Science fiction plucks from withinus our deepest fears and hopes then
shows them to us in rough disguise:
the monster and the rocket.
W.H. Auden
We live, as we dream -- alone.
Joseph Conrad
FADE IN SOMETIME IN THE FUTURE: INT. ENGINE ROOM 1 Empty, cavernous. INT. ENGINE CUBICLE 2 Circular, jammed with instruments. All of them idle. Console chairs for two. Empty. INT. OILY CORRIDOR - "C" LEVEL 2-A Long, dark. Empty. Turbos throbbing. No other movement. INT. CORRIDOR - "A" LEVEL 2-B Long, empty. INT. INFIRMARY - "A" LEVEL 2-C Distressed ivory walls. All instrumentation at rest. INT. CORRIDOR TO BRIDGE - "A" LEVEL 3 Black, empty. INT. BRIDGE 4 Vacant. Two space helmets resting on chairs. Electrical hum. Lights on the helmets begin to signal one another. Moments of silence. A yellow light goes on. Data mind bank in b.g. Electronic hum. A green light goes on in front of one helmet. Electronic pulsing sounds. A red light goes on in front of other helmet. An electronic conversation ensues. Reaches a crescendo. Then silence. The lights go off, save the yellow. INT. CORRIDOR TO HYPERSLEEP VAULT: 4-A Lights come on. Seven gowns hang from the curved wall. Vault door opens. INT. HYPERSLEEP VAULT 5 Explosion of escaping gas. The lid on a freezer pops open. Slowly, groggily, KANE sits up. Pale. Kane rubs the sleep from his eyes. Stands. Looks around. Stretches. Looks at the other freezer compartments. Scratches. Moves off. INT. GALLEY 6 Kane plugs in a Silex. Lights a cigarette. Coughs. Grinds some coffee beans. Runs some water through. KANE Rise and shine, Lambert. INT. HYPERSLEEP VAULT 7 Another lid pops open. A young woman sits up. LAMBERT What time is it. KANE (voice over) What do you care. INT. GALLEY 8 Pot now half-full. Kane watches it drip. Inhales the fragrance. KANE Now Dallas and Ash. (calls out) Good morning Captain. DALLAS (voice over) Where's the coffee. KANE Brewing. LAMBERT walks into the kitchen. Pours herself a cup. INT. HYPERSLEEP VAULT 9 Two more lids pop open. A pair of men sit up. Look at each other. INT. GALLEY 10 Kane enjoys a freshly-brewed cup. KANE Ripley... Another moment. And then the sound of another lid opening. KANE And if we have Parker, can Brett be far behind. Lid opening sound. KANE Right. INT. HYPERSLEEP VAULT 11 DALLAS looks at his groggy circus. DALLAS One of you jokers get the cat. RIPLEY picks up a limp cat out of one of the compartments. INT. MESS 12 The crew of the United States commercial starship Nostromo seated around a table. Dallas.........Captain Kane...........Executive Officer Ripley.........Warrant Officer Ash............Science Officer Lambert........Navigator Parker.........Engineer Brett..........Engineering Technician Jones..........Cat Five men and two women: Lambert and Ripley. LAMBERT Jesus am I cold. PARKER Still with us, Brett. BRETT Yo. RIPLEY Lucky us. They yawn, stretch, shiver. Dallas looks over at a flashing yellow light. KANE I feel dead. Kane is not yet fully awake. Yawns. PARKER You look dead. ASH Nice to be back. PARKER Before we dock maybe we'd better go over the bonus situation. BRETT Yeah. PARKER Brett and I think we deserve a full share. DALLAS You two will get what you contracted for. Just like everybody else. BRETT Everybody else gets more than us. DALLAS Everybody else deserves more than you two. ASH Mother wants to talk to you. DALLAS I saw it. Yellow light for my eyes only...Now, everybody hit their stations. INT. COMPUTER ROOM ANNEX 13 Floor to ceiling data banks. Another flashing yellow light. A legend underneath. COMMAND PRIORITY ACCESS ONLY. Dallas enters. Sits at his console. Removes insignia master computer key attached to his shirt. Plug it into the board under the light. All banks burst into life. Dallas punches up a computer code on the keyboard. Legend on the screen... What's my God damn key. Print-out from computer answers... 