Pg. 81
RIPLEY
(confused)
These Hunters show up to kill Bishop?
Woods shakes her head, takes a sip of water.
WOODS
The first modern encounter was in Central
destroyed all but one member of a company
of American military on a covert mission,
before it was itself killed by the survivor.
A decade or so later another one wrecked
havoc during a turf battle between drug
gangs in old Los Angeles
JOHNER
They like the action, then.
WOODS
Violent, war-like, but displaying a skewed chivalry, preferring to kill you only if
you’re armed.
JOHNER
Yeah, that’s pretty dumb.
WOODS
Then in 2005 while a road crew was
clearing brush in the same region as the
’87 event, what we believe was the first
creature’s hidden drop ship was discovered.
RIPLEY
So how do you get involved?
WOODS
The other encounter I mentioned. Weyland
Industries discovered an ancient pyramid
buried beneath Antarctic ice. Mr. Weyland
assembled a team to investigate. I was
part of that team. We discovered that it
was a training ground for young Hunters.
An Alien Queen was kept there to produce
Aliens for a ritual every hundred years.
Pg. 82
WOODS (cont’d)
We got caught in the middle. The Hunters
lost, but managed to destroy the pyramid,
annihilating the Aliens. I was the only
survivor.
She sags visibly, manages to take a sip of water.
JOHNER
(to Ripley)
She expect us to believe this crap?
Ripley ignores him. She has begun to stalk, inspecting the ‘egg’ and its arsenal of machinery. Glances at Woods.
RIPLEY
Go on.
WOODS
Bishop’s son and new CEO, Richard, divulged
everything to the American intelligence
agencies of the day. I was interrogated, de-briefed, sequestered...and ceased to exist.
After the dropship was discovered and had
been extensively examined, it was given
to Weyland Industries for further study.
That was also when the Company and the black
ops of the military began our...association.
RIPLEY
Our association?
Ripley is in Woods’ face again.
RIPLEY
When did you become the Company?
A BEAT: some far away memory plays across Woods’ face.
WOODS
I married Richard Weyland.
RIPLEY
So now you’re Mrs. Weyland. Very nice.
Seemingly exasperated, Ripley turns away.
Pg. 83
WOODS
So much was learned from that one small
ship. Language, history, customs, their
obsession with trophy-taking, and the
ability for what we dubbed hyperspatial
communication. We learned how to detect
and listen in on their own coded messages
whenever they were in near space. And what
we heard was chilling.
JOHNER
Well, coming from space it would be.
RIPLEY
FUCK, Johner. Give it a rest.
Johner glares at her, shakes his head.
JOHNER
Chicks.
He stalks off, inspects the drinks cabinet, sniffs a couple of decanters, searches for a big glass.
Ripley thumps into a chair, sits forward, hands clasped.
Woods’ ‘chair’ revolves slightly to face Ripley.
RIPLEY
(quietly)
But what about the Aliens?
WOODS
The ship contained various samples of
DNA. One of the samples, when analyzed,
was shown to be the second alien creature
I had encountered in the pyramid: to the
Hunters, the very same Great Serpent that
they believed, from messages we had
intercepted, to now be extinct.
RIPLEY
What. The training ground here was their
only stock?
Pg. 84
WOODS
Apparently.
RIPLEY
Lousy planning.
WOODS
But because of that extinction, having
lost their feared prey, a new agenda
was proposed. A hawkish faction rose to
push for the ultimate trophy: planetary
conquest. They wanted – they want - Earth.
But they failed to change the old customs,
so now they’re going it alone.
They have based themselves on Triton.
That’s Neptune ’s biggest moo...
RIPLEY
(snaps)
I know what Triton is.
WOODS
(unflustered)
I had seen what these ‘serpents’ could do.
On my suggestion, Ellen, we instituted
The Plan. We would clone an army of these
things to defend the planet. The stuff of
science fiction. But so are alien invaders.
Only a handful knew the truth. Training
the creature for urban pacification was
simply a cover.
Ripley looks up, purpose in her eyes again.
RIPLEY
This is insane. If you’d seen what these
things could do then you knew how
dangerous it would be.
Woods reaches up to finger the Pepsi-Cola cap.
WOODS
Someone once told me “The enemy of my enemy
is my friend.” The Aliens are instinctive
evil. The Hunters can choose evil. That
Pg. 85
makes them closer to human. And that makes
them more dangerous. I had to choose a friend.
ON JOHNER
sprawled in a plush Queen Anne.
JOHNER
With friends like that...
RESUME SCENE
RIPLEY
So what happened to the great Plan?
WOODS
We were using alien DNA. A small amount
of material. We took decades: so slow,
so deliberate. But in the end we were
successful. And she was a Queen.
Ripley’s eyes go wide.
