch around them, moving into some sort of formation. Like a protective wall. CONNIE is puzzled at first, then she sees what's coming from the other direction. Aliens. A whole hive's worth of the slimy buggers. The HICKS' open fire, trying to keep the distance ever open. But there are too many, and they're appearing behind those Giger-esque rises too often to be able to keep them back for too long. One suddenly appears and does an almighty leap for the humans (or equivalents). It is caught in the stomach... by a Predator pulse. At first they're all at odds with where it came from, looking around, ready to defend against the Predators as well. More aliens come, and they're being picked off by this cloaked Predator, with a little help from the HICKS'. The ramp is halfway down now. Low enough to be able to jump and pull themselves up. The leader of the HICKS' drops his weapon and gives CONNIE the boost she needs. Then BOLLUX. CONNIE helps pull him up. CONNIE looks out back toward the Predators. She can't see them. Just the speeder. It's still far away, though. HICKS LEADER Hicks! We are leaving! We are leaving! Pull back! Now! One by one the HICKS jump for the ramp and get pulled up, until only a few are left, taking point, picking off aliens. Suddenly there is a prolonged flash of sheet lightning and an almighty roar. The leader of the HICKS' looks up. Standing up on the hull of the Ejacule is a Predator, the one with yellow dreadlocks from Erebus, arms up, giving a war-cry. It leaps, and though it is quite a drop, lands in one piece on the ramp as it touches down. It rips off his mask and looks straight at the HICKS in front of him, who lowers his weapon. BOLLUX and CONNIE have already disappeared, so the HICKS leader starts closing the ramp. Suddenly the speeder arrives. ST JUST drives it straight past, makes it bank round and fly straight up the closing ramp into the ship. Moments later more Predators arrive on speeders, firing at the ship. They're distracted, however, as a new horde of aliens arrives, and the deadliest of species clash. The Ejacule's engines flare up, and the ship begins to rise from the ground, much to the annoyance of the hard-pressed Predators fighting a losing battle. INT. BRIDGE - NIGHT BOLLUX and several of the HICKS' are manning the consoles, taking the ship up, up and away. It breaks through the clouds, and is soon very quickly out into space. Note: CONNIE is not present. INT. HANGAR - NIGHT Most of the HICKS' are here, recovering. ST JUST dismounts the speeder. The Predator approaches and as RIPLEY leans back, the creature hoists CALL off gently and cradles her in its arms. The others all watch, confused, not daring to move. The Predator looks to RIPLEY, regards her. When it speaks, it is her voice, filtered: PREDATOR Let's win this war... As CALL looks from her guardian to RIPLEY, RIPLEY looks the Predator in the eye. She nods. Around her, the HICKS' start looking from one to another. INT. CORRIDOR - NIGHT CONNIE and a few of the HICKS', meanwhile, are lost. She's wandering around the corridors without much sense of direction, checking where she is going, and coming from, and looking into open doors. CONNIE It's gotta be down here... She doesn't sound too sure though, and turns into a blind alley. She goes to turn back, but can hear a sparking panel, and see flashes of blue in the dark room at the end. CONNIE Wait here. She goes up to the door. It's half closed, and not responding to her pressing the button. She gets behind it and forces it all the way open. Then she steps in. The panel sparks gently. She can see something moving. Steps closer. The moment she realises it is an egg isn't even over when a rogue facehugger runs up her back and clamps about her face. A couple of the HICKS' appear at the door, see what has happened, and ram the door closed again. INT. BRIDGE - NIGHT BOLLUX leaves the HICKS' working at their consoles and stands. He goes for the exit, as the Predator steps through with CALL. He fumbles for his gun, but RIPLEY and ST JUST step around. ST JUST No, no! Don't shoot! This one's with us... BOLLUX gives him an incredulous 'are you crazy?' look. ST JUST reads it pretty well. ST JUST This one's not like the others. This one's female... He grins from ear to ear. BOLLUX blinks. INT. PASSAGE - NIGHT The two HICKS' that were with CONNIE (in case we could tell) run up to the bridge and burst in. RIPLEY Where's Connie? Isn't she with you? BOLLUX looks around. Shrugs. BOLLUX