AOH :: AVSP.TXT
Aliens vs. Predator wish-it-were-going-to-be-a-movie script
|
Dark Horse Prod. Presents
ALIENS
Vs.
PREDATOR
Screenplay by Peter Briggs
EXT. DEEP SPACE
We OPEN on TOTAL BLACKNESS, a sea of stars spread across the infinite depths
of space. As the TITLES ROLL, we notice that three of these specks seem to
be moving; one of them picking up acceleration and racing toward us. Our
perspective changes, and we catch a quick glimpse as it HURTLES past, and
into the gravitational pull of a large brownish planet. Kicking up SPARKS of
FRICTION as it hits atmosphere. It seems to be manmade. Or at least
artificial.
EXT. PLANET SURFACE - DAY
The planet is dead, barren. Death Valley on a grand scale. We watch the
object plummet through the wispy cloud-cover, emitting a few last burning
embers before falling to ground way-off in the distance. A BOOMING ECHO
resonates across the dusty plains, before settling back into an eerie
silence.
EXT. FISSURE CANYON - DAY
We're looking into a deep gorge, dark and sinister. A howling wind whips
dust into a sandstorm, reducing visibility to almost zero. About seventy
feet down there's a hole in the rock-face that just might be a cave entrance,
and near is a peculiar SHIMMERING in the air. We hear a mechanical BEEPING
and the SHIMMERING disappears, replaced by FIVE humanoid SHAPES clinging to
the sheer rock - each well over seven feet tall. They are PREDATORS, a race
of intergalactic big-game hunters on permanent safari; their clothing and
weaponry a bizarre mix of aborigine and ultra-hi-tech. In their hands are
circular metal discs; 'smart weapons' which cut into the stone and give them
purchase.
PREDATOR-VISION. From their P.O.V., we see the fissure reduced to THERMAL
HEAT SOURCES. The entrance registers as a black gaping void.
INT. FISSURE NEST TUNNEL
The five hunters climb inside the rim of the tunnel, out of the wind's
banshee wailing. The lead PREDATOR reaches up to his headgear, pulling at
the coupling pipes connecting it to a hidden breathing-apparatus. He removes
the helmet, clips it to his rear utility pack, and takes a deep breath of the
air. A curious speckled pattern runs across his wide forehead, marking him
different to the others; in addition, one of the fangs of his mandibles has
been sheared away. We'll call him BROKEN TUSK, he's the leader of the
hunting party. He reaches out a hand to caress the wall of the tunnel.
Several feet in from the rim, it changes from rock to a textured
biomechanical surface; a swirling mass of disturbing shapes. He hurries
forward in response to the GURGLING-HISS of one of his team who has found
something.
The other PREDATOR holds a telescopic spear up for scrutiny. Skewered on the
end is a shriveled FORM with eight spindly legs and a segmented tail; it's
a FACEHUGGER, the first stage of the deadly ALIEN lifeform. BROKEN TUSK
HISSES a caution to his party; they respond by pulling spears and
elaborately-shaped swords. Several shoulder-mounted plasma cannons slide up
to firing position, tracking with their owners' helmets. Thus armed, they
move cautiously ahead...taking no chances. One helmeted PREDATOR pauses,
scanning the area.
PREDATOR-VISION. He switches through a variety of different views; infra-
red, ultra-violet, enhanced motion-tracking. Nothing.
He's so pre-occupied with this task, he totally fails to notice the skeletal
ALIEN loom up behind him, emerging from the biomechanical growth on the
floor. A barbed tail skewers the PREDATOR straight through the neck,
splashing luminous blood across his chestplate. A gargled DEATH-RATTLE
issues from his throat, the band of PREDATORS spinning around in time to see
him being dragged below the ground. The band of extraterrestrial hunters
have no time to come to his aid; they themselves are set upon by a half-
dozen ALIEN WARRIORS. The carnage is swift and terrifying, a blur of motion.
Steel blades and serrated biomechanical limbs scythe the air, alive with the
CRIES and HISSES of both adversaries. One PREDATOR is pinned against the
tunnel wall, his spear out of range. The ALIEN claws away his face mask,
and he finds himself dodging the ALIEN's toothed tongue, extended toward him
with pile-driver speed. He reaches down, grasping the 'smart-weapon' hanging
from his belt and brings it up in an arc that terminates at the ALIEN's
grinning face. Big mistake. The two are in such close proximity that the
ALIEN's acidic blood sprays across the PREDATOR's head. While their
technology seems to be resistant to it, their bodies aren't: the viscous
yellow liquid begins burning into the PREDATOR's skin. He kicks the skeletal
corpse away with a HIDEOUS PIERCING SCREAM, clawing at his seared face.
It all seems to be over as quickly as it began; there can be no question as
to who were the victors. The PREDATORS stand amidst a sea of biomechanical
limbs strewn around like a charnel house. As his companions begin to
carefully decapitate the ALIEN skulls, BROKEN TUSK steps over the corpses
to examine his fallen comrades. The first PREDATOR to be attacked was killed
instantly; he crosses to the other. What he finds causes him to react with
pity and disgust. His fallen comrade is only just alive; mandibles clicking
frailly, half his head burnt away. BROKEN TUSK watches the ailing PREDATOR
slide a steel blade from it's sheath and offer it to him. He takes it,
knowing what has to be done. Rolling the knife quickly over the back of his
hand - the sort of elaborate trick seasoned Green Berets perform - he plunges
it downward into the fallen hunter. This unpleasant task accomplished,
BROKEN TUSK straightens up and activates his wrist-computer. A dark shape
blots out the light coming from the entrance; a small PREDATOR shuttlecraft,
sleek and elegant. It hovers in the air with little more than a loud HUM,
and extends a ramp. The surviving PREDATORS leap aboard, carrying their
trophies with the reserved silence of men returning from combat.
One more thing need to be done. BROKEN TUSK bends down and flips a sequence
of keys on the dead PREDATOR's wrist. A countdown is displayed in some
unknown character-set, accompanied by a HIGH PITCHED BEEPING. He then turns
and swiftly boards the craft which takes smoothly to the air, it's undergear
retracting.
EXT. PLANET SURFACE - DAY
A white-hot fireball erupts out of the fissure, the result of the PREDATOR's
suicide-destruct mechanism. The shuttlecraft pulls quickly away,
disappearing into the clouds.
EXT. SPACE
A large spacecraft is suspended in orbit around the planet; the PREDATOR
Mothership. The shuttle heads swiftly towards it.
INT. PREDATOR MOTHERSHIP - DOCKING BAY
An airlock RUMBLES open and the PREDATORS file NOISILY into the Mothership's
docking bay. An OLD PREDATOR crouched against a strut takes time out from
carving something into a block of wood to briefly look up at them. Like the
PREDATORS themselves, the ship is a curious mixture of old and new. An
elaborate frieze written in alien script runs around the wall, with racks of
sophisticated equipment recessed into it. Hatches lead off to various parts
of the ship; we see BROKEN TUSK carry his ALIEN head off down one of them.
INT. PREDATOR MOTHERSHIP - VIEWING GALLERY
The gallery seems to be more mechanical than the rest of the ship. BROKEN
TUSK enters, pausing next to a kind of readout device: a cylindrical tube
containing a substance similar to mercury which constantly changes it's mass
into shapes and alien text. He peers over the protective railing.
WHAT HE SEES is magnificent: a captive QUEEN ALIEN, the nucleus of the ALIEN
society, fed by giant intravenous pipes. Each of it's limbs is tethered by
restraining clamps preventing any movement. To the rear, it's giant egg-sac
glows and throbs, suspended by a jury-rigged sling. A SCANNING MECHANISM
hangs above the EGGS the QUEEN lays, seemingly defying gravity. As each EGG
is scanned by a blue triangular beam - similar to a PREDATOR gun-sight - it
becomes translucent, giving us a view of the pulsing FACEHUGGER inside. This
done, a manipulator are carefully loads several eggs onto a pallet, which
then sinks into a hatchway in the floor. It's an assembly-line of almost
frightening mechanical efficiency.
EXT. SPACE
We see a pod ejected from the Mothership, rocketing away from the planet into
deep space. The inference is obvious; the PREDATORS are seeding worlds with
ALIENS to hunt.
INT. PREDATOR MOTHERSHIP - VIEWING GALLERY
The blue beam slides across one of the eggs, and suddenly changes to red,
BEEPING rapidly. BROKEN TUSK sees the flowing display-tank alter from a
rotating simulation of an ALIEN WARRIOR skull to a representation of a
QUEEN's head. The manipulator arm swiftly grasps the EGG in question and
moves it over to a protrusion on the floor. The causes the QUEEN to go
berserk, straining at her bonds and SHRIEKING ferociously. She's obviously
been through this before and knows what's about to happen. The protrusion
splits open, spilling out an intense white light: an energy-filled blast
furnace. The manipulator claw opens, the EGG drops in, and is no more.
INT. PREDATOR MOTHERSHIP - LIVING QUARTERS
An orange light plays across a wall of skulls, casting dark shadows into
long-empty orbs. BROKEN TUSK sprawls lizard-like across a flat slab of rock
in the center of the room, inspecting his formidable arsenal of weaponry.
Satisfied, he reaches out to run a finger across the jaw of his ALIEN trophy
in an almost-erotic gesture. He regards it for a long moment as if coming
to a decision of some kind, before finally getting to his feet.
INT. PREDATOR MOTHERSHIP - VIEWING GALLERY
The lights in the gallery are dimmer when BROKEN TUSK enters. He watches the
cherry-red beam of the gliding SCANNING MECHANISM lock onto one of the EGGS,
then runs his hand in sequence over the control board. The manipulator arm
swings over, seizing the egg and loading it onto a waiting pallet.
BROKEN TUSK points his finger at the QUEEN and makes a guttural CLICKING
SOUND from deep in his throat. The effect is not unlike that of a child
firing an imaginary gun. As if reading BROKEN TOOTH's thoughts, the QUEEN
lifts her crested head upwards and emits a venomous HISS of contempt.
EXT. SPACE
In CENTER FRAME, the planet sits still and green, awash with nebulous clouds.
A hulking METAL FORM ROLLS RIGHT-TO-LEFT across our view, sunlight glinting
from it's surface. It's a rectangular satellite-construction comprised of
hundreds of communication dishes in a latticework of steel tubing. We hear
FILTERED HUMAN VOICES O.S. Subspace chatter.
EXT. RYUSHI STATION - MIDDAY
Imagine a world where every square mile is covered by a canopy of treetop
foliage, and you've just drawn yourself a picture of the planet Ryushi.
Nestled amongst this lush rainforest is the Yutani-Templin Communications
Relay Station. Several inverted-'U'-shaped suspension cranes painted bright
yellow look down over a collection of preassembled buildings and roadways
raised above the swamp on platforms, much like a truncated oil-rig. A
navigation beacon flashes intermittently from a tall gantry tower above,
while dominating the view is the sloping face of a communications array
several storeyes high. Off to one side of the platform is a gigantic many-
wheeled haulage vehicle. A flock of bird-like creatures fly past.
