ANOTHER ANGLE: ON WOODS
WOODS
Yes, Mr. Griggs?
GRIGGS
(O.S.)
The Link was established and the code
transmitted to the encampment on Triton.
WOODS
Exactly as I instructed? What about the
visuals? Did they agree?
GRIGGS
(O.S.)
Yes, Ma’am. We will receive simultaneous
telemetry.
WOODS
How many will they send?
GRIGGS
(O.S.)
They are dispatching one Novice, Ma’am.
We SEE the ancient brow furrow.
WOODS
A Novice? Just one?
GRIGGS
(O.S.)
One, Ma’am.
WOODS
(to herself)
Just one.
INT. A ROOM IN THE UNDERGROUND REBEL CAMP
Spartan. A couple of cots. A sink, a wooden table, a chair.
Pg. 42
untouched, is placed closer to Ripley. Johner slides his plate away, points to the other.
JOHNER
You gonna eat that?
Ripley doesn’t answer. Johner pulls the plate towards himself and starts to eat.
JOHNER (cont’d)
So let me get this straight. All this
time it’s been some big corporation that’s
been tryin’ to get their hands on the
banana-head mother fuckers. They want to
train them and sell them to the army as
super-soldiers? Are they fuckin’ nuts?
Ripley’s expression doesn’t change.
RIPLEY
You’ve got that right.
JOHNER
But when things get hot and the
competition starts sniffin’ around,
this Wailin’ Yuwhozit outfit gets all
cozy with the boys with the big guns,
cooks the books, an’ fakes their own
takeover? They disappear. But now they’re
the ones yankin’ the military’s chain?
Man, that is one fucked up conspiracy
theory.
RIPLEY
Maybe...except I believe it.
Johner stops in mid-chew.
JOHNER
Oh, yeah? And what about this bitch
who’s supposed to be runnin’ the whole
thing? How old did Ranier say she was?
RIPLEY
She was born sometime in the late 20th
century.
Pg. 43
JOHNER
And you’re buyin’ that?
RIPLEY
What, you can’t? Look at me: the other side
of the same coin.
JOHNER
What’s that mean?
RIPLEY
I was born six days ago.
Johner is silent. Ripley smiles a humourless smile.
RIPLEY (cont’d)
Ain’t science wonderful?
INT. RIPLEY/JOHNER ROOM – LATER
One small strip light on the ceiling casts a weak glow.
Johner lies on one cot, snoring loudly. Ripley lies on the other, one arm across her forehead.
CLOSE UP on Ripley’s face. Her eyes snap open.
INT. THE CAMP’S CONTROL ROOM – CONTINUOUS
We HEAR an incessant, though muted, BEEPING sound. Two or three armed men hunkering over a computer monitor. Ranier enters with energy.
RANIER
What do we have, TAZ?
TAZ, a hulking bald man with a riot of fiery red whiskers, shakes his head.
TAZ
Motion confirmed on the perimeter. Just a
blip, though, and nothing on visual.
Ranier addresses a SECOND MAN, younger, very slight, a classic Aussie hat perched back on his head.
RANIER
HOWIE?
Pg. 44
HOWIE
My recognition protocols are air tight,
Boss. They got a once over just two days
ago. They’ll ignore anything indigenous,
trust me. Whatever tripped, here, is
definitely not local. But I’m shafted
why we didn’t get a visual.
TAZ
Points are all manned. I don’t think…
The monitor erupts into flashing colours. A SIREN begins to wail.
TAZ (cont’d)
Breach!
Ranier leans in close.
RANIER
Where? How many?
TAZ
Gate 5.
(a beat)
Yeah, Gate 5. One breach. Just one.
The four men begin to hurry out of the room. Ranier, at a run, turns.
RANIER
Howie. Lock down Ripley and Johner.
Now!
He and the two others disappear.
Howie jumps to a keyboard, enters a quick code. He checks his sidearm…and something on the monitor catches his eye.
DETAIL – THE COMPUTER MONITOR.
We SEE a flashing: BREACH – GATE 5.
And under it: BREACH – GATE 9.