She's on board... HICKS The woman? Slim, slender, brown hair? Severely fuckable? That one? They look to the new arrival and RIPLEY nods. He takes a deep breath, calms himself after all this running. HICKS Giving fellatio to a facehugger. INT. EGG ROOM - NIGHT Completely dark. The wall sparks. Then the door is levered open and a gun barrel is poked through. RIPLEY, BOLLUX, ST JUST, the leader of the HICKS and the Predator are looking through, with others behind. BOLLUX's face drops. They can see CONNIE lying prone amongst the eggs, the facehugger on her face. He closes the door again, turns around. RIPLEY is staring blankly down the corridor, frowning. Things going through her mind. The others are all silent. Then she turns to ST JUST, approaches slowly and licks her lips. He looks into her eyes, almost afraid. RIPLEY Your theory... (a beat) I've got an idea... EXT. SPACE - DAY/NIGHT/ETC. The Ejacule passes through deepest space. It looks older now. Weathered. Wiser. And it's arriving in the orbit of Earth... INT. CRYOROOM - DAY The lights flicker on through the cryorooms and the adjacent prep room. Condensation collects on surfaces. The cryotubes, all of them now, begin their rise and moan routine. We see RIPLEY, BOLLUX, ST JUST, CALL and even the Predator. And then there are all the HICKS'. CONNIE is there as well, without her facehugger. INT. BRIDGE - DAY The Ejacule is well and truly in orbit as BOLLUX enters the bridge, finishing dressing. There is a console beeping loudly for his attention in the silence. He approaches, sits at it and begins reading. He presses a button. Dodgy video images appear on the screen above. LINGUS This is a transmission to... well, anyone who picks it up. This is the Human Resistance Taskforce. We are commencing our counter-strike at 21:00 at the co-ordinates accompanying this message. If you can help, help us... The image flickers away. BOLLUX checks the co-ordinates, then moves over to another console. RIPLEY comes in at this point, followed by CONNIE. BOLLUX You okay? CONNIE nods. BOLLUX smiles reassuringly and looks to RIPLEY. BOLLUX We're gonna have some company. EXT. ATMOSPHERE - DAY The Ejacule is plummeting through Earth's atmosphere, breaking through the clouds and levelling its descent, preparing to touch down. It breaks through the cloud-cover and we see the sun is setting. It must be nearly 9pm by now. EXT. BATTLEFIELD - NIGHT The last of the sun's light is disappearing over this Michigan battlefield. Weapons of all description are being let off, in the distance. Artillery. Grenades. Machine guns. Missile launchers. A cloying fog sets in across the battlefield, swirling with rising smoke. The landscape is pitted. Some evidence of human existence torn and warped and destroyed. Think the Somme meets Passchendaele. Into this come a group of soldiers. One is MAX LINGUS, early 20s, boyishly handsome, yet dirty. He is the one from the Human Resistance Taskforce transmission. The soldiers crouch down in a narrow trench. They aren't proper soldiers. They're carrying now-regulating firearms, and wearing armour too big and too small. This isn't the final push of some glorious war. It's the last stand... A foghorn can be heard loudly down the line. All the soldiers get ready to leap up. LINGUS Alright! Let's give these bastards some HRT! They clamber out of the trench and onto the battlefield. Some start the run for the other side. Others duck into explosion pits. Others drop down and man machine gun turrets out on the battlefield. Up above a series of shells fly over and explode across the other side of the battlefield. In the brief flash we see aliens sneaking their way across to the humans. More soldiers pour up from behind, spreading out and ready to fight. Others join a second wave, starting across the battlefield. LINGUS is holding back, just out of the trench. Then the gunfire opens up. The first wave is under attack. In the strobe-like flashing they can people under attack from aliens, screaming, not having a chance. The second wave runs to join the first. The aliens charge them, leaping away from gunfire, some being felled, most getting through. LINGUS Third wave... up! The next group pours forward, firing indiscriminately, hitting their comrades as well as aliens. More shells fly across, hitting behind the aliens. The third wave is wiped out and they can see the aliens (only just) coming straight for them. Machine gun turrets open up all along the line. The