01335 on the binary side. DALLAS Thank you Mother. Dallas punches up the combination on the keyboard. Immediately start getting a readout. CUT TO: INT. BRIDGE 14 Above eye level the room is ringed by viewscreens. All of them blank. Kane, Ripley, and Lambert enter. Dallas' seat remains empty. All of them now dressed; they find their way to individual consoles. Ripley puts down the cat, straps herself into the high- backed chair. KANE Plug us in. All three crew members begin throwing switches. The control room starts to come to life. Colored lights flicker. Chase each other across glowing screens. KANE Give us something to look at. Lambert presses a bank of switches. Viewscreens glimmer into life. LAMBERT Take a look at this. On each screen, blackness speckled with stars. LAMBERT Where's Earth. KANE You're the navigator. RIPLEY That's not our system. KANE Scan. Lambert hits several toggles. On the screens the images begin to drift. ONE OF THE SCREENS 15 A moving image of a starfield. EXT. NOSTROMO 16 The Factory Starship lumbering with the depths of inter-stellar space. Function: Petroleum tanker and Refinery. Capacity: 2000,000,000 tons. Length: One and one half kilometers. Battered exterior encrusted with dark sludge. INT. BRIDGE 17 Lambert pores over charts. Consults her console. Puzzled. KANE Contact traffic control. Ripley switches on her transmission unit. RIPLEY This is commercial vessel Nostromo. Registration number 180246. Do you read me. Over. Nothing but the hiss of static. RIPLEY Nothing. KANE Keep trying. Turns to Lambert. Ripley attempting transmission in b.g. KANE You got a reading yet. LAMBERT We're way out in the boondocks here... KANE Keep trying... LAMBERT Working on it. Eureka. LAMBERT Found it. KANE Hard to believe. LAMBERT What the hell are we doing out here. KANE What are you talking about. RIPLEY It's not our system. INT. ENGINE ROOM 17-A Giant reactor system purring smoothly. INT. ENGINE ROOM 18 PARKER and BRETT in a glass cubicle. Each having a beer. Huge powerplant stretching before them. All units on automatic hyper-drive. Parker hits a switch above his desk. A green light goes on. PARKER How's your light? BRETT Green. PARKER Mine too. They both take a swig. Suddenly a beeper signal begins. PARKER Christ. What is it now. BRETT Right. RIPLEY (voice over) Report to the mess. INT. OILY CORRIDOR - "C" LEVEL 19 PARKER I want to know why they never come down here. This is where the work is. BRETT Same reason we have half a share to their one, our time is their time, that's the way they see it. PARKER Well, I'll tell you something... it stinks. They move towards the companionway. INT. MESS 20 Entire crew present. DALLAS Some of you may have figured out that we're not home. BRETT What the hell. DALLAS Mother's interrupted the course of the voyage. DALLAS Mother is programmed to interrupt the course of out voyage if certain conditions arise. They have... (pause) We've received intermittent transmission from quadrant points QBR 157, 052. Somebody's gone down. BRETT So what. KANE We're obligated under Section B2... PARKER Christ. We're a commerical ship not some rescue team. This kind of duty's not in our contract. ASH You better read your contract. Transmissions received in non- commercial lanes... Dallas gives Parker and Brett a look. DALLAS We're going in, that's it. Brett knows when to ease up. BRETT Right, we're going in. (smiles) Sir. Dallas turns to ASH. DALLAS Can we land on it. He takes a print-out from Mother out of his hand. ASH The other ship did. DALLAS That's what I mean. Studies the print-out. ASH It's big enough. Can't see any reason why not. CUT TO: EXT. NOSTROMO AND REFINERY APPROACHING THE 20-A STAR/PLANET SYSTEM OUT 21- 23 INT. BRIDGE 24 Dallas at his console speaking to Ash. DALLAS We're coming into range of the planet. What kind of orbit do you plan for the cargo. ASH Z local vertical mode. DALLAS You figure it will hold that. ASH You worried about redundancy management disabling CMGS control. DALLAS Yeah. ASH CMG control is inhibited via DAS/DCS. We'll augment with TACS and monitor through ATMDC and computer interface. (pause) Feel better? DALLAS A lot. EXT. NOSTROMO 25 Moving within range of the planet. INT. BRIDGE 26 The crew strap themselves to their seats. DALLAS Prepare for separation and