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Alien III
Screenplay by John Fasano
Story by Vincent Ward & John Fasano
FIRST DRAFT
March 29, 1990
"But how will you die when your time
comes, Narcissus, since you have no
mother? Without a mother, one cannot
love. Without a mother, one cannot die."
- Hesse
ALIEN III
THE SCREEN IS BLACK
A pinpoint of light appears.
Red. An ember.
Unseen BELLOWS blow.
GLASS FURNACE
The embers glow. Flame.
The fire GROWS.
A RIVER OF MOLTEN GLASS
Heated by the furnace to over 1,300 degrees fahrenheit.
White Hot.
GLASS FACTORY
Flickering flame casts dancing shadows on wooden walls.
Coarsely grained wood. Moisture blasted out by years of
intense heat. Timbers split. Patched with new wood,
it too now old and dry.
SMOKE
Billows up the walls.
Hangs as an angry, black cloud amongst the rafters and beams of
the vaulted ceiling. Almost obscures --
A MAN
On a narrow LEDGE, twenty feet about the Glassworks' floor.
His clothing is Medieval. A rough textured cassock.
He is a MONK.
LOUVERS are set into the wall. He angles them open.
The smoke begins to escape.
The Monk turns, raises arms and LEAPS from his lofty perch --
Gently gliding down to the floor with the aid of a FLOWING FOX --
a primitive hand-held pulley that runs down a rope.
He lands next to the glass furnace, surrounded by --
MORE MONKS
By their dress. With Blowing Iron and Pontil.
They blow and shape the molten glass. Crack off the finished
pieces. The old way.
ONE PARTICULAR MONK
Black skinned, early fifties.
Stirs his five foot long blowing iron in the molten glass, but
he is watching something else. It moves him to song.
Lilting tenor lifts high into the air.
This is BROTHER KYLE.
BROTHER KYLE
Well would he guess the ascending of the star,
Wherein his patient's fortunes settled were.
He knew the course of every malady,
Were it of cold or heat or moist or dry.
Brother John, would-be Doctour of Physick.
We see the object of his song:
BROTHER JOHN
Not yet forty. Strong features, but fear behind the eyes.
The fear that comes from a lack of inner confidence.
A good face, nonetheless.
He stirs a thick mixture in a mortar.
Next to him another MONK sits holding his arm out in front of
him, cassock sleeve rolled up, revealing a vicious BURN.
BROTHER KYLE
Tend you quickly he will,
with bottles from a shelf.
But heals not, so easily,
The ills which plague himself.
Brother John stops stirring.
BROTHER JOHN
(to Kyle)
Enough.
He scoops the salve out with his fingers and applies it to the
Burned Monk's arm. The Burned Monk INHALES sharpley as the cool
mixture contacts the injured area.
BROTHER JOHN
(to the burned Monk)
Relax.
(to Kyle)
Put those lungs of yours to better
use.
BROTHER KYLE
Yes, Doc Tor.
Kyle laughs, removes the blowing iron from the molten glass --
a BLOB of white hot glass hanging on the end.
He rolls the blob on the Marver, a flat, polished piece of
iron, then begins to blow a bottle shaped container.
John wraps a fray-edged cloth bandage around the burn.
JOHN
Keep this from getting wet. Go home at
late afternoon mealtime and don't come
back to work today --
BURNED MONK
But John --
JOHN
I'll tell the Abbot. Just rest today.
You're lucky you only burned yourself on
the side of the furnace. If some of that
glass had gotten on your arm --
He points to the top of his forearm.
JOHN
-- it would've burned clean through to
the other side.
He mimes a drop down from the bottom of his arm.
The Burned Monk shudders at the thought.
BELLS toll.
JOHN
That's late afternoon. Now get on.
BURNED MONK
Thank you, John. I --
JOHN
You're welcome. Go!
The Burned Monk trundles off, injured arm against his chest.
John gathers his mortar, pestle, and extra bandages into a
burlap sack. Kyle comes over.
KYLE
Good work.
JOHN
All right, but I'm no Father Anselm.
KYLE
You're yourself, that's better...
Kyle pushes him through the door...
INTO THE HALLWAY
The Hallway is alive with cassocked monks.
Their LOW CHANTING reverberates throughout the building.
The wooden floorboards creak beneath their combined weights.
This is obviously a MEDIEVAL MONASTERY...
KYLE
The Abbot will be pleased.
JOHN
Don't.
KYLE
Don't what?
JOHN
Please don't tell him. At least until
I know if there's an infection.
KYLE
You want to be the Abbey's Physician,
and you haven't learned the first rule:
Don't worry about the patient.
John's face drops.
KYLE
I shouldn't have. Sorry. Look, I know
how you must --
JOHN
You don't, but thanks anyway.
AT THE END OF THE HALLWAY
A wide stairwell. A constant stream of monks all moving down
the stairs. Coming from floors above. Headed for lunch.
Kyle starts down. John starts up --
KYLE
Not coming down?
JOHN
I have someone waiting for me.
Kyle disappears into the crowd.
John moves up...
THE STAIRWAY
A river of brown cassocks running downstream.
John is the only one moving against the flow.
He exits the stairwell --
ONE FLOOR UP
A narrow corridor lined with doorways.
John moves to one in particular.
He doesn't even look as he grabs the door knob.
This is his room.
He opens the door --
IN BROTHER JOHN'S ROOM
An old, worn out DOG lays in wait on an old, worn out cassock
which is now serving as its bed.
At the sight of John it stands.
JOHN
Come on, Mattias.
The dog, MATTIAS, joins him in the hall.
Monk and pet disappear up a flight of stairs.
Past another dozen or so Monks who are on their way down.
INT. LIBRARY
A vast room filled with rows of wooden tables with low benches
between aisle after aisle of floor-to-ceiling wooden shelves
jammed to capacity with BOOKS of all shapes and sizes. Millions
of books, from the looks of it.
From each book hangs a long CHAIN, long enough to allow the
book to be carried only as far as the nearest table.
A CORPULENT MONK - BROTHER PHILIP
In his fifties, and the Librarian by his stern affect, his
position behind a broad, but also old oak desk, and the large
KEY hanging from his belt. He watches the few stragglers return
their chain bound volumes to the shelves and head for the door,
then rises and joins them...
IN THE CORRIDOR JUST OUTSIDE THE LIBRARY
John leans against the wall as Philip exits.
Mattias is nowhere to be seen.
PHILIP
Brother John.
JOHN
Brother Philip.
PHILIP
Feeding the mind instead of the body
again?
JOHN
My training has taught me to feed what's
hungry.
Philip pats his broad stomach and heads down the hallway.
PHILIP
As did mine. As long as you're alone.
Enjoy yourself -- and remember, no book
leaves the library.
JOHN
How could I forget? Have a good meal...
John watches the corpulent librarian head down the stairs.
When he's gone from sight John lifts the bottom of his cassock
to reveal Mattias.
JOHN
Perfect.
They move into the library...
THE MEDIEVAL SECTION
The oldest books.
John moves to the stacks.
Mattias trots over to a particular bench and sits.
This is his regular place.
AT THE SHELVES
John stands on toe tips to retrieve an ancient Tome.
He runs his fingers over the familiar leather binding.
A smile plays across his lips.
He carries the book, places it on the edge of the table so
there is slack in the chain.
Sits on the bench next to the dog.
Clears his throat, opens the book, begins to read...
John
(reading)
In the year of our Lord 1348 I, Brother
Gerhado of the Minorite Abbey helped bury
the Abbot and my sixty fellow monks --
VOICE O/S
Sometimes, I think you'd like that.
John turns to find --
THE ABBOT
Leader of the monastery. In his seventies but looks younger.
His Cassock is adorned with a large, ornately carved, wooden
CHAIN in place of a rope belt. He crosses to the table.
John closes the book and stands, head bowed in respect.
John
Abbot, I -- I didn't think anyone would --
ABBOT
Mind? Just Philip, if he knew. I passed
him on the way up. He said you'd come
in alone. I knew better.
He scratches the back of Mattias' neck.
ABBOT
Hello, Mattias. How are you, boy?
The dog snuffles in response.
ABBOT
You know what Philip says about Mattias'
hair and his breathing. You'll have to
take him out of here.
JOHN
He likes when I read to him and -- I
can't --
John looks down sheepishly. Though nearly forty, he feels
almost adolescent in the presence of the Abbot.
The Abbot pulls a large key from his pocket.
ABBOT
(smiles)
Someone must have left this one unlocked.
Take the book with you.
He hands the key to John, who is shocked --
this is a great honor.
JOHN
Father, I --?
ABBOT
Kyle tells me you did a good job at
the glassworks today.
JOHN
I'll reserve judgement until the patient
lives.
John crosses to the shelf and unlocks his book.
He returns the key.
ABBOT
It will get easier. Father Anselm was...
an unexpected loss. You'll do fine.
The Abbot walks towards the door...
ABBOT
Just have it back before the end of lunch.
Oh -- And I didn't see you in here.
JOHN
Thank you.
(to Mattias)
Let's go upstairs, boy.
John takes his book -- Moves to a spiral wooden staircase.
Mattias at his heels.
Goes UP --
INTO THE BELL TOWER
The mechanics of the bell tower -- all ropes and wooden cogs
cast scary shadows.
A doorway leads to --
THE ROOF OF THE ABBEY
Thick with sandy dust. The wood shows through thin patches.
We PULL BACK TO REVEAL what we think is the roof of the Abbey
is actually --
THE SURFACE OF ARCEON - NIGHT
The door has opened onto the SURFACE OF A PLANTOID!
The curving horizon broken only by the very top of the
Abbey bell tower poking through from the levels below.
SMOKE curls from vents set into the surface.
Sunken areas of the planet's sirface are SEAS.
This is ARCEON.
An manmade orbiter.
A shell of lightweight foamed steel, five miles in diameter.
Constructed by The Company on Special Order with habitable
level within finished in whatever material suits its end user.
This orbiter, for reasons to be discovered later, has been
sheathed in wood.
JOHN
Walks to the shore of an inland SEA.
Sits on a bare patch of wood. Looks up.
His eyes grow accustomed to --
THE NIGHT SKY - JOHN POV
Freckled with tiny dots of light.
Stars. Spread across the inky void.
Bathe Arceon's surface with their celestial glow.
John smiles at Mattias, breathes deep.
The atmosphere up here is thinner, but fresher.
He opens the book.
Reads aloud --
JOHN
In the year of our Lord 1348 I, Brother
Gerhado of the Minorite Abbey helped bury
the Abbot and my sixty fellow monks, day
by day, one by one, until I am the only
one left. I stayed as long as I could bear
it, then with my dog --
Mattias lifts his ears at this part. His favorite part.
JOHN
- fled. I have put this to parchment lest
this pestilence - this Black Death -
stay my hand.
(beat)
This was finished by another hand...
John closes the book. Something catches his eye --
Something among the myriad points of light in the sky.
Millions of miles away:
ONE OF THE STARS
Brighter than the rest. MOVING.
Fast enough to leave a faint trail.
Across the stars. And down...
A comet.
John stands. Watches --
THE STAR
Growing brighter.
Drawing nearer.
JOHN
Joined by three other MONKS.
They are older than he.
The Four men watch the sky...
THE STAR
Brighter still. Closer.
MORE MONKS
Two dozen. A hundred.
They come up through the planet's surface.
Out of wooden trap doors. Join the others.
Days pass.
Now three hundred.
Necks bowed back.
Mouths agape.
A SUBTITLE identifies...
RELIGIOUS COLONY ARCEON
-----------------------
POPULATION: 350 Exiles
CRIME: Political Heresy
THE STAR
Fills the sky.
Burns brighter still as it hits the planetoid's atmosphere.
ON THE SURFACE OF ARCEON
Hundreds of Monks shield their eyes as the ship -- the star --
ROARS over their heads. Trailing FIRE --
John holds up his hands - to touch a star --
Skin BLISTERS as it passes over him,
He turns and watches as it --
Arcs downward --
INTO THE SEA
WHOMP- SSSSSSSSSS --!!
PLUMES of steam rise into the air.
The water boils. Fish bob to the surface. Bloated. Dead.
JOHN
Is the first to hit the shore.
Small leather and wood fishing boats tossed by the wake.
His coracle is the first into the water.
The others running up behind him.
He cannot hear the SHOUTS of warning.
ON THE SEA - DAWN
The sun cracks over the black water.
John's hands move the rough wooden oars.
Blistered palm opens.
BLOOD flows.
He tears off a piece of his cassock --
Rips it with his teeth --
Wraps the bloody hand.
Rows.
THE STAR
Ship. Star Ship.
Sulaco escape vehicle #4 rocks on the water.
White metal skin blackened by the heat.
JOHN
Rows right into it.
His coracle pitches in the choppy surf.
He scrambles onto the ship's cracked tile surface.
Teeters -- balances -- moves to the unmistakeable HATCH.
Looks around for a knob, a handle --
NEXT TO THE HATCH
A small panel door whose black and yellow stripes denote
urgency. John hesitantly opens the door, revealing a shiny
metal LEVER. He stares at it...a beat.
Then quickly pulls it down...
WUORRRSH -!
Hull door OPENS.
The doorway is a black maw.
John crosses himself.
Begins to lower his foot into the hatch --
KYLE O/S
Watch it!
He almost falls backwards off the ship. Looks back --
THE OTHER MONKS
Are rapidly approaching.
Kyle gestulates wildly --
KYLE
John! Wait -- ! Don't go in!
John turns back to the open hatch.
Machine recirculated air flows out.
He feels it on the skin of his face. Cool.
Cool, and artificial. It calls to him.
He steps in. Swallowed by the blackness --
WHOOSH-CLANG -!
The door closes behind him.
INT. SULACO ESCAPE POD #4 - DAY
Dark. Dim red lights. John stands still as his eyes adjust to
the darkness. He sees:
NEWT'S HYPER SLEEP TUBE
A glass and metal COFFIN -- pneumatic piping twines around its
base. The glass lid is BROKEN. A Small RED LIGHT pulses at the
head of the tube -- a soft VOICE and TONE, like your seat belt
warning -- is audible...
COMPUTER VOICE
(sotto)
Seal broken...seal broken...
John finds himself moving towards the tube...
Looks through the broken lid:
IN THE TUBE
There is a splattered BLOOD STAIN on the sterile white
interior. OLD, turned rust-brown.
Whatever happened here happened a while ago.
Rust colored drips trail down to --
THE FLOOR
Drag marks. His eyes follow the stains to a pile of
Bloody clothing against a control panel. A jumpsuit. Torn.
Child size. The head of child's DOLL, but no body to be found.
JOHN
Looks back towards the door.
Part of him wants to get the hell out here -- but he fights
back his fear. He is a doctor - or trying to be - someone
in here may need his help. He presses forward --
Averts his gaze from the clothing, UP to the blinking and
glowing instrument panels and their myraid --
LIGHTS
Pressure lights. Data lights. Warning lights.
Thousands of lights. Like the stars in the sky.
It's been decades since he's seen technology like this -- and
never this close up. He steps further into the ship, his fear
now replaced by fascination, follows the lights....
ON A PALE GREEN SCREEN
LED numbers race -- 7,291.01.05...06...07
A legand identifies "Elapsed since separation."
He moves on...
A VIDEO MONITOR
Through scanning bars of snow, an image:
A WOMAN with a YOUNG GIRL standing in front of her.
The Woman's arms are wrapped around the girl.
Protective. Maternal.
The Woman speaks. Her message repeats itself.
A tape loop, although John has no idea what that is.
WOMAN
...taking pod four. The Crew of the SS
Sulaco and all Marine commandoes are dead.