INT. RYUSHI STATION - COMMAND CENTER
We're in the dark womb of a split-level command center alive with clusters
of video readouts, somewhat reminiscent of a futuristic air-traffic control
tower. On the upper tier, a large circular holo-display currently projects
an image of the satellite we just saw. Thin trailers of paper flutter gently
in the current coming from the air conditioning ducks, though beads of sweat
still dot the foreheads of the people manning the consoled here. We move in
on CASSIE DOLLANDER and ROB PARSONS, two monitoring technicians occupying a
control bank. CASSIE listens carefully to something on her headset.
CASSIE
Ah, negative on that request commercial
freighter 'Nan-Shan'. I've already got
an inbound on that approach pending a
beacon-fix. Hold on my mark until I get
back with some confirmation. Rimward
Traffic Control out.
She thumbs a button and leans over to PARSONS.
CASSIE (CONT'D)
How's it looking?
PARSONS worriedly shakes his head.
PARSONS
That's the second time I ran it, and it
still reads the same.
CASSIE
Better tell the boss.
PARSONS pulls out a coin.
PARSONS
Toss you for it.
INT. RYUSHI STATION - EXECUTIVE OFFICE
HIROKO NOGUCHI is sweating heavily, a black forelock of hair falling across
her Oriental features. Her eyes flicker warily from side-to-side as she
holds the smooth length of the sword before her, trying to assess from where
the next attack will come. She doesn't have to wait long; two NINJA
SWORDSMEN drop to the floor in front of her, striking without hesitation.
She expertly avoid the blows, parrying relentlessly. A persistent TONE
begins to intrude O.S., like a telephone RINGING. She tries to ignore it,
but her concentration is clearly broken. A THIRD SWORDSMAN appears from out
of nowhere, his sword SWISHING towards her chest. The blade plunges deep
into her stomach, emerging from her back. She glances down in annoyed
disbelief.
HIROKO
Fuck! Holo off.
The SWORDSMEN immediately flicker and disappear. She sheathes the sword with
one precise movement and crosses the wooden paneled floor to her desk.
Mopping her face with a towel, she thumbs a stud. The RINGING TONE stops,
the corporate logo on her flat-screen desk panel replaced with a black girl's
face.
HIROKO (CONT'D)
Noguchi.
CASSIE
(O.S., onscreen)
Something just came up on Deep Space
Tracking.
HIROKO
What kind of 'something'?
CASSIE
(O.S., onscreen)
Easier if you come down and look.
HIROKO
I'm on my way.
EXT. RYUSHI STATION - MIDDAY
An eight-wheeled articulated crawler rolls noisily through the rain, climbing
an access ramp leading from the swamp to the outpost's empty main-street. A
group of rhinos - brown two-horned quadrupeds indigenous to Ryushi -
restlessly stir in their corral at it's approach. The crawler's pneumatics
HISS gently as it comes to a halt, while somewhere off in the distance a dog
BARKS. DON KAMEN, a lean man in his forties. climbs down from the cab
mounted five feet above the ground and squints up at the main relay antenna.
He adjusts the cowboy hat on his head against the drizzle and crosses the
street towards one of the buildings, ignoring a Pepsi sign CREAKING in the
gentle breeze. A glass-paneled door SWISHES automatically open before him.
INT. RYUSHI STATION - COMMAND CENTER
KAMEN steps into the command center, nodding familiarly to the DUTY
PERSONNEL. A long-haired labrador rushes up to KAMEN, wagging it's tail.
Her name is BREWSTER. She's the base mascot. KAMEN reaches down and ruffles
it's fur. He climbs the few stairs to the monitoring tier, pulling the
French-plaited hair of ANNIE URIOSTE, an Italian systems-mechanic with her
hands buried in a disassembled console.
URIOSTE
You didn't wipe your feet coming in.
KAMEN
Well, it's okay. You didn't tell me it
was monsoon season going out.
PARSONS looks up at KAMEN and grins.
PARSONS
Hey, buenos dias, cowboy. When d'you
blow in?
KAMEN places his hat on PARSONS' head and THUMPS it down.
KAMEN
Just got back. Missed anything?
URIOSTE
(snorts)
Yeah. We're almost out of beer.
PARSONS
Ahh, don't pay any attention to Urioste.
She's still pissed that Noguchi wouldn't
let her go off on your hunting trip.
KAMEN pours himself a cup of coffee from a BUBBLING percolator.
KAMEN
Wasn't my trip, I just did the driving.
'Sides, freezing my butt off out in the
wet taking pot-shots at the local wildlife
isn't _my_ idea of a good time, either.
He sips gingerly from the cup of scalding liquid.
PARSONS
Where'd you leave them?
KAMEN
Camped out by the navi-beacon out on Linson's
Range. They're making their own way back
tomorrow.
CASSIE
MarsCo went belly-up on the Dow Jones.
KAMEN
Shit. When?
CASSIE
Yesterday. We got the Network feed from
Gateway; it was the top story on 'Sixty
Seconds'. Biggest market crash since
twenty-four.
KAMEN looks ill.
KAMEN
Fucking great. I invested some money in
them.
CASSIE
You win some, you loose some.
KAMEN
I lose 'em all, that's why I'm still out
here on this rock. Anything else you
wanna ruin my day with?
CASSIE
No, but I got something that might interest
you.
HIROKO enters, pulling on a leather jacket.
HIROKO
What've you got?
KAMEN nods to her and receives a quick smile for his trouble. They turn to
watch the display clear, replaced with a computer simulation of the
neighboring solar system.
CASSIE
A pair of incomings. They popped-up on
the medium-range about thirteen twenty-
four local time.
PARSONS
We figured on it being a magnetic anomaly,
but we ran a back-trace just to make sure.
CASSIE
Yeah. Turns out they dropped straight
out of hyperspace.
The simulation ZOOMS IN, revealing two unidentified objects heading towards
the planet in the center of the display. Computer notations accompany them.
CASSIE (CONT'D)
Curious thing is, the mass detector says
they're too small to carry a deep-space
drive.
HIROKO
Sounds like a couple of escape shuttles.
PARSONS
That's what we thought.
HIROKO
Have you got an updated Lloyds' Almanac
to cross-reff them through?
PARSONS
Done it already. Nothing matches.
CASSIE
And if you thought that was interesting,
watch this...
HIROKO watches the course of the two objects simultaneously change.
KAMEN
Jesus.
PARSONS
Yeah, exactly. Those're _pre-programmed_
course adjustments you're looking at.
KAMEN
Tactical nukes, maybe?
Everybody gives him a quick look, but nobody says anything. It's obviously
not an appealing thought.
HIROKO
Where're they headed?
CASSIE
We ran a trajectory simulation. If they
carry on along that path, it's possible
they'll make intra-orbital insertion.
There's a great exhalation of breath, and everyone swaps significant glances.
HIROKO seems worried. She scratches her forehead.
HIROKO
I don't know what to make of this. Get a
copy of the telemetry relayed back to
Antarctica Traffic Control. Better alert
the nearest RimCorp Base, too.
PARSONS nods, suddenly serious.
PARSONS
Fort Powell. What do we tell 'em?
HIROKO
Just give them the facts. They can leap
to their own conclusions.
EXT. LINSON'S RANGE - SWAMP - AFTERNOON
Down here in the swamp, the trunks of magnificent trees terminate in gnarled
roots and disappear into watery murk, much like a Louisiana bayou. A group
of attentive LEMUR-TYPE CREATURES suddenly bound for cover as a line of
bullets THUDS into the wood nearby. Seconds later, a loud HUMMING NOISE
intrudes O.S. and a pair of manta-ray-shaped hover-bikes with sleek lines and
garnish decals SLAMS into FRAME suspended two feet above the mire, their
powerful turbines kicking-up a swirl of spray. The two BIKERS skid to a
halt and watch the CREATURES scatter. ACKLAND and YORK - men who on Earth
might be called "good 'ol boys" - are both riding one-handed; powerful hi-
tech rifles gripped in the other.
YORK
(yelling)
You missed 'em, Ackland!
ACKLAND
Little fuckers move too fast. Let's do a
sweep and catch 'em on the other side.
YORK nods his head, pulling his goggles down over his eyes. The two bikes
ROAR off in pursuit.
EXT. LINSON'S RANGE - ENCAMPMENT - AFTERNOON
Up on a mud-bank, at the base of a sturdy gantry tower with two blinking blue
lights atop it, stands the camp. It looks a little like a Bedouin bivouac,
but up-close we can see the techno-fitted details. A hard-featured woman
seated next to a solid-fuel burner sips from a mug, while her Vietnamese
counterpart is manually loading large-caliber bullets into a belt-feed. They
watch as ACKLAND and YORK roar past WHOOPING. MINH scrambles out of the way
as a beer can lobbed by YORK CLATTERS to the ground near him.
MINH
Crazy idiots.
BEAUVAIS cups her drink with both hands, assessing him.
BEAUVAIS
Ahhh, they're just letting off some steam;
don't let 'em get to you. Ackland and York
aren't such bad guys when you get to know
'em. Just a couple of weekend warriors...
She peers curiously at the clunky cartridges MINH's thumbing into the belt
feed. On the ground next to him is a widebore weapon on an over-the-shoulder
guidance mechanism.
BEAUVAIS (CONT'D)
Nice howitzer you've got there.
MINH
Thanks.
BEAUVAIS
Good argument for gun-control. What are
you going after, rhino?
MINH
Nah. I just wanna squeeze off a few
rounds. 'Sides, they tagged the rhinos
for the migration project, so they're
protected. They'll dock you a month's
pay for just _mentioning_ it.
He peers into the belt and blows out some dirt.
MINH (CONT'D)
Sure wish there was something on this
planet with a bit of fight in it, through.
EXT. DEEP SPACE
Against a sea of stars, a small metal shape HURTLES towards us, followed
moments later by it's identical twin.
EXT. RYUSHI STATION - BIG BERTHA - AFTERNOON
A strand of HIROKO's hair falls forward into her face, slick with rain. She
brushes up at the miserable weather. She and KAMEN are standing on one of
the twelve-feet-in-diameter wheels of the gargantuan haulage vehicle we saw
outside the base earlier. Up on the side of the cab is painted a Nordic
Valkyrie with an impressive bustline, next to which is the legend 'BIG
BERTHA'. Two mechanics, JAN GUTTIEREZ and KEVIN DILLER, watch KAMEN point
something out to HIROKO from the vantage point of KAMEN's crawler parked in
the swamp nearby.
KAMEN
See that sheathing on the suspension?
Eaten away. Same thing with the pumps
on the base air purifiers. The algae
out here just isn't good on these new
plastics.
HIROKO
We haven't used Big Bertha since we
relocated the generator module. That was
_four months ago_. I can't ask for them
to keep bringing spares in on the shuttle,
it's already costing too much as it is.
KAMEN shrugs.
KAMEN
If you want these things kept in working
condition, that's the only choice you've
got.
DILLER leans in to murmur quietly to GUTTIEREZ.
DILLER
Maybe she wouldn't be so tetchy if she
got laid every once-in-a-while.
GUTTIEREZ
You offering?
A buzzer inside the crawler goes OFF. DILLER gets up to answer.
DILLER
Nah. Freeze my dick off.
HIROKO shakes her head dubiously at KAMEN's comment.
