We HEAR the connection CLICK off.
EXT. THE FLEEING 4x4 - CONTINUOUS
Everyone is hanging on as the vehicle lunges and rolls over the broken terrain at top speed.
RIPLEY
(shouting)
What the Hell happened, there?
PIPER
(shouting back)
Makes no sense. If they were on to Call
wouldn’t they want answers? Why shoot
first?
JOHNER
Later, Junior. Right now, just get us
away from those guys.
PIPER
No problem. The WarHorse can’t catch us,
and the Cheetah won’t try. We’re home free.
DRIVER
Unless they have Outriders.
Piper shakes his head.
PIPER
They won’t have Outriders. They don’t all
have Outriders.
(a beat, to Driver)
You think?
INT. THE WARHORSE – CONTINUOUS
With energy, and with troops parting before him, Wyndham sways towards the back of the transport.
WYNDHAM
(almost bellowing)
Outriders!
Pg. 22
bulkheads, long panels slide open, revealing large four-wheeled motorcycles within. The riders slip in, strap themselves on. The lead riders punch buttons. The bikes roar alive with power. The wall panels close.
EXT. THE WARHORSE – CONTINUOUS
From either side at the rear we SEE a platform slowly extend. The Outriders and their bikes are perched atop them. They blast forward, leaving the lumbering WarHorse behind.
IN THE 4x4 - CONTINUOUS
Piper glances down at the dashboard.
DASHBOARD DETAIL
of a monitor showing two small, streaking dots.
RESUME SCENE
PIPER
Uh, oh!
RIPLEY
Let me guess.
DRIVER
Outriders.
JOHNER
Hey, dickbrain, she was supposed to guess.
They hit a rise, go airborne, land hard. Everyone hangs on.
RIPLEY
So what are we dealing with?
ON THE OUTRIDERS
Flashing BG shows their incredible speed. They also dodge and weave past obstacles with uncanny ease.
PIPER
(V.O.)
Bikes. Two-man teams. Fastest god-damned
things you ever saw.
Pg. 23
RESUME SCENE
RIPLEY
Marines on bikes? They show up, you blast
them.
(indicates gunner)
You’ve got one big gun, here.
JOHNER
Fuckin’ A.
PIPER
Easier said than done.
The gunner swings his mounted weapon aft.
GUNNER
(shouting)
Heads up, people.
Ripley, Johner, and Piper all follow his gaze.
THEIR POV
of two sets of murky headlights. Distant. Closing. Fast. Brighter. Converging. Blinding.
SERIES OF DYNAMIC SHOTS: VARIOUS ANGLES
The gunner fires. The lights part. Sand explodes.
The lights merge again. Weave, as one, side to side.
The gunner fires again. Misses. The lights hang back, wide to both sides.
They come on again, kicking up the acceleration. The gunner waits. The lights become one. He fires. Misses. The lights cross and the Outriders flash past on either side of their prey. The rear riders fire something.
We HEAR THUDS as we
Pg. 24
RESUME SCENE
GUNNER
(shouting)
Anchors.
PIPER
(to Ripley and Johner)
It’s a gel. They’re trying to gum up
our wheels. To slow us down.
RIPLEY
They want us alive.
WIDER ANGLE
The bikes are back, zooming the other way. More THUDS.
The gunner swings with them as they pass, gets away two more shots: two more misses.
The 4x4 lurches.
ON THE DRIVER
DRIVER
I think one got us.
ON JOHNER
JOHNER
(shouting to the gunner)
Take these guys out!
WIDER ANGLE
Another rocketing pass by the ‘riders. More hits. The 4x4 lurches again: they are definitely slowing down.
Again the gunner fires; again he misses.
ON RIPLEY
who vaults out of her crouching position, up beside the gunner.
Pg. 25
RIPLEY
Trigger!
The gunner knows not to argue. He indicates the targeting viewer and firing mechanism. Ripley shoves him away.
ON RIPLEY AND OUTRIDERS AS NECESSARY
One Outrider team zooms past.
CU on second man’s helmet. ECU on tiny flashing red light on the ‘temple’. CAMERA DETAIL of Ripley manning gun.
Ripley fires. Misses.
INT. THE WARHORSE CAB – CONTINUOUS
Wyndham is transfixed on a small screen between the drivers.
CU OF RIPLEY ON SCREEN
ON WYNDHAM
WYNDHAM
Gotcha!
INT. THE CHEETAH CAB – CONTINUOUS
Laurens also stares at a small monitor.
LAURENS
Bingo!
EXT. THE 4x4 – WIDE ANGLE
VARIOUS DYNAMIC SHOTS AS NECESSARY
The ‘riders flash and zoom past on either side, firing at will. Ripley fires again, again. Misses. Misses.
ON RIPLEY: “VISION” SCENE
She is breathing hard, pumped full of adrenaline. She frowns, as if smitten by a forgotten memory. She closes her eyes. We HEAR the sounds around her become MUTED, DULL.
