ALIENS Vs.PREDATOR

C'mon, man. One more sweep.

GUTTIEREZ

One more sweep...one more sweep. I'm

getting tired of one more fuckin' sweep.

We're been lookin' for this thing for

three days now, and found zip.

DE VRIES

Ah, quit griping. Keeps you in shape

doesn't it?

GUTTIEREZ

Hey! I was in shape _before_ we started

doing this.

DE VRIES pauses, listening to the sound from the surrounding forest.

DE VRIES

Listen to that...

GUTTIEREZ cocks his head and listens. He has no idea what she means.

GUTTIEREZ

Listen to what?

DE VRIES

That's what I mean. This is the quietest

I've ever heard it. It's unnatural.

GUTTIEREZ shivers in the wind as he looks out into the impenetrable blackness

beyond the confines of the base.

GUTTIEREZ

De Vries?

DE VRIES

Yeah?

GUTTIEREZ

Next time you have a thought like that?

Keep it to yourself.

BREWSTER the dog stares in fascination at the rhinos through the meshwork

fence of their pens. The animals move around in agitation. Not at her, but

at something else...

DE VRIES

Something spooking the rhinos?

GUTTIEREZ

I dunno.

EXT. RYUSHI STATION - SWAMP LEVEL - DUSK

PREDATOR-VISION. The rhino's, the dog, and the two humans can be seen way

above on the platform's edge, bright red.

Indistinct inside their camouflage cloaks, the small group of PREDATORS wade

carefully through the water towards the base of the installation.

INT. RYUSHI STATION - PUMP ROOM

DARKNESS. DILLER and URIOSTE's VOICES heard O.S. in HUSHED TONES. The

scraping of METAL-ON-METAL.

DILLER

What is that...is that it?

URIOSTE

No. I...think that's a regulator valve.

Hold on.

There's more NOISE.

URIOSTE (CONT'D)

Ah, got it...!

About a dozen fluorescent strips ringing the small circular chamber

illuminate. Three others flicker erratically, one of them remaining unlit.

DILLER waves the tracker cautiously around and keeps his pulse-rifle level.

He enters, followed by URIOSTE. She's carrying a portable - but bulky -

piece of machinery.

URIOSTE

Are you getting anything?

DILLER

(sarcastic)

Yeah, eyestrain. What's with the lights?

URIOSTE

They're always like that. Head-Office are

real cheap when it comes to spares. Wave

that thing in the corner...

DILLER sweeps the tracker carefully around. The small screen registers

nothing.

DILLER

The room's clean.

URIOSTE

Great.

URIOSTE pulls at a two-piece hexagonal grating set in the center of the

floor. It's heavy and thick with grease, but she doesn't seem to mind.

Below it is what looks like a round metal plug. Recessed into its surface is

a lever next to a central pressure valve, with handholds on either side. She

turns the lever. There's a loud CLUNK, and a plume of steam JETS out of the

valve.

URIOSTE (CONT'D)

Give me a hand with this.

GRUNTING, the two of them pull the thick metal plug clear of the pit. Murky

water sloshes around below. URIOSTE pulls a second lever, and hidden pumps

make the water level drop rapidly.

URIOSTE (CONT'D)

Pass me over that tripod, will you?

Leaning against the wall behind DILLER is a sturdy metal tripod topped with a

block-and-tackle arrangement. A hook dangles below this, it's thick metal

cabling going up through the block-and-tackle and connecting to the drum of a

small industrial winch attached securely to the wall. DILLER hands the

tripod over to URIOSTE. She splays the legs apart and inserts their tips

into matching holes around the open pit.

EXT. RYUSHI STATION - PLATFORM - DUSK

GUTTIEREZ and DE VRIES walk over to the rhino pen, BREWSTER pulling at her

leash. GUTTIEREZ frowns at what he sees. All the rhinos are nervously

huddled together in the far corner.

GUTTIEREZ

That's real peculiar behavior.

DE VRIES fingers a rough metal edge.

DE VRIES

Hey, Guttierez?