HIROKO
I don't know. I think we'll have to run
it on a rota; one month down, one month
operational.
DILLER leans out of the crawler's cab and calls across.
DILLER
Miss Noguchi! You're wanted in admin.
HIROKO
Thanks.
She turns back to KAMEN.
HIROKO (CONT'D)
Let me sort this out and we'll go over
the logistics in my office.
INT. RYUSHI STATION - COMMAND CENTER
HIROKO peers at the display with undisguised concern. A sense of urgency
buzzes around the room.
HIROKO (CONT'D)
When?
CASSIE
Seven minutes ago, the third course change
in an hour. Those incomings are going to
skim past the communications platform just
a little too close for comfort.
HIROKO
Can we move it to a different orbit in
time?
PARSONS looks up from his board in harassment.
PARSONS
Already working on it.
HIROKO
Get off an all-bands emergency distress,
and put it on a repeater.
She meets KAMEN's eyes.
HIROKO (CONT'D)
Looks like you were right. Someone's
lobbed a pair of smart-missiles at us.
KAMEN shakes his head.
KAMEN
Relay station like us out in the middle
of the boonies; why bother? All you're
gonna do is punch a temporary hole in the
traffic control net. That'd be small
potatoes even for terrorists.
PARSONS and CASSIE are all-business at the control board.
PARSONS
Can you patch me a temporary loop on
DCMGS?
CASSIE
Okay, give me the numbers.
She flips a switch. A nearby screen changes to display an orbital path
sketched out in rectangular neon blocks.
EXT. SPACE
A cluster of thruster rockets on one corner of the relay frame ignites, and
the darkened bulk of the satellite begins to move.
EXT. DEEP SPACE
The two pods ROAR towards us at immense speed.
INT. RYUSHI STATION - COMMAND CENTER
The two blips on the holo-board representing the pods make a marked
alteration in their course.
PARSONS
They've changed their heading again.
HIROKO
Compensate!
PARSONS
Punch me in a solution for their delta-
vee.
CASSIE
What do you need?
PARSONS
A three-second burn to port, on my mark.
CASSIE
It's on the board.
EXT. SPACE
Framed against the green backdrop of Ryushi, the PREDATOR pods rocket towards
the communications platform.
CASSIE
Picking up velocity.
HIROKO
Match it!
A bead of sweat trickles down PARSONS' temple.
PARSONS
Not gonna make it...
EXT. DEEP SPACE
The pod speeds THUNDEROUSLY into CAMERA, blotting out our view.
INT. RYUSHI STATION - COMMAND CENTER
One of the two blips on the holo-display vanishes, and three-quarters of the
monitors abruptly turn to static. PARSONS curses.
PARSONS
Goddammit!
He pulls off his headset with weary resignation.
PARSONS (CONT'D)
We've lost the downlink. It's gone.
EXT. SPACE
The mass of the satellite tumbles end-over-end. A gaping rent is torn
through it; something sparks and flashes within. The second pod accelerates
off curving into the atmosphere.
EXT. LINSON'S RANGE - RIVERBANK - DUSK
A SONIC THUNDERCRACK BOOMS overhead; YORK looks up in time to see an object
sear across the dusk sky. He pulls his bike to a stationary hover.
YORK
Shit! What's that?
ACKLAND has already dismounted as he watches the fireball hurtle to the
ground. A BOOMING ECHO resonates across the forest, followed by a few
plaintive SCREECHES from the planet's indigenous lifeforms, before settling
back into an eerie silence.
ACKLAND
Meteor, I guess.
He raises a set of compact field binoculars to his face. THROUGH THEM he
sees a thin haze of smoke rising from the treetops.
ACKLAND
D'you feel any impact shock?
YORK
(uncertain)
Not really.
He lowers the binoculars and frowns.
ACKLAND
Me either. I tell you, I used to be with
a mining outfit on Callisto, and when
something like that hits... believe me,
you know about it.
YORK
Do you wanna head back and call it in?
ACKLAND
(hesitant)
I dunno... I dunno. Something about this
feels funny.
He looks across at the plume of smoke snaking off into the sky.
ACKLAND (CONT'D)
That is the _damndest_ impact I've ever
saw...
EXT. LINSON'S RANGE - IMPACT SIGHT - DUSK
The earth around the crater-rim is charred and cracked; some of the
surrounding brush still aflame. A SCORPION scuttles inquisitively to the
edge of the pit and stops, it's stinger twitching hesitantly. We HEAR a LOW
HUM, and the SOUND of METAL-ON-METAL. Before the SCORPION can decide what to
do, it's fate is sealed. A large METAL CLAW comes down, crushing it in an
instant. A SECOND CLAW emerges, and a MACHINE heaves itself out of the hole,
it's surface smoking with heat. It pauses for a BEAT like some giant
tarantula seeking prey, them moves purposely outwards about twenty yards
before halting. A hatch on the underside opens, and a complex delivery
mechanism extends. After a moment there's a LOW CLUNK, and the mechanism
retracts. In it's place is an ALIEN EGG. The MACHINE crawls off, vanishing
into the long reeds.
EXT. RYUSHI STATION - NIGHT
HIROKO sits on the front wheel of KAMEN's crawler, her knees pulled up to her
chin, staring off into a thin mist that makes the night impenetrable. Behind
and above, the lights of the cranes and the communications array strobe on-
and-off. Above the bar on the main street is a flicking neon sign erected
after-the-fact, emblazoned with the words "TORCHY'S". The MUFFLED SOUNDS of
MERRY-MAKING from within become momentarily louder, and HIROKO glances over
to see it's pressure-door CRASH back, disgorging several drunken people.
KAMEN follows them through. He spots HIROKO and heads over.
KAMEN
Hey, boss. Wondered where you'd gotten
to.
HIROKO
I just...wanted to be put on my own for a
while. Clear my head.
KAMEN
Didn't feel like whoopin' it up with the
rest of us blue collars, huh?
She shakes her head, and manages a smile.
HIROKO
I've got a lot of thinking to do. 'Sides,
the room was getting too crowded for me.
KAMEN
Not too much of the socializing type, then?
HIROKO
No, not really. More sort of the
'claustrophobic' type.
KAMEN LAUGHS. HIROKO is straight-faced.
HIROKO (CONT'D)
I'm serious. That's why I switched from
orbiting to planetary installations.
KAMEN
Is that a fact.
HIROKO
Uh-huh. Used to get it pretty bad. I'd
wake up in a cold sweat and want to claw
open a vacuum hatch.
KAMEN
How long you been out here for now,
anyway? Three months?
HIROKO
Four.
KAMEN
And before that?
HIROKO
Six month stint on Datus.
KAMEN
Only six?
HIROKO
What is this? 'Twenty Questions'?
KAMEN
Just curious. There's a lot of talk
goes around.
HIROKO shrugs. Thinks about it.
HIROKO
I don't know. I guess I've just never
found anywhere I really felt at home.
She hugs her knees again, and suddenly looks a whole lot more at ease. KAMEN
spots a square glass balanced on one of the tire's wide treads.
KAMEN
What is that?
HIROKO
Real man' drink.
She offers the glass to him. He takes it and sniff cautiously.
KAMEN
Seltzer?
HIROKO
Want some?
KAMEN hands the glass back and raises his own bottle.
KAMEN
I'll stick with my own.
He sits with her and stares into the darkness.
HIROKO
Any luck raising Ackland's party?
KAMEN
Nothing. With the satellite down, we
can't transmit over the mountain range.
He's most likely sitting there wondering
why he can't raise _us_.
HIROKO
First light, we'll take a chopper out there
and tell them to head back.
KAMEN
'We'? You wanna fly out there with me?
HIROKO
Sure. Do me good to stretch my legs.
HIROKO takes a sip of her drink, her brow furrowing.
HIROKO (CONT'D)
This whole thing's got me spooked.
KAMEN hops off the wheel.
KAMEN
Don't worry about it. If the Network goes
by the book, like everyone figures they
will, a Marine gunboat from Powell'll
drop-by for a look-see in four-or-five
days. They can go poke around out there
and find whatever it was hit us. All we've
gotta do is sit tight.
HIROKO
Do you think _Ackland'll_ sit tight?
KAMEN
There'd have to be a helluva good reason
for him not to.
EXT. SPACE
A peculiar blue scanning beam plays over the rotating mass of the
incapacitated satellite, examining every section. it comes to the rent torn
through it, and pauses.
FROM THE SCANNER'S P.O.V., we see the structure of the satellite made up from
a series of blue geodesic shapes. The damage registers as a cold, black
mass.
The beam switches off and the hovering PREDATOR shuttle turns smoothly on
it's axis, thrusting towards the planet.
EXT. LINSON'S RANGE - IMPACT SITE - NIGHT
Shafts of torch-light fan out above the thick foliage in the darkness. YORK
and ACKLAND wade through the chin-high reeds, cursing.
ACKLAND
Found anything?
YORK looks down at his data-stick, a handheld torch with a multi-purpose
readout screen.
YORK
Nada. No radiation...no movement...
nothing.
ACKLAND
Well, just keep looking. It's gotta be...
whoa, Jesus!
ACKLAND falls toward onto something, and YORK comes running.
YORK
What is it?
ACKLAND steadies himself, and the two men shine their torches at the
rhythmically-breathing SHAPE on the ground.
ACKLAND
It's a rhino.
YORK
Is it dead?
ACKLAND
No, it's still breathing. Kinda clammy
though. Are you sure your stick's not
broken.
YORK looks at the data-stick again.
YORK
Yeah, it's fine.
ACKLAND
God, I hope that thing didn't bring down
a virus.
YORK
I told you we...what's that?
Their torch beams PAN ACROSS a three-foot high ovular shape.
ACKLAND
Looks like a spore. Fungus of some kind,
maybe?
YORK
Bloody big if it is. Top's open.
ACKLAND steps cautiously forward to shine his torch inside.
YORK (CONT'D)
Careful...
There's nothing inside. ACKLAND looks disappointed.
ACKLAND
It's hollow. Think our rhino must've ate
something that didn't agree with him.
A heavy gust of air blows unexpectedly across the clearing with a BANSHEE
HOWL, ruffling their hair.
YORK
Let's get back and call this in.
ACKLAND
Wait a minute.
YORK reluctantly follows ACKLAND as he thrashes through the thinning foliage,
coming out at the rim of the impact crater. It's beginning to partially
collapse, water seeping in. YORK runs his beam over something at the bottom
of the shallow pit.
YORK
What is that...is that metal fragments?
ACKLAND's maybe getting a little nervous now.
ACKLAND
This is very fucking weird.
He sees the churned earth, and the muddy trail leading off into the broken
foliage.
ACKLAND (CONT'D)
It's like something came out of the
crater and went that way...
There's a TINY CLICK, and ACKLAND looks over to see YORK taking the safety
off his rifle. ACKLAND wordlessly unshoulders his too. They step around the
crater and warily follow the ragged path to...
YORK
Another one?
ACKLAND prods this SECOND EGG with his gun.
ACKLAND
Yeah. This's closed.
There's a CRACKLING NOISE, and the top of the EGG peels neatly open in four
sections. The two men jump back in alarm, and YORK LAUGHS nervously.
