Alien: Resurrection

CUT TO:

INT. ANTECHAMBER – CONTINUOUS

The crew piles through it on their way to the loading dock.

Call brings up the rear, still looking back regretfully.

She hesitates, and Purvis takes hold of her arm.

PURVIS

We got to be moving, miss. Best gift you can give her right now is a quick death.

CALL

It's not right...

PURVIS

I've been saying that all day, we need your help.

A moment more, and she heads out with him.

CUT TO:

WASTE TANK 5 – CONTINUOUS

The aliens have finished webbing Ripley, and climb away.

When it is done she finds herself basically hung from the ceiling , her legs encased and glued with glistening strands to the roof. She hangs therefore at an angle, looking down on the chamber.

And so it is with her, as she swims to full consciousness, we get our first real look at where we are.

There are no less than ten people strung up exactly as Ripley is, encircling the chamber, and all looking some forty feet down at:

The Queen. Lying on her back at the bottom of the chamber, belly swollen and distended.

She is herself partially cocooned, strapped down to the at the edge of a black pool of blood and ichor. Her head moves slowly back and forth, in delirium of pain.

There are a four or five aliens tending her, spinning goo around her, vomiting blood onto her belly. They might be serving her, or imprisoning her. Both, in fact.

There is one thing missing from this tableau.

RIPLEY

(softly)

No eggs...

GEDIMAN (O.S.)

Multiple reproductive systems.

Ripley turns slowly, to see the person next to her. It's Gediman, looking wane and haggard.

He may be speaking to her but he stares straight ahead, his eyes glowing with near insanity.

GEDIMAN

Complete asexual reproductive cycle, self-impregnating, we found six different sets of ovaries in her. Egg laying is the first cycle, immature. Redundancies, redundancies... she'll bring forth legion.

RIPLEY

They didn't impregnate you?

Now he looks at her, regret and glee at what has happened battling for his expression.

GEDIMAN

No... they've just been draining me.

She looks down, to see

ANGLE: GEDIMAN'S FEET

As blood from various wounds seeps slowly past his toes, dripping into the pool.

A keening SHRIEK comes out of the queen, as her limbs begin thrashing.

The aliens around her back off slightly.

The bulge in her belly starts moving.

Ripley starts struggling with her bonds, terror and determination in her eyes.

RIPLEY

I'm getting out of here. Goddamnit, I'm getting the fuck out of here!

He looks at her, the last glimmer of his sanity sinking beyond the horizon.

GEDIMAN

Don't you want to see what happens next?

CUT TO:

INT. LOADING DOCK – CONTINUOUS

The crew rushes in, heads for the Betty.

JOHNER

How long till we can get airborne?

VRIESS

I'll need Call to patch in to the ship again, open the hatch.

CALL

Right.

JOHNER

We hit atmo in a few minutes, only gonna make it harder.

They all run on board...

INT. THE BETTY

... and head for the cockpit. DiStephano deposits Vriess in a wheelchair.

CALL

Johner, take Purvis to the freezer.

JOHNER

All right... Nap time, buddy.

A GUNSHOT and Purvis goes flying, blood spurting out of his shoulder, Johner draws but Wren emerges from the shadows too fast.

Wren grabs Call and very carefully holds his gun to her back right below her shoulderblades.

WREN

Fuck with me and I put a bullet where her brain is!

Johner stands, uncertain.

WREN

DiStephano! Take their weapons.

DISTEPHANO

Begging your pardon, sir, but eat my fuck.

DiStephano aims at Wren. Wren backs up a step.

WREN

Drop it! Drop it or we all die together!

Heaped in the, corner, Purvis suddenly jerks forward. His eyes go wide.

CUT TO:

INT. WASTE TANK 5 – CONTINUOUS

Ripley is frantically trying to pull at her bonds. It's just beginning to work.

But the noise in here is getting worse, the aliens frantically agitated as the Queens belly begins moving more violently. SHRIEKS, and RIPLEY does as well, from effort or sympathy, it is hard to tell, as THE QUEENS BELLY POPS OPEN. Blood shoots everywhere, burning into the walls.