aliens are held back... for now. LINGUS leans back, taking deep breaths. He looks up. There seems to be the underside of a ship, all lit up, coming in to land. INT. HANGAR - NIGHT All the HICKS' are geared up, looking identical. The HICKS leader strides through them, examining his troops. Nodding. Impressed. They're ready for war. HICKS LEADER Alright... you know what time it is. Everyone ready? EXT. CORRIDOR - NIGHT RIPLEY and CONNIE are coming down a corridor toward the hangar. RIPLEY is pushing CALL on a trolley. CONNIE is geared up in Predator equipment, and is cradling a Predator gun. She's ready to fight as well. CONNIE What's that noise..? RIPLEY stops pushing CALL forward for a second. Listens. Sounds like... singing? They push round the corridor, the hangar at the end. As they come into the hangar, what a surreal sight meets their eyes. All the HICKS' are swaying as they sing. HICKS' Love... love... love... HICKS LEADER Do-da-do... HICKS' Love... love... love... HICKS LEADER Do-da-do... do-da-do... HICKS' All you need is love! HICKS LEADER Do-da-do-do... HICKS' All you need is love! HICKS LEADER Do-da-do-do... HICKS' All you need is love... love... Love is all you need... When RIPLEY and CONNIE enter, the clones suddenly drop silent. You could hear a pin drop quite easily. RIPLEY and CONNIE head straight for the HICKS leader. CONNIE You take love... I'll take this. With that, she cocks her Predator weapon, ready to fire. INT. BRIDGE - NIGHT BOLLUX is with ST JUST, flying the ship. BOLLUX is rushing from console to console, pulling himself from seat to seat as the ship begins to rock violently. The Predator stands toward the back. ST JUST looks thoroughly thrown by all his machinery, and presses controls tentatively. BOLLUX swings into a seat and holds on, pressing the intercom switch. BOLLUX All hands... brace for impact! And then the Ejacule is down. Jolts severely, but is soon at a stop. BOLLUX and ST JUST look to each other. BOLLUX hits the switch again. BOLLUX Ramp opening... thirty seconds, people. INT. HANGAR - NIGHT As soon as the ramp is low enough, the HICKS' pour out, with the HICKS leader at the front. CONNIE holds back, with RIPLEY, who is now sitting in an enclave of monitors, each showing the HICKS' headcam views. CALL is plugged in beside her, moving slower now. CONNIE Wish me luck... RIPLEY smiles. RIPLEY Remember what Johner said... She nods, stands up straight, and with that heads down the ramp, now fully open. RIPLEY swings on her seat to face the monitors. She's getting an uncomfortable close-up view of approaching battle. The HICKS' are coming up close behind the retreating Human Resistance Taskforce. CONNIE stops just outside the ramp, looking about, frowning. She speaks in a whisper, to herself. CONNIE I know this place... She spins, lowering her guard, gaping, looking around. When she next speaks, she's sounding jubilant: CONNIE We're by Lake Michigan! With a determined smile plastered across her chops, she charges off after the others, energised. EXT. BATTLEFIELD - NIGHT We're with LINGUS and his team. They're fighting off aliens leaping between explosion pits, getting nearer and nearer. One has managed to get behind, picks off two soldiers in a brutal charge before it's taken down by concentrated fire. LINGUS himself is up from his turret, ignoring the ship landed a kilometre or so behind them. He's firing wildly, now ahead of his men who are retreating back to the trench. The ammunition runs empty, and as he goes to change, the aliens seem to notice and decide now is the time for a charge. LINGUS trips back, picks himself up and almost throws himself into the trench. The others are here, panicking, standing about, not getting anywhere. LINGUS Move it! Fucking go! Go! Go! He shoves the soldier in front. Pushes them down. A woman. Shocked, but she's got the message. She pushes the man in front. Soon they're moving, along the trench, tight fit. LINGUS brings up the rear. An alien drops down into the trench. Then another behind. LINGUS runs backward, slamming the next clip home and firing at the aliens, which keep on coming. One suddenly looms up on the top of the trench, above LINGUS. He fires. Again. Three times. Gets it in the head. Flops down into the trench. LINGUS avoids the acid and pushes on. The aliens quickly reach their fallen comrade and climb right over, keeping on coming in leaps and bounds now, ever closer. Suddenly LINGUS runs straight into the woman again. The