Something organic is pulsing inside. ACKLAND cranes his neck forward for a
better look...
There's an EXPLOSION of MOVEMENT. A spindly shape with a long segmented tail
launches itself jack-in-a-box-style at ACKLAND. It's a FACEHUGGER. ACKLAND
trips backwards, caught off-balance. His finger involuntarily squeezes the
trigger of his rifle as he falls. A volley of shots describe and arc and
light up the night with a PERCUSSIVE BOOM, and we...
CUT TO
...A SHORT DISTANCE ACROSS THE CLEARING. SOMETHING is watching them from the
trees; something with a heat-vision P.O.V. A PREDATOR. We see the flare of
ACKLAND's gunshots, then SNAP IN to see the multi-colored from of his body
toppling over, trailing a purplish FACEHUGGER, before we...
CUT BACK TO
...One of ACKLAND's bullets taking a meaty chunk out of YORK's thigh as he
races forward to help his friend. The HUGGER's tail is already around
ACKLAND's throat, it's fingers scrabbling for purchase. YORK pulls at one
set of digits, and manages to raise them for just an instant. What we see is
horrific; the look of terror on ACKLAND's face, and the questing tendril on
the HUGGER's underside trying to force it's way between ACKLAND's lips. In
a second, it's all over; the FACEHUGGER struggles free of YORK's grasp, and
clamps itself firmly on ACKLAND's face with a faint SUCKING SOUND. YORK
shivers, then uses his good leg to propel himself a few feet away. He
watches the hapless Teamster go rigid, then stop moving altogether.
YORK
Oh, God; oh, shit; oh, God.
The FACEHUGGER's tail slithers tighter around ACKLAND's neck; and as YORK
quickly retrieves his rifle, we...
CUT TO
A PREDATOR-VISION SHOT, watching the color-bloom of YORK dragging ACKLAND's
body away from the crater. It CLOSES IN on the FACEHUGGER, giving us a muted
X-ray-type VIEW of circulatory fluid pumping around the HUGGER and into
ACKLAND.
YORK's limping badly, a dark stain blossoming on his baggy fatigue trousers.
ACKLAND's not a small man, and the physical effort of hauling him through the
reeds makes him sweat profusely. There's movement on the ground, and YORK
sees why; one of the LEMURS has fallen victim to another FACEHUGGER, which
dwarfs it's small furry body. The HUGGER's fingers all ripple simultaneously
as it strengthens it's hold; the movement akin to somebody drumming their
fingers on a table-top.
EXT. LINSON'S RANGE - RIVER BANK - NIGHT
As YORK hauls ACKLAND onto one of the bikes, he hears a TICKING SOUND from
the trees, like an engine cooling on a warm summer's day. YORK clutches his
rifle and stares upward. There seems to be a VAGUE SHIMMERING FORM in the
bough of a tree. Although it might be a trick of the light, he isn't
sticking around to find out. YORK guns the bike to life and ROARS off above
the swamp.
EXT. LINSON'S RANGE - IMPACT SITE - NIGHT
PREDATOR-VISION. We're looking at the site in colours: the cold blue of
empty ALIEN EGGS, and the warm reds of just-breathing ANIMALS rendered inert
the FACEHUGGER parasites.
A group of PREDATORS appear in three-dimensional solidity, their camouflage
cloaks deactivated. The LEAD PREDATOR SPLASHES across to the exposed roots
of a tree and kneels down to examine an ANIMAL CORPSE curled up there. Most
of it has been madly mutilated by something erupting from _inside_ it's body.
The PREDATOR looks up and scans the swamp, ignoring the swarm of FLIES
buzzing in the air.
PREDATOR-VISION. This time, an oscillating line appears to the left of our
view, and a band sweeps quickly ACROSS the screen synchronous to us hearing
different levels of SOUND STATIC. This abruptly stops as the oscillating line
begins to moves in peaks and valleys. The PREDATOR is picking up radio
waves. A HUMAN VOICE; albeit grossly-distorted.
EXT. LINSON'S RANGE - ENCAMPMENT - NIGHT
We hear a RAPID BEEPING; movement-sensors set up on tripods to warn against
intruding animals. The sound brings BEAUVAIS out of her tent, bleary-eyed
and fumbling with her pistol. She's suddenly wide awake when she sees YORK's
hover-bike, lit by the sensors' flashing red strobe. It skids to a halt
against a mud-bank, sending up a spray of silt. YORK climbs off the bike and
stumbles, then starts to unfasten the straps holding ACKLAND's body.
BEAUVAIS
Jesus Christ! What happened?
YORK
Give me a hand with Ack.
She races over to help YORK ease ACKLAND up.
BEAUVAIS
How bad is...oh my God.
As ACKLAND is turned over, BEAUVIAS gets her first look at a FACEHUGGER.
She shies away, repulsed.
BEAUVAIS
What _is_ that?
YORK
Don't...uuh...don't know. Help me...
uuh...help me get him inside. Shit!
YORK grits his teeth, but the leg injury is too painful. He slumps slowly to
the floor.
BEAUVAIS
(yelling)
Minh! Minh, get out here!
INT. TENT - NIGHT
A portable neon light in the tent flickers, casting staccato bluish light
over ACKLAND and the FACEHUGGER. MINH and BEAUVAIS stare at it in horrified
fascination, while YORK pulls a tourniquet around his thigh. He winces.
BEAUVAIS
Have you tried prising it off?
YORK shakes his head.
YORK
I wanted to get him back here; get him
back to base.
MINH
Forget it. We lost the satellite link.
It's dead.
There's a long pause while everyone considers the options.
BEAUVAIS
We've got no option. _We're_ gonna have
to get it off.
MINH
Oh man...
YORK
Get real, Beauvais! That thing might chew
his fucking face off for all be know!
The motion sensor outside begins BEEPING again. MINH catches BEAUVAIS'
head-jerk.
BEAUVAIS
Minh...
MINH
Yep...
MINH hefts his 'howitzer' and leaves the tent. BEAUVAIS rounds on YORK,
continuing.
BEAUVAIS
How do you know it's not already?
YORK
I don't, but I think we should just wait
and let the Doc take a look...
EXT. LINSON'S RANGE - ENCAMPMENT - NIGHT
MINH walks towards a line of flashing red strobes at the perimeter of the
camp, the barrel of his weapon pointing casually forward. He studies the
surrounding darkness. There's nothing out there. He shakes his head in
disgust.
MINH
(muttering)
Take a goddamn wrench to those things...
He thumbs a stud on the top of the 'howitzer'. There's a gentle WHINE, and
the HISS of hydraulic cylinders as the harness mechanism lifts the weapon up.
It darts quickly to-and-fro; a mechanical snake seeking a target. We see
MINH's hand in CLOSE UP. In addition to the firing trigger, there's also
a thumb button. He squeezes it...
The gun swings sharply around in a blinding movement, tracking something
automatically. There's a THUNDEROUS RUMBLE as it fires-off three shots in
rapid succession. Something that was only yards from MINH APPEARS and is
blown backwards to CRASH against a tree bole, a mass of luminous green liquid
and motion.
MINH (CONT'D)
(dumbstruck)
God.
MINH watches the helmeted PREDATOR fall face down into the water with a
SPLASH, then lie motionless. YORK and BEAUVAIS are out of the tent in an
instant.
PREDATOR-VISION. Three humans; in motion and 'hot'. The triangular
mechanism of the PREDATOR's gun locks onto MINH.
A BLAST of plasma-energy rips a gaping hole through MINH's body, spraying
blood across YORK. He topples dead to the ground, a look of pained surprise
on his face. BEAUVAIS is there immediately, racing across and scrabbling for
the 'howitzer'. She doesn't have time to take the harness off - she just
slides her finger through the trigger guard and starts squeezing off random
shots. The air shimmers as an unseen shape races at her. There's a loud
SWISH of sliding metal, and a telescopic spear appears out of thin air. It
SLAMS through BEAUVAIS' body, lifting her off the ground and impaling her
against a tree.
YORK watches in horror as BEAUVAIS' arms thrash around. A moment later her
struggles cease, and she'd dropped to the floor like a broken marionette.
There's a CRACKLING SOUND, and the hazy air around BEAUVAIS disappears. In
it's place is a PREDATOR, a luminous green patch trickling from a wound on
it's arm. It's head flicks around as it zeroes-in on YORK, the three red
dots of the PREDATOR's cannon following suit. YORK's quick though, already
up and running when the plasma bolt EXPLODES into the tree despite the pain
in his leg.
His options are limited. The hover-bike is nearby. He sprints for that and
his luck holds...the key's still in the ignition. He flips it. The engine
COUGHS and then dies. YORK looks up. The wounded PREDATOR bounds across the
clearing at frightened speed. YORK turns the key again, but the PREDATOR's
almost upon him. The creature WHIPS an ornately-shaped lance from it's back
and thrusts it...JUST AS THE ENGINE ROARS TO LIFE AND THE HOVER-BIKE RISES
FROM THE MUD! The blade slices into the bike's body and jams there, while
one of it's manta-wings SMACKS into the PREDATOR's jaw, sending it reeling
backwards into the swamp.
YORK swivels the bike on it's axis as another plasma-bolt rips into the rear,
melting away a sizable chunk of the bodywork. He sees a PREDATOR handing
from a tree, and the SHIMMERING of two more PREDATORS in their camouflage
nearby. He's not sticking around to argue though. YORK jams the throttle
hard and the bike shoots off into the bayou as more cannon-blasts blossom
around him.
The group of PREDATORS appear in the camp and cautiously survey the area.
The LEAD PREDATOR - the one with the distinctive armor - crosses to the tent
and opens the entry flap.
INT. TENT - NIGHT
PREDATOR-VISION. The extraterrestrial hunter scrutinizes the pulsing
FACEHUGGER on ACKLAND for a long moment, but takes no further action.
EXT. LINSON'S RANGE - ENCAMPMENT - NIGHT
We PAN SLOWLY ACROSS the deserted campsite. There isn't a soul there, human
or otherwise. The wind whistles eerily through the tree-boughs.
EXT. RAINFOREST AIRSPACE - DAWN
First light the next day, the sun rising on the horizon. A 'chopper' -
actually a twin-turbine heli-jet - flies in low above the veil of mist
hanging over the treetops.
INT. CHOPPER - DAWN
The cockpit is small, a two-seater with room for cargo in the back. KAMEN's
in the pilot seat, and HIROKO's riding shotgun. The controls moving by
themselves, on autopilot. A REPETITIVE BEEPING causes KAMEN to look up from
his magazine.
KAMEN'S P.O.V. From out of the window of the 'chopper', we see the twin blue
lights of the navigation beacon blinking on-and-off above the trees.
KAMEN nudges HIROKO awake.
KAMEN
Wake up. We're at the beacon.
He switches the controls over to manual and takes the chopper down. HIROKO
rubs the sleep from her eyes.
EXT. LINSON'S RANGE - ENCAMPMENT - DAWN
Twin searchlights on the underside of the descending chopper sweep across the
clearing. The encampment has been wrecked, much of is reduced to a twisted
tangle of smoking debris. All-terrain gear lowers from the chopper, as it
makes a watery landing in the swamp.