Ship's sensors have interrupted the hyper
sleep cycle. An overlooked alien egg has
hatched. Bishop and Hicks have been killed.
Xenomorphs have infested the cruiser. Newt
and I are taking pod four. The Crew of...
The WARNING TONE of the Woman's message rekindles John's fear.
He moves more hesitantly around the periphery of the ship,
following the trail of blinking instruments --
Drawn to touch a button. Click...
SOMETHING TENTACLE-LIKE DROPS DOWN ON HIS SHOULDER!
Just an oxygen mask.
John feels his rapidly BEATING heart as he pushes aside the
plastic, dangling object and continues around the shuttle.
His hand brushes over a SENSOR which responds by lighting and --
HSSSSSSSSS -!
A BLAST of freon shoots out of an overhead pipe --
John SHOUTS and back up into --
ANOTHER HYPER SLEEP TUBE!!!
Next to Newt's now empty tube.
Humming gently. Still operational.
John approaches it cautiously.
He can make out the occupant through the lid...
A WOMAN
The woman from the screen. This is RIPLEY.
In hypersleep. Wearing a white cotton tank top and boxer-type
shorts. Christ, she looks beautiful.
John looks from Ripley to her image on the monitor, then back.
Sinks to his knees, reverent. Fascination has replaced fear
again. Moves his face closer to the lid.
Closer to hers...
DAYLIGHT spills in --
John's head WHIPS towards the source of the light --
THE DOOR
Open. Kyle and the other monks.
KYLE
John - what is it? Is this a Supply ship?
JOHN
No. No supplies. Kyle, there's someone
in here --
The Second Monk looks at Kyle.
SECOND MONK
This is forbidden.
KYLE
John. Just get the hell out of there --
JOHN
I don't want to stay. I have to get her
out before this sinks. You come in, give
me a hand --
KYLE
Her? Look, this is not the supply ship,
so this is technology forbidden to us.
Get out of there now!
John looks down at Ripely.
A KEYPAD is mounted at the head of the tube.
A red button: "EMERG-OPEN"
That's plain enough.
JOHN
All right --
He presses it.
The Tube opens with a loud BLAST of compressed air.
The Monks at the door recoil at the sound.
CUT TO:
EXT. SPACE SHIP - ON THE SEA - DAY
Ripley has been lowered into a large coracle. John holds her in
front of him. Unconscious.
Her head lolls as the boat rocks on the waves.
The monks start to row back to short.
FIRST MONK
(reverent)
A space ship...
SECOND MONK
(even more reverent)
A woman...
KYLE
You shouldn't have gone in --
JOHN
I'm supposed to be a doctor.
He pushes Ripley's hair away from her forehead.
JOHN
She could've been lost.
FIRST MONK
Been a long time since I saw either.
SECOND MONK
It isn't sinking. Look at it. What are we
supposed to do with it?
KYLE
What was it like in there --?
JOHN
Lights. So many lights --
THIRD MONK
Tow it in. Bring it in.
SECOND MONK
It's evil.
FIRST MONK
It's just technology.
SECOND MONK
Evil technology. Look at these fish --
THIRD MONK
The Abbot will know what we should do
with it --
KYLE
Just lights?
JOHN
Machines. Buttons. Metal.
SECOND MONK
See? Just look at the fish.
THIRD MONK
The Abbot will know.
SECOND MONK
They're boiled. These fish are boiled.
JOHN
Thousands of lights. Like the stars.
Like Heaven on Earth.
Ripley stirs in John's arms. Groans.
Fights to come out of her fugue state...
Looks around through half-lidded eyes --
She is surrounded by rowing, cassocked Monks.
MONKS? She closes her eyes.
Tries to clear the imagine. Opens:
They're still there.
She looks down at the bloodied hands around her waist --
realizes she's sitting on someone's lap.
Looks back over her shoulder --
JOHN
He smiles at her.
Friendly, not sexual.
RIPLEY
Shakes her head. Tries to speak --
Her lips form soundless words.
She looks over her other shoulder, sees --
THE SHIP - RIPLEY POV
Bobbing on the surface.
Growing small with each stroke of the oars.
RIPLEY
Brows knit. Fights the cobwebs in her brain.
Tries to focus on the ship --
Remembers.
Turns to John, tries to speak --
RIPLEY
Wait. New...
She loses consciousness.
GO TO BLACK...
INT. THE ABBEY - RIPLEY'S ROOM - DAY
Streaks of light move across the darkness.
Form patterns of light and shadow against the wooden walls.
There is a sublime stillness, but coming through the walls are
the muted, far off SOUNDS of the Abbey --
The SAWING of wood. HAMMERING.
WHISPERED prayers.
LILTING song.
We move down off the wall to a hand-made wooden bed.
Ripley in restless sleep.
EXT. ARCEON SEA - DUSK
The waters grown rough with the approach of night. Wind whips across
white wave tops -- SPRAYS the dozen Monks who LASH their
boats to Ripley's SHIP with thick hemp ropes --
Start to tow it to shore...
INT. RIPLEY'S ROOM - NIGHT
Ripley is sleeping -- but struggling against some unseen foe --
She tries to sit up -- can't. Tries to shake off the effects of
the suspended animation...looks up through half-lidded eyes:
JOHN
Sits next to her. Quite asleep.
Hands swathed in white bandages. Book resting on his lap.
She squints to make the figure standing in the shadows
behind him -- it's skin picks up and reflects tiny points of
flickering cangle light - seems to ripple as it moves --
THE ALIEN
Big, black shiny-smooth head moves into the taper light.
It moves towards her, cable-like arms held out at its side --
moving out of sync with its feet -- Ripley tries to move -
to cry out -- She can't.
She can only move her eyes. She looks over at John, sleeping
peacefully. He doesn't notice the Alien --
The Alien moves closer.
She can feel his breath -- it evaporates the sweat on her
forehead -- a CHILL runs through her but she still can't move --
The Alien stands alongside her bed.
Extends a six-fingered hand...
Gently rests it on her stomach.
Cocks its head -- like it's listening to something.
The implication is clear.
Ripley finds her voice --
RIPLEY
AAAAAAAAAAAARGH!
Her eyes open wide --
She sits bolt upright.
A hand moves to her forehead. Gently pushes her head back to
the pillow. John's.
JOHN
You're out of it. Out of it...
Ripley falls back, eyes glued to where the alien appeared.
John sees her focal point, looks back over his shoulder:
Nothing.
Ripley's eyes roll back into her head.
She tries to speak -- It was there.
Her hand, at her side, tightens into a fist --
John's hand covers hers.
Eases the fingers open again.
She feels the coarse bandages against her palm.
He starts to read quietly from Saint Augustines' Confessions.
She begins to drowse again as his soft voice flows over her
like waves lapping against the shore...
EXT. SURGACE OF ARCEON - DAY
A HOWLING DUST STORM has kicked up. The monks wear small round
goggles, have rags tied over their noses, as they work at a
huge BLOCK AND TACKLE arrangement --
Hundreds of ropes grow TAUT.
Timbers GROAN.
They LIFT Ripley's SHIP -- SWING it over to a large portal --
INT. RIPLEY'S ROOM - DAY
Ripley lays with eyes closed.
Muffled VOICES outside her door:
ABBOT
How is the woman, John?
JOHN
I don't think she's here yet.
At the sound of John's voice the SLIGHTEST smile plays
across Ripley's sleeping lips.
JOHN
She is close, though.
As they continue talking, Ripley wakes. Opens her eyes.
Rolls over onto her side --
There is a window right next to the bed.
Ripley lifts herself up on one elbow, looks out:
HER POV
Garden of Earthly delights...
Monks laboring under a beautiful, celestial blue sky --
picking apples, fishing on the water on small inland lakes.
Working with hammer and saw on small wooden cottages. Lyrical.
It makes her feel good. She scans the countryside...
Sheep graze around wooden ladders stretching hundreds of feet
up to the -- Ripley does a take --
WORKERS ON A SCAFFOLDING
With crude brushes at the end of poles -- PAINT the sky blue.
The Abbey, the cottages, the fields outside her window are all
on one level - INSIDE THE PLANET.
The vaulted CEILING, painted to look like the sky with huge
glass "windows" to allow the sunlight in, is actually the
UNDERSIDE of the planetoid's outer shell.
Ripley looks back at the Monks on the ground:
Instead of repairing, they are taking the cabins apart, stacking
the wood onto push carts --
RIPLEY
What the hell --?
SUDDENLY --
The Sulaco Escape ship APPEARS in front of her.
SWINGS past her window suspended by ropes.
Then disappears up, out of sight.
Ripley checks her pulse.
RIPLEY
This must be a dream. A bad one.
She rolls back onto the bed.
Stares up at the ceiling.
ABOVE HER - ON THE ROOF OF THE ABBEY
Monks scurry around the Ship as it is lowered into place on
a flat area of the roof above the libaray.
It seats with a deeply resounding THUD...
RIPLEY
Hears the SOUND and then another - her door OPENING.
She turns to find the Abbot and John standing in the doorway.
John waits in the doorway as the Abbot crosses to the chair by
the bed and sits.
RIPLEY
Who are you?
ABBOT
I am the Abbot. Leader of this Colony.
And you?
He smiles. Open. Friendly.
RIPLEY
Ripley. How did I get here?
ABBOT
Your vehicle crash landed.
(indicates John)
Brother John found you and brought
you here.
RIPLEY
Where is here?
ABBOT
This is the Minorite Abbey within the
manmade orbiter Arceon.
RIPLEY
Can I use a radio to --
ABBOT
We have no radio here. We are a monastic
order that has renounced all modern
technology. We live the old way. The pure
way.
She shakes her head.
RIPLEY
Uh, I - I still don't feel 100%. Whoever
took me out of the stasis tube must not
have run the full D-F program...
Where's Newt?
The Abbot looks at her blankly.
RIPLEY
There was a little girl with me --
ABBOT
You were alone.
RIPLEY
No. She was with me. I put her in her
stasis tube -- We launched when the --
ABBOT
You were the only living thing found
aboard that vessel.
The Abbot watches Ripley as the terrible truth overcomes her --
RIPLEY
(slowly)
Oh, God. Newt.
She stops -- gets that chill up her spine --
She realizes that she MUST have brought the Alien with her.
RIPLEY
It came with us.
The Abbot leans in.
ABBOT
What came with you?
RIPLEY
Listen -- there is a danger here. It
came with me. How long have I been here?
ABBOT
Almost two days --
RIPLEY
(calculates)
Loose for two days. This planet could be
overrun within the week.
Ripley grabs the Abbot by his cassock --
RIPLEY
Look, there's a xenomorph --
(sees his confusion)
An Alien creature. A killer. A monster.
And now it's here.
The Abbot looks at her the way you look at that guy on the corner
of Santa Monica and 3rd who's babbling about Judgement Day. The
guy with his pants down around his kness.
She sees this, releases her hold on him...
RIPLEY
Calm down, Ripley. Okay, I was with a
platoon of Colonial Marines on a mission
to planetoid LV426. We left Earth six
months ago - maybe a year --
ABBOT
(interrupts)
Wait a moment --
The Abbot becomes aware of John's presence in the doorway.
Turns over his shoulder at him.
ABBOT
Leave us.
John waits there a beat, then backs out and closes the door.
ABBOT
Continue.
RIPLEY
We launched in the Cruiser Sulaco from
Gateway sub-orbital space station --
ABBOT
Not possible.
RIPLEY
What do you mean?
ABBOT
When we left Earth seventy years ago, it
was on the brink of a New Dark Age.
Technology was on the verge of destroying
the planet's environment. A computer virus
was threatening to wipe away all recorded
knowledge. There didn't seem to be any
way it could be averted. In the almost
forty years since we were towed out here
in hypersleep, the news that came with
occasional supply ships only got worse.
Finally, the ships stopped coming. We
had to resign ourselves to the fact that
worst had come to pass, and the Earth
no longer existed.
Now she gives him that look.
RIPLEY
(slowly)
Uh...All right... Forget the Earth - How
many people do you have here? Let's worry
about them. Warn them --
A new look overtakes the Abbot's face. A look of fear.
Now she's getting to him - or is she?
He abruptly stands.
ABBOT
Your mind is troubled. You need to rest
some more.
RIPLEY
I don't need rest - I need to get to
your people. You've got to get to them --
tell them about the alien --
He heads for the door --
ABBOT
I have had enough for now.
RIPLEY
Enough? Didn't you hear what I said?
It could wipe out the entire population
of this planet. It may have started
already - Have there been any unusual
deaths since I got here?
The Abbot stops in the door -
ABBOT
No. And there won't be.
The Abbot SLAMS the door behind him.
THE CORRIDOR OUTSIDE RIPLEY'S ROOM - DAY
John stands nearby as the Abbot addresses two BURLY MONKS
ABBOT
Bolt it.
The guards move to bolt the door.
JOHN
What is it -- What's wrong?
ABBOT
Your patient is in a dangerous mental
state. Nobody gets in or out until I
say so.
JOHN
But I. Her meals --
ABBOT
Nobody.
JOHN
Father, I don't understand --
The Abbot turns and disappears down the hall.
John looks from the departing Abbot to the two Guard/Monks.
THE LIBRARY - NIGHT
John has his head buried in his hands. His back rises and falls
with the rhythmic breathing of sleep.
Mattias curled up on his feet. Asleep as well.
WHAM!
The Library door FLIES open --!
John sits bolt upright --
A HYSTERICAL MONK bursts in.
Rushes to John's table.
HYSTERICAL MONK
Brother John! You're here! The Abbot
said you'd -- I need -- you're the
medic --
JOHN
What?!
HYSTERICAL MONK
My Sandy -- she's ill --
John tries to rub the fitfull sleep out of his eyes.
JOHN
Huh? A woman?
HYSTERICAL MONK
Sandy. My ewe.
John returns his head to the table.
JOHN
One of your sheep? Jesus Christ.
Call a vet.
HYSTERICAL MONK
Father Anselm was the vet.
John looks under his arms at Mattias --
The dog just stares at him.
JOHN
You're no help. Okay, let me get my bag.
All creatures great and small...
INT. HYSTERICAL MONK'S BARN - NIGHT
A small structure housing a handful of sheep and a few chickens
in wire cages. The wooden walss are full of gaps where boards
have been ripped off.
The Hysterical Monk holds a torch to illuminate the scene. One of
his sheep is laying on its side...
HYSTERICAL MONK
I just gave her dinner and she
keeled over.
JOHN
So would I. It's freezing in here.
HYSTERICAL MONK
Been using the wood from the walls
for the fire in my cabin.
JOHN
Haven't we all...
John kneels at the ewe.
She's breathing heavy. Rapidly.
John puts his left hand down on the hay covered floor while he
checks the animal's neck pulse with his right hand.
She gives a weak "Baa-ah."
JOHN
May be pneumonia. Pitch some of that hay
around her. Stop this damn cold breeze.
The Hysterical Monk props the torch up in an empty bucket and
retreives a crude iron pitchfork from the wall.
Starts to pile hay around the fallen animal.
JOHN
First, I'll --
He sits up to reach for his back, then stops when he sees what's
on his left hand --
A SLIMY MUCOUS-LIKE SUBSTANCE
JOHN
Wait a minute...
The Hysterical Monk stops on mid-pitch.
John rubs the material between his fingers.
Brings it close to his nose. Sniffs.
HYSTERICAL MONK
What is it?
JOHN
I don't know. It's all over the ground.
Some sort of --
BAAA-AAAH!!!
The ewe starts to SHAKE - QUIVER --
John tries to hold it down --
The Hysterical Monk, at this juncture, goes completely apeshit.
HYSTERICAL MONK
What?! WHAT?!