And all the screaming stops. The movement stops. Even Ripley stops. Silence.

Something emerges from the wound.

An alien, to be sure, but nothing we've seen so far, its forelegs arch out of its back like spiders legs, its back legs set on enormous haunches, thick and powerful.

Its head is long, eyeless, like the others, but along its white expanse red veins, coming out of the skin and running like thick black hairs to the back.

It has retracted pincers at the side of head that come out when its tongue does.

It's much bigger the others, nearly the size of the queen herself.

And it's bone white.

GEDIMAN

Beautiful... beautiful butterfly...

He is crying with revelatory joy. Ripley is not. Grimacing the sight and smell of the new beast, she begins pulling again at her bonds.

One of the soldiers, at the other end of the room from Ripley wakes up.

Dangling uselessly at his side is a rifle – the real deal, not a burner.

SOLDIER

No, God...

He SCREAMS in uncomprehending horror. The newborn stops, tilting its head:

It LEAPS up to the ceiling in a second, quick and effortless as a monstrous flea.

Leaps again and lands on the screaming soldier, gripping his sides with its four forelegs as he screams lustily.

Pincers SWING out and pin either side of his head.. His eyes go wide as:

It's tongue SHOOTS into his throat. Stays there, and we watch it drain the blood from his body. We can see it, see it's stomach swell, red tinged, as his body goes blue and slack. His rifle drops into the black pool.

Gediman stares, transfixed, and it LANDS ON HIM.

CUT TO:

INT. BETTY – CONTINUOUS

Johner's gun drops to the floor.

Everyone backs off.

WREN

The fucking robot is going to plug back into the Auriga and land it according to standard operational procedure.

CALL

No she's not.

DISTEPHMO

You're fucking nuts. You still want to bring those things back to earth?

JOHNER

Have you been paying any attention today?

WREN

I can handle the animals!

CALL

Fucking shoot me.

WREN

Shut up!!!

And Purvis LAUNCHES from the corner, screaming, jumps on Wren – Wren gets off a couple of shots – nails DiStephano in the face. The soldier drops like a sack.

The other shots hit the ship, Call dives for cover as Purvis SLAMS his fist across Wren's face, Wren fires again and Jo is on the ground, rolling, grabbing his gun –

Purvis is a man possessed. He grabs Wren's gunhand and SMASHES it against an instrument panel, bone cracking audibly as wren drops the gun.

Purvis jerks. Blood blooms in his chest.

Everybody stops, mesmerized. Wren drops to his knees, going for the gun, and Purvis grabs him from behind, pulls him so that the back of Wren's head is against his chest.

Purvis jerks again. It takes Wren a moment to understand what's happening.

They both scream.

Then alien BURSTS out of Purvis's chest, STRAIGHT INTO WRENS SKULL.

Everyone else is still frozen. Then the little critter bursts out of Wrens face, flying straight at Vriess.

CUT TO:

INT. WASTE TANK 5 – CONTINUOUS

Ripley TEARS one of her arms free as the newborn feeds beside her.

Gediman is already a shell.

Having drained the scientist, it leaps blindingly fast onto the ceiling. Looks around.

Targets Ripley.

It has no eyes, but she can feel them on her anyway. She rips at her bonds with a terrible effort – the newborn LEAPS at her and she PULLS FREE with a scream, PLUNGING the thirty feet to the pool as the alien flies over her, missing, landing on the far wall instead.

Ripley disappears beneath the surface of the water.

The newborn turns its head, trying to locate its lost prey. Other aliens scutter closer to the pool.

Ripley stands up out of the pool, covered in blood, HOISTING THE SOLDIERS GUN.

Killshriek rising from her throat as she FIRES, taking out a host of aliens in a single sweep, just tagging the newborn as it leaps out of the way. Aliens jump at her, trying to kill and trying to protect the newborns, but she blows them out of the air.

It feels pretty good.

A few shots go wild, and punch big holes in the side of the tank.

Light streams in through them. Ripley sees – and continues firing in that direction.

She makes a big enough hole that she can run and SMASH through to:

INT. BY TANK – CONTINUOUS

Rolling and coming up in an instant. She looks around her. Exit this way, but there is a vent above her.