Pg. 26
HER MIND’S EYE
flashing, flowing indistinct scenes. Overlapping. Jungles, space freighters, deserts, planets, mountains, deep space. And everywhere screaming; human and other. And blood. Blood.
And then, a huge, yellow, humanoid thing, all claws and teeth, rushing forwards with unholy speed. But suddenly it slows, its crazed flailing subdued by retarded time.
And at last, in real time, an Alien ‘tongue’ punching through the decelerated beast’s thick, primitive skull.
CU RIPLEY’S FACE
Her eyes snap open.
WIDER ANGLE
One of the ‘riders hits a rise, becomes airborne.
All action around Ripley begins to move in slow motion.
She flings the mounted gun around, blows the flying ‘rider away. Swings about, and destroys the second on the ground.
Real-time action resumes.
RIPLEY
(to all)
Said.
She jumps down from the gun.
RIPLEY
And done.
The others just look at her.
CUT TO:
INT. A LARGE WALL-SIZED VIDEO MONITOR – TIME UNKNOWN
From the second Outrider’s POV we SEE the last few moments of the encounter
replayed over and over, with Ripley front and centre.
As we PULL BACK, we SEE what appears to be the back of a large white, egg-shaped chair floating a foot or two above
Pg. 27
the floor. On either side there are several bulky machines, from which tubes and wires run into and around the chair.
We HEAR a gasp for air, a COUGH, a long, whistling WHEEZE.
ECU. UNIMAGINABLY WIZENED LIPS
Trembling, the mouth finds the end of a long straw. With obvious difficulty, a small sip of water is drawn, a little dribbling from the infirm lips. A cadaverous, shaking hand holding a white napkin rises slowly to blot the spill.
RESUME SCENE
The playback cuts off and the face of the BESPECTACLED OPERATOR we met previously fills the screen. He looks down,
addressing the unseen OCCUPANT of the chair.
OPERATOR
Ma’am. Do you require Dr. Waddell?
OCCUPANT
(halting, weak,
metallic tone)
No. No. Thank you.
The Operator is silent, waiting for the other to speak. We HEAR another little COUGH.
OCCUPANT (cont’d)
(uses Operator’s name)
Well, MR. GRIGGS. What do you think?
GRIGGS
It’s her, all right…
OCCUPANT
No, no, no. We know that.
(wheeze)
Her performance.
GRIGGS
(sobered)
Fast. I’ve never seen anything like it.
A BEAT. Again Griggs waits.
Pg. 28
OCCUPANT
Can you track them?
GRIGGS
We can. The ‘riders affixed a Tracer.
There are several small Outcast
settlements within the range of their
vehicle. When they stop I’ll have Col.
Laurens head an incursion. Then…
ECU: THE WIZENED LIPS
OCCUPANT
No!
RESUME SCENE
GRIGGS
Ma’am?
BEGIN A SLOW TRACK AROUND THE EGG CHAIR, BACK TO FRONT
OCCUPANT
(deliberately)
I am committed to a course of action, Mr.
Griggs, and intend to see it through. But
I’m a businesswoman, and will not squander
resources needlessly. If I send Marines
against Ripley, more good men will die.
GRIGGS
(now O.S.)
Then how...?
OCCUPANT
I want you to arrange a Link.
A BEAT.
OCCUPANT (cont’d)
Mr. Griggs.
GRIGGS
(O.S., shocked)
A Link, Ma’am? To...to them?
OCCUPANT
Yes.
Pg. 29
GRIGGS
(O.S. still shocked)
But, Ma’am, we never initiate…I mean…how
will you persuade…what can you say?
OCCUPANT
They may not be human, Mr. Griggs, but
they are not above manipulation. We have
allowed them to hunt cloned big game in the
reserves for decades, now. I will ask them
for one small favour in return, and to them
it will seem like a challenge.
CAMERA REACHES FRONT OF CHAIR
The bottom half of the ‘egg’ is intact. We begin a slow PAN UP.
OCCUPANT
I will ask them to apprehend a dangerous
psychopath, a physically enhanced human, who
is carrying the deadly Janus virus…harmless
to them, of course. Such a hunt should
pique their interest.
CAMERA REVEALS THE OCCUPANT
The WOMAN within the plexiglass-covered top half of the ‘egg’ is very, very old. Her skeletal body is clothed in a white plasti-suit. Around her neck, hangs a bent and battered Pepsi-Cola cap. Wires, tubes and plasti-metallic plates are connected to her upper body at many places: under her rib cage, her chest, one side of her neck, both temples, at the back of her wrinkled, bald head.
Within the ‘egg’ gauges flash, lights blink. We can HEAR the low, slow rhythm of shallow, mechanized BREATHS.
We recognize the ancient face. It is ALEXA WOODS (from AVP).
GRIGGS
(O.S.)
Ma’am? I’ve never heard of this Janus virus.
WOODS
I just made it up.
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