JOHN
Jesus! Help m --
The ewe is shaking so violently that John is thrown back --
He knocks over the bucket -- the torch falls into the hay --
The light is cut off as the torch almost smothers.
Then the hay starts to burn --
Weak fire light revealing:
BAAaa-Aha-SCLORTCH-H-!!
THE EWE EXPLODES ---!
Stomach BURSTS --
SPRAYING the two Monks with entrails and blood --
They start SCREAMING.
The flickering FIRE LIGHT grows as...
A TERRIBLE ALIEN CHEST-BURSTER
BURSTS out of the jerking and twitching carcass.
It shows the characteristics of the animal in which it has
gestated. Tiny razor sharp teeth and black, glass-like eyes
peer from a enlongated head covered with downy, but gore-matted
WOOL. A quadroped, its shrunked hind legs struggling to free
itself from the cooling morass of intestines.
John can only SCREAM as the most horrible nightmare he can
imagine tries to slough off the animal's mortal coil.
The Hysterical Monk, fear overcome with ANGER at the loss of
his beloved Sandy, steps in front of the near catatonic Medic
and instinctively THRUSTS his pitchfork into the creature --
The sharp prongs PIERCE its still forming body --
The CREATURE
WAILS a high pitched SHRIEK - half alien, half sheep as it is
roughly TORN from it's nesting place --
The Monk lifts --
It TWISTS at the end of the fork, acid blood dripping onto the
wood floor -- each drop bursting into a little pool of FIRE.
The Hysterical Monk turns to the now raging hay fire --
The entire corner of the barn is ablaze --
SHOVES the abomination in --
The Sheep/Alien POPS and SIZZLES as tongues of flame leap up to
lap at it's struggling body -- tiny tail whipping about --
The creature dies, its fading screams are soon the only sound
heard within the barn. The Hysterical Monk holds his fork in
the flame as he looks back to check on --
JOHN
Face contorted, eyes glued to the burning creature. Heaving
lungs push air through his diaphram, but no sound comes from
his open mouth -- The Doctor in training has seen the devil.
EXT. HYSTERICAL MONK'S BARN - NIGHT
Wooden walls collapse inward as the building becomes a pyre.
Acrid black smoke curls up to the ceiling and spreads out
across the rafters...
We pull back from the sight INTO a window. Into
INT. RIPLEY'S ROOM - NIGHT
Ripley, watches the burning barn. Frustrated, she climbs out of
the bed on unsteady legs, wearing her tank top and shorts.
Pulls on a coarse wollen cassock, ties the rope belt --
RIPLEY
Idiots...I'll --
WHAM!
The door BURSTS OPEN --
RIPLEY
What the -?
Four BURLY MONKS rush in and grab her.
TEAR her out of bed --
INT. HALLWAY - NIGHT
Ripley is dragged down the darkened hallway.
ABBOT V.O.
An evil has come to Arceon...
IN THE TRIBUNAL ROOM - NIGHT
As he continues we move down a row of stern Monk faces, ending
at the Abbots...
ABBOT
You heard Brother Graham tell of the
devil inside sheep's wool --
He motions towards the Hysterical Monk, sitting in the crowd.
ABBOT
An evil brought by this woman in her
vessel of technology.
PULL BACK TO REVEAL
A large circular room with wooden walls stretching thirty feet
high. Light creeps in through stained glass windows.
Hundreds of monks sits in a gallery that looms over
the floor of the Tribunal. On the floor:
The Abbot and the five eldest Monks sit at a long table facing
the witness stand. On the stand:
RIPLEY
Considers the faces that surround her. Fear. Hate.
RIPLEY
This can't be happening.
BALD TRIBUNAL MONK
You have no voice in this tribunal.
RIPLEY
You must listen to me! You're all in
terrible danger! It came with me on
the ship --
ABBOT
We know that. At first we believed its
arrival was a good omen. But it has only
brought pestilence. Dead sheep. Dead fish.
BALD TRIBUNAL MONK
Evil.
Ripley turns to the Abbot.
RIPLEY
Yes, the ship brought it. Not evil. It
brought the Alien. I told you, it's here.
ABBOT
We know the name of the evil it brought.
It brought technology. Technology to
destroy our planet, as surely as it
destroyed the Earth.
MONK IN AUDIENCE
Destruction!
RIPLEY
I was on the Earth less than a year ago.
It's still there. People, cities, all
still there!
A murmur through the crowd. Some are listening to her.
The Abbot looks around. He must be in command.
ABBOT
(matter of fact)
All dead.
RIPLEY
(screams)
It's still there!
The Abbot smiles to himself for making her crack.
He stands and begins to pace.
ABBOT
You could not have been on the Earth a
year ago, because there is no Earth to
be on -- for at least twenty years.
RIPLEY
I haven't been floating in space for
twenty years. Let me get to my ship
and I'll prove it.
BALD TRIBUNAL MONK
No. Who knows what new evils she'll
release if allowed back into that
infernal machine.
MONK IN AUDIENCE
No! Don't let her!!
TRIBUNAL MEMBER
This woman is a danger. She denies The
New Dark Age. She denies reality.
RIPLEY
This is reality. There is a Xenomorph
loose on this planetoid - a alien -- it must
have stowed away on my ship -- must have
killed --
(swallows hard)
Newt. Killed the girl I brought with me.
You can't stop it. It goes inside you like
an egg - grows -
(mimes)
Explodes out of you - keeps growing into
some sort of monster. Kills you --
Kills all of you...
She looks at the Medieval people around her.
They stare at her in complete confusion.
To them, she does sound like a madwoman.
RIPLEY
Who are you people? Look at you -- all
of you -- the way you're dressed. This
isn't the Middle Ages. You're in space --
on a artifical planet. What are you
doing out here?
There, in the upper tier -- John. They make eye contact.
She looks to him pleadingly.
RIPLEY
Isn't there anyone here who will
listen?
John looks from Ripley to the Abbot.
The Abbot stares him down.
John turns away.
RIPLEY
(defeated)
I guess not. I can't believe this...
The gavel BANGS.
The Abbot sits in a moment of contemplation.
ABBOT
Then there is no choice.
The Four Monks grab Ripley roughly --
Bind her arms.
ABBOT
(to Ripley)
The evil is inside you. I cast you down.
To be sealed away. And God have mercy on
your soul.
SLAM CUT TO:
THE SHAFT ROOM - DAY
A Medieval elevator shaft. The "elevator" is a wooden cage
lowered on thick, rough hewn ropes.
Ripley, bound, is led to it.
She looks back at the monks who have gathered at the door --
RIPLEY
You won't be able to fight it...
You don't know what it is --!
She's put into the cage. The door is secured.
Two monks begins to pull the ropes. The cage is lifted out over
the abyss -- a vast cavernesque space.
The other Monks move closer. Crowd around the edge --
John pushes through them - right to the edge --
Watches as the cage is slowly lowered down...
Ripley looks directly at John --
RIPLEY
You've sentenced yourselves to
death!
John watches as she disappears down into the darkness...
Then turns and pushes his way through the crowd --
Down the hall --
THE TRIBUNAL ROOM
Empty now except for the Abbot and the Tribunal Members.
They speak in hushed tones.
John appears in the doorway, but pauses -
strains to hear what they are saying:
BALD TRIBUNAL MONK
...they'll have started before she gets
down to the Hermitage level.
ABBOT
No trouble?
BALD TRIBUNAL MONK
Only finding the wood for the ship. But
Anderson's hut was about that big, and
he's dead three months now.
ABBOT
I had that wood earmaked for the Cloister
next winter. Well, we might not get to
the winter if we don't take care of this.
By winter time we can start taking the
penitent cells apart. No one in them.
ANOTHER TRIBUNAL MONK
The wood isn't going to last forever.
ABBOT
Neither are we --
He becomes aware of John's presence, and motions the other
Tribunal members out of the room. John moves to the Abbot.
The Abbot knows what's coming...
ABBOT
Go ahead.
JOHN
This woman. Ripley. I tended her --
ABBOT
Yes, and you did a good job. You
shouldn't feel responsible. You
couldn't have known --
JOHN
Please, sir, let me finish. I feel that
there may be something to what she says.
ABBOT
There isn't.
The Abbot moves to his table, begins to gather up his gavel,
notebook. John follows him --
JOHN
I don't understand what you are doing.
ABBOT
This colony is my responsibility. I am
protecting the colony.
JOHN
From what? This woman? You never gave
her a chance. How can you be so sure
you're right?
ABBOT
A better question is what makes you
think I'm wrong?
JOHN
You didn't see this thing -- this demon --
Brother Graham and I -- we both saw it.
ABBOT
(realizes)
That's right. You both did.
(beat)
And what was it?
JOHN
I -- I don't know what it was. But I
don't think Ripley was a party to it.
ABBOT
She admits she brought it.
JOHN
But she tried to warn us --
ABBOT
You know that's how the devil works.
Deception.
JOHN
But I believe her. I don't know how to
describe it -- A feeling.
ABBOT
You haven't seen a woman in thirty years.
Where does this feeling originate, John?
JOHN
(points to his head)
Here.
Pause.
ABBOT
I believe you. But your feelings are
fooling you.
JOHN
It's - It's her conviction. I just think --
The Abbot snaps at him --
ABBOT
Don't think.
John takes a step back at the Abbot's tone. A tone he's never
heard before. The Abbot runs a hand through his thinning hair.
Forces a smile.
ABBOT
It's been a long night. For all of us.
You really don't understand what you're
dealing with here.
JOHN
That's what she said.
The Abbot chafes.
ABBOT
These are ideas which threaten the very
system we live under. The creature is
dead and the woman is gone. Forget them.
Both. Go read. Go fishing. Go anywhere,
but leave this alone.
JOHN
But I --
ABBOT
Alone. I'll get Philip to let Mattias
into the Library, all right? For your
own good, just stay out of this.
John looks like he's going to protest.
ABBOT
I mean it.
JOHN
(slowly)
Yes, Father.
John turns and leaves the room.
The Abbot stares after him.
INT. PRISON LEVEL - NIGHT
Dark. Dank. Dreary.
A NAIL is hammered into a board. Then another.
The board is old, twisted. The grain is pronounced, splintered.
Another board is lifted into place, a nail held -- BAM-BAM-BAM -
HAMMERED in tight.
TWO ANCIENT WORKERS
Drab, torn gray clothing.
Hammer the boards over the opening in the wall.
Methodically covering up --
RIPLEY
Watching them work.
BAM-BAM-BAM.
Defeated.
ON THE ROOF OF THE ABBEY (INTERCUT)
A dozen Monks frantically hammer planks up around the Sulacco
escape ship - A frame of wood --
begin to wall it in...
IN THE PRISON LEVEL
The two ANCIENT WORKERS continue their carpentry.
The planks cover more of the opening.
BAM-BAM-BAM.
Covers more of Ripley.
BAM-BAM-BAM.
She stares...
ON THE ROOF OF THE ABBEY
Planks are rising around the ship.
Covering it. Locking away the good omen turned evil.
IN THE LIBRARY
John and Mattias sit before an open book.
He doesn't read. He can hear the POUNDING of the hammers.
It seems to reverberate THROUGH the planet.
Through his SKULL.
He closes his eyes in pain.
RIPLEY
Only her face is visible.
Another board.
BAM-BAM-BAM.
Then just her eyes.
Just before the last plank is put in place --
WORKER
Here you go, woman. Something from your
ship. Something to keep you company --
He tosses it into the cell. Ripley catches it.
Watches as the last of the light is covered over.
BAM-BAM...BAM.
She continues to stare at the once open wall as her eyes grow
accustomed to the darkness. The little light creeping between
the planks grows in intensity until it is soon enough to see
what it is she has caught --
NEWT'S DOLL'S HEAD.
Ripley looks around her cell -- actually a narrow space behind
other cells, one wall curved out -- like a narrow slice
crossways towards the edge of the pie.
Looks at the Doll's head in her hand.
A beat.
She FREAKS OUT --!
RIPLEY
You fucking idiots! You're dead!
You're all dead!
BEATS the walls. KICKS.
SMASHES her HEAD against the wall.
Again.
Her nose starts to bleed.
Her hand goes to her nose.
She squints in the darkenss.
Sees the BLOOD.
Tastes the iron taste in her mouth.
Death is with her again.
RIPLEY
(sotto)
Dead...
The "widest" part of her cell, the middle, allows her to slide
down into a sitting position. She does.
RIPLEY
Christ. Jesus Christ. It's here. Here.
Shit. Here. I can't get rid of it...
Looks at the Doll's head --
RIPLEY
Newt. This isn't what I wanted...
She throws the doll's head away --
It bounces off the wall and rolls back to an upright position
so that it is staring at her.
RIPLEY
(snaps)
Don't stare at me!
Beat.
VOICE O/S
Sorry.
Ripley looks down at the base of the wall facing her --
Where it meets the floor, in the rotting timbers:
A HOLE. In it:
A MAN'S FACE
Bright, wrinkled eyes beneath a snowy white crew cut.
He's looking back at her.
ON THE ROOF OF THE MONASTERY - NIGHT
The Sulaco escape pod #4 is now a memory as the Monks have
finished walling it up. Now just another part of the Abbey.
As the Monks move down the thin wooden ladders we follow --
Pass them -- down to an open window and into...
INT. LIBRARY - THE MEDIEVAL SECTION - NIGHT INTO DAWN
John is here, Mattias asleep at his feet.
The tables, the benches, the floor are COVERED with hundreds of
books he's pulled off the shelves, their chains all TANGLED.
All open to --
PICTURES OF DEVILS
Different representations of Evil through the ages --
Lucifer, Shaitan, Ahriman, Asmodeus -- Satan.
"The Temptation of Christ" from the Master of Schloss
Lichtenstein. Satan roasting on an enormous grill from
"Tres riches heures du Duc de Berry."
The devil as a serpent. As a semi-humanoid.
Gruenwald's "Temptation of St. Anthony."
Pacher's "Saint Wolfgang and the Devil."
A miasma of Medieval Monsters.
JOHN
Picks his way through the mess. Like a man possessed he fumbles
through book after book.
The first golden rays of daylight filter through the huge
stained glass windows. John rapidly flips through the Medieval
tome in front of him - past an illustration of Satan depicted
as having a FACE on his ASS -- further still -- then stops.
This is it.
We can't see what the illustration is, but we see his REACTION:
His eyes open wide as saucers. SLAMS the book closed as if the
image would strike blind. He turns to Mattias as if to say
something -- Decides not to wake the sleeping dog.
John wraps the book's chain around his hand and puts one foot
up against the shelf. Pulls -- SPANKT!
The old chain gives way.
Face set, he loops the shoulder strap of his burlap medical bag
over his shoulder. Clutches the book to his chest, gently pets
his sleeping dog and goes...
INT. HALLWAY OUTSIDE ABBOT'S OFFICE - DAY
John strides down the corridor purposefully but stops and
flattens himself against the wall when the door to the Abbot's
office opens suddenly --
BROTHER GRAHAM, The Hysterical Monk, is forcibly led from the
room by two burly Monks, taken down the corridor in the other
direction. He is gagged. A third Burly Monk moves out of the
doorway with the Abbot.
JOHN
Now find John and have him brought to
me immediately.
THIRD BURLY MONK
Yes, Father.
ABBOT
Start in the library. And keep it quiet.
The Third Burly Monk nods and moves off.
The Abbot watches him leave, then goes back into the room and
closes the door. John stares at the closed door a beat and then
makes up his mind. He turns and runs back down the hallway...
INT. GLASS FACTORY - DAY
The first Monks straggle in for the morning shift.
Kyle is among them. He lifts his blowing iron from a wall
mounted rack and moves towards the glass furnace as two
other Monks begin to stoke the fire.
John enters.