INT. CHOPPER - DAWN
KAMEN and HIROKO stare at the site in disbelief. KAMEN hauls an automatic
pulse-rifle from the rear.
KAMEN
Looks like trouble.
KAMEN reaches under the pilot's seat and pulls out a hand-pistol. Passes it
to her.
KAMEN (CONT'D)
Used one of these before?
HIROKO coolly examines it.
HIROKO
Fabrique Nationale tactical autoloader.
Uses twelve mill hollow 'O' rounds, with
through the barrel smart laser-sighting.
Sure, I can handle this.
HIROKO's show-boating and KAMEN knows it, but he still can't help being a
little bit impressed.
KAMEN
Okay. Watch were you point it...
EXT. LINSON'S RANGE - ENCAMPMENT - DAWN
The two of them pick their way across mangled tripods and charred canvas.
Part of the bivouac has collapsed - one of the guide ropes has burned
through.
HIROKO
(quietly)
Somebody picked an argument.
KAMEN
Yeah. _Somebody_ won.
HIROKO
Check out the tent.
KAMEN nods and heads off that way, while HIROKO carefully inspects the
wreckage dotted around the perimeter.
INT. TENT - DAWN
KAMEN opens the tent flap and peers inside. ACKLAND's on the cot, sweating
heavily. There is no sign of the FACEHUGGER.
EXT. LINSON'S RANGE - ENCAMPMENT - DAWN
Across the clearing, HIROKO turns a piece of charred plating over in her
hands before discarding it.
Her foot slips on an object sunk into the soft mud. It's MINH's 'howitzer'.
A dark slippery patch coats the metal. She crouches down and rubs her
fingers through it. Blood. KAMEN's VOICE intrudes, O.S.
KAMEN
(O.S.)
I've found Ackland!
HIROKO
Hold on...
She begins to cross the camp, and her foot catches on a taut length of rope.
SOMETHING swings down from the trees, hitting her squarely in the face and
knocking her off her feet. HIROKO CRIES OUT in fear and surprise, then
freezes at what she sees.
Two bloodied bodies dangle head-first from the bough overhead; BEAUVAIS and
MINH. Each has been skinned and is beyond recognition. KAMEN hears her
exclamation and is out of the tent in an instant. He stops in his tracks.
KAMEN
Jesus palomino...
EXT. RYUSHI STATION - HELI-JET PAD - MORNING
It's raining again at the base. Under cover of an overhang, HIROKO watches
as ACKLAND is trundled away from the 'chopper' on a paramedic trolley by
GUTTIEREZ and DOC REVNA, an Indian woman in her late thirties. As KAMEN
slams the 'chopper's side door, we see that HIROKO has left her leather
jacket on the passenger seat. KAMEN runs after REVNA clutching a clear
plastic bag.
KAMEN
Wait a minute, Doc...
He hands the bag over to REVNA. She peers at the contents curiously. The
FACEHUGGER is inside, stiff and shriveled.
REVNA
Is this it?
KAMEN
Yeah. Found it curled up in a corner of
the tent. Any idea?
REVNA shakes her head.
REVNA
Never come across one of these before.
Maybe the original survey team did. I'll
run it through records and see what comes
up.
GUTTIEREZ checks that ACKLAND's body's secure on the trolley. KAMEN raps him
on the back to get his attention.
KAMEN
Hey, Jan. See if you can get someone to
check out the chopper.
GUTTIEREZ
What's the problem?
KAMEN
She was running a little sluggish on the
way back. Think the turbines might be
playing up.
GUTTIEREZ
Give me twenty minutes and I'll do it
myself.
KAMEN
Appreciate that.
REVNA interrupts.
REVNA
Where're the bodies?
HIROKO
Bagged and in the back. They're not a
pretty sight.
ACKLAND is wheeled into a freight elevator. As KAMEN and HIROKO walk away
across the rain-swept platform, a SHIMMERING FROM detaches itself from the
rear of the chopper and lowers itself to the heli-jet pad.
PREDATOR-VISION. A newly-arrived PREDATOR scans the towers and modules of
the relay-station with great interest. An oscillating red line appears to
the LEFT of the SHOT as the PREDATOR analyses HIROKO's voice-pattern.
PREDATOR
(O.S., distorted)
Not a pretty sight. Not a pretty sight...
He reaches down to his wrist computer and activates it.
EXT. LINSON'S RANGE - IMPACT SIGHT - DAY
Under the cathedral-like light filtering through the trees above, a row of
metal spikes have been driven into the earth. Four are topped with still-
smoking ALIEN skulls. Two and empty.
PREDATOR-VISION. A newly decapitated ALIEN head is turned around in another
PREDATOR's hands in admiration. This PREDATOR thrusts his trophy onto the
next spike, then stares at the vacant one for a long moment. His wrist
computer BLEEPS for attention...
INT. RYUSHI STATION - COMMAND CENTER
With nothing to do, most of the screens are out and the remaining personnel
bored. PARSONS is reading a magazine with his feet up on the console,
uninterested in HIROKO and KAMEN's conversation nearby.
HIROKO
I'm going to need you to co-sign the
report. Until we come up with something,
this'll be treated as first degree murder.
KAMEN
Agreed.
HIROKO
When we get the link back, and I send this
in, I.C.C.'ll throw a _fit_.
KAMEN
Ah, don't worry about I.C.C. They're the
least of your problems right now.
HIROKO
What do you mean?
URIOSTE walks up, very serious. She interrupts.
URIOSTE
Sorry. Can I have a word?
HIROKO
Sure. What's up?
URIOSTE
Three-Pump failed a half-hour ago. The
algae must have clogged up an intake
duct.
KAMEN
Think I spoke too soon...
HIROKO
Again? How long before we start noticing
the difference?
URIOSTE
I reckon it'll be another day before the
smell gets unbearable. Beauvais usually
fixes it, but...ah...
HIROKO knows what she means. BEAUVAIS is dead.
HIROKO
Can you handle it?
URIOSTE
Sure, I can manage. But I'm not going
into the Pit on my own.
HIROKO
(to Urioste)
Alright, get somebody from the auto-shop.
(to Kamen)
Is that alright?
KAMEN
Yeah, no problem. Ask Diller, he's good
with his hands.
URIOSTE exchanges a grin with CASSIE.
CASSIE
I'll go along with that.
A SHRILL TRILLING from his console communicator makes PARSONS leap up to
answer.
PARSONS
Parsons.
(long beat)
Yeah. Hold on.
INT. RYUSHI STATION - INFIRMARY
A CLOSE UP of an eye, bright blue and dilated. DOC REVNA's shining a hand-
held light into ACKLAND's face. ACKLAND's regained consciousness, but is far
from happy. He's sitting on the edge of a cot in the base Infirmary, an
antiseptic room full of automated medical equipment. The Autodoc is
suspended from the ceiling nearby, a circular cluster of sophisticated
manipulator arms tipped with cutting blades and surgical paraphernalia.
ACKLAND
Hey, c'mon Doc, I feel fine. Really.
REVNA flicks off the probe.
REVNA
Headache? Dehydration?
ACKLAND
The head's okay, but I could sink a six-
pack.
REVNA
Forget that. I want you off alcohol for
at least seventy-two hours. I've got some
toxin build-up tests still to run.
REVNA shakes her head and turns to KAMEN.
REVNA (CONT'D)
He's broken a fever that would kill a
mule, but if he says he's alright I'm
prepared to believe him. He's all yours.
HIROKO enters. She watches from behind KAMEN.
KAMEN
What happened out there, Ack?
ACKLAND
(consternated)
What do you mean, 'what happened'? What
am I doing back here? Where's York?
HIROKO
(insistent)
What's the last thing you can remember?
ACKLAND thinks hard.
ACKLAND
We...watched a meteor hit over Linson's.
HIROKO and KAMEN exchange significant glances.
HIROKO
A meteor?
ACKLAND
Yeah, it impacted really off. We went
out to the crash-site...and...uh...
that's...that's all.
KAMEN
Nothing else?
ACKLAND
No.
KAMEN turns to REVNA.
KAMEN
Show him 'Fido'.
REVNA pulls out a cylindrical glass stasis tube from a wall rack. She hands
it to ACKLAND. He studies the dead FACEHUGGER floating inside with morbid
fascination.
REVNA
Ring any bells?
ACKLAND tries hard to think, but it's as if a wall's slammed down hard on his
mind.
ACKLAND
Not really, no. Ugly little sonuvabitch.
What is it?
KAMEN
We thought you might be able to tell us.
I found it by your cot at the camp. You
were out cold.
ACKLAND
What did York say?
HIROKO
York's vanished.
ACKLAND
Vanished?
HIROKO
Beauvais and Minh are dead, Ackland. York's
gone awol, unless you can help us go some
way toward disproving our suspicion, he's
the prime suspect right now.
The news hits ACKLAND hard. He falters and leans back, addressing REVNA.
ACKLAND
Can I...um...have some water? Please?
REVNA
Sure.
She goes to fetch a cup.
INT. RYUSHI STATION - COMMISSARY
It's lunchtime, and the SOUND of machinery STEAMING food mixes with the
CHATTER of the twenty-or-so personnel eating there. HIROKO and KAMEN are
deep in conversation across a table.
KAMEN
Do you believe him?
HIROKO
Ackland? I don't know him well enough to
say. If we were back on Earth we could
run him though an Aldhoven test and find
out for sure. There's not much we can do
out here.
KAMEN stares hard at her. That's not much of an answer, and HIROKO knows it.
She capitulates.
HIROKO (CONT'D)
Alright then, For what it's worth...yes,
I do.
KAMEN digs appreciatively into a container of food with his fork.
KAMEN
You should try this seasoned stuff. It's
good.
GUTTIEREZ approaches the table carrying something.
GUTTIEREZ
Got a present for you.
He hands HIROKO's leather jacket over to her.
HIROKO
Oh, I've been looking for this! Where
was it?
GUTTIEREZ
You left it in the chopper. Oh, and before
I forget, Don? I ran that test you wanted
on the turbines.
KAMEN
And...?
GUTTIEREZ
And, nothing. They checked out just fine.
EXT. RYUSHI STATION - PLATFORM - AFTERNOON
A metal rail surrounds the perimeter of the platform. DILLER leans against
it down by the access ramp, smoking a cigarette and idly blowing rings into
the air. BREWSTER pricks up her years and begins to quietly SNARL. DILLER
glances down at her curiously.
DILLER
What's the matter, girl? You smell
something?
Now the rhino are restless too. CASSIE walks across the concrete roadway
to join them.
CASSIE
Rhinos look a little antsy,
BREWSTER stops SNARLS and progresses onwards to full-fledged BARKING.
DILLER
Yeah. Never seem 'em act like this
before.
PREDATOR-VISION. CASSIE and DILLER are 'warm', but the rhinos are BREWSTER
are 'hotter' still. Their VOICES and BREWSTER's BARKS are filtered to the
point of unrecognizability, eerily distorted.
CASSIE's the first to hear the SOUND.
CASSIE
Do you hear that?
DILLER straightens up, looking out into the surrounding trees. It's a FAINT
HUM, getting LOUDER every second.
DILLER
Yeah...