orbital insertion of the cargo. Much preparation for separation, etc. DALLAS Give me an EC Pressure reading. ASH 3.45 n/c m^2 squared (5 psia) DALLAS Shout if it changes. Deactivate probe retract system. KANE What about the pressure seal. Dallas hits appropriate switches. DALLAS Now the probe retract system. Kane hits other equally appropriate switches. KANE Okay. DALLAS Release captive hatches and disengage probe. Kane working switches and buttons. KANE Disengaged. Dallas pucnhes buttons of his own. EXT. NOSTROMO 27 The Refinery separates from Nostromo. INT. BRIDGE 28 Dallas watches the refinery moving away on a viewscreen. KANE All free and clear. DALLAS Ash. ASH Orbital insertion complete. DALLAS Okay. The money's safe. Let's take it down. EXT. NOSTROMO 29 Engines coughing to life. Nostromo begins its descent. Below night's tide rolls across the planet's surface. INT. BRIDGE 30 The viewscreen shimmers. RIPLEY Turbulence. EXT. NOSTROMO 31 Tug-module hydroplaning downward. A set of brilliant lights switch on. Cut through the thick atmosphere. INT. ENGINE ROOM - CUBICLE 32 Parker and Brett strapped in their seats. Begin rocking from the sudden, extreme turbulence. PARKER Chirst. Overloading. What the hell are we going through. BRETT Dust fritzing the compressor. PARKER There goes the conversion stabilizer. BRETT I don't know if the digital solenoid... PARKER Forget it. If we don't crash, dollars to your aunt's cherry we get an electrical fire... INT. BRIDGE 33 The turbulence continues unabated. Lambert's eyes follow cross-plot gauges. LAMBERT Drop begins...now. Fifteen kilometers and descending... twelve...ten...eight and slowing. Five. Three. Two. One kilometer and slowing. DALLAS Lock tractor breams. A loud electrical hum. KANE Locked. DALLAS Kill drive engines. The engines fall silent. LAMBERT Nine hundred meters and dropping. Eight hundred. Seven hundred. EXT. PLANET - NIGHT 34 Storm blowing across the night-shrouded surface. The Nostromo hovers on glowing beams of light. Landing struts unfold like insect legs. The ship slams down. Rocks heavily on massive shock absorbers. INT. BRIDGE - NIGHT 35 RIPLEY We're down. An enormous vibration. The panels in the room flash simultaneously. Light go out. KANE Lost it. Lost it. INT. ENGINE ROOM 36 Another huge vibration. An electrical fire breaks out along three control panels. INT. OILY CORRIDOR 36-A Huge flash fire whips along corridor. INT. ENGINE ROOM - CUBICLE 37 Parker and Brett see the pandemonium below. Brett hits the secondary generator switch. A pressure valve blows. Another conduit breaks loose. All lights go out. They grab hand lights from wall. INT. BRIDGE 38 Still in darkness. LAMBERT Secondary generator should kick over. KANE Where is it. Moments. Nothing. Kane grabs emergency headlamp from facia. Followed by Dallas and Lambert. DALLAS What happened? Ripley hits the voice-amp. RIPLEY Engine room, what happened. PARKER (voicer over) God damn electrical fire, that's what happened. BRETT (voice over) It's big. INT. ENGINE ROOM 39 Parker fighting an electrical fire on one of his panels. Brett shouting into his voice-amp. BRETT The intakes are clogged. We overheated and burned out a whole cell...Christ, it's really breaking loose down here... INT. BRIDGE 40 DALLAS Somebody give me a simple answer, Has the hull been breached. Ripley scans her gauges. RIPLEY I don't see anything. We've still got pressure. A beep from the communicator. DALLAS Hit the screen. Kane snaps three toggles. The screens flicker, but remain black. KANE Nothing. EXT. SHIP - NIGHT 41 The wind sounds. Storm continues to blow around the craft. A few glittering lights distinguish the Nostromo from absolute darkness. INT. ENGINE ROOM CUBICLE 42 Parker on the communicator to the bridge. PARKER 4 panel is totally shot, the secondary load sharing unit is out, at least three cells on 12 module are gone. INT. BRIDGE 43 Ripley listening to Parker. Dallas standing over her. No images on any screens. RIPLEY Is that it. PARKER (voice over) Couldn't fix it out here anyway. And we need to reroute a couple