Looks around the room and for a frantic moment cannot find --
KYLE
At the glass furnace. About to dip his blowing iron into the
MOLTEN GLASS. John runs over to him.
Almost knocks him over --
KYLE
Hey! Watch it!
He sees that John is agitated --
KYLE
What? What is it?
The other monks begin to notice the commotion, start moving in
for a look...
JOHN
I -- Abbot. Must --
John tries to catch his breath. He gestulates wildly.
Kyle puts down his blowing iron.
KYLE
John - relax. Take a deep breath -
Christ, now I sound like you --
He sees the book clutched in John's white knuckled hands.
KYLE
Is that it, John? Is it the book --?
JOHN
(panting)
Yes. Devil.
Kyle moves closer to him. Cautiously.
John sees the other monks gathering around --
Closing in on him - whispering --
WHISPERING MONKS
He's got it...
SECOND WHISPERING MONK
Like the Comet Woman...
THIRD WHISPERING MONK
He found her...
WHISPERING MONK
He's infected...
John sees one of the Monks run out -- undoubtedly going to tell
the Abbot. John looks into his friend Kyle's face -- Fear.
KYLE
Everything's gonna be fine. Now, let's
see the --
JOHN
Don't humor me -- I'm --
KYLE
Sure. Everything's gonna be fine...
If only he could explain - he can't.
John YANKS the book away -- spins --
Bursts through the crowd...
KYLE
Wait -- JOHN!
INT. SHAFT ROOM - DAY
The cage is still down, the ropes stretching into the abyss.
John runs in. Moves to the ropes. Places the book on the floor.
Tightens his scarred hands on the rope -- Mind racing:
The woman will know. Know what it is. How to combat it.
He PULLS --
There's no tension against the ropes.
John FALLS back on his ass.
The ropes WHIZ through the rusty pulley overhead.
Pile on the floor in front of John.
He lifts the end of the rope. Stares:
BITTEN THROUGH.
CUT TO:
THROUGH THE MONASTERY - SERIES OF SHOTS
John RUNS through the building.
Through the upper half of the planet.
DOWN through the many levels, past dozens of Monks oblivious to
the previous night's events and the danger they face:
Monks working at Looms.
Monks in the Tanning Room.
Monks in Morning Prayer.
Past them all, to --
INT. ABBEY BASEMENT WORKROOM - DAY
Mops and brooms.
John enters. His hair is wild, breathing heavy.
He shoves the book into his medical bag.
Pushes aside a box of kindling wood to reveal a
WOODEN DOOR set into the timbers of the floor.
He opens the door:
LADDERS
Extending down through huge open areas beneath the upper level.
Past vast underground viaducts that held up by wooden rafters.
Beyond that - a great underground sea that marks the center of
the planet - below that, the cells.
And Ripley.
JOHN
Can smell the dank air from the lower tunnels.
He MUST go down -- The hard way.
He climbs into the darkness...
INT. ABBEY LAVATORY - NIGHT
An enormous room, over a football field in length, consisting
of at least a hundred open toilet STALLS facing a hundred wall
mounted SINKS. Their condition, though, bespeaks the awful
truth -
The stalls furthest away from us are COBWEBBED.
Some have had the side walls stripped for fire wood.
Of the original hundred sinks, maybe twenty are still
functional - A facility created for a much larger number of
colonists than are left.
A SKINNY MONK washes his hands.
IN THE STALLS
Moving down the row of stalls (chest high, thank you) past a
few empty stalls and several grimacing faces, the second to
last being The Abbot --
ABBOT
Cold tonight --
-- continuing to the last, Bald Tribunal Member.
BALD TRIBUNAL MEMBER
Gets colder every night.
ABBOT
And every day. Never this bad. Taken
so much wood out of the structure the
surface wind blows right through the
colony. Right under the floor --
The Bald Tribunal Member SHIVERS as a cold breeze runs along the
waste trough under the floor and chills the air in his bowl.
BALD TRIBUNAL MEMBER
Right up your bloody backside. Nights
like this make me miss plumbing --
Ack --!
He feels a TUGGING at his bowels - it's not piles.
A beat.
ABBOT O/S
What?
BALD TRIBUNAL MONK
I don't -- AAH --
The Bald Tribunal Monk SCREAMS as something GRABS him from
below --
(note: the left half of the following 5 pages is cut off.
I have completed the text to the best of my ability.)
Something SNAKES up his rectum and hooks into his lower intestine!
He convulses in spasms of agony.
There is a terrible RIPPING SOUND as the Bald Tribunal Monk is
PULLED VIOLENTLY down -- out of frame --
We PAN BACK down the row of stalls tight on each sitting Monk
and see their HORRIFIED REACTION as they feel the ALIEN drag the
Bald Tribunal Monk's body away under them...
THE ABBOT in his stall
He pounds on the wall --
ABBOT
Matthew? Matthew? Jesus, what's wrong?
SKINNY MONK washing his hands, sees all this. Looses control
of his bodily functions as blood sprays from the faucet --
OTHER MONKS
In their stalls as the toilets reject a torrent of gore!
Blood and viscera spraying the walls -- converting the Abbey
into an abattoir.
CUT TO:
SPACE
Angle on the Orbitor Arceon:
An orb of wood hands peacefully against a tapestry of celestial
seas.
RIPLEY V.O.
Death...
INT. RIPLEY'S CELL - NIGHT
Darkness. Somewhere water drips into a puddle.
Ripley lays on her side on the floor with her head resting
near the hole in the floor. Her eyes are closed.
RIPLEY
Wherever I go.
A HAND pushes a crust of bread through the hole.
She opens her eyes to look at the food. The White-Haired Man's
head appears --
WHITE-HAIRED MAN
Take it.
RIPLEY
Thanks, but no thanks, Anthony.
She knows his name.
ANTHONY
You waiting for meat? They don't bring
me meat because they know I'm an android.
Really don't need it. Bread's better
for you anyway. Harder to digest, so
it makes you feel fuller than you are.
RIPLEY
Not hungry.
Anthony takes a bite.
ANTHONY
Mmmm. Just a little crunchy.
Ripley twists onto her back until she's staring up at the
ceiling.
RIPLEY
Waste of time.
ANTHONY
You don't eat, you'll starve to death,
girl.
RIPLEY
That was the plan when they put me down
here. And why should you care?
ANTHONY
Because I'm a synthetic person you don't
think I can care?
RIPLEY
Believe me, that's a discussion you don't
want to have with me.
ANTHONY
You told me you had a bad experience and
a good one with androids --
RIPLEY
That's one of each. That means you could
go either way. I'm tired of talking about
this.
He pushes the bread towards her again.
ANTHONY
You've still gotta eat. You gotta fight
the bastards --
RIPLEY
I'm tired of fighting. Maybe I'll be
dead before he finds me. Maybe he won't
get the satisfaction.
ANTHONY
He? You make it sound like this Alien
has a personal score to settle with you.
The biology you describe: Queen laying
eggs, larvae, drone -- that's very
insectoid. Insects usually don't bear
grudges.
RIPLEY
And Androids usually aren't the prisoners
of lunatics that believe they're ancient
Greeks.
ANTHONY
Medieval Monks.
RIPLEY
Whatever.
ANTHONY
And they've only chose to live the life
style, they don't believe they're --
(hears something)
What's that?
Ripley strains to listen. In the distance:
KNOCKING. Someone is knocking on the walls.
A VOICE calls out --
INT. PRISON LEVEL CORRIDOR - NIGHT
JOHN
(hoarse)
Ripley!
He moves down the hallway.
BANGS his fist against the walls every few feet --
Waits a moment for a reply, then moves on.
INT. ANTHONY'S CELL
Anthony gets off the floor - Moves so she can see into his cell:
The walls of Anthony's cell are covered with charcoal sketches -
Different versions of demons and the devil. She rolls her eyes -
This guy is an Android!
Anthony crosses to his cell door, peers through eye level.
INT. PRISON LEVEL CORRIDOR HALLWAY - ANTHONY POV
John coming towards him, knocking on the doors of boarded up cells.
ANTHONY
Hey -- you knocking -- cut it out --
You're going to wake everybody up.
John moves to Anthony's door. Looks at him through the slot.
Anthony recognizes him.
ANTHONY
Brother John?
John unbolts Anthony's door.
Picks him up by his cassock --
JOHN
Anthony? Thought you dead fifteen years.
ANTHONY
Made too good for that. What're
you doing?
JOHN
I -- I'm looking -- the Abbot --
ANTHONY
What? You look like you've seen the
devil.
RIPLEY O/S
He has.
Anthony turns to look back at Ripley -- moves aside so John can
see her face at the hole --
ANTHONY
You mean he --
Anthony turns back - John is gone.
INT. THE CORRIDOR
As John begins to PULL the outermosk planks off.
RIPLEY
I was right, wasn't I? You've seen it,
you've seen the Alien?
John pauses at that.
His eyes tighten at the memory.
RIPLEY
I can tell you have. I was right.
It came with me.
(to the wall, sharp)
Go away.
John stops. Looks at the wall.
Ripley's voice comes clearly through the wood...
RIPLEY
Listen, priest, or whatever you are, I
know what you want. I can't help you.
I couldn't help any of the others.
Just stop what you're doing. Go away.
Do you understand?
John has opened a crack that exposes Ripley's eyes.
He stares at her a beat, tries to think of what to reply --
He goes back to work as she continues her confession...
RIPLEY
You going to stay, Father? But you're
not going to talk. Okay. Then you can
listen. You should listen. Your Abbot
was right. I am guilty. But not of
heresy. Of murder.
John stops again.
Just stares at her eyes.
RIPLEY
The murder of the crew of the Nostromo.
That was when I first met the Alien.
That reminds him of why he's here.
He doubles his efforts at the boards...
RIPLEY
No, not the same one that's here now.
Or maybe it is. Maybe they're all the
same one. I couldn't save my crew then.
I should have been able to. But I couldn't.
When I went the second time --
Her eyes soften.
RIPLEY
Then I met Newt. Newt. I fought --
stayed alive to keep Newt alive.
Hoped maybe that would make up for...
She trails off. Slides down the wall.
RIPLEY
Now he got her too. What's the point?
(hard again)
Just go away. Leave me in here. If you
let me out you'll want me to help you
and it will start all over again.
Let it end.
John breaks through, flickering torch light streams in the mote
filled air around him. Ripley looks up at him.
RIPLEY
I can't help you.
John, heaving and panting from the excertion.
Swallows...
JOHN
Puh. (pant) Please.
RIPLEY
It never ends.
INT. CORRIDOR - PRISON LEVEL - NIGHT
A long, twisted-plank-floored corridor with a torch every
twenty feet. There is MOVEMENT at the far end. Something is
coming towards us - FLICKERING in and out of the light and
shadow --
RIPLEY O/S
Sheep?
RIPLEY, JOHN AND ANTHONY
Running together. Anthony carries a long wooden staff like a
spear. John has his bag. Ripley a torch.
We move with them.
ANTHONY
It must be able to take on some of the
characteristics of the animal it grows in.
Maybe they are from some sort of aggressive
soldier race -- warring parties drop the
eggs on opposing planets --
RIPLEY
And the alien takes on the form of the
creature that finds it, assuming that
animal is the dominant life form on the
planet. So when it gestates in a man --
Ripley shudders at the memory.
ANTHONY
It's a biped. In a sheep or cow, a quadroped.
RIPLEY
Shit. I just didn't think it could do that
to animals.
JOHN
Wait a minute - I thought you were the
expert on this monster.
RIPLEY
Is that the only reason you came to get
me out? Because I knew about this thing?
JOHN
Yes. I mean no. I mean, that was part of
it. Look. I never thought you were wrong.
I was wrong not to say anything. I was
afraid to speak up. It's hard to be a
monk, you know?
Ripley stops. Looks at him.
A long beat.
RIPLEY
Thank you. If anything, you're honest.
JOHN
We all are. Took vows.
RIPLEY
I don't know about the Abbot.
JOHN
I'm sure he thinks what he did was right.
RIPLEY
Is that speaking up for someone?
JOHN
No. Charity.
She smiles. They turn a corner...
INT. SLOPING CORRIDOR - NIGHT
This hallway slopes downwards a few degrees. The three find
themselves trotting, leaning backward to keep their balance.
RIPLEY
All right, let's forget about the past
and get on to our survival. No more
prisoners behind us?
ANTHONY
Not for years.
RIPLEY
Okay -- If the Alien's had a few days
to lay his eggs our only hope is to get
off this - What is this?
JOHN
Arceon.
ANTHONY
Satellite.
RIPLEY
Get to my ship and get off this Satellite.
JOHN
We can't.
RIPLEY
We can't what?
JOHN
Leave Arceon. Can't leave the library --
RIPLEY
A Tape Library?
JOHN
Books.
RIPLEY
So?
JOHN
The reason we are out here. Like the
Monks who guarded Monastery Libraries
on remote islands off England during
the First Plague --
RIPLEY
There must be books on other colonies --
JOHN
Some of these books survived the burning
of the Libraries of Alexandria. They
contain knowledge that exists in no
other record. Their value is unestimable.
He runs his hand along the spine of the book in his bag.
JOHN
We're supposed to protect them.
RIPLEY
(to Anthony)
And what does an android have to do
with all this?
JOHN
He's a spy.
ANTHONY
The Company planted me here.
RIPLEY
The Company? What does the Company have
to do with this?
ANTHONY
They built this prison.
RIPLEY
Prison?
JOHN
Colony.
ANTHONY
Prison. They are all political heretics.
Ripley looks at John.
RIPLEY
You left that part out.
JOHN
The order was more of a counter culture,
a reaction to the Technology that was
beginning to take over everyone's lives.
It was a simple enough idea - Read, don't
watch disk. Walk, don't pump more carbons
into the air. The earliest members
renounced technology. Started to collect
the remaining books. Nobody would have
noticed if it hadn't been for the Virus.
RIPLEY
Your Abbot talked about that. The
New Plague.
ANTHONY
A computer virus. A bad program. By
this time the Corporate structure was
transglobal, all the world's data storage
systems were linked. It spread through
two countries before it was stopped.
JOHN
After a scare like that, thousands flocked
to our retreat. People started clamoring
for written information. For our books.
They abandoned the modern ways --
RIPLEY
I think I can see how this comes out.
They gave up their possessions.
ANTHONY
This was a threat --
RIPLEY
To the Company.
JOHN
They sold the technology. A movement
to live simply was quickly twisted by
Federal agents into a political movement
against the Company-controlled World
Government. Too much was at stake.
RIPLEY
Too much profit.
JOHN
We were sentenced as political dissidents.
This orbiter is our gulag. All the men
were packed up with all our books, and
towed into space. Ten thousand men. The
eldest died very quickly.
RIPLEY
The Company had such a sense of irony.
Sending you out on this wooden tub.
ANTHONY
I was placed among them as a sensor.
Keeps tabs on the movement.
RIPLEY
So how'd they find out about you?
ANTHONY
I told them. After the supply ship's
stopped coming I saw no point in keeping
up the charade. Since I was a sort of
walking reminder of technology, they cast
me down.
RIPLEY
Join the club.
(to John)
I figured this wasn't planned. You don't
have to be a genius to see it wouldn't be
prudent to try to preserve man's written
works for generations -- without women.
John looks embarrassed.
RIPLEY
And I don't know about your New Plague,
but I was just on Earth and everything's
fine.
John has a doubtful look.
RIPLEY
I was right about the Alien, wasn't I?
Means I must be right about the Earth.
The logic behind her argument is uncomfortable.
JOHN
(beat)
Perhaps.
RIPLEY
That's better than nothing. Come on.
They reach the end of the corridor.
It opens into --
INT. TRANSOM SPACE - PRISON LEVEL
An enormous open space between "cell blocks."