A hoverbike appears, trailing smoke from one of it's turbine intakes as it
hurtles towards the base. Halfway between the trees and the ramp, it clips
a fallen log and spins end-over-end. It's rider flies through the air and
hits the swamp face-first. DILLER and CASSIE race down the ramp with
BREWSTER YELPING excitedly in the lead.
CASSIE
I don't believe it.
DILLER splashes through the swamp and pulls the limp body out of the mire.
It's YORK. Blood has caked around his wounded leg.
DILLER
He looks in a bad way. Help me get him
up to Infirmary.
CASSIE
Wait a minute...
Something else has caught CASSIE's eye. A "something" almost two metres in
length protruding from the rear of the wrecked hoverbike. Grasping the haft
firmly, she works it free. CASSIE examines the PREDATOR spear, and slowly
shakes her head.
CASSIE (CONT'D)
Holy Mary...
PREDATOR-VISION. The concealed hunter watches as the colorised human
curiously turns the weapon over in her hands.
INT. RYUSHI STATION - INFIRMARY
REVNA sits at a desk and peers into a microscope. Every so often she GRUNTS
in satisfaction and types something into her computer terminal. The stasis
tube containing the dead FACEHUGGER stands to one side of the computer
screen. The Infirmary is very quiet, and only the gentle THROB of the air-
conditioning intrudes. ACKLAND tosses uncomfortably on his cot. He finally
sits up and massages his chest.
ACKLAND
Oh. Oh God...
REVNA lowers her pen and looks across.
REVNA
What is it?
ACKLAND
It's nothing, Doc. Just a...touch of
indigestion...something.
REVNA
Do you want a tablet?
ACKLAND winces in pain. His breathing's getting heavy. He nods.
ACKLAND
Uh-huh.
REVNA gets up swiftly and crosses to an automated pharmacy. ACKLAND's
beginning to COUGH now.
REVNA
That sounds nasty. I'll give you a couple
of Demazine.
ACKLAND nods again. His COUGHING has deepened, and now he's banging his
chest with a balled fist. REVNA hurries over with three red tablets and a
disposable cup of water. ACKLAND takes them gratefully and gulps them down.
The effect is almost immediate; ACKLAND quietens and an appreciative smile
comes to his pale lips.
REVNA (CONT'D)
Better?
ACKLAND
Yeah...
Before he has a chance to elaborate, ACKLAND COUGHS once more. A thin spray
of blood and saliva dots REVNA's white smock and speckles her cheek.
ACKLAND's scrabbling fingers grab her lapels as he begins to hyperventilate.
She pulls away, dragging him from the bed in the process. He falls to the
floor, his MOANS growing in volume.
REVNA
Hold on, it's alright. I'm gonna give
you a shot...
Her fingers tremble as she clumsily examines a tray of surgical instruments.
She finds a pneumatic spray-injector, fully charged with a vial of amber
liquid attached. ACKLAND SCREAMS and fall backwards onto the floor, his
hands clawing at the air. REVNA fumbles with the injector control and gives
him a blast in his upper arm. ACKLAND convulses once then goes still, his
eyes staring fixedly at the ceiling. The Infirmary is deathly quiet once
again.
We hear a gentle CRACKING, like twigs being snapped. REVNA watches in
horrified fascination as a pool of blood spreads swiftly outward across the
floor from below ACKLAND's corpse. REVNA shudders as the body moves a
little, then _is rolled over by something underneath it_.
WHAT SHE SEES. ACKLAND's body slumps forward onto it's front, revealing a
gaping cavity in his back. Bits of spine and ribcage are just visible. A
CHESTBURSTER - the second stage of the ALIEN lifeform - pulls itself clear
and wipes red gunk from it's body with a pair of still-underdeveloped arms.
Around it's head is a distinctive nascent crest. It kicks away from ACKLAND
with a powerful push from it's legs, quickly gaining balance. After a moment
appraising it's new environment, it stalks off behind a table. REVNA thinks
quickly. She leaps forward and THUMPS a large red stud next to the pressure-
door, which promptly RUMBLES closed.
The room is bathed in pools of shadows. Plenty of hiding space for the
creature. REVNA hears breaking glass, making her start. She cautiously
edges over to the Autodoc and looks up into the forest of probe-arms.
There's a wicked looking blade there, the kind used in major surgery. REVNA
reaches up and twists the base; it detaches easily. Now she's armed.
Stooped over, she begins to stalk the CHESTBURSTER...
There's a flurry of movement, and suddenly the hunter becomes the hunted.
The CHESTBURSTER vaults from the table at her with a SHRILL SHRIEK, and
REVNA blindly swings her make-shift knife in defense. We hear a SIZZLE like
frying bacon...
INT. RYUSHI STATION - INFIRMARY CORRIDOR
HIROKO sprints down the corridor and reaches the Infirmary. DILLER, CASSIE,
and a few others are crowded around outside. YORK lays unconscious on one
of the medical trolleys next to the door, making access difficult. Above
them, a hinged flap on the wall lies open revealing a circular mechanism
beneath. BREWSTER scratches at the bulkhead and WHINES. MUFFLED THUMPS
come from within.
HIROKO
What happened?
DILLER
York just turned up outside. We're trying
to get him into Infirmary.
HIROKO
(astonished)
York...
HIROKO leans over to examine him, but a particularly loud CRASH from within
the Infirmary distracts her.
HIROKO (CONT'D)
What's going on?
CASSIE
The door's sealed from inside. Doc Revna's
in there, and it sounds like Ackland's
going nuts.
HIROKO
Force the door.
DILLER
Can't. It's pressure sealed.
GUTTIEREZ races up and hands DILLER a wrench with a shaped tip.
GUTTIEREZ
Here...
DILLER
Thanks.
He inserts the end into the open flap and pulls hard, the physical effort
showing on his face. The door grinds open about eight inches...
The bloodied CHESTBURSTER forces itself through the narrow gap, HISSING
vehemently. Yellow fluid wells from a wound in it's crested skull,
dissolving everything it comes into contact with. The small group gathered
around fall back in panic, jarring YORK's trolley and knocking HIROKO to the
floor. BREWSTER BARKS at the CHESTBURSTER, which tenses as if to leap.
DILLER brings the wrench down, but the CHESTBURSTER evades his blow and takes
flight. It strikes at HIROKO, who reflexively draws her head back and
escapes with nothing more than a light scratch to the cheek. The ALIEN
disappears down the corridor, leaving a trail of smeared blood and a series
of acidic pits which melt the grillework flooring. GUTTIEREZ bends down and
helps HIROKO to her feet. Shocked, she MUTTERS something to herself in
JAPANESE, and regains some of her composure.
HIROKO
Get after it, don't let it get away!
DILLER stands there with the metal bar. Does she think he's nuts?
HIROKO (CONT'D)
Go on!
This galvanises DILLER. He races off in pursuit.
HIROKO (CONT'D)
Jan, give me a hand over here.
HIROKO AND GUTTIEREZ try to force the door, but DILLER was right - it won't
budge. HIROKO slips her arm through the gap and fumbles around blindly. She
must have hit the control knob, because the door slides back. CASSIE looks
inside.
CASSIE
Oh my God...
She turns away and retches. HIROKO steps through and goes pale. There are
blood-smears over everything, and it's all GUTTIEREZ can do to stop BREWSTER
from getting in there.
INT. RYUSHI STATION - COMMAND CENTER
PARSONS' finger traces a path along a set of computer schematics displayed
on a suspended glass screen.
PARSONS
It left a melted trail on the deck all
the way down to here...
HIROKO
What is that?
DILLER
Secondary fluidic shunt for the sewage
system. I found the grating ripped right
off. The little fucker was _strong_.
HIROKO
Where does that lead to?
PARSONS
Central Pumping. All the waste gets
treated, broken-down, and flushed out
into the swamp. If it wanted a quick
exit then it really lucked-out.
HIROKO
You've checked that end?
GUTTIEREZ
Not yet, no.
HIROKO
Do it. I don't want that thing on my
installation. I want it caught and
destroyed.
KAMEN
Cornering it shouldn't be a problem. Each
part of this station is basically a self-
sufficient deep-space transport module
running off external couplers. If we
disconnect them and seal off every section,
we've got a ceiling of about thirty-six
hours on internal power. That should give
us ample time to find it.
HIROKO
Alright. Pull some trackers and headsets
out of stores, and I'll sign a release for
the weapons. Cassie, organise a team
roster and put it on the board.
CASSIE nods soberly. HIROKO looks at everybody, and her words are carefully
chosen.
HIROKO (CONT'D)
I don't care how you kill this thing, just
be careful not to get in it's way when it
bleeds. You all saw what happened to Doc
Revna.
There are nods of agreement and general enthusiasm all round.
HIROKO (CONT'D)
Nobody wander off on their own until it's
found. Keep in pairs. Diller, once the
first team's done their sweep I want you
to go down with Annie to Three-Pump while
she replaces it.
DILLER
Okay.
HIROKO
One final point. Killing this sonuvabitch
ought to be a reward in itself. However,
just to add a little incentive...I'm
authorizing a hefty bonus in the next pay-
packet for whoever does.
This seems to appeal to those assembled there. There's a palpable buzz in
the air.
HIROKO (CONT'D)
Alright, let's get to it. New York rules
apply.
INT. RYUSHI STATION - EXECUTIVE OFFICE
YORK is recounting his story to KAMEN and HIROKO in a hushed voice. Small
beads of sweat stand out on his forehead and his eyes are haunted by
remembrance. The man's a mess.
YORK
...I mean, these...these mothers were...
were _huge_. They look like bushmen,
but they had all this hi-tech shit
strapped all over 'em. They must've
wasted Beauvais and Minh inside thirty
seconds. Minh got off a couple of shots
from that cannon of his, but he might as
well have been using a B-B gun. I don't
know how the hell I made it out of there
alive.
He nods toward the PREDATOR spear in HIROKO's hands.
YORK (CONT'D)
The one I clipped with the hoverbike
shoved that at me. Whatever it's made of,
it went straight through a double-layer of
honeycomb polyalloy composite like it was
butter.
YORK shakes his head in fear.
YORK (CONT'D)
I don't wanna ever come up against those
things again. Ever.
KAMEN claps the man on the shoulder to reassure him.
KAMEN
Don't worry about it, Yorkie. You're safe
now. Go get come rest.
YORK nods. He gets to his feet and leaves the room. HIROKO waits until the
door slides shut behind him.
HIROKO
So, what do you think?
KAMEN
What do I think? I think if those Marines
from Powell don't shift their butts getting
here, we're gonna get caught up to our
necks in the middle of something we
shouldn't.
EXT. RYUSHI STATION - PLATFORM - DUSK
It's late, and the base's exterior lighting casts yellow pools of light
across the metal and concrete thoroughfares. GUTTIEREZ and DE VRIES - a
tough-looking Afrikaan woman with a think accent - looks uneasily about them.
Another GROUP of PEOPLE with trackers and guns are searching around in the
BACKGROUND. Nearby, the vertical yellow column of a suspension-crane gantry
towers high above.
DE VRIES
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
(raising his voice)
Something outside...
EXT. RYUSHI STATION - ROOFTOP LEVEL - DUSK
The wind whips at GUTTIEREZ as he blinks away his shock.