The newborn's head lunges at her, the small hole making it impossible for the creature to get all the way through. But it wriggles, pushing...

Ripley jumps up, grabbing a pipe, and KICKS open the vent grate, throwing herself up the vertical shaft with astonishing ease.

CUT TO:

INT. BETTY – CONTINUOUS

Vriess is scrambling away, knocking over things to avoid the baby alien.

Johner SHOOTS at the creature as it speeds towards Vriess.

CALL

Don't shoot it! Betty's hull is too thin!

JOHNER

Look out!

It knocks over cannisters as it speeds across the table and behind some instruments.

VRIESS

Where'd it go?

CALL

Don't shoot it!

JOHNER

Fuck that!

It LEAPS out of the darkness and heads straight for Call, she stumbles back, trips – it comes at her, leaps right at her face, she pulls her hand back – and flicks her wrist. The stilletto pops out as the creature flies at it, the blade slides right into its mouth, ramming eight inches through its innards before it pokes out the other end.

Blood spurts on Call, on the floor. The creature wriggles and finally falls free as the stilletto melts inside it.

JOHNER

Vriess! Get behind the fucking wheel!

CUT TO:

INT. VERTICAL AIR SHAFT – CONTINUOUS

Ripley is climbing up the cramped vent with the speed and agility of an alien.

Unfortunately, so are the aliens, twenty feet below her. Two drones in front, with the newborn squeezing close behind.

Ripley grabs a pole and her hand begins to steam, it's so hot. She cries out, lets go... then looks down. Grabs the pole again and, ignoring the searing agony, pulls, pulls... RIPS out of the wall, burning steam GUSHING out below her, slowing down the aliens.

She continues climbing, then kicks through a grate.

CUT TO:

EXT. SPACE

The Auriga races toward:

EARTH. But not as we've seen it.

The planet is still blue, but almost two thirds of it is obscured by a giant orbiting latticework of metal, a part shell that rotates sligtly faster than the planet itself.

The Auriga heads for a section of exposed earth. Not long now.

CUT TO:

INT. ANTE CHAMBER – CONTINUOUS

Ripley drops to the ground and heads for the dock.

CALL/SHIP

Airlock doors closing. Stand clear.

RIPLEY

No!

She doesn't bother to try the door, she HURLS herself through the window, landing

INT. DOCKING BAY

In a hail of glass.

She is on the platform that runs the length of the dock. Betty is barely visible past the far end – sinking into the airlock as the massive airlock doors slide slowly shut.

RIPLEY

NO!!

A SLAM against the metal door behind her tells her the aliens are here.

She picks herself up and RUNS – and she can run fast.

Speeds across the platform, faster, faster, the Betty sinks of sight as the airlock doors move closer together, fifteen feet apart, ten...

Ripley reaches the edge of the platform and LEAPS, just hurls herself off of the platform, sails through the air, thirty, forty feet, and down, the airlock doors thirty feet below, almost closed.

She DROPS right through just before they close, falls another fifteen feet and lands – WHAM!! – on top of the Auriga, hard, rolls, lies there in extremes of pain.

CUT TO:

INT. BETTY – CONTINUOUS

The crew look up at the sound.

VRIESS

Something's on us!

JOHNER

Forget it! We'll shake it off on descent.

Airlock secure. Outer doors opening...

CUT TO:

INT. AIRLOCK – CONTINUOUS

Ripley tries to pick herself up, is momentarily too wiped, breathes heavily, gets to her knees.

ANGLE: FROM ABOVE

We see Ripley crawling toward the hatch, and the huge outer airlock door opening beneath the ship. Blue sky and wind the screen below.

ANGLE: RIPLEY

Struggling to get to the hatch.

RIPLEY

God...

And above her, through a window into the docking bay, we see the newborn appear.

CUT TO:

INT. BETTY – CONTINUOUS

CALL

Almost there...

JOHNER

We got about forty seconds till we kiss the ground! Go full thrust on the downdraft! We'll get clear!

JOHNER

It's gonna be fucking close.