The Wall behind them is honey-combed with corridor openings
going up four stories, connected by aged, warped wooden ladders
reminiscent of Indian cave dwellings. Only wooden.
The room stretches several football field lengths ahead of them
-- falling off into gloom.
They stand silent for a moment, dwarfed by the size of the room
and the task ahead of them. Finally --
RIPLEY
At any rate, let's forget about the
Earth completely - whether you're right
or I'm right what's important is getting
the hell out of here. From here my ship
is...?
John points up at the ceiling.
ANTHONY
In Heaven.
RIPLEY
Right. And this is...
Anthony and John nod.
ANTHONY
This orbiter was patterned after a
medieval concept of the universe --
(makes a circle in the air)
They call the top half "Heaven - "
JOHN
The Abbey, the fields --
ANTHONY
The bottom half is "Hell." Where we are.
RIPLEY
Aptly named. What's in the middle?
JOHN
The sea.
ANTHONY
Really.
RIPLEY
Work with me here. How far is it back
to the surface of the planet?
JOHN
As a stone falls --- Five miles through
the center.
RIPLEY
And the elevator -- the thing they
lowered me down in?
JOHN
Ropes cut.
ANTHONY
It's smart. First he cuts their escape
off, then works his way down through the
monastery level by level until there
isn't a thing left alive. Interesting...
RIPLEY
Well, you start appreciating him more
than me and I'll find a way to shut
you down, capisce, Andy? How do we
get up?
JOHN
There are ladders.
She stops. John and Anthony continue on a few steps and then
stop and walk back to her.
RIPLEY
Five miles with the Alien between us
and there? Good luck, boys.
She turns and heads back towards her cell --
John catches her shoulder --
JOHN
You can't --
RIPLEY
Can't what? Not help you go to your
deaths? I've had my fill of that.
JOHN
I need you. I can't do it alone.
RIPLEY
I've fought these creatures twice
before. It take a lot to kill
these things. Heavy artillery.
ANTHONY
We don't have weapons here.
RIPLEY
How about something we can make weapons
from? Do you have anything like that --
any modern things here?
John SHAKES his head vehemently --
JOHN
We renounced technology. It was those
things that caused the Plague.
RIPLEY
This is a man-made planet. Something has
to be recirculating your air, your water.
JOHN
God?
RIPLEY
Please.
JOHN
I don't know. I just took it for granted.
RIPLEY
Most people do. Without some sort of
technology we haven't got a chance.
From behind them:
ANTHONY
There is technology.
John and Ripley turn to look at him.
ANTHONY
A room. A Technology room. Fresh air
and water come out.
RIPLEY
An atmosphere processing plant --
ANTHONY
The heart and lungs of Arceon.
RIPLEY
Where is it?
ANTHONY
One level beneath the underground sea.
JOHN
That's five levels up --
ANTHONY
(points into the gloom)
On the other side of the orbiter.
John looks at Ripley --
JOHN
A chance.
Ripley looks from John's earnest face to the darkness and back.
RIPLEY
All right. You've got me - so far.
But here's the deal: I don't know
how many of your brethren are going
to be alive when we get up there,
but if we make it to my ship, you're
all coming with me. We'll take as
many of your precious books as we
can carry, but we're going. I'm not
going to fight this thing again to
end up alone again. Understand?
John nods his head.
RIPLEY
We're all dead anyway. We might as
well go fi --
She feels a TWINGE in her midsection --
Doubles over. Anthony and John each take an arm --
RIPLEY
Ugh - I'm all right.
She takes a deep breath.
RIPLEY
Still thawing out. I hate hyper sleep...
Come on.
CUT TO:
INT. ARCEON - MONASTERY LEVEL - NIGHT
The formerly idyllic landscape has been reduced to a scorched
battlefield. Wooden huts leveled. Small fires dot the land.
The air thick with ash and greasy smoke.
DOZENS OF MONKS swarm across the countryside like ants on a
mound of spilt sugar. In one hand a taper or torch held high,
in the other hand their WEAPON: scythe, pitchfork, hoe,
whatever they could get ahold of, seem pitifully out of place.
Some pound sharpened stakes into the ground, others push carts
into rough barricades.
A "Platoon" of Monks huddle around trap doors open on the
wooden "ground." More ladders.
They climb down to --
AN UNDERGROUND WHEAT FIELD - NIGHT
Just beneath the Monastery level of the satellite: an
Underground Wheatfield. Tall golden grass stretches out for
miles, swaying gently around huge wooden columns that support
the Abbey fifty feet above --
THE CEILING
A lattice-work of suspended troughs and wooden pipes --
the "plumbing," the understructure, of the Monastery.
THE MONKS
Descend the ladders single file. Fear is in all of their faces
though most have only heard the stories. They move cautiously
into the wheat. Spread out through the field in the jaggedly
drawn skirmish line.
THE ABBOT
The Bald Tribunal Monk's dried blood splattered on his cassock,
stands atop an empty wooden wagon. From this vantage point he
watches
THE MONKS IN THE FIELD
THRASH and POKE their way forward leaving trails through the
high grass. Their attempt at an orderly progression quickly
falls apart as they get strung out all over the field.
ABBOT
(sotto)
Stay together. Together...
Then another movement catches the Abbot's eye --
AHEAD of the Monks - the wheat waves against the wind.
Begins to ripple -- the wheat flattens.
a TRAIL forms.
SomeTHING is MOVING in the long grass.
Moving towards the Lead Monk -- FAST.
The Abbot opens his mouth as if to shout a warning - even
though the Monk closest to the moving trail is too far away to
hear him - before he can make a sound The Alien closes the gap -
Feeling horribly helpless he can only watch as
AARGH-Aa -!
The Lead Monk gives one strangled CRY before he disappears
beneath the surface of the long grass. His taper falls
among the long, dry stalks -- begins to SMOKE...
The Abbot can see the trail moving towards his men before they
can. He finds his voice:
ABBOT
Run! RUN!
The Monks in the field turn from the spot where the Monk
screamed towards the Abbot -- TURN THEIR BACKS to the now
moving again trail --
ABBOT
No - NO. The --
The Alien hits the skirmish line at a flanking angle --
RAKING through five Monks like a scythe through wheat.
His tail, arms WHIP out --
SNAP their spines like kindling.
Lost torches ignite the wheat...
The field BURSTS INTO FLAME.
Smoke fills the air.
In the smoky commotion the Monks break rank and start running.
Weapons in front of them -- SWINGING wildly --
Screaming. Crying. DYING.
One Frightened Monk runs through another with his pitchfork.
Another hears something crashing through the grass towards
him and buries his scythe in his best friend's chest.
And through it all the Alien seems to be everywhere.
Using the chalky smoke for cover as it SLASHES and TEARS its way
across the field --
THE ABBOT
Frozen in terror to the spot. Squints through the smoke to see
what has happened to his flock. Hears the WAILS of defeat
rising up from the wounded.
The waving grass is flattened as The Alien moves towards him --
He can finally pry himself from his perch on the wagon.
He climbs down. As his feet hit the wooden floor he feels a
shadow fall over him. The little hairs on the back of his neck
stand up. He slowly turns...
THE ALIEN
Rises out of the grass in front of the Holy Man.
Slowly rises up to its height of almost three meters.
It's long, smooth head is no longer black and slimy.
It is golden.
It's cable-like arms are sheathed in a straw-like covering.
It has adapted to the environment of the wheat field. Its now
grass-like lips draw back into a ghastly parody of a smile.
The Abbot SCREAMS and RUNS.
JOHN O/S
It isn't your fault, you know.
INT. TRANSOM SPACE - SERIES OF SHOTS
They move across the huge room...Anthony a few paces ahead.
Their candles throwing only enough light to see several yards.
Wind whistles through the huge room, timbers creaking like some
gigantic old house settling.
RIPLEY
What?
JOHN
Those things you said before --
Ripley remembers her "confession."
JOHN
I read about it in psychology books.
Sometimes when people outlive someone
they cared for, they transfer some of
the guilt for that person's death to
themselves.
RIPLEY
I got a belly full of that from the
Psychtechs when I was on Earth. Yeah.
"Survivor Guilt syndrome," or something
like that. But that's not what I was
thinking about. I was thinking about
my "friend" up there.
She looks up.
RIPLEY
He was on the pod. He killed Newt but
not me. Why not me? It's almost like
he's playing with me. Maybe they have
some sort of race memory. Maybe he
knows what I did to his "mother."
That's why he didn't just kill me.
That would be too easy. He has to
torment me.
JOHN
You make it sound human.
RIPLEY
Hell, I don't know what it is.
John unconsiously fingers his book.
JOHN
I think I do.
INT. LADDER-WELL - PRISON LEVEL - NIGHT
At the end of the space a rough hewn wooden ladder leads to
another block of cell corridors four stories up.
Years of damp air have warped the ladder.
Ripley leads the way, torch in her left hand.
They climb...
INT. END OF PRISON CORRIDOR - FOURTH LEVEL - NIGHT
Dark. Ripley is the first one up.
She raises her torch and heads down the new corridor alone.
The cells here have no doors.
She holds her torch in one --
An old skeleton sits in quiet contemplation.
AT THE LADDER
John is just climbing off, Anthony right behind him.
Anthony is winded. He reaches up for a helping hand.
John looks back and sees that Ripley has moved ahead without
them, then reaches down to help Anthony.
Their hands clasp --
ANTHONY HAS A "VISION"
He is seemingly standing in an open field, sheep grazing
peacefully at his side.
SUDDENLY he is ATTACKED by a horde of Medieval demons.
Fish faced demons. Man-headed bird demons.
They fly about him, grab hold of his limbs.
The Sheep nearest him opens it's mouth to reveal a horde of
razor sharp fangs, SINKS THEM INTO HIS ANKLE --
Anthony SCREAMS -!
RIPLEY
Down the corridor HEARS the scream, turns back -- sees Anthony
fighting with himself, struggling against John's grasp -
ANTHONY
Balanced precariously on the top of the ladder in the real
world as he fights against the demons in his android mind --
He JERKS --
Pulls his left ankle out of the grasp of the DEMON SHEEP --
OFF the ladder - forty foot drop waiting below him...
JOHN
Struggles to keep his death grip on Anthony's hand.
It's all that keeps Anthony from falling back down the shaft --
JOHN
Jesus Christ. Ripleeeee -!
He PULLS with all his might...
ANTHONY
SEES a horrible BIRD-DEMON grasping his hand in its beak --
BITING through his wrist. He waves his staff in the air --
He aims for its head:
CRACK -!
WHACKS John's hand with his staff --
John HOWLS in pain - LETS GO --
Anthony TEETERS BACK ON ONE FOOT, arms waving in the air --
Ripley's hands SHOOT OUT --
GRAB Anthony's cassock --
STOP his fall.
Anthony's eyes open wide at the sight of this new horror --
A terrible, wet, black cable-armed CREATURE that's latched
itself onto his cassock -- Long, shiny head.
Ripley has become the Alien.
WHACK!
Anthony HITS the Creature with his staff --
HITS Ripley on the head.
WHACK!
Again. In the face.
John tries to take hold of Anthony's staff arm --
WHACK!
The cane WHIPS against the side of his head, knocking him back.
Ripley sets her feet and pulls on Anthony's cassock --
Opens her mouth - GRUNTS --
ANTHONY sees the terrible Alien open it's maw to devour him.
WHACK!
His staff connects with the bridge of Ripley's nose.
She sees flashes of light -- loses her balance --
Pitches forward, starts to go over with Anthony --
JOHN GRABS THEM!
Wraps his arms around the struggling pair and like a sumo
wrestler LIFTS and FALLS backwards - carrying the three of them
into the corridor -- WHUMPH!
They land on the floor in a heap.
Anthony continues to FLAIL ABOUT --
Ripley and John pin him to the floor between them.
Finally, the vision leaves him.
He loses consciousness.
JOHN
Breathing heavy - opens his eyes --
He's staring right into Ripley's face.
Less than an inch away.
He's laying on top of her.
She's breathing heavy too.
A long, uncomfortable moment.
RIPLEY
Thanks.
JOHN
You're welcome.
They roll off each other.
Her hand goes up to her nose.
Blood.
RIPLEY
I'm all right.
John reaches into his bag, withdraws a small cotton bag.
JOHN
Hold this against your nose. It'll
stop the flow.
She looks over at him questioningly.
JOHN
I'm a doctor.
She holds the small bag against her nose. The bleeding stops.
They move over to Anthony - try to help him to his feet.
He shakes them off.
ANTHONY
No - please. Just let me sit.
Awhile.
He rubs his temples. White, milk-like sweat runs down his
cheek.
ANTHONY
Damn it.
RIPLEY
What was that?
ANTHONY
The reason I'm down here.
John points to his own eyes.
JOHN
Visions.
ANTHONY
Dreams.
RIPLEY
Androids can't dream...
ANTHONY
That's probably what they thought when
they built me. But my brain is cyber-
organic - patterned after the human
brain - it functions the same way a
human brain does. It accumulates random
images and sensations during waking
hours, but unlike the human brain that
sloughs them off during sleep --
RIPLEY
Androids don't sleep.
ANTHONY
Right. Maybe they've fixed this on later
models, but I don't. Do you know what
happens to the human brain when it is
deprived of sleep? It starts to run off
the dreams while you're awake, as
hallucinations. Same thing with me.
For twenty years I absorbed data on this
planetoid. A little after we lost contact
with Earth the visions started. They
thought I was insane. I had to explain
that it was because I was an android.
They liked that even less.
RIPLEY
What did you see?
ANTHONY
What I always see. Images of Monsters.
Demons.
JOHN
They're portents. They stand for an
evil yet to come.
ANTHONY
Just images I've absorbed from those old
books and have no way to get rid of.
RIPLEY
I saw the inside of your cell.
ANTHONY
(shrugs)
My head is full of them. I try to get
them out any way I can.
His eyelids droop.
JOHN
You need sleep.
ANTHONY
I know that. I'll settle for rest.
He closes his eyes. Ripley recovers the torch.
RIPLEY
Stay with him.
Ripley tried to stand - John takes her arm, pulls her down.
JOHN
No. We all need rest. You especially.
Ripley considers him.
JOHN
Doctor's orders.
She smiles and sits.
JOHN
Besides, you see what happens when you
get ahead of us. We should stay together.
RIPLEY
All right. He's still above us, anyway.
JOHN
What do you mean?
RIPLEY
I've faced this evil twice before - I
guess I've gotten sensitive to it --
(beat)
You're really a Doctor?
John pats his canvas bag.
JOHN
See my bag?
RIPLEY
What's that book?
JOHN
Just a book.
RIPLEY
I don't buy "just a book" from a guy who
says we can't leave the planet without
the library.
JOHN
It's just... a medical book I might need.
RIPLEY
You don't have any food in there, do you?
JOHN
Only if you can eat bandages.
Ripley rubs her midsection.
RIPLEY
In a few hours that's going to sound
good. Going in and out of suspended
animation - Christ I probably haven't
eaten in a year.
ANTHONY
(without opening eyes)
You should've eaten the bread.
RIPLEY AND JOHN
Rest!
Ripley lets her head loll back against the wall.
Closes her eyes. Time passes.
Her brow knits.
John sees this.
JOHN
You all right?
RIPLEY
Aces.
JOHN
You weren't hurt when I landed on you?
Bruised a rib?
He reaches over and puts his hands beneath her cassock.
Feels her midsection. His hands are warm.
RIPLEY
Are you sure you're a doctor?
He withdraws his hands.
JOHN
Sort of. My father passed on when we
first came here. The Abbey's Physician -
Father Anselm - took me in. He really
raised me --
(pause)
Taught me what he could before he
passed away. He was schooled on Earth.