GUTTIEREZ
Holy _shit_...
DE VRIES keeps her torch beam on the moving shape. It halts by the edge of
the roof, and stares at them.
DE VRIES
Oh, nice going, man! It was a lemur!
A goddamn lemur!
GUTTIEREZ' radio headset CRACKLES to life.
HIROKO
(O.S., on headset)
Guttierez, what the hell's going on up
there?
GUTTIEREZ
Uh...sorry about that, boss. Everything's
fine. False alarm, that's all.
DE VRIES glances around the rooftop, annoyed.
DE VRIES
Hey, look; let's forget it. There's
nothing up here.
PREDATOR-VISION. DE VRIES in CLOSE-UP, glowing brightly. Her VOICE replayed
and distorted.
PREDATOR
(O.S.)
Nothing up here. Nothing up here.
INT. RYUSHI STATION - PUMP ROOM - PUMP SHAFT
URIOSTE's flashlight bobs up-and-down on the water below, still lit and well
out of reach.
URIOSTE
(disgustedly)
Shit.
DILLER
(O.S., muffled)
What's the matter?
URIOSTE
I've dropped my torch into the water.
Give me about...uh...a meter-and-a-half's
worth of slack.
DILLER
(O.S., muffled)
Okay.
INT. RYUSHI STATION - PUMP ROOM
DILLER crosses to the wall-mounted winch. On the mechanism's side is a
luminous digital counter giving the current cable depth in meters. He pulls
a throw-switch, and the display slowly changes from "8" to "9.5" as the cable
feeds out.
INT. RYUSHI STATION - PUMP ROOM - PUMP SHAFT
URIOSTE descends the dingy shaft, partially abseiling off the walls. Her
feet almost tread water. She's down as far as she can go.
URIOSTE (CONT'D)
Whoa, whoa...
INT. RYUSHI STATION - PUMP ROOM
URIOSTE's VOICE echoes up out of the pit.
URIOSTE (CONT'D)
(O.S., muffled)
...That's enough.
DILLER locks the winch-switch back into it's 'up' position. The WHINE of the
cable-feed stops immediately.
INT. RYUSHI STATION - PUMP ROOM - PUMP SHAFT
URIOSTE stretches out to the floating lamp, flexing her fingers. It's...
just...about...in...reach...
Six slender fingers EXPLODE from beneath the water's surface and clamp like a
vise around URIOSTE's wrist. A sleek eyeless head follows, trailing a body
straight out of a charnel-house nightmare. A SCREAM forms in her throat,
rapidly cut-off as the ALIEN's other hand clamps firmly over her mouth,
jerking her downwards.
INT. RYUSHI STATION - PUMP ROOM
DILLER whirls in response to the CHOKED CRY from below. He sees the winch
tripod above the shaft RATTLE, the cable going taut as an angler's line.
The wall-mounted drum is yanked so hard the lever leaps from it's 'clamped'
position, freely unspooling cable at a frightening rate. The digital counter
flickers rapidly; "11...11.5...12...12.5...13..." DILLER watches the
tripod's tubular legs buckle and collapse under the tremendous strain. He
scrambles for the winch-lever and only just manages to lock it firmly into
place; the over-stressed cable vibrating with a LOW METALLIC TWANG as it hits
the shaft's edge. DILLER's moment of satisfaction is short-lived; the deep-
sunk bolts attaching the mechanism to the wall are pull outward by the
colossal force from below. He leaps aside, avoiding the heavy piece of
machinery as it HURTLES towards him. Watches it disappear noisily into the
conduit.
DILLER
Annie!
DILLER's quivering fingers grope for his flashlight.
DILLER (CONT'D)
Annie!
He feverishly reaches the shaft's edge and peers into the darkness.
WHAT HE SEES. The torchbeam picks out the biomechanical form of the ALIEN
emerging from the sewage and effortlessly climbing the shaft walls towards
him. Recoiling in horror, he makes a run for the door. Half-way there he
remembers his pulse-rifle and dives to the floor, grasping it just as the
ALIEN reaches the top. DILLER fumbles with the safety and give the creature
a full BLAST on rock-and-roll, BLASTING it back into the pit.
EXT. RYUSHI STATION - ROOFTOP LEVEL - DUSK
GUTTIEREZ and DE VRIES hear the gunfire from below.
GUTTIEREZ
The hell was that?
PREDATOR-VISION. The PREDATOR's gaze SNAPS away from the two humans and down
onto the platform below. He watches the infra-red shapes of other people
running towards the source of the shots...
INT. RYUSHI STATION - PUMP ROOM
DILLER's on his feet and shakily heading for the exit as ANOTHER ALIEN's
claws emerge from the exposed hole. He races across the threshold and SLAMS
the thin inner door closed.
EXT. RYUSHI STATION - PLATFORM - DUSK
In a HAND-HELD SHOT we're running with HIROKO's group along the narrow
catwalk bridging the roadway to the Pump Room, KAMEN taking the lead. DILLER
sprints out of the building like a bat out of hell and collides with him.
KAMEN
Kev, wha...?
DILLER breaks free of the other man's grasp. He looks as if he's about to
say something, but never gets the chance.
There's a sound of TEARING METAL, and a HISSING seven-foot express train of
teeth and biomechanical limbs ERUPTS from the shadows.
EXT. RYUSHI STATION - ROOFTOP LEVEL - DUSK
PREDATOR-VISION. Gazing down at the platform, an unseen hunter watches the
swift black SHAPE of the ALIEN in amongst the group of humans...
From the corner of her eye, DE VRIES sees something moving nearby. She
violently pulls GUTTIEREZ out of the path of the shimmering FORM that barges
past them, launching itself from the rooftop.
INT. RYUSHI STATION - COMMAND CENTER
PARSONS sits bolt upright in his chair as the scene outside is relayed to
his bank of screens by an exterior securi-cam.
PARSONS
Oh my God...
EXT. RYUSHI STATION - PLATFORM - DUSK
With superhuman strength, the ALIEN brutally back-hands DILLER, splintering
his skull and killing him instantly. His body caromes into THOMAS, knocking
the man to the floor. The ALIEN turns to KAMEN, it's questing fingers
closing around his throat and hauling him off the ground. The space on the
catwalk it limited; there's so many people it's impossible to get a clean
shot...
HIROKO
Move! Get out of the way!
HIROKO draws a bead on the ALIEN. She flips off the safety on her rifle.
It's the tiniest CLICK, but the ALIEN somehow senses danger. It's skeletal
tail lashes out, sending both her and the weapon flying. CALDWELL gets in
for his shot, but the tail's there in a second. It strikes like a snake.
Once. Twice. The stinger punctures CALDWELL's chest and throat. Nobody
could survive something like that...
The ALIEN flicks it's skull back around to KAMEN. The man's head is inches
away from it's eyeless face...a row of burnished metal teeth open...the
toothed inner tongue ready to strike...
WHOOMPH. Something lands heavily close-up, jarring the catwalk. The ALIEN
drops KAMEN and WHIRLS. A spear wielded by an INVISIBLE FORM appears out of
nowhere and PIERCES the ALIEN's midriff, spraying acidic fluid. The creature
emits a OUTRAGED SHRIEK and flails around, it's ubiquitous tail arcing toward
the camouflaged assailant. The STINGER makes contact: there's a SPUTTERING
SOUND as the PREDATOR's cloaking device begins to flicker spasmodically,
giving us peek-a-boo glimpses of it's natural form. Electrical sparks dance
around the PREDATOR's ruin wrist-computer, luminous green blood welling from
a wound in his arm...
From out of the Pump Room comes more NOISE, like metal being trashed in a
compactor. HIROKO SCREAMS at KAMEN, who's COUGHING painfully next to the
door panel.
HIROKO
Get the door!
KAMEN hastily slaps the 'close' button and both halves of the exterior
pressure bulkhead RUMBLE together. A SECOND ALIEN appears from the shadows
within and prises it's fingers into the dwindling gap, struggling for
purchase. Despite the ALIEN's best efforts, the door motors are too powerful
and the opening seals with a satisfying solid CLUNK. MUFFLED POUNDING comes
from the other side.
Nearby, THOMAS has retrieved CALDWELL's weapon in the heat of the fight and
is bringing it to bear on the PREDATOR. At the last possible moment HIROKO
sees what he's about to do...
HIROKO
No!
Reflexively, she knocks the barrel away as THOMAS looses a volley of shots.
PREDATOR-VISION. The PREDATOR's speech analyser plays back her vocal
patterns as white-hot bullets sear the night.
PREDATOR
No!
PREDATOR-VISION. SNAPPING IN for a closer look at her.
PREDATOR (CONT'D)
No!
One of the ALIEN's hands clamps firmly onto the PREDATOR's mask and wrenches
it off. HIROKO stares at the PREDATOR's face in fascination. From the
distinctive features, we see that it's BROKEN TUSK. The PREDATOR's good hand
flashes down to his thigh, almost too quick to follow. In one rapid movement
a circular 'smart-weapon' is brought up, slicing the front of the ALIEN
skull away from it's head. In a feat of strength, the PREDATOR lifts his
opponent's corpse on the end of the spear and hurls it over the catwalk
railing...
Not wasting a second, BROKEN TUSK performs an almost-vertical bound of some
twenty feet with astounding grace. He grips a pipe running down the side of
one of the building modules, then clambers over the roof's edge and finally
disappears from view. BREWSTER continues to BARK frenetically.
HIROKO's headset has been knocked to the floor and a FRANTIC MUTED VOICE
is coming from it. She picks it up, and presses the 'transmit' switch.
HIROKO
(into headset)
It's alright, Rob...
INT. RYUSHI STATION - COMMAND CENTER
PARSONS listens to HIROKO, suddenly wide awake. The morning shifts are
starting to filter in, and it's obvious to them something's wrong...
HIROKO (CONT'D)
(O.S., on speaker)
...Everything's under control. Wait a
second.
EXT. RYUSHI STATION - PLATFORM - DUSK
THOMAS is moving from DILLER to CALDWELL, checking them for signs of life.
HIROKO catches his eye.
HIROKO (CONT'D)
Well?
THOMAS shakes his head. GUTTIEREZ and DE VRIES race across the platform to
join the stunned survivors of the skirmish. GUTTIEREZ bends down by DILLER's
body. THOMAS lays a hand on GUTTIEREZ' arm.
THOMAS
Come on, man. Leave it alone.
GUTTIEREZ
Oh, God. Dear Lord Jesus...
DE VRIES
This is like a bad dream, man. A bad
fucking dream.
HIROKO thinks quickly, and comes to a decision. She speaks into her radio
headset.
HIROKO
Rob? I want you to evac everybody from
the non-connective modules into admin.
That goes double for anybody...
INT. RYUSHI STATION - COMMAND CENTER
HIROKO (CONT'D)
(O.S., on speaker)
...already out here. We're going to lock
every bulkhead and seal the base.
EXT. RYUSHI STATION - PLATFORM - DUSK
HIROKO turns her headset off and watches numerous rotating coloured lights
dotted around the platform start to blink on-and-off. KAMEN COUGHS a few
more times.
HIROKO
Are you okay?