soldiers are all screaming and shouting. LINGUS climbs onto the firestep and sees aliens are coming at them from the other direction. There is shrieking as the aliens prepare to kill the twenty or so left remaining... And then there is new gunfire. Sounds more powerful. Like guns with a real punch. The HICKS' appear at the edge of the trench and blow the aliens away. The aliens keep on coming, but it gives LINGUS and his group time to clamber out of the trench. LINGUS We gotta fall back! We're all fucked here! The HICKS leader nods, then gives LINGUS a shove towards the ship. Then the clones start to leap across from this side of the narrow trench to the other, onto the battlefield. LINGUS What the fuck are you doing?! They'll slaughter ya! HICKS LEADER Get to the ship. We'll deal with them, now. LINGUS shakes his head, not believing this, then turns to his waiting flock. He swings his arm over, so they can all see him pointing for the ship, then they start toward it. The HICKS', with CONNIE, push into the battlefield. Then they engage the enemy. INT. HANGAR - NIGHT As the members of the HRT board the Ejacule, many injured, ST JUST arrives with the Predator. Both join RIPLEY at the monitors, watching fifty-odd different views of the first alien appearing before the HICKS' and getting torn apart. ST JUST How much time do we have? RIPLEY just shakes her head. ST JUST goes to help the wounded, leading them further back into the ship. EXT. BATTLEFIELD - NIGHT The HICKS' are proceeding across the battlefield, making a quick pace over a rise. They see aliens waiting at the top, darting back and forth, out of sight. HICKS LEADER Pair off! Buddy formation! The HICKS' all look to their nearest counterpart and step together. The leader of the clones pulls CONNIE near. She knows what they mean. Then, as the aliens start closing in on all sides, one of each pair starts on pure, rapid, constant offensive, the other covering them, watching for any stragglers. When its time to reload, and this comes quickly, the other member of the pair starts on the offensive, whilst the other defends. They're in a rough semi-circle, spread out, keeping back the aliens as they close in. Then there's a lull in battle. No more aliens? Alas, no. They can hear the shrieking behind the rise. They're all standing, breathing hard, waiting. The HICKS leader spots something in a nearby pit. An abandoned artillery launcher. He drags CONNIE down into the hole and picks it up. It's a small unit, and has a shell already waiting in the barrel. Then he heads out of the hole, joining the others. CONNIE looks down the line. There is firing and fighting in the darkness both to their right and left. But suddenly that dies down as well. One of the HICKS' lets his guard down, standing up from the firing position, trying to get a better look. HICKS They on us? Then the aliens begin launching themselves off the rise, landing immediately before the HICKS'. Too close! The HICKS' instinctively start to back off. The leader cradles his gun and the artillery launcher, pushing back as CONNIE covers him. The aliens are getting closer. Closer still. The more aliens die, the more come. Mere demonic flashes in the darkness, lit sporadically by the flash of the guns. Acid is spraying everywhere. A couple of the clones are hit and go down. One tries crawling back after his colleagues in their slow retreat. An alien just climbs straight across. EXT. TRENCH - NIGHT LINGUS drops down into the trench. He has a battered old pistol and a large flamethrower unit. He also has a spare fuel canister on a strap about his neck. The HICKS' are fighting directly ahead, so he starts running down the trench, toward one of the other groups. He's a short run away from them when he sees aliens in the trench. They're scuttling along the trench, and climbing out into the battlefield, cutting off the fighters. When they notice LINGUS, they hiss and he freezes. He fires with his pistol, and his flamethrower. The flames keep them back, but just drive them out onto the battlefield. The bullets do little from this range. LINGUS lets off an almighty continuous blast of fire, obscuring his view. He can hear alien screams. But one of the burning aliens charges on through. LINGUS initially goes to run, then stands his ground and fells it with two bullets to the head. But then the incinerator unit is empty, and the aliens know it. He breaks into a run, unscrewing the canister. But he drops the