GUTTIEREZ

What?

DE VRIES

Take a look at this.

GUTTIEREZ moves over for a closer look. There's a torn hole in the meshwork,

just big enough for a rhino to squeeze through. Blood and fragments of skin

coat the edge of the gap.

GUTTIEREZ

One of 'em must have escaped.

DE VRIES

That's impossible, man. This fence is

high-tensile. The breaking tolerance'd

stand up to the strain of a rhino, easy.

I know, I put it up.

GUTTIEREZ shines the flashlight along the deck. A trail of smeared blood

runs all the way to the perimeter. The surrounding fence has been buckled

and twisted. They cross to it and look down at the swamp. The torch beam

sparkles on the murky water far below.

GUTTIEREZ

There's no way a rhino'd survive that

drop.

DE VRIES

Goldsmith's gonna be plenty pissed at

losing one of her babies.

GUTTIEREZ

That's a fact.

GUTTIEREZ' tracker starts to BLEEP. He raises it excitedly.

GUTTIEREZ (CONT'D)

Whoa, wait a minute...

DE VRIES

What?

GUTTIEREZ

Just got a reading...

INT. RYUSHI STATION - COMMAND CENTER

Most of the lights in Admin are off, and the room's deserted. PARSONS is

seated away from his usual station at a console topped by ten monitor

screens, each displaying a securi-cam picture. He looks tired. KAMEN comes

up behind him carrying two mugs of coffee.

KAMEN

How's it going?

PARSONS

Yeah, 'Good Evening' to you, too.

He takes the coffee gratefully and sips at it.

PARSONS (CONT'D)

Today's party's finished their sweep, the

relief team's out there now. Everybody

else is either asleep or running shift in

the auto-shop.

KAMEN

You should hit the sack, too.

PARSONS

Nah, I'll stick it out for another hour

or so.

KAMEN

What time's sundown?

PARSONS

'Bout five minutes.

KAMEN

Give me a yell is something happens.

PARSONS

You got it, cowboy.

EXT. RYUSHI STATION - PLATFORM - DUSK

GUTTIEREZ sweeps the tracker slowly around, and BREWSTER begins to gently

SNARL. DE VRIES pulls on the dog's leash to quieten her.

GUTTIEREZ

It's up there somewhere...

He shoulders his rifle.

GUTTIEREZ (CONT'D)

Come on.

A metal ladder runs up the side of one of the base buildings. GUTTIEREZ

crosses to it and starts to climb the first few rungs.

DE VRIES

What? Are you nuts? Just the two of us?

GUTTIEREZ

I've seen this mother, De Vries. We can

bag it, no problem.

DE VRIES

Forget it, man.

GUTTIEREZ

C'mon De Vries. Think of the bonus.

DE VRIES

Fuck the bonus. I hate heights. You

wouldn't get me up there even if it

_wasn't_ night.

GUTTIEREZ starts to climb the ladder.

DE VRIES

What the hell are you doing?

GUTTIEREZ

Hey, fair enough. If you won't come, I'll

handle it myself.

DE VRIES runs her fingers through her hair in frustration. Comes to a

decision counter to what she wants to do...

DE VRIES

Wait a minute!

GUTTIEREZ stops climbing.

DE VRIES (CONT'D)

Alright, okay. Look...

GUTTIEREZ

What?

DE VRIES

I'll come with you.

BREWSTER BARKS. She drags the dog over to a metal stanchion and ties the

leash around it.

DE VRIES (CONT'D)

But I'm going first...

GUTTIEREZ

Anything you say, Mammacitta.

She climbs around GUTTIEREZ and begins to ascend the ladder. BREWSTER

WHIMPERS and plaintively BARKS after them.

EXT. RYUSHI STATION - ROOFTOP LEVEL - DUSK

The rooftop is dark, mysterious. Pieces of retrofitted junk can be seen in

silhouette, edged in light from way below. DE VRIES and GUTTIEREZ carefully

step over the threshold. They speak in WHISPERS.