RIPLEY
Well, I'm just hungry.
JOHN
You haven't eaten since I took you
out of your tube.
RIPLEY
You did that...
She reaches out and takes hold of his hands. Turns them over.
RIPLEY
You burned yourself on the escape pod.
Her hands on his makes him feel...uncomfortable.
RIPLEY
Thank you, I guess.
They look into each other's eyes --
ANTHONY O/S
You should've eaten the bread.
Ripley, embarrassed, releases his hands.
Looks at Anthony. He's trying to stand.
ANTHONY
Enough rest. There's beasties afoot.
They start into...
A NARROW CORRIDOR
Ceiling so low their torches must be held out in front of them.
Ripley makes an effort not to move faster than the two monks.
INT. LADDER SHAFT
A great long ladder hanging in the middle of nowhere.
Seems at least a mile long.
The group climbs...
A SERPENTINE CORRIDOR
Liquid drips through the ceiling planks over head.
Falls into RED puddles on the slanted floor.
John kneels, dips his fingertips --
JOHN
Blood.
(sniffs)
Mixed with sea water.
ANTHONY
We're getting close to the center of
the arc -- near the sea.
RIPLEY
Blood.
JOHN
Getting close...
John HEARS somthing.
Raises his hand -- "stop"
The group stops. Flatten themselves against the wall.
John takes Anthony's staff.
Moves forward with it held out in front of him...
WHIRLS around a blind corner --
SHOVES something against the wall --
Thump!
It struggles --
Ripley and Anthony run up -- raise their tapers --
Revealing:
RIPLEY
The Abbot.
Cassock torn, dirty. Hair, eyes wild.
Anthony's staff across his throat.
John pulls back.
JOHN
Father --
RIPLEY
(sarcastic)
What are you doing down here, father?
You look like you've seen something
that doesn't exist.
The Abbot runs his fingers through his hair. Smoothes it down.
ABBOT
I was their spiritual leader. I was not
prepared to lead them in battle.
Not against that thing.
JOHN
No one could be.
RIPLEY
I thought you said the evil was inside
me -- that sealing me up was the answer
to all your problems?
ABBOT
Destruction. The destruction YOU brought
to us!
RIPLEY
I only tried to warn you.
ABBOT
What are you doing with this woman --?
JOHN
We are going to the Technology Room.
Trying to find some way to fight --
ABBOT
You don't join the devil to fight the
devil.
ANTHONY
She's helping us --
ABBOT
Look who defends the deceiver -- the one
who isn't even human. John, can't you see
what is happening? On ancient Earth,
during the Black Death - many believed
that God had abandoned them, so they
appealed to the Devil. Flocked to him
hoping to save their bodies - losing their
souls in the bargain.
RIPLEY
Father, we're all on the run from the
same monster so let's not resort to the
fire and brimstone routine. I've been
enlightened about your "movement."
Pretty funny to be tried for heresy on a
planet of heretics.
JOHN
Please.
The time for pretense is past.
ABBOT
All right. I was trying to keep you quiet.
JOHN
Sir --?
ABBOT
I do what I have to do to keep the
Brotherhood together. We all gave up
believing in Earth a long time ago. How
do you think they would feel if told
their exiled was in vain? That the
holocaust they were trying to avoid
never occured? Those men up there have
grown to live with it.
RIPLEY
And with you as their leader.
The Abbot smiles. Ripley is sharp.
ABBOT
You threatened the status quo.
RIPLEY
So you, protector of knowledge and truth,
lied to them.
ABBOT
Only about you. The rest I still
believe. If Earth still orbits its sun
there is no way it could have survived
being reduced to Barbarism.
RIPLEY
You're as bad as the Company.
JOHN
Ripley --
RIPLEY
That's why you ran. After all your talk
death stared you in the face and you
were afraid.
ABBOT
Not afraid of death.
RIPLEY
The Alien.
ANTHONY
The Organism.
ABBOT
The Devil.
INT. TECHNOLOGY ROOM CORRIDOR
The now four refugees work their way into the final corridor.
Dark. Turns at sharp angles. Blind alleys.
The floor is uneven, wood aged and twisted.
Warped by years of water dripping from above.
The group strings out as it moves into the darkness, candles
held high...
ANTHONY
Bringing up the rear, puts his walking stick down --
SNAPP!!!
Everybody stops at the sound.
ABBOT
What was that?
Anthony pulls his stick from the grasp of a--
ANTHONY
Man trap.
They lower their candles. Look to:
THE FLOOR
Interspersed throughout the timbers --
Spring jawed, steel toothed, BEAR TRAPS.
Rusted. Open. And all around them.
ANTHONY
In case anyone tried to get in and
tamper with the technology.
The four of them are standing in the middle of a mine-field of
man traps. Nobody moves.
ABBOT
What do we do?
RIPLEY
Don't move. Don't breath.
ABBOT
We can't just stand here and wait.
RIPLEY
Floor's too unstable to try to walk
around them.
John pulls a loose board from the corridor wall.
Turns and kneels at the trap in front of him.
Pokes the end of the board into the jaws...
SNAP!!
The others jump at the sound --
ABBOT
John - what are you doing?
John pulls the stick out of the rusted jaws.
Moves to the next trap --
Snap!!
RIPLEY
He's thinking like a leader. Everyone:
Grab wood. Spring the traps. Clear a path.
(proud of him)
Good work, Father John.
JOHN
Brother.
RIPLEY
Brother. Let's go.
Ripley pulls a plank from the wall next to her.
Exposes a bit of the surface underneath --
It's METAL.
She touches the cool, familiar material. Smiles.
Now she knows this is not a dream.
She turns and SPRINGS the trap in front of her --
SNAP!!
THE FOUR
Slowly make their way down the corridor, one hand holding a
candle high, the other poking a piece of wood into the trap in
front of them... SNAP-SNAP...SNAP. SNAP.
walking carefully around the yet unfired traps....
THE DOOR TO THE TECHNOLOGY ROOM
A huge wooden door with no knob or handle. Looks like it could
almost be part of the wall. John and Ripley are the first to
it. They put down their planks and begin to feel around the
edges of the door for some purchase.
The Abbot joins them.
BACK IN THE CORRIDOR
Anthony lags behind. He senses a presence in the hallway.
Hears a sound behind him.
We see a GLIMPSE of something --
He turns towards the sound --
Empty hallway.
He thinks. Starts forward again -- with his ear cocked to the
rear... SNAP!
AT THE DOOR
Ripley, John and The Abbot knock on the door, walls.
Ripley leans her head against the wall in frustration and
exhaustion. To get this far, and be locked out.
She feels sick to her stomach.
How long since she had food?
She looks over at John.
He is staring at her.
He turns red at being caught. Cute.
JOHN
I just - are you allright?
RIPLEY
Tied. Without sleep, food -- I just
feel my age.
(smiles)
Figuring hyperspace time, I'm almost a
hundred.
She wipes her brow and goes back to knocking...
JOHN
Hello?
The wall beneath his fist sounds hollow.
Fingernails find the edge of the plank and pull --
The plank slides aside on tiny, rusty pneumatic pistons.
BEHIND THE PLANK
A primitive KEYBOARD. Circa late twentieth century.
JOHN
I think this is it.
Ripley and the Abbot move over to see.
ABBOT
Technology.
RIPLEY
Yeah - a hundred years ago. An antique.
ABBOT
(to Ripley)
Go ahead.
RIPLEY
Go ahead and what?
ABBOT
Open the door, woman.
RIPLEY
I'll get to it, but listen to me --
you may dress like you're living in
the middle ages but you can't treat
me like your chambermaid, or whatever
Monks had.
UP THE HALL - ANTHONY
Hears the sound again. Turns.
Nothing again.
He pauses... Turns back quickly --
The wooden wall MOVES - steps forward --
THE ALIEN
Adapted itself to look like WOOD.
It's body changes -- transmutes -- Cable-like sinew snaking
over grained limbs to approximate the more traditional bio-
mechnoid alien appearance...!
ANTHONY POV
The weary android sees the Alien as a conglommoration of his
many Medieval images of demons. He hears the Alien's hollow,
raspy breath. It glides towards him...
Anthony steps back directly INTO A TRAP as his mind goes --
SNAP!!
The STEEL JAWS spring shut on his left ankle.
Milky blood-fluid starts to flow.
He finds himself in the same predicament as his vision --
Ankle pinned, the Alien's appendages circling him --
He screams. AAAAAAAAAAAARGH --!
AT THE DOOR
Ripley is trying to work. She punches numbers into the keyboard.
She is too exhausted to see straight.
They HEAR the scream --
John RUNS back --
Traps SNAPPING around him --
Ripley turns towards the sound --
The Abbot pushes her back to the keyboard --
ABBOT
OPEN IT!!
Ripley knits her brows. Forces herself to focus.
Her fingers punch the keys.
THE ALIEN
Steps towards Anthony --
Snap-snap-SNAP-AP-!!
Traps snap closed on its tail, its legs --
HALFWAY DOWN THE HALL - JOHN
SNAP!!
His cassock is snagged in a trap.
He TEARS right out of it --
AT THE END OF THE HALL
Anthony is in the clutches of the Alien.
He WHACKS at the Beast with his staff, but his blows fall like
drops of rain on an elephant.
The Alien LIFTS him up to face him. Anthony SCREAMS as his left
leg is stretched agsinst the tension of the trap's chain --
Blood pouring as white ribbons from his almost severed ankle.
FACE TO FACE WITH THE ALIEN
Anthony drops his staff and grabs each of the alien's arms with
his own android arms. His extra-human strength keeps them from
squeezing him any tighter, but he cannot avert his gaze from
the smooth, eyeless face.
The Alien considers him. Its thin, almost translucent lips pull
back to reveal rows of splinter-like teeth. The jaws spread,
making room for the distended tongue:
The Alien HISSES --
PUTS OUT Anthony's EYES with a thin stream of ACIDIC SALIVA --
Artificial skin BUBBLES AND BLISTERS --
JOHN
Picks up Anthony's staff.
Begins to FLAIL away at the demon.
AT THE DOOR
Ripley is getting no response from the keyboard.
ABBOT
What's wrong?!
Ripley slides the keyboard out of the wall compartment.
The wires are so old they've broken.
RIPLEY
Shit.
She BITES the ends off the wires - spits out the insulation.
TWISTS the bare wire ends together...
Sweat runs into her eyes.
JOHN
WHACKS the Alien with Anthony's staff --
Again. Again. The creature will not let Anthony go.
The Android writhes in its grasp, his face now a blistered,
pulpy mass, eyes gone.
RIPLEY
Finishes hot wiring. The keyboard hums to life.
Her fingers FLY across the keys --
THE ALIEN
Tail wraps around John's waist --
Pulls him towards it --
LIFTS him - turns him upside down --
Lips PULL BACK --
John's hands GROPE at the floor --
Sharp metal teeth SPREAD --
THE DOOR KEYBOARD
Lights: CODE ACCEPTED
Ripley's head whips towards the corridor --
JOHN
His hand closes around the end of one of the traps --
He brings it up --
SNAP!!
It SLAMS closed on the Alien's extended Tongue -!
The Beast bellows!!
Whips its head from side to side --
Can't shake off the trap --
ACID BLOOD sprays out --!
Lands as pools of FIRE on the wooden floor.
THE DOOR
Opens with a strained blast of dust -- SEE-WHORCSSH!
The Abbot LEAPS inside --
RIPLEY
It's open!!
JOHN
PRIES Anthony's ankle out of his trap.
Scoops up his staff, drags the moaning Android --
Back up the corridor --
RIPLEY
Stands in open Technology Room doorway --
ABBOT
Close it -- close it -- it's coming -
RIPLEY
We wait. John!!
John and Anthony appear out of the shadows --
Run/hobble towards the door --
THE ALIEN
Acid Blood DISSOLVES the traps' steel jaws. PULLS itself free.
Head whips towards the escaping Monks -- if it had eyes they
would narrow to slits in anger --
RUNS up the hall --
RIPLEY
Follows John and Anthony into the Technology Room.
On the other side of the doorway: another keyboard.
She punches keys --
ABBOT
Hurry --
JOHN
HURRY!!
THE ALIEN
Yards away -- Limping. Hissing.
ANGRY.
THE KEYBOARD
Acceptance tone "bings."
The Door starts to slide down --
The Alien is feet away --
INCHES...
The door seats itself closed with a solid THUD.
Ripley, panting, rests eyes closed against the rough wooden
door. A beat.
She turns to the room for the first time and finds --
WINDMILLS
Real Man of LaMancha wood and cloth windmills. Two story high
arms slowly rotating. Moving enormous volumes of air through
the wind tunnel-like room. As far as the eye can see.
Turning, creaking.
WHOOSH...WHOOSH...
But no electronics. No radio. No weapons.
This is the Technology Room.
Ripley collapses to the floor and loses consciousness.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. SULACO ESCAPE SHIP #4 (DREAM)
Yellow warning lights PULSE. Those goddamned STROBES are
flickering on and off. Steam blasts out overhead pipes.
The blue-spark pilot light muzzles of a FLAME THROWER shyly
pokes out from behind a console. It's owner cautiously
follows...
RIPLEY
She's breathing heavy.
She's wearing a sweat soaked tank top.
Her eyes flit from side to side. Then up. Then down.
She pokes the weapon out ahead of her and moves into the pod.
She silently crosses the distance to Newt's sleep tube:
IN THE TUBE
Newt sleeps peacefully.
Ripley allows herself one maternal smile, then remembers.
Her grip TIGHTENS in the Flame Thrower in her hands.
She flips a switch to HI HEAT.
Moves around the sleep tubes...
A noise to her left.
She WHIRLS --
Pulls the trigger on the flame thrower -- click. Nothing.
She tries again -- a half-hearted burp, but no flame.
She begins to panic --
Senses the Alien's presence.
Looks left, right, up - no Alien...
Looks down:
The Alien's tail is COMING UP BETWEEN HER LEGS.
She turns --
Right into it's grasp.
The useless flamethrower SKITTERS across the floor.
She PUMMELS the beast with balled up fists.
RIPLEY
No. NO! I beat you! I beat you mother
fucker!!
The Alien spins her -- pushes her over across the sleep tube --
Like it's taking her from behind!
Ripley looks down into the sleep tube:
Newt is gone.
Her doll's head lays in a pool of blood.
The Alien wraps his arms around Ripley.
Thin lips pull back for a kiss.
She SCREAMS.
INT. TECHNOLOGY ROOM - REALITY - DAY
Ripley opens her eyes.
WHOOSH...WHOOSH...
She's still in the room with the windmills.
Somehow this place seems less real than her dream.
She looks around:
John is sitting next to her, writing on a piece of parchment.
He smiles a relieved smile.
JOHN
I thought we'd lost you.
RIPLEY
What are you writing?
JOHN
Last will and testament.
(beat)
Just kidding.
She looks to her left:
Anthony is lying on his back, cotton bandage wrapped around his
eyes. His ankle is a swollen mess. Wires are hanging out.
RIPLEY
Is he --?
JOHN
Resting.
(shakes his head)
He'll be fine.
ANTHONY
No I won't. He's a terrible liar.
RIPLEY
I'm sorry.
ANTHONY
It's ironic. I guess my visions were
prescience after all. How will I ever
resolve that with my artifical con-
science?
A creaking floorboard to Ripley's right draws her attention to
The Abbot. He's pacing.
ABBOT
Do you see what you've delivered us
into?
RIPLEY
Yeah. Lead me not into temptation to
kick your -- ahh --
Ripley tries to stand - her head spins.
WHOOSH...WHOOSH...
RIPLEY
Oh shit.