new one and the fuel starts spurting out. This gives him an idea. He knocks the head off it, letting the fuel spray all over the trench. He runs backward with it. EXT. HANGAR - NIGHT RIPLEY and the Predator are at the monitors. Several of the HICKS' are down, but most are still up. We're watching alien carnage, but the HICKS' are being pushed slowly back. BOLLUX arrives finally, and gapes at the monitors. BOLLUX Merry fucking Christmas, ET! The Predator regards him, then opens the flap on its arm. It presses a few buttons, then heads for the speeder. BOLLUX watches in wonder as it mounts the thing and heads out. BOLLUX Where's he going?! EXT. BATTLEFIELD - NIGHT The HICKS' are fighting still. A few are still firing constantly, but others are taking slower, more controlled shots, one at a time, picking off aliens when they first catch a glance. The leader suddenly stops, and runs behind most of his men as they back off. He crouches down, CONNIE catching up and starts fixing up the artillery launcher. Ready to fire. A couple of aliens charge them, getting shot but not mortally. Trample the nearest clones. The leader just aims the launcher at them and fires. The explosion blows both apart. CONNIE is splashed with acid. Eating through armour. CONNIE Argh! Get it off! Get it off! The leader pulls back with CONNIE, unstrapping her armour, burning his hands, finding an explosion hole, ducking into it. Ripping the disintegrating metal from her body. As she rids herself of the armour, leaving her in just underwear and the torn remains of her clothes, the Predator speeds overhead on the speeder. CONNIE and the leader surge out of the pit, covered by clones on both sides holding off approaching aliens. Suddenly they reach the trench. LINGUS is clambering out of it. One of the HICKS' pulls him out. They can see aliens coming along the trench. LINGUS hurls the canister down it, and it spins, ricocheting off the walls, finally popping open and covering the walls in fuel. Most of the HICKS ground to halt at the trench. Some jump across. LINGUS takes his pistol and shoots into it. Suddenly the trench is alive with flame and the aliens trying leaping out of, burning, beacons, TARGETS! These flaming aliens are shot down, and along with the trench, give the HICKS' the light they need to fight properly. But the aliens are closing on all sides, with the flames blocking escape to the rear. A few of the clones leap through, getting burnt, rolling in the dirt on the other side. LINGUS Game over... heh... The HICKS line the wall of the trench, turning their back to it and keeping on fighting. But ammunition is running short. Half the clones are out. EXT. HIVE - NIGHT The Predator is shooting along at quite a speed on his speeder. In the distance there is strange alien structure. It's a hive, and he's heading straight for it. The symbols on his arm are flashing down to destruction... INT. HANGAR - NIGHT The hangar is empty but for RIPLEY, BOLLUX and the remains of CALL. The monitors show how grim things really are, but BOLLUX looks down the ramps toward the flames. RIPLEY Bollux, take Call. I'll stay and man the ramp... BOLLUX looks to her, thinks, then obeys, wheeling the drunken android remains out. EXT. BATTLEFIELD - NIGHT What clones still have ammunition are maintaining the defensive whilst the others try looking for a way across the flames. CONNIE sees something resting in a nearby pit. Sheet of metal. She starts for it. LINGUS also notices and they meet at it, grabbing each end and looking to each other as they hoist it. CONNIE Max?! LINGUS Connie?! You're still alive! CONNIE Mom..? Dad..? LINGUS They're alive too! And with that, and with smiles across their faces, they charge out of the pit with the sheet, head right for the trench... and are blocked by three aliens. No more ammo... In fact, aliens not only surround them, but are slowly creeping forward amongst them. People move to avoid them, split up. LINGUS They're not attacking... CONNIE Keep behind me if you wanna live, Max... The aliens regard all the clones, and CONNIE and LINGUS, and hiss and shriek, but they don't attack. Suddenly there is a roaring from up on the rise. EXT. HIVE - NIGHT The Predator is on its speeder. It's heading straight for the hive. Straight for it..! It speaks in BOLLUX's filtered voice: PREDATOR Merry fucking Christmas... It starts a deep belly laugh, and impacts. EXT. BATTLEFIELD - NIGHT There is a flash. The flash of a small atomic explosion. For