DE VRIES

Careful of that edging there...

GUTTIEREZ

Yeah, I got it.

Although we have an outstanding VIEW of the night lights of the base up here,

the immediate gloom is impenetrable.

DE VRIES

Where's that flashlight?

By way of an answer, a powerful ray cuts a swathe through the air. DE VRIES

takes the torch from him and shines it on the ground. Circular extractor

fans rotate quietly in the gloom.

DE VRIES (CONT'D)

Still got him?

GUTTIEREZ

It's moving slow. About...eleven metres.

On the left.

DE VRIES plays the flashlight across the rooftop.

GUTTIEREZ (CONT'D)

Little bit further...

The beam comes to rest on a protruding piece of apparatus. A short-range

antennae, about seven feet wide.

GUTTIEREZ (CONT'D)

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right there, right

behind the antennae. I think we're got

it cornered...

EXT. RYUSHI STATION - PLATFORM - DUSK

HIROKO bends down to inspect a small plastic grating fitted flush with the

roadway. The broken grillework is melted outwards. KAMEN and two other

men - CALDWELL and THOMAS - stand behind.

THOMAS

The door to the food storage locker was

smashed open. It must have come straight

out of here.

HIROKO yawns.

HIROKO

Alright. Keep your eyes peeled.

She voices her concern to KAMEN.

HIROKO (CONT'D)

If it got out of the systems, it could

be anywhere.

EXT. RYUSHI STATION - ROOFTOP LEVEL - DUSK

It's very quiet, and we can hear the NERVOUS BREATHING of GUTTIEREZ and DE

VRIES as they cautiously stalk forward.

GUTTIEREZ

Hold it, hold it...

DE VRIES

What's wrong?

GUTTIEREZ

I'm picking up another signal.

DE VRIES looks around, unnerved.

DE VRIES

What? Where?

GUTTIEREZ

Just behind us, over to the right.

DE VRIES shines her beam over the surface of the yellow crane to their rear,

shifting her attention to-and-fro from it and the antennae.

DE VRIES

Can't see a thing. Are you sure?

GUTTIEREZ

Yeah, I...

The second blip on the small screen abruptly vanishes.

GUTTIEREZ (CONT'D)

Wait. Lost it.

DE VRIES

How?

GUTTIEREZ

I dunno. Might be a glitch.

From behind the metal disc there comes a SHUFFLING SOUND, followed by a

METALLIC THUNK. This gets their attention. The two of them halt in their

tracks.

DE VRIES

Oh, man. _That's_ no glitch!

GUTTIEREZ

It's alright, it's cool...

DE VRIES

Is it still moving?

GUTTIEREZ

No, he's stopped; he's totally still.

Just take it nice and easy, babe. Nice

and easy...

A small many-limbed SHAPE hurls itself from the confines of it's hiding place

with a FERAL SHRIEK. DE VRIES YELPS in surprise, and looses off a spray of

bullets.

EXT. RYUSHI STATION - PLATFORM - DUSK

HIROKO looks up, startled by the sound of GUNFIRE. She sees the rooftop of

one of the building modules lit by tracer fire. BREWSTER's tethered nearby,

BARKING furiously.

INT. RYUSHI STATION - PUMP ROOM - PUMP SHAFT

A think metal cable connected to her jacket harness suspends URIOSTE in the

gloom of the Pump Shaft. In front of her is a machine-part we saw her carry

earlier. With the strap of a flashlight clenched in her mouth, she's just

finishing up bolting the part to the larger piece of machinery in an alcove,

with simultaneously doing her best not to touch the walls which are covered

by a thin layer of gunge.

The REPORT of DE VRIES' weapon can be heard even down here, perhaps more

startling in the confined space. URIOSTE jumps, dropping the flashlight into

the water in the process.

INT. RYUSHI STATION - PUMP ROOM

DILLER turns away from the winch and peers into and beyond the access tunnel

leading outside. URIOSTE's VOICE floats up out of the shaft.

URIOSTE

(O.S., muffled)

What was that?

DILLER