ECU BREACH – GATE 9. Flashing. Flashing.
Pg. 45
INT. RIPLEY/JOHNER ROOM – CONTINUOUS
Siren wails. Ripley launches herself from her cot. Just before she gets to the steel-plated door we HEAR bolts snapping into place. She pulls but the door doesn’t budge. She punches a panel hard. It dents, but she recoils in pain.
RIPLEY
(favouring her knuckles)
Fuck!
Johner is up.
JOHNER
What’s with the racket?
RIPLEY
They’ve locked us in. They think they’re
protecting us. Something’s broken into
the camp.
JOHNER
Whadya mean, some thing?
Ripley looks grim, taps her forehead slowly.
A BEAT. The blood seems to drain from Johner’s face.
JOHNER
You can’t be fuckin’ serious.
Through the siren we HEAR a first muffled burst of GUNFIRE. SCREAMS. More gunfire, closer. SHOUTED VOICES. FOOTSTEPS running past the door.
Johner looks around at the wood-clad earthen walls.
JOHNER
How the fuck are we supposed to get out
of here?
He pushes past Ripley, tries the door himself. No good.
The gunfire is close. Suddenly cut off. More screams.
Ripley grabs Johner, drags him to the far side of the room, puts herself between him and the door.
Pg. 46
RIPLEY
Stay still! I’ll handle this.
A terrific blow buckles the door, but it holds. A second blow also fails. A moment of silence. We HEAR sharp, metallic clicking. Ripley frowns.
The door explodes into the room. Ripley and Johner throw themselves aside as the metal slab crashes beside them, smashing the chair and table. Dust billows. They squint through the haze to SEE...
THEIR POV
a Predator standing within the blasted frame.
ON RIPLEY
Her face registers confused disbelief.
RESUME SCENE
Johner recovers. He grabs a table leg and jumps to his feet.
JOHNER
Well, thank you, Jesus H. Just some big
guy in a fancy assault suit.
(to Ripley)
I’ll handle this, baby. You can thank me
later.
He rushes and swings at the Predator who swats him aside, knocking him senseless.
The Predator comes on.
Ripley gets to her feet, back to the wall.
PREDATOR’S POV
Spectral sensors scan Ripley vertically, horizontally. Flashing lights confirm her identity.
Pg. 47
RESUME SCENE
Predator reaches for Ripley, grabs at her neck. She lashes out with a chop to his bicep area. Stunned by the force of the blow he drops her, checks his armour. It’s dented.
Ripley ducks below his arm and punches up where kidneys should be. The Predator folds, drops to one knee.
Ripley makes a dash for the door. The Predator whirls and fires several tendrils of whipping gossamer. They entwine and snare her. Thrashing, she is pulled back. The Predator reaches down, gathers her up in his arms.
Ripley uses her nails to slash through the sticking mesh, and attacks. She punches and flails at the helmet, severing connections, almost pulling it off.
The Predator exerts his strength, pins her in a bear hug, and head butts her.
All but unconscious, Ripley goes down.
We HEAR a renewed burst of gunfire, a far off SCREAM. The Predator reacts to it, then returns to the task at hand.
From his equipment he produces a small unit that he straps to Ripley’s arm. He punches keys on his forearm computer. We SEE Ripley begin to transform into a vague blur.
CLOSE on her vanishing face. Her eyes open wide.
RESUME SCENE
The Predator spins around. The Warrior, taller by six inches, takes him by the neck, knocking the helmet away.
The Predator screams and swings for his attacker’s head with his extended arm blades, but the Warrior grabs the wrist and pulls his prey closer. His tongue shoots out, but the Predator is too fast. With his free hand he stops the tongue and holds on.
Now the Warrior screams.
Pg. 48
For a moment they strain against each other...till the Warrior’s tail punches clean through from the base of the Predator’s skull.
The Predator twitches twice, goes limp. His arms drop.
The Warrior punches his tongue through the exposed forehead: lets his kill fall.