a split second, the sillhouette of an alien queen is highlighted. All the aliens scurry away. There is a rumbling in the distance. Air rushes past them. The fire is sucked out, quite literally. LINGUS It's a fucking nuke!!! With that, he shoves CONNIE down into the trench and throws himself down as well. Many of the HICKS' do as well. Some, including the leader aren't quick enough, and are carried away by the shockwave as it passes. So are nearby aliens. INT. HANGAR - NIGHT RIPLEY's up and on the floor. She is waiting by the airlock, hammering the controls, willing it to open faster. Can see the fireball. Klaxons for the airlock wail. Gap opens up. She throws herself down into it. EXT. TRENCH - NIGHT The shockwave and fireball shoots by in an instant, and the crouching clones, along with CONNIE and her brother start looking up. Start getting up. CONNIE and LINGUS are up first. The others all look ill. LINGUS What's happening? What's wrong with them? They start convulsing. Crying out. More or less all of them. Some before others, some starting late. Then their chests begin to burst open. CONNIE grabs her brother and they start climbing out of the trench. Once on the other side, she dares a look back, seeing the clones die one by one, each gripped in a gruesome parody of giving birth, the alien way. They start for the ship, supporting each other. No-one else is left. INT. HANGAR - NIGHT RIPLEY pulls herself, battered and bruised out of the open airlock as CONNIE and LINGUS slide in. LINGUS It wouldn't attack 'cause they had those things in them? Smart mothers! (a beat) Hey, what about y- CONNIE looks to RIPLEY before interrupting. CONNIE I need to get in cryosleep... RIPLEY nods, places a hand on her shoulder. LINGUS leaves with CONNIE, leading the way into the ship. RIPLEY is left alone, looking down and out the ramp, admiring the silence. Except there isn't silence. RIPLEY can hear something. It's quiet, but she can hear something. Something moving. Breathing. Just outside the ramp. Without a second thought, RIPLEY slams her fist down on the close button. The ramp gets a good distance, and then the talons of the big mean queen grip on and hold it. RIPLEY Come on... come on... She steps back, nearly falling into the airlock. The ramp locks shut, the queen retracting her claws just in time. RIPLEY looks all about her. Just her and the bitch now. The queen screams and starts impacting the ramp, denting it, pushing it in. Can't stand much of this. RIPLEY hits the intercom. RIPLEY Anyone on the bridge? Anyone! Nothing. She looks all about her. No weapons. Just a few Predator pieces. A mask. Arm unit. She thinks. Grabs the arm unit. RIPLEY Time for a bitch-fight, bitch! With that she climbs quickly down into the airlock. Halfway down the ladder she fingers the controls. Klaxons wail again, lights flash, then the outer doors open. EXT. EJACULE - NIGHT The queen is injured and scorched, but she could still tear a thousand Bishops apart. She's ramming the ramp ever harder with that head of hers. Underneath the ship, behind the ramp, RIPLEY drops down silently, climbing out of the airlock. She crouches under the ship, sees the queen charging the ship. She slips over rapidly, presses the same buttons as the Predator did on her one and then clips it around the queen's leg. The queen spots RIPLEY and rams her jaw down, barely missing RIPLEY as she throws herself back and cries out. The queen starts reaching under the ship, shrieking, her arm snaking after RIPLEY. RIPLEY reaches the airlock. The foot grabs. Misses. RIPLEY stands and jumps, reaching halfway up the ladder. Fingers the controls. The doors start closing. Holds on for dear life, then starts climbing. Outside, the queen stops ramming and reaching, and examines her leg. She screams at the device. Then it whites out. INT. BRIDGE - NIGHT BOLLUX and ST JUST appear on the bridge as it rocks and shakes violently. They hold on, looking about, to each other. The shockwave passes over the ship. They still hold on. Waiting. RIPLEY (o/s) Bridge? Anyone there? Bridge? BOLLUX hits the intercom switch. BOLLUX Yeah, Ripley. What the fuck was that? There is a long pause. Then RIPLEY gives a short sigh. RIPLEY (o/s) That was the beginning of the end, captain Bollux. INT. INFIRMARY - NIGHT It's later. RIPLEY and BOLLUX come in, cleanly dressed. ST JUST and LINGUS are wearing sterile scrubs. On a bed is a stirring CONNIE. To one side is CALL, blinking. Alive. ST JUST