The entire room THROBS with the rhythm of the wind.
RIPLEY
Where is the Big Boy -?
The Abbot points to the door.
ABBOT
On the other side of that door.
Waiting for us to starve to death.
Ripley moves to the door and feels it's cold surface.
RIPLEY
It's playing with us. It could get in
here any time it wants.
ABBOT
Why should he enter? He knows that one
of the people in this room is in league
with him.
JOHN
Sir. We're all in the same coracle, so
to speak.
ABBOT
Maybe more than one of us.
RIPLEY
Let's talk about the facts, Mr. Abbot.
She looks at the windmills.
WHOOSH...WHOOSH...
RIPLEY
This is your technology?
ABBOT
Even this is forbidden to us.
RIPLEY
Well then, the facts are that we're screwed.
She moves into the room. Walks around one of the Windmills.
RIPLEY
An Eco system. Nothing to recycle your
atmosphere except the green plants. Winds
generated down here --
(looks at the floor)
Windmills use the natural surface winds
to turn wheels underground, create tides
on the seas to recirculate your water...
ANTHONY
More than that. There are pumps beneath
the floor - I can feel their vibration.
RIPLEY
Probably pumping this air through charcoal
filters.
WHOOSH...WHOOSH...
RIPLEY
It gets colder all the time here, right?
John looks at her questioningly.
JOHN
Yes...
RIPLEY
Your wood burning fires throw soot into
the atmosphere, building the cloud layer -
cutting off the sun's rays - cooling the
planet, forcing you to burn more wood.
WHOOSH...WHOOSH...
ANTHONY
The Greenhouse Effect. It's how the Earth
almost destroyed itself in the late 20th
century.
RIPLEY
Don't you see? This is a planet set to
self destruct. Not in ten minutes or two
hours but soon. Your atmosphere here is
finite. If the plants die the fires will
eat up all the oxygen - this planetoid
will be dead - Everyone will die.
The Abbot has the look of a man who has been beaten in the last
few meters of a Marathon.
ABBOT
It's here. I was just hoping I would be
dead long before it came to this.
JOHN
What?
ABBOT
We're supposed to die here. That's the point.
RIPLEY
Wait a minute -- you were exiled --?
ABBOT
The punishment for our crime was death.
Anthony sits up.
ANTHONY
This planet is the supreme triumph of
planned obsolesence. A certain amount of
primitive materials with an atmosphere
processing system as fragile as a real
environment but not replenishable.
The Abbot has a faraway look in his eyes...
ABBOT
Poetic justice for the anti-technologists.
The Company's best work. You know, I used
to be a corporate executive. Middle range
V.P. Then my wife got hit by a speed craft.
I chucked it all and joined the order.
Be a monk -- see the world. Being here,
being chairman of the board...
RIPLEY
No, now I understand why I landed here.
To join you happy lunatics in your
deaths.
Ripley moves away...
John starts after her.
JOHN
Ripley, wait --
The Abbot stands, blocks his way.
ABBOT
Where can she go? She's trapped.
(beat)
Trapped inside her own prison. A prison
in her mind. Inside her mind. Dancing.
Sparklets of light - dance with the june
bugs in the recesses of ourmindstheyare
coming to danceintheshadowof...
John and Ripley turn to look at the Abbot.
He begins to speak faster. Faster.
He shakes. Vibrates is more accurate --
A trickle of BLOOD runs from his left ear...
ABBOT
RidingthewildwindsofchangeNoescapeNo
escapeforthewickedEvilEvilthynameis
woman.Woman.Womanheiscoming.Heiscoming
foryouuuuuuuuu --*
SPLORTCH-KT--!!
The Abbot's HEAD EXPLODES --!!!
Like a ripe melon dropped ten stories onto pavement.
Blood, bone, hair and brain matter SPRAY John.
John SCREAMS.
A HORRIBLE ALIEN HEAD BURSTER
Is all that sits atop the blood spurting neck of the Abbot.
It keeps it's hold on the Abbot's spinal cord -- The Abbot's
body continues to stagger around, arms jerking mechanically as
lack of fresh nerve impulses from the brain works its way
through the system.
Ripley SCREAMS.
The Infant Alien-headed corpse stumbles towards her --
She plucks Anthony's staff from the floor and SWINGS --
-- Like a child hitting a baseball from a TEE --
WHACK-K -!!
BLASTS the Chest/head burster across the room --
It hits the floor SCRAMBLING. Scuttles down into where the
Windmills meet the floor. Disappears.
RIPLEY
BASTARD!! It came out of his fucking
head!
ANTHONY
I didn't have to see that to know what
that means.
RIPLEY
He sent him to us. That bastard outside.
I can't get away from him. He's fucking
with my mind. He's my punishment!
ANTHONY
I'm confused. Before you said it came out
of the torso, not the head --
RIPLEY
I don't feel like a discussion of Alien biology.
John comes up next to her.
JOHN
Ripley, don't --
She pushes him away and sinks to the floor.
RIPLEY
I should just wait for the air to run out...
JOHN
I believe - I know - that we can win --
there is an answer in our books.
RIPLEY
Your books? Your books are gone, Brother.
Your world is gone. Once that thing starts
to lay its eggs, all your brothers - if
they aren't already - are dead.
JOHN
If that's true, then all of us, the books,
are consigned to ashes.
He clasps his hands and bows his head.
The Abbot's blood drips off his hands.
Plip - plop!
Into a little puddle at Ripley's feet.
She stares at the blood. Aahk.
Feels the PAIN again.
Runs her hand across her chest...
ANTHONY O/S
Ripley?
RIPLEY
What?
ANTHONY
There are several inconsistancies between
this and the other Aliens you described.
RIPLEY
Give it up.
ANTHONY
I think this is important. This may help
us fight it. The creature that I fought
in the hall - when I first saw it, it had
camoflaged itself to look like wood.
Ripley looks up.
RIPLEY
Wood? When I saw it in my room it looked
the way it did before -- black, mechanical --
unless that was a dream.
ANTHONY
I don't think it was. I think that this
creature, if it is the efficient predator
that you say it is, has the ability to
adapt to its environment.
RIPLEY
Then the reason they've always looked the
same to me is that I only ever saw them in
the same environment.
ANTHONY
Or this may be an as yet unseen stage of
development -- you saw a queen -- This
could be like a King ant -- more highly
advanced than the drone, bred for
survival -?
JOHN
How does this explain the thing that came
out of the ewe's chest? The Abbot's head?
RIPLEY
Maybe it can deposit different types of
eggs. The chest burster is probably
dormant until the host eats - The first
one I ever saw came out of Kane after he
started to eat --
And in one horrible moment she realizes:
She hasn't eaten. The pain in her chest...
RIPLEY
No.
Anthony "looks" towards her - does he realize as well?
JOHN
No what?
RIPLEY
No, we're not beat yet, Father --
JOHN
Brother --
Ripley gets up.
RIPLEY
Brother. Not yet. If he's taunting me,
then maybe we can use that. We can beat
this bastard. We can get to my ship.
We can live.
CUT TO:
INT. TECHNOLOGY ROOM
John stands by a ladder that runs up to a trap door in the
ceiling. Holds a torch.
Ripley is on the ground with Anthony, his injured leg splayed
out in front of him. Skin is palid.
ANTHONY
Don't have second thoughts. Blind and
crippled I would only slow you down.
Give him time to figure out what you're
doing. Just leave me my staff.
RIPLEY
Okay. Good luck.
She shakes his hand. He pulls her closer.
Anthony's empty eye sockets seem to see as he looks at Ripley.
ANTHONY
Ripley, I know. Good luck.
RIPLEY
Sit tight.
Ripley crosses to John. Poised at the bottom of the ladder they
look up at the trap door on the ceiling.
RIPLEY
He could be waiting on the other side
of that door. We might not get ten feet
before he kills the three of us.
He shakes his head.
JOHN
We had better go, then.
He smiles.
She smiles back.
They move up the ladder.
It leads up a damp, short shaft, walls GREEN with algae, to
AN UNDERGROUND DOCK - NIGHT
The ladder shaft opens onto a barnacled pier. Ripley and John
climb out onto the wooden structure. Before them:
AN UNDERGROUND SEA stretches the width of the entire planet,
over five miles across. The floor of the lowest level of the
top half of the orbiter makes a ceiling that looms a hundred
feet overhead.
The water sparkles with a golden glow.
JOHN
Must be day on the surface of the planet.
RIPLEY
Where is the light coming from?
JOHN
Mirrors. Reflect the outside light down
great shafts -- through lenses. That's
what they make in the glass factory.
Lenses. Look --
She turns:
A HUGE WATERFALL
Lit from within by daylight beaming down from above -- pours
into the sea a short distance from them.
JOHN
Opens to the surface. Water flows in
and out. I don't know how. There's one
at either end. I came down on the other
side.
RIPLEY
What do we do?
John points to three small leather and wood coracles bobbing at
the end of their ropes.
JOHN
We cross.
INT. TECHNOLOGY ROOM - DAY
Anthony has dragged himself to a sitting position against the
bottom of one of the windmills. He winces as he prods his
tender ankle with the end of his staff. It SPARKS.
The large canvas arms of the windmill rotate above his head.
The wind blows through his hair.
WHOOSH...WHOOSH...
Feels good.
Anthony reaches up and waves his hand of his "eyes."
ANTHONY
Now the seer can only see what God wants
him to. Forty years on a planet of Monks
and I've finally found religion.
A floor board CREAKS.
Anthony strains to hear:
ANTHONY
John? Ripley?
WHOOSH...WHOOSH...
He knows it is not.
ANTHONY
Well come then. I haven't got forever.
A shadow falls across his face. He can feel it.
He doesn't have to see what is here.
THE UNDERGROUND OCEAN - DAY INTO NIGHT
The leather boat makes its way across the sea.
John rows while Ripley holds the torch aloft.
As night falls she takes the oars.
The Ocean is dead calm. The coracle glides across the glass-
like surface. John flexes his scarred fingers.
RIPLEY
Your hands okay?
JOHN
They'll be fine. You've been on
a boat before.
Ripley squints ahead of them.
The ocean seems to go on forever.
RIPLEY
I was a warrant officer on a ship --
but I did all my sailing in space.
JOHN
Father Anselm used to take me on his
coracle when I was little.
Ripley leans forward - scans his face.
RIPLEY
How old were you when they towed
this satellite out here?
JOHN
Five. The Abbot said they put us to
sleep for the thirty years it took
to get here. We've had almost forty
more. Until now.
RIPLEY
What happened to your mother?
JOHN
Never had one. I mean, never knew her.
I mean, I did, once. She left my father
when he joined the movement. If she
hadn't I wouldn't be here. They kept
the other children with the women, on
Earth. That was too long ago now. Like
a dream.
Ripley's face grows strangely dark. She turns to the water.
RIPLEY
Did you know that I was a mother?
JOHN
The girl in the ship with -?
RIPLEY
No. On Earth. I never mentioned my
daughter. My daughter. I have - had
I guess, by now - a daughter on Earth.
Kathy. She was nine when I signed on to
the Nostromo. Mommy will be home before
you know it I said. My shares would have
set us up good. Then I lost sixty years
floating around in a rescue pod. Thanks
to the Alien. I came home to face a bitter,
70 year old woman. My daughter. A little
girl who's mother never came home.
JOHN
Jesus Christ.
RIPLEY
They said I should have been happy to be
alive. Funny, huh? That's why I went
back the second time. Not so I could
fight it -- You can't fight it -- So
I could let it kill me.
She rubs her chest --
JOHN
You didn't choose to get lost in space.
RIPLEY
Thanks for the try Father --
JOHN
Brother.
RIPLEY
Brother, but I'm not looking for absolution.
I couldn't be a good mother to my daughter.
I couldn't be a good mother to Newt. But
I can be a good mother to you. I can make
sure you survive.
Suddenly they feel rain --
Ripley holds out her hand.
Her eyes open wide at what she sees.
John takes the oars as she holds the torch over the side:
The Ocean has become red with BLOOD.
Blood DRIPS down from the ceiling around them.
RIPLEY
Blood.
John looks up.
JOHN
From the levels above.
His face goes white.
JOHN
He must have slaughtered all --
RIPLEY
Don't think about it. Don't think about
what's up there. Just row.
As Ripley takes the torch away from the water, tiny ripples move
across the surface.
She doesn't notice.
A SHAPE
Passes underneath the boat. A swimming CREATURE. The Alien.
Thanks to the reflective qualities of water, it appears HUGE.
Dwarfs their coracle.
INT. TECHNOLOGY ROOM - NIGHT
All the windmills are BURNING.
Flaming arms lazily turning.
Anthony is not in sight.
Whoosh...Whoosh...
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE OCEAN - NIGHT
Another dock with ladders going up and down.
Ripley and John climb out of the coracle.
Don't waste time tying off. They go --
UP THE LADDER
A hundred foot climb. The wood is twisted.
Rungs have been torn away in some places.
They pull themselves up sections that have only the tiniest
foothold. The temperature rises as they do.
Sweat runs into their eyes.
Soon they can see the floor above them:
BLACKENED by intense heat.
They climb.
INT. UNDERGROUND WHEAT FIELDS - NIGHT
Ripley and John come up from the level below.
RIPLEY
Holy shit.
John crosses himself.
Another testament to the terrible battle with the Alien.
Reduced to just a huge, blackened floor.
All the crops burned to ash --
Their charred stalks mingled with the corpses of roasted Monks.
Their nostrils assailed by the stench of the dead --
Ripley would puke if she had any food in her body.
JOHN
There's Andrew. And Raphael. Peter...
RIPLEY
Stop. How far?
JOHN
We're right below the Abbey now.
They cross the smoldering field.
The scorched floor threatens to give way under John's feet --
Ripley pull him to one side.
THE MONASTERY LEVEL
Heaven has become HELL.
The ground, the buildings, the Sky-timber - all blackened.
FIRES burn everywhere. Air choked with gray smoke and dust
pouring in from the Orbiter's surface through rends in the
vaulted ceiling.
RIPLEY AND JOHN
Climb through a hole where a trap door has been torn off it's
hinges. They look at the grim tableau:
Monks impaled on their own pikes.
Tangled together in their own pungy stakes.
Alien cocoon material cobwebbed over their bodies.
THE MONASTERY
Flickering fires lit the first few floor windows.
Ripley takes a step towards it --
Reaches back and pulls John...
INT. GLASS FACTORY - NIGHT
The Glass furnace boils almost to the point of overflow.
Small fires burn out of control around the room.
Finished glass pieces BURST from the heat.
Ripley and John enter.
JOHN
This is the glassworks. They have
tools here --
(spots)
Kyle --
He runs across the room --
BROTHER KYLE
Sits calmly at the Marver table.
He places playing cards on the table in front of him.
Solitaire.
He sings to himself quietly.
KYLE
(sotto)
Can't see my baby.
Don't see my baby. Bay be.
John grabs him by the lapels - pulls him to his feet.
The playing cards fall to the floor --
Kyle watches them, not John.
JOHN
Kyle. Brother Kyle.
KYLE
Cards on the floor, fifty two pickup.
Black king on red queen, put the
ace up --
John SHAKES him.
JOHN
Kyle goddammit!
Ripley moves closer.
RIPLEY
John - it's too late --
Kyle begins to sing faster. Faster.
KYLE
Ace up. Put the ace up. Redaceupup.
Blackaceup.Up.Pup-pup-pup-chaka-
boomloommawhacka -- Booomalooma
looma --
Ripley and John look at each other.
They know what this means.
John pulls a length of rope off a nearby table.
Moves in front of Kyle. Looks into his glassy eyes.
A tear runs down his cheek.
JOHN
Keep singing, my friend.