INT. ALEXA WOODS OFFICE – MOMENTS EARLIER
The huge monitor shows a flashing visual of the Warrior, before the Predator’s helmet was damaged. Contact lost. Static.
ON WOODS
Woods’ body jolts; her eyes go wide with shock. Her water container falls from her grasp.
WOODS
(gasping)
Mr. Griggs! GRIGGS!
INT. PREDATORS’ TRITON (MOON OF NEPTUNE ) COMMAND STATION – CONCURRENT TIME
A floating 3-D image reveals the same fleeting view of the Warrior.
WIDER ANGLE
Predators react with shock: pointing, roaring. The COMMANDER barks orders.
DYNAMIC SHOTS:
Dozens of Predators running, gathering equipment, adjusting weapons, grabbing helmets.
A PREDATOR LAUNCH BAY
We SEE the Predators converging on a medium-sized craft, clambering aboard. Lights blaze to life, we HEAR the engines powering up.
Pg. 49
IN THE COMMAND STATION
CLOSE on the Commander, who roars a command (GO!)
ON HIS FIST
that thumps onto the console beside the looping two-second view of the Warrior.
INT. RIPLEY/JOHNER ROOM – CONTINUOUS
Ripley pulls the small apparatus from her arm, tosses it away and stands up. The Warrior sways close before her – sniffing, confirming who she is. He begins to relax.
WIDER ANGLE
Ranier rush in. Also Taz, Howie, Piper, others. All are armed. Their guns are up, sweeping left and right.
The Warrior spins, hissing. Ripley jumps in front of him.
The crowd skids to a confused, jumbled halt.
RIPLEY
Wait! No! Ranier, don’t shoot!
VOICE #1
What the fuck is that?
VOICE #2
It’s an Alien.
VOICE #1
A Company Alien?
VOICE #3
(shouting)
Snuff the cocksucker!
Guns are re-aimed.
RIPLEY
(frantic)
Ranier!
Ranier throws his arms out, barring those behind him.
Pg. 50
RANIER
Hold up, Guys.
VOICE
But, Boss…
RANIER
Hold UP!
We SEE Ranier touch a finger to the contraption in his ear. Then he points to the dead Predator.
RANIER
Anyone care to take a guess as to what
that is?
RIPLEY
I was hoping you could tell me. Whatever
it is, it’s one ugly son-of-a-bitch.
The Warrior hisses.
RANIER
I do have an idea. But first things first.
Suddenly he ducks down. The gathering behind him parts. Two men, wide barreled guns in hand, stride through and fire what looks like buckshot.
Before they can move, Ripley and the Warrior are peppered with pellets.
Ripley staggers once to the side, then falls. The Warrior leaps at the gunmen. They throw themselves aside. The Warrior crashes to the floor between them, out cold.
Ranier turns, calms his troops.
RANIER
Ladies and Gentlemen, we have ourselves a
situation. I’ll give you the details and
then we’ll move like the team we are.
He holds up a small circular disk.
RANIER (cont’d)
Just before this breach, Howie brought this
Pg. 51
RANIER (cont’d)
to me. It’s a Company Tracker. They know
where we are. But their Marines are a no
show. Instead…
(indicates the Predator)
this thing waltzes in. Somehow I don’t think that’s an improvement.
He calls to individuals in the crowd.
RANIER (cont’d)
JENNA. MORRISON. BOYCHUK. Get your sectors
prepped. Everyone else, you know the drill,
and you know the rendezvous cascade. We’re
out of here in two hours. Go.
With purpose most of the crowd disperses. Taz, Piper, and Howie remain, as do the two tranquilizer gunners.
RANIER (cont’d)
Taz. See to Ripley and her friend.
(nods at the Warrior)
I mean that one. Pack it up real nice.
It’s coming with us.
TAZ
What the hell? What do I...?
RANIER
You’ll think of something.
Piper is on his knees, examining the dead Predator. Howie is with him.
RANIER
You want it, Piper?
Piper looks up: a kid with a new toy.
RANIER (cont’d)
A new design for our scrapbook. If you can
move it, you can have it. But no lagging.
Two hours.
He leaves. Taz moves, too.
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