holds up an amnio. It has a dead embryo in it. ST JUST It was a queen. First of many. He ducks away. RIPLEY and BOLLUX approach CONNIE and CALL. Both women smile. CONNIE fingers her scar. RIPLEY parts her cleavage, revealing her own. CALL Did we do it? Are we winning? RIPLEY smiles. Nods slowly. Looks from CONNIE to CALL. RIPLEY The crusade is over... looks like I can finally get a life. We hold on this lovely image of the nuclear family. This chapter may be over, but the story's just beginning... TRIVIA PROSPECTIVE CAST LIST Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) Captain Bollux (Ben Browder) Connie Lingus (Jennifer Love Hewitt) Johner (Ron Perlman) Vriess (Dominique Pinon) Call (Winona Ryder) Hicks (Michael Biehn) St Just (Chow Yun Fat) Austin Powers (Mike Myers) Predator (Kevin Peter Hall) Someone once joked (at least, I HOPE they were joking) that they should remake the original Alien for its twentieth anniversary with Jennifer Love Hewitt as Ripley, seeing as she is probably the most unsuitable person on the planet to go up against everyone's favourite killing machines. Therefore, I would cast her in this. Other than that, most of my dream-cast are obvious, seeing as they've played the characters before. Ben Browder plays Crichton in Farscape, the latest showcase for the Henson family line of unconvincing puppets. Most of the time it's shockingly bad science fiction, but that's what makes it so much fun. Chow Yun Fat was actually lined up to play a character called St Just in Alien Resurrection, but they cut the character and gave his scenes to Christie. He was one of the pirates, though, not a scientist. CUT SCENE A scene I cut from the end of the script would be the ultimate in fanboy wish material: Ripley waking up on the Nostromo at the beginning of Alien to find it all a dream. THE VERDICT QUIZ Read through the following verdicts and decide which one applies most to your opinion of the script. Then follow the instruction and read my verdict on your verdict. Simple. "I thought the script was brilliant and Fox should make it immediately" (go to verdict ONE) "I thought there wasn't enough of Hicks in it" (go to verdict ONE) "I thought Ripley shouldn't have been in it, because I hate the character" (go to verdict ONE) "I thought Ripley shouldn't have been in it, but because of another reason" (go to verdict ONE) "I thought there should have been less humans, more Predators and more aliens" (go to verdict TWO) "I thought the script was cool: cool story, cool scenes, cool characters, cool dialogue" (go to verdict THREE) "I was disappointed with how it turned out. I thought the concept was good, the set-up had potential, but then you squandered it by playing it for laughs" (go to verdict FOUR) "I found plenty of technical faults, particularly with the superfluous Ejacule alien hunt sequence" (go to verdict FIVE) VERDICT ONE Oh, you poor, poor fanboy! You have the commiserations of the intelligent Alien fan community, a group you will never be smart enough to belong to. Let me guess: you love Aliens, but hate the other three? You obviously don't understand the series: Ripley IS the Alien series as much as the aliens; and there is absolutely no reason to clone Hicks other than satisfying a few dumb fans that give the rest of us a bad name. Face it, you wouldn't enjoy another Alien film unless it was an Aliens remake (or rehash). It'll never happen. Deal with it. Get a life. VERDICT TWO One word for you, matey boy: Disney. They're forever making films without any humans (or indeed, human interest material). Of course, they try to make up for it by giving their lions, monkeys and dinosaurs the ability to speak, but do you really want an Alien film with talking aliens? Can you imagine the plot: an alien egg is brought into a Predator colony, the facehugger impregnates one, the alien reared by his surrogate family, later going on a quest to the homeworld and becoming top dog... yada yada yada... See verdict ONE for advice. VERDICT THREE You are over-dosing on cool, my son. I suggest you watch a few Hitchcock films. Don't know if you've ever heard of him. He's a bit old to be cool, you see. Anyway, he made films with proper scripts, proper stories, proper scenes, proper characters and proper dialogue. Not very cool, but a thousand times better than the Matrix, and any of Tarantino's efforts. If you thought this script was cool, you are seriously missing the point. See verdict ONE for advice. VERDICT