John loops the rope around Kyle's neck.
Strangles him.
Eases the lifeless body to the floor.
Stares at it.
RIPLEY
Pulls a blowing iron from the rack. Feels its weight and
balance. A reasonable weapon. She crosses to John.
JOHN
I killed him. I'm a doctor and I
killed him.
RIPLEY
You had to. You're supposed to end
suffering.
She hands him a pontil, a pointed iron spear used to form the
molten glass shapes.
RIPLEY
Let's get the hell out of here.
INT. STAIRWELL - NIGHT
Ripley and John move up the stairs.
Flickering orange lit from below.
Smoke and soot rise from the first on the lower floors.
INT. LIBRARY - NIGHT
They enter carefully. The room is exactly as John left it,
books out of shelves, hanging on their chains.
RIPLEY
He's made a mess.
John pushes ahead of her.
JOHN
No. He hasn't been up here yet. I
did this.
He moves to the nearest shelf and uses his pontil to pry open
the lock --
JOHN
Here - philosophy - we'll start here --
AAAROO --!
A HAIRY BLUR flies out from between the stacks --
WHUMPH! Knocks John to the floor --
Licks his face.
JOHN
Mattias!
The happy dog leaps all over his master.
JOHN
He waited. Ripley, this is Mattias. My
dog. Good fellow.
Ripley crosses to them.
RIPLEY
I'm glad. Really. But we've probably
only got a few minutes before this
entire place goes up in flames. Just
grab whatever books you want and --
Ripley leans in to pet Mattias.
Mattias draws his lip back. Growls.
He's looking over Ripley's shoulder.
She turns around slowly...
THE ALIEN
Standing in the open doorway.
It's in bad shape from the man traps.
Lost a foot. Tongue hanging out, useless.
Parts of it look like wood. Parts of it look like wheat.
It carries Anthony's waterlogged, limp body --
POPS off his head like a grape from the bunch.
Tosses the corpse at Ripley's feet.
I could swear it's trying to smile.
RIPLEY AND JOHN
Back against the book stacks.
John grabs Mattias' collar.
The Dog GROWLS at the Alien intruder...
JOHN
Easy, boy...
RIPLEY
Is there another way out?
JOHN
Not that will do us any good.
THE ALIEN
Limps into the room dragging one foot.
It's breathing is labored. Dripping acid blood leaves a thin
trail of fire behind it.
JOHN
We hurt it.
The Alien draws itself up to its full height --
Even wounded it is one dangerous mother fucker.
RIPLEY
You wanna give it a bandage? Look --
Where is my ship from here?
JOHN
On the roof directly above this room.
RIPLEY
Here's the plan --
JOHN
But the books --
RIPLEY
Forget the books!
RUFF!!
Mattias pulls free from John's grasp --
Runs to the Alien --
RIPLEY
Shit.
MATTIAS
Snaps and barks at the Alien --
Leaping about to dodge its claws.
Draws its attention --
RIPLEY AND JOHN
RUN at the Alien.
It is trying to spear the dog with its tail.
John swings the iron rod -- THWAP -!
HITS the Alien across the back of its bulbous head --
It turns to him --
SPLIIIITCH -!
Ripley SHOVES the blowing iron into the Alien's torso.
His acid blood SPURTS out the end of the hollow tube --
SPLATTERS Ripley's cassock - she TEARS it off --
John grabs Mattias -- pulls him back.
The Alien SPINS in a circle --
Blood SPRAYING around him -
Creating a CIRCLE OF FIRE about him --
IGNITING the books --
JOHN
No! THE BOOKS!!
RIPLEY
Don't --!
John steps forward -- Ripley grabs for him --
The ACID EATS through the wooden floor --
THE FLOOR COLLAPSES
The Alien, John and Ripley PLUMMET down -!
THROUGH the next floor --
INTO THE GLASSWORKS
The Alien FALLS into the molten glass vat --
SCREECHES - arms flailing as it sinks beneath the surface of
the thousand degree liquid.
JOHN
Finds himself HANGING over the bubbling glass vat - Caught -
DANGLING on the Flying Fox rope. Five feet away - the ledge the
Flying Fox is launched from. He looks down:
He can see the huge open vat of molten glass below him. To its
right, the Water DUMP TANK - a large wine cask-looking affair
where finished pieces are cooled. He looks up:
Ripley holding onto the edge of the broken floor above.
JOHN
Are you all right?
Ripley grunts an affirmative response.
At least is she falls, it will only be a twenty-foot drop to
the floor. John is looking at instant par-boiling.
John starts to move hand over hand UP the rope. He begins to
sweat.
A drop of sweat falls...
HSSS!
POPS AND SIZZLES as it hits the surface of the molten glass --
RIPLEY
Tries to pull herself up to the floor above --
The next level is a raging fire.
She can only hang and DROP. She DOES -!
Falls the two stories.
Bends her knees and ROLLS on impact.
JOHN
Has reached the ledge overlooking the furnace.
He stands. Sees Ripley slowly rising --
JOHN
Ripley -!
Ripley shakily gets to her feet.
Hops on one foot.
RIPLEY
Aargh. I'm fine. Let's get the fuck
out of --
SUDDENLY
THE ALIEN'S head breaks the surface of the molten glass.
SCREAMING. STEAMING. It is white-hot -
translucent -- covered with --
It looks like MOLTEN GLASS!!
Hook-like hands grasp the edge of the tank --
It tries to climb out --
Ripley turns to run. Tender ankle gives out.
She falls face down on the floor --
Rolls over --
THE ALIEN is going to climb out of the vat --
She SCREAMS --
JOHN
Grabs the Flying Fox handle.
SWINGS down the rope - across the room --
PAST the Alien --
It turns away from Ripley -
She scrambles across the floor...
John lands HARD.
Points --
JOHN
Ripley - the lever!!
Ripley looks next to her: a burning wooden lever.
The Alien has one foot out of the glass furnace --
RIPLEY grabs the lever -- Hssssst!
Putting out the fire with her hand --
Pulls --
THE HUGE DUMP TANK OF WATER
DUMPS. Empties a thousand gallons --
RAINS DOWN on the Alien.
It HOWLS in pain --
The Molten Glass instantly COOLS --
The rapid extreme temperature change causes the beast to
BE-THWOOOoooOOM -!!
EXPLODE into a million pieces...!!!!
Ripley helps John off the floor.
They are battered. Bloody.
They look into the vat.
The steam clears...
The room is littered with Alien Bits.
Each piece is encased in glass --
Trapped like a fly in amber.
JOHN
Saw that happen to a bottle once.
RIPLEY
(panting)
Beat... Beat him - ugh --
She grabs her stomach as her knees give out.
John gives her an arm for support.
JOHN
We've got to get to the Library --
RIPLEY
Don't worry. Ship. Just --
They look up:
Mattias looks down through the hole in the floor.
BARKS...
INT. LIBRARY - NIGHT
An INFERNO.
Every bookshelf ablaze. The floor dotted with pools of flame.
Ripley and John are at the door - held back by the heat --
John tries to enter the room --
Ripley grabs him --
RIPLEY
Don't be stupid --
JOHN
Some of them! I've got to save some of
them! Mattias!!
Mattias yelps in response. Threads his way through to them.
Ripley spins him to face her. Tears stream down his cheeks.
RIPLEY
They're lost. You did your best. If
you get out, it wasn't in vain.
We've got to live!!
She YANKS him into the hallway --
CUT TO:
EXT. MONASTERY - THE ROOF - NIGHT
Ripley's good foot KICKS down the burning planks that surround
the escape ship. John and Mattias stand behind as she climbs
through to the ship. John looks around:
The ABBEY LEVEL is devastated. The air is filled with smoke.
The Abbey is burning. The Library is in flames.
John looks down at his medical bag.
Torn, bloody, scorched, it still hangs from his shoulders.
Inside: The only remaining book.
RIPLEY O/S
Come on in!
John and Mattias step through --
INT. SULACCO ESCAPE POD #4 - NIGHT
Ripley CLICKS on the lights.
John lifts Mattias into the hatch.
JOHN
The Library --
RIPLEY
I told you -- the Earth is still there --
Ripley checks an instrument: Elapsed travel time.
Her brows knit. She TAPS the gauge.
RIPLEY
Not working.
JOHN
What does that mean?
RIPLEY
It means I don't know how long I was
in hyper sleep.
JOHN
It means the Abbot could've been right --
RIPLEY
It means my clock isn't working. We have
to get out of here. Even if he was right
this ship's onboard computer is filled
with man's knowledge.
JOHN
Not everything. Some things will be
lost forever.
RIPLEY
Then man starts over. He's done it
before.
She pushes a few buttons. Somewhere under the floor a
propulsion source HUMS to life. THROBBING through the soles
of John's feet. Ripley is absorbed in her work.
RIPLEY
Okay. The seals weren't broken so
we're probably clear. But those dead
monks out there are going to start
hatching soon. Let's get ready to
take off.
JOHN
What can I do?
RIPLEY
Here, I need a compressor tank from
in that compartment.
She motions towards an open door.
John enters the compartment.
Whoosh-CLANG -!
The door closes behind him.
JOHN
Hey! What?!
He looks out the window in the door.
Ripley is staring at him, punching keys on a pad next to the
door.
JOHN
Hey - I'm locked in.
Mattias scratches at the door.
RIPLEY
I know. I locked you in.
JOHN
What?
RIPLEY
I'm not going with you. I've got one
inside me.
JOHN
What?! You can't --
She runs a hand across her midsection.
RIPLEY
I figured it out. That's why it didn't
kill me. He must have impregnated me
when I was in the stasis tube.
(remembers nightmare)
It hasn't come out yet because I
haven't eaten, It's still dormant. So
either I eat and it kills me or I don't
eat and I starve to death. Either way
I die.
John pulls the Medieval Tome out of his medical bag.
JOHN
My book -- I know what to do --
RIPLEY
What, an exorcism? No good.
JOHN
You can't do this. Ripley - listen
to me - you're confusing feeling of
guilt for actual sin - I can help you --
RIPLEY
(ignoring)
I've set a time lock. When the pod escapes
the Colony's gravitational pull this
compartment will open. Then all you have
to do is get into the Stasis tube with
Mattias and press the blue button. With
any luck a freighter or something will
pick you up. Good luck.
He pounds his fists against the door.
JOHN
NO! No, Goddammit - you can't do this.
You can't let it win.
She turns away from the door.
RIPLEY
It always wins. We killed it, but it's
still inside me -- You're my last chance.
If I can keep you alive it'll make up
for all those I've lost.
JOHN
Listen to me! You have to let me try!
Ripley: You're MY only chance!
She's listening...
JOHN
I told you Father Anselm raised me.
He raised me and when he was dying I
couldn't do anything to save him. I
didn't know enough. It was my fault
he died. If you don't let me try to
save you my body will live but my soul
will be dead.
Ripley turns and stares at him.
JOHN
Please.
CUT TO:
THE PAGE
A MEDIEVAL ETCHING.
A Monk vomits up the devil.
Pull back as John lowers Ripley to the pod floor.
John closes his eyes.
Closes the book.
He pours some water into a small plastic cup.
Retrieves a small pouch of herbs. Opens it.
Wrinkles his nose - they smell --
pours these ancient medicines into the space age cup.
RIPLEY
What is this stuff?
JOHN
(forceful)
Something that will make you well.
Something that will make you sick.
RIPLEY
I don't --
JOHN
Shut up and drink.
He lifts the back of Ripley's head --
FORCES the drink down her throat.
John swings his leg over her midsection. STRADDLES her.
Presses his two hands together in prayer.
Then balls them into one fist.
Takes a deep, preparatory breath...
Ripley starts to GAG -- Cough.
Her body starts to JERK --
John BRINGS HIS FIST DOWN INTO HER STOMACH --
WHAMM -!!
Ripley CONVULSES -- has the dry heaves --
WHAM! WHAM --!
John PUMMELS Ripley's diaphragm!
She sputters -- VOMITS a thick mucous-like substance --
HEAVES --
Ripley's back arches --
She SCREAMS a gut wrenching WAIL --
Her torso BULGES as the creature is forced upwards.
John BEARS down --
Pushes UP under her ribs --
FORCING the chest-burster up her throat --
Ripley fights for air as the alien STOPS halfway up her
esophagus -- She's choking --
John crosses himself -- takes a deep breath --
Lowers his mouth to hers --
Inhales. Exhales. CPR.
THE ALIEN CHEST BURSTER
SLITHERS out of Ripley's mouth --
INTO JOHN'S!!
Reptilian tail whips about before disappearing down his gullet.
John falls back against a computer console.
Gagging. Fights to speak.
Ripley raises herself up on one elbow.
Alien mucous drooling down her chin.
Hair matted against her forehead.
RIPLEY
Why?
JOHN
Choking. It was the only way.
He drops the open book in front of her:
She sees the etching.
JOHN
Gulps back the oozing slime.
Struggles to his feet.
JOHN
They knew.
RIPLEY
But you --
Ripley tries to stand - to go after him --
She can't sit up -- feels like a rib might be cracked.
RIPLEY
You'll die --
John stumbles to the Pod door. Turns back.
JOHN
That's idea. Join...my brothers. If
we were right, Heaven. If we were wrong --
either way, where we belong. World of
books. Pages.
He draws the parchment out of his bag.
Drops it to the floor.
JOHN
You... are from the real world.
He starts to step through the door --
Mattias tries to follow.
JOHN
Stay -- both of you.
He exits the Pod.
Ripley drags herself across the floor.
RIPLEY
No - wait! John!
To the Door. Looks out:
BROTHER JOHN
Dawn's rays are peeking through the battered ceiling as he
walks slowly across the smoking roof.
Into the inferno that is the burning Abbey.
Ripley watches as John and the alien horror inside him are
INCINERATED.
The heat of the flames grows.
She must pull back --
Reaches up for the door handle.
It closes with a THUD.
She rolls onto her back.
She weeps. For the first time in years.
She's been absolved.
CREeeek -!!
The escape pod SHIFTS.
Ripley's eyes SNAP open --
The Roof beneath the Pod is beginning to GIVE WAY.
Ripley rolls onto her stomach and drags herself to the
pilot's chair. Pulls herself into the seat.
Straps herself in --
SULACCO ESCAPE POD #4
Blasts THROUGH the wooden outershell of the Orbiter Arceon.
ROARS towards us - past us.
INT. SULACCO ESCAPE POD #4 = DAY
Ripley places Mattias into the Hyper sleep tube.
Rubs under his chin. Is about to climb in with him when she
spots something on the floor --
JOHN'S PARCHMENT
Ripley picks it up and unrolls it.
She hears John's voice:
JOHN V.O.
I, Brother John Goldman of the orbiter
Arceon, Minorite abbey and gaol, know
the Abbot was wrong. There is a great
evil here. I have seen it. I put pen to
paper now lest this plague - this creature
stills my hand. I have gone down below -
both to try to warn the others and get
the woman - Ripley - get from her some
clue as to how to battle this evil, or
at least to make my peace for not
defending her. She believes there is
still and Earth and I hope she is right.
I hope she will be able to find out.
I hope she can find some rest for the
devils that torment her.
Ripley looks at the elapsed time counter on the command
console. Pulls a pen from it's holder. She adds:
RIPLEY V.O.
Whether the Earth exists or not, whether
we end up in Heaven, or Hell, or the cold
vacuum of space, she has.
She sets her course.
Gets back into her tube.
Closes the lid.
DEEP SPACE
The escape pod moves through the jet-black void...
ARCEON
Dwindles into the darkness behind her, a smouldering, slowly
dying ember...
THE SCREEN GOES BLACK
END CREDITS ROLL...
Teenager in the back of the movie theater shouts,
"It's in the dog!"