of these ducts. Can't really fix them without a whole drydock... DALLAS What else. PARKER (voice over) We lost a cell. Some fragments caked up and blew the whole system. We've got to clean it all out and repressurize. BRETT (voice over) Right. RIPLEY Get started on 4 panel. I'll be down in five minutes. She shuts off her voice communicator. DALLAS How long before we're functional. RIPLEY Fifteen to twenty hours... DALLAS Stay on it. What about the auxiliaries. RIPLEY Working on it. EXT. SHIP - NIGHT 44 Bridge lights come to life. Illuminate nothing but a patch of featureless ground. The wind and storm now at a higher pitch. OUT 45 INT. BRIDGE 46 Dallas, Kane, Lambert, and Ash. Slouched around the bridge. Drinking coffee. Occasionally staring at the opaque screens. DALLAS Any response yet. ASH Nothing but the same transmission every thirty-two seconds. All the other channels are dead. Pause. DALLAS Kick on the floods. CUT TO: EXT. SHIP 46-A A ring of floodlights comes to life. Dimly illuminating the rocky landscape. The wind and dust now at a higher pitch. CUT TO: INT. BRIDGE - NIGHT 46-B Dallas stares at the dark screens. KANE We can't go anywhere in this. ASH Mother says the sun's coming up in about twenty minutes. DALLAS How far from the source of the transmission. ASH Northeast... about 3000 meters. KANE Close enough to walk. DALLAS Let's run an atmospheric. Ash punches buttons, starts to consult his panel. ASH 10 percent agron, 85 precent nitrogen, 5 percent neon...I'm working on the trace elements. DALLAS Pressure. ASH Ten to the fourth dynes per square centimeter. KANE Moisture content. ASH None. Zero. DALLAS Anything else. ASH Rock, lava base. And cold... well below the centrigrade line. KANE I volunteer for the first group going out. DALLAS I hear you. Lambert. You too. Pause. LAMBERT Swell. DALLAS One more thing. Let's get out some weapons. EXT. SHIP - DAWN 47 Sunrise. The atmosphere begins to lighten. Silhouette of the Nostromo becoming dimly visible. Starship perched on barren rock. More rolling clouds of dust. The floodlights automatically shut off. INT. ENGINE ROOM CUBICLE 48 Parker and Brett laser welding one of the ducts. Shirts off. Sweat steaming. Ripley rewiring one of the panels. Parker shuts down the laser, inspects the fusion. PARKER Hey, Ripley, I got a question. RIPLEY Yeah. PARKER Do we get to go out on the expedition or are we stuck here until everything's fixed. RIPLEY You know the answer to that. BRETT What about the shares in case they find anything. RIPLEY Don't worry, you'll both get what's coming to you. BRETT I'm not doing any more work unless we get full shares. RIPLEY You're guaranteed by law that you'll get a share... Now both of you knock it off and get back to work. Parker looks at her. Snaps on the laser weld. Starts to join another section of the duct. BRETT Right. INT. MAIN AIR LOCK - DAWN 49 Dallas, Kane and Lambert enter the lock. All wear gloves, boots, jackets. Carry laser pistols. Kane touches a button. Servo whine. Then the inner door slides quietly shut. The trio pull on their helmets. DALLAS I'm sending. Do you hear me. KANE Receiving. LAMBERT Receiving. DALLAS All right. Keep away from the weapons unless I say otherwise. INT. ASH'S BLISTER - DAWN 50 Ash descends companionway to blister. Punches up screens and instrumentation. INT. MAIN AIR LOCK - DAWN 51 DALLAS Open the hatch. Another servo whine. Ponderously, the outer lock hatch slides open. Clouds of dust and steam swirl before the three crew members. A mobile gangway slides out the open hatch. Burnt orange sunlight beyond. EXT. PLANET - DAWN 52 The trio walk down the gangplank. Arrive at surface level. Their feet striking onto a thick layer of lava rock. The wind at gale force. DALLAS Which way. LAMBERT Over here. DALLAS You lead. Lambert walks into the storm. Followed closely by the others. LAMBERT Now I can't see a God damn thing. ASH (voice over) Turn on the finder. DALLAS It's on...Ash are you receiving. INT. ASH'S BLISTER - DAWN 53 Ash leaning over his console. Watches them beneath him. Corresponding images