KAMEN rubs his throat. He nods.
KAMEN
I'll survive.
BREWSTER's BARKS cease, replaced instead with a TERRIFIED LOW WHINING.
DE VRIES
What's with the dog?
GUTTIEREZ jogs over to BREWSTER. Lowers his rifle to the ground and fumbles
with the knot tying the dog to the pipe.
GUTTIEREZ
Hey; c'mon now, girl. It's alright. Let's
just get this knot undone...
A spray of plastic shards EXPLODES not three feet away from GUTTIEREZ. The
rifle goes skittering away out of reach, and he scrambles away as an ALIEN
half-pulls itself out of the sewer overflow, wet and glistening...
KAMEN
Jan!
BREWSTER's a mass of fur, totally out of control. When the ALIEN lashes out
to grab the HOWLING animal, there's nothing GUTTIEREZ can do. BREWSTER's
legs are the last thing we see, thrashing helplessly as she's dragged down
into the splinter-edged gap.
DE VRIES
Get out of there, man!
THOMAS grabs CALDWELL's rifle from the deck. He races towards GUTTIEREZ,
with DE VRIES close behind...
THOMAS
Catch this!
From behind comes the SOUND of more rupturing plastic as biomechanoid limbs
struggle up out of newly-broken ducts. THOMAS heaves the rifle over the
heads of the emerging ALIENS. Although GUTTIEREZ snags it awkwardly, he
quickly turns the barrel on the relentless creatures.
GUTTIEREZ
Chew on this!
DE VRIES races up to join them, SCREAMING as she fires. KAMEN glances down
at this tracker's tiny screen. It shows clusters of signals, lots of them.
KAMEN
(hollering)
They're all around, they're in the
drainage system!
DE VRIES reacts swiftly, loosing a round of shots at the emerging ALIENS.
GUTTIEREZ yells across to KAMEN.
GUTTIEREZ
Get your ass out of here, boss!
ALIENS are appearing everywhere. From the overflow ducts; over the platform
edges; along overhead cable supports. Having taken on the genetic
characteristics of their hosts, many of them are non-humanoid. All of them
are living nightmares.
HIROKO
Oh my _God_...
INT. RYUSHI STATION - LIVING QUARTERS
CASSIE brushes her teeth in front of the wall-mounted mirror of her tiny
bathroom-cubicle. A raucous emergency klaxon GOES OFF in the corridor
outside.
CASSIE
Shit.
EXT. RYUSHI STATION - PLATFORM FAR SIDE - DUSK
THOMAS, GUTTIEREZ, and DE VRIES are cut-off. As they race swiftly down the
street, GUTTIEREZ tries hard to interpret his tracker's signals. A
particularly loud BLEEP registers from a source immediately behind them. He
glances over his shoulder and sees an ALIEN crawling down the outside of a
module towards them.
GUTTIEREZ
De Vries!
DE VRIES' head turns. She sees the ALIEN and nails it with a rapid burst.
It falls onto the concrete nearby, writhing in it's death throes.
The group round the corner of a building. Across the street from them is
parked KAMEN's crawler.
GUTTIEREZ (CONT'D)
Inside, inside!
They scramble up into the cab. GUTTIEREZ throws himself into the driver's
seat. An ALIEN sprints at the crawler with bared teeth. THOMAS looses a
shot, blasting it backward into a Pepsi sign.
THOMAS
Yo' momma, boneface!
DE VRIES
(to Guttierez)
C'mon, man; punch this cow!
GUTTIEREZ fumbles at the ignition. They keys are there. He flips them, and
the engine GROWLS to life.
EXT. RYUSHI STATION - CRANE CATWALK - DUSK
PREDATOR-VISION. From way up here, we've got an outstanding view of the
humans running across the platform...
Crouching on a bright-yellow catwalk, BROKEN TUSK presses closed a panel on
the small container balanced on his knee. Inside it are rows of metal
instruments with a pristine surgical quality about them. BROKEN TUSK flexes
his hand experimentally. Satisfied, he clips the medical kit onto his back
before getting to his feet.
Standing around him are several other PREDATORS. All but one have their
camouflage cloaks activated. The SOUND of GUNFIRE way across the station
draws their attention...
EXT. RYUSHI STATION - PLATFORM - DUSK
HIROKO and KAMEN bolt towards an external hatch, with KAMEN laying down a
field of covering fire on full-automatic. The blaze of light from the
rifle's barrel abruptly stops.
HIROKO
What?
KAMEN
I'm out of ammo. Get inside, get inside!
HIROKO hears a HORRIBLE NOISE nearby. A field of cows being slaughtered by
machetes would sound like this.
HIROKO
They're in with the rhino!
EXT. RYUSHI STATION - RHINO PEN - DUSK
An ALIEN is SMASHED sideways into the one solid wall of the pen, broadsided
and instantly crushed by a ton of FRENZIED rhino. It's yellow blood eats
into the weighty quadruped, eliciting ANGUISHED BELLOWS of pain from the
hapless creature.
ALIEN stingers slice through the air. Rhinos try to bolt but are intercepted
by inhumanly powerful forces. It's wholesale carnage.
PREDATOR-VISION. We're moving swiftly along the rooftops and surveying the
melee below, lessening the distance with each second...
Several indefinable FIGURES plunge into the fray, creating anarchy within the
ALIENS' ranks. The biomechanoids HISS with fury as the PREDATORS join battle
against them...
EXT. RYUSHI STATION - PLATFORM - DUSK
An ALIEN hurls itself through the air and onto the speeding crawler's roof.
INT. CRAWLER - DUSK
KER-CHUNK! The cab's occupants react as the thin roof buckles slightly.
Skeletal fingers SLICE through, RIPPING at the metal like a can-opener.
DE VRIES
Jesus!
THOMAS raises his rifle and looses a fusillade of shots through the roof.
One of them RICOCHETS off the interior, SHATTERING the windscreen. There's
a THUMP from outside...
DE VRIES (CONT'D)
You got 'im!
Their triumph is short-lived. Globules of yellow acid perforate the roof
like Swiss cheese, dripping down on them. GUTTIEREZ floors the brakes. The
crawler swings through ninety degrees before SCREECHING to a halt.
INT. RYUSHI STATION - COMMAND CENTER
CASSIE enters admin at a run. Before, it was empty. Now it's sheer chaos.
She shoves her way through dozens of grim-faced people. PARSONS is standing
at a console, YELLING into his headset.
PARSONS
Seal everything now!
CASSIE
What's happening?
PARSONS
Cassie, thank Christ! We're under attack.
CASSIE
We're what!?
York races in, SHOUTING above the clamor.
YORK
The son-of-bitches got into 'E' wing!
They're ripping it apart!
PARSONS
Fuck! Somebody get over there with some
guns! Now!
CASSIE watches the scene unfolding on the banks of monitors. PEOPLE mouthing
unheard words into camera. Bursts of STATIC. Fleeting glimpses of
nightmarish SHAPES darting across the picture...
CASSIE
How many of them _are_ there?
PARSONS
Too many.
EXT. RYUSHI STATION - PLATFORM FAR SIDE - DUSK
GUTTIEREZ' group hurriedly exits the crawler. A cloud of acrid smoke rapidly
fills the cabin.
DE VRIES
(coughing)
Move it, man!
The dead ALIEN's corpse tumbles through the acid-eaten hole, falling into the
cab's rear seat and promptly burning through that as well.
Not far away across the platform, the massive doors to the auto-shop hanger
are RUMBLING slowly closed...
GUTTIEREZ
(shouting)
Hold the doors, hold the doors!
They don't hear him. The doors seal with a BOOM of finality.
DE VRIES
Over there, on the right!
THOMAS sees the two ALIENS nimbly climbing the platform's edge. He squeezes
off about five shots, managing to kill the FIRST ALIEN...
THOMAS
These bastards ain't so tough!
***************************
***** PAGE 70 MISSING *****
***************************
THOMAS looks concernedly at GUTTIEREZ.
THOMAS
Is that thing working?
GUTTIEREZ takes off the headset and scrutinises it closely.
GUTTIEREZ
Shit! The casing's cracked!
DE VRIES rips her headset off and urgently passes it to him.
DE VRIES
Use mine. Channel twenty-six.
EXT. RYUSHI STATION - PLATFORM - DUSK
Despite their ferocity and weapons, it's clear that the small group of
PREDATORS are being overrun by the ALIEN horde.
BROKEN TUSK's shoulder cannon swivels automatically, blowing away another
attacker. Hearing a distinctive SCREAM, he looks across the platform. One
of the PREDATORS, it's camouflage cloak flickering intermittently, is trying
to resist being dragged down into a duct. The two ALIENS in either side
plunge their tail-stingers into the PREDATOR's body, making it CRY OUT in
agony.
INT. RYUSHI STATION - CORRIDORS
Pumped up with adrenalin, KAMEN reaches an intersection and encounters a
harrowing tableau. An ALIEN blocks his way on the other side of a corridor
bulkhead, holding a STRUGGLING MAN above the floor. It's piston-like tongue
shoots into the MAN's skull, spraying gore.
The ALIEN sees KAMEN, and it's mouth twists into a bloody SNARL. Both KAMEN
and the ALIEN lunge forward together, but KAMEN's got the edge by a split-
second. He STRIKES a bright red switch and the overhead pressure bulkhead
SLAMS down and locks into place. His breathing is heavy as he slowly backs
away from the hatch...
EXT. RYUSHI STATION - PLATFORM FAR SIDE - DUSK
The two ALIENS THOMAS killed must have been the scout party. Others appear,
more cautiously this time...
DE VRIES
Hurry up and figure that thing out, man!
GUTTIEREZ is desperately trying to operate the tiny plastic microswitches on
the headset with his fingernails.
GUTTIEREZ
What?
THOMAS
We've got company!
THOMAS brings his weapon to bear and pulls on the trigger. He gets off one
shot, then nothing more happens. He looks at the counter on the side. It
reads 'zero'.
THOMAS (CONT'D)
Shit, I'm dry! You're up!
DE VRIES raises her rifle. She aims, and...
CLICK.
DE VRIES
I'm jammed!
THOMAS
You're what?!
She works the manual slide.
DE VRIES
It's locked solid...
THOMAS
Quick, give me the clip!
DE VRIES fumbles the ammunition clip from her rifle. It falls from her hands
onto a plastic overflow grate. THOMAS leaps after it...about a second too
late. It slips through the narrow gap, gone for good.
THOMAS (CONT'D)
Oh, Lord! Please, no! Not now!
INT. RYUSHI STATION - EXECUTIVE OFFICE
HIROKO enters her office at a run. She crosses to an inset control box on
the far wall and presses a button. Two exterior panels begin to slide closed
behind the polycarbonate window.
KERSMASH! Fracture lines appear on the toughened plastic as it comes under
assault from the razor-edge tip of an ALIEN's tail. In shock, HIROKO
reflexively falls backwards onto the floor, scrambling away. She watches the
creature precariously balancing on the this ledge outside, fighting against
the closing shutters with simultaneously raining repeated blows on the
window with it's tail.
The ALIEN leaps through the gap as the window gives way under the onslaught,
showering splinters across the room. The twin shutters secure behind it,
closing on the