FOUR Thank you! You're kind of person I write for. I'm very appreciative that you have read my story and taken the time to think it through. And I agree with you: the concept of searching out a Predator weapon to fight aliens could have been played straight, but to be honest, I'm yet to be entirely convinced that an Aliens vs Predator movie is a good idea. I'm still worried that however well it can be done, it'll still smack of Freddy vs Jason. I'd be most interested in hearing further thoughts, comments and ideas. VERDICT FIVE So glad we agree! You're either a scriptwriter or an astute reader. There are indeed plenty of faults with the script: the general structure is sound, but the pacing is only adequate at the beginning and end. Neither the aliens, nor the humans, nor the Predators are developed substantially, so the whole concept is a wasted opportunity. Ripley is pretty much superfluous; her being there I put down to Star Wars Syndrome - characters who don't have a point being there, but are because they were in the last film. As to the particular scene highlighted, notice how this is a direct rip-off of the Erebus alien hunt; it even ends the same way! So why keep it, you ask. Why? Well, because it's unnecessary, fanboys always want the unnecessary, and this is an attack on fanboys... Finally, dialogue might be a tad awkward in places, but I avoided parodying the fanboy curse of writing ten pages of solid chat. Oh, and you'll notice there are aliens throughout as well - if I'd been mimicking the fanboys, they wouldn't have shown up until the last ten minutes. Anyway... all in all, not at all bad for 11 days work. Please read the commentary below. EXPLANATION Now's my chance to justify my actions. I have committed the ultimate heresy amongst the Alien fan community and poked fun at all their ideas and dreams. Or have I? No, damnit, I haven't! This script was born out of perusing Alien message boards, and the Alien newsgroup in the old days, and reading post after freaking post about cloning Hicks to fight aliens on the Sulaco as it returns to Acheron. It made me want to tear my hair out that this plague of fanboydom was so widespread. It seemed like every Alien fan, instead of wanting a brand new film, with new ideas and new characters, wanted the old film, the old ideas and the old characters. But they wanted to call it Alien 5 just to sneak it through, even though it was an Aliens reprint. However, what annoyed me the most was not just these ideas, for I am not one to criticise people imagining up their own version of future events, but the fact that so many of these fanboys finished their posts with a demand: make the film like this or I won't see it. Then I began to think: the Alien fan community isn't that big. Nowhere near the size of the Star Trek and Star Wars communities, which can support a film. And the fanboy quota within the community is like 10%. Who should they aim Alien 5 or Aliens vs Predator at? Not the fans at all, but the general movie-going public. Onto the justification, then. Well, no, I don't need to justify myself. None of the fanboys justify bringing back Hicks, for there is no reason to. He has no alien material within him like Ripley. There is no benefit to bringing him back. As to cloning Vasquez and Hudson, as is suggested all the more these days, the mind boggles. Can these people be serious? Alas, they are. Fanboys are with us, and will be forever. They'll always be disappointed with what happens, so those of us with an ounce of intelligence can take some vindictive pleasure in that. Indeed, that's what this piece of guff is about. It's trash, basically. If this was made into a film, you wouldn't leave the cinema a different person. It wouldn't even be much of a satisfying experience. But that's not the point. The point is, this script is an amalgamation of all the terrible fanboy ideas I have read over the years. I have not read an Aliens vs Predator story I feel does the concept justice. This does not either. The concept is a jokey gimmick so far. That's what this script is based upon. True, the idea of an Aliens vs Predator film has grew on me as I wrote this, and at several points I wished I'd done it straight, but alas, that would truly defeat the point. So, fanboys, beware! This piece of cringe-inducing bile is what your dreams are made of. Hopefully the script will have made this painfully clear, so I won't need to write a sequel... Aliens vs Dawson's Creek...