on the screen in front of him. ASH See you. Read you. Good contact on my board. DALLAS (voice over) Getting you clear and free. Let's keep the line open. EXT. PLANET - DAWN 54 The three crew members push their way along. Like divers at the bottom of a dark sea. The wind and dust continues driving down in dark sheets. Lambert repeats. LAMBERT Can't see more than three meters in any direction. KANE Quit griping. LAMBERT I like griping. DALLAS Come on. They wade on, following Lambert. She halts abruptly. Confused. INT. BLISTER - DAWN 55 Ash watches intently. Images on each screen of the trio. LAMBERT (voice over) I've got it again. ASH Any problems. DALLAS (voice over) Yeah. A lot of dust and wind. Starting to get some fade on the beam. EXT. PLANET - DAWN 56 The trio moves through a dark limbo. LAMBERT This way. Lambert indicates left. Moves in that direction. The others follow. The storm growing. KANE It's close. They approach a towering rock formation. The transmission stops. LAMBERT It's gone again. KANE Did we pass it. DALLAS Not unless it's underground. Let's take a break They shelter with the rock formation. Storm howls round them. Dallas adjusts headset. The signals starts. DALLAS I've got it again. Let's go. LAMBERT How about our break. DALLAS No. Let's more on while we're got the signal, again. Dallas gets up. They stand for a moment... Then move away from the rock formation. Fossilized into the other side of the rock is a shape. Fifteen feet tall. Unseen by the members of the party. INT. BLISTER - DAWN 56-A Ash receiving the video transmission. Notices something within the formation. Freezes the image. Enlarges it. Enlarges again. EXT. THE NOSTROMO - SUNRISE 57 Atmosphere turning the color of blood. Then the sun is up. EXT. THE NOSTROMO - SUNRISE 58 Brett and Parker still at work. Ripley moves away from her panel in triumph... RIPLEY You ought to be able to handle the rest. PARKER Don't worry. RIPLEY If you run into trouble, I'll be on the bridge. BRETT Right. She leaves. PARKER Bitch. INT. BLISTER - DAY 59 Ash still working on the video image. Enhances the enlargement. Transfers the image to cathode ray. The image reveals itself to be a giant form. Indistinct. Ripley's voice comes over. RIPLEY (voice over) How's it going. Ash quickly shuts off the video image. Hits the intercom. INT. BRIDGE 60 Ripley at her console. Looking at Ash on her screen. Ash's video image not visible to Ripley. ASH (voice over) All right. RIPLEY Have you tried putting the transmission through ECIU. ASH (voice over) Mother hasn't identified it as yet. It's not a language. RIPLEY I'll give it a shot. ASH (voice over) Be my guest. She pushes some button. The noise is now heard on her speaker. EXT. PLANET - DAY 61 Dust clearing. Three tiny figures against the landscape. EXT. PLANET - DAY 62 Empty landscape. Then Kane comes up over a rise startled by what he sees. Suddenly the transmission is deafening. KANE Jesus Christ. Dallas and Lambert join him equally startled. THEIR P.O.V. - DAY 63 A gargantuan construction rising from the rock. Clearly of nonhuman manufacture. EXT. PLANET - DAY 64 Noise still at shrill pitch. All members of the party shouting into their voice-amps. KANE Some kind of spaceship. LAMBERT Are you sure. It's weird... DALLAS Ash, can you see this. INT. ASH'S BLISTER - DAY 65 Ash looking at the craft on a screen. ASH Yeah. Never seen one like it. Neither has Mother. DALLAS (voice over) Keep checking for enhancement. ASH Whatever the transmission is, it's inside that. KANE (voice over) I'll go in and have a look. DALLAS (voice over) Hold on. Ash, I don't see any lights or movements. Do you. ASH I can't get any reading. EXT. PLANET - DAY 66 ASH (voice over) It's putting out so much power I just can't get any reading. Dallas shuts off his receiver. Sudden quiet. A long moment. DALLAS It looks pretty dead from here. We'll approach the base. They move toward the ship. INT. BLISTER - DAY 67 Ash still adjusting image of form in rock. It suddenly resolves. A skeleton. Fifteen feet long. He enlarges the image. DALLAS (voice over)