WOODS (cont’d)
But a lapse in security almost cost us
everything, and forced us to regroup.
I shipped everything off-world.
In the guise of a new atmospheric processing team the entire operation,
taking every single piece of the project,
including the Queen, was sent to a mud
ball out in the Alion System.
Ripley is up. She approaches Woods slowly. It is all sinking in. She squats down in front of the ‘chair’ in her now familiar arms on knees crouch.
RIPLEY
But they never arrived.
(looks up at Woods)
They were...hijacked?
WOODS
By the mysterious ship you and your
Nostromo crew found on LV
Pg. 86
Ripley is up pacing again.
RIPLEY
That’s why Ash replaced the Nostromo’s
regular science officer. But how did you
know...?
WOODS
Ten months earlier, a mapping drone over
Nostromo was the next regular ship in that
sector. We investigated everything. At
last we got lucky.
RIPLEY
(distant)
Lucky.
She buries her face in her hands. Her shoulders heave as she fights for control.
Johner wanders over, an almost empty crystal decanter in his hand.
JOHNER
All done, are we, ladies? All caught up?
Ripley and Woods just look at him.
JOHNER
Well I’ve just got one question. This
invasion thing. What the fuck are we
gonna do about it?
He stabs a finger at Ripley.
JOHNER
And you. Where the hell did you send your
big banana-headed buddy?
He drains the decanter.
JOHNER
OK. That was two questions.
ON RIPLEY
Pg. 87
who draws in a long, shuddering breath. She goes rigid, doubles over in pain, and collapses.
INT. WOODS PRIVATE APARTMENT - LATER
Dr. Waddell holds the door to an adjoining room open for two medical techs as they wheel out some diagnostic equipment. He closes the door. The techs cross the apartment and leave. Johner closes that door behind them.
Waddell approaches Woods.
WOODS
You’re examination took quite a while,
Doctor.
WADDELL
Well, Ma’am, since my specialty is bio-
robotics, you’ll appreciate that I’m a little out of my depth, here.
WOODS
And you will appreciate, Doctor, that I
couldn’t very well call on any of the
regular Company medical staff to assess
Ripley’s condition.
WADDELL
Quite. Examining a human-Alien hybrid
clone is something, um, special. And
challenging.
WOODS
Best guess, then.
WADDELL
Well...physiologically – taking into
account that her construction is not 100%
human – I can find nothing wrong with her.
JOHNER
She collapsed, Doc.
WADDELL
OK, best guess, then. Delving into the
lesser understood aspects of human
reproduction, I’d say she was suffering
from massive sympathy pains.
Pg. 88
JOHNER
Huh?
INT. A CAVE – TIME UNKNOWN
We HEAR echoing Alien screams. We SEE vague, indistinct, thrashing shadows.
VARIOUS ANGLES
Various glimpses of the Warrior’s body, the skin seeming to blister, crack, slough off. Huge chunks of discarded, translucent skin fall to the cave floor.
More SCREAMS...and we SEE the impression of a wide Alien Queen-like crest vanish into the darkness.
INT. WOODS’ APARTMENT, LATER
Johner is at the apartment’s door with a departing Waddell.
JOHNER
(to Woods)
Gonna have a word with the Doc, here,
uh, Ma’am.
(simpleton laugh)
Wanna get my head around what he means
with those sympathy pains.
They EXIT.
INT. IN THE CORRIDOR – CONTINUOUS
They begin to walk. Johner looks around furtively, then stops them.
JOHNER
(quietly)
OK, so you’re, like, Ranier, right?
You’re the guy inside.
WADDELL
(smiling)
Yes and no and yes. And let’s keep that
under our hats right now. OK?
Pg. 89
JOHNER
Fine by me. But it looks like playing spy
might not be your calling, Doc. Seems you
didn’t have all the info before you sent
little Annalee off on her big adventure.
Waddell shakes his head.
WADDELL
Ripley told me, just now. We knew of the
Hunters, but not the real threat. The
Company’s misinformation stonewalled us.
I suspect that the complete truth has only
ever been known to Ma’am’s Quorum of Aides.
JOHNER
So now what?
WADDELL
Time to make amends.
He slaps Johner on the shoulder and leaves.
INT. WOODS’ PRIVATE APARTMENT – LATER
ON WOODS’ FACE
Her eyes are closed. We HEAR three soft beeps, then...
GRIGGS
(O.S.)
Ma’am?
Woods’ eyes open slowly. She looks up.
WIDER ANGLE.
In the BG Johner is propped forward in a chair, listlessly flicking through periodicals of some kind.
On the large monitor overlooking Woods’ ‘chair’ the face of Griggs appears.
Pg. 90
WOODS
Mr. Griggs.
GRIGGS
The lines are down, Ma’am. Zero chatter.
Woods nods slowly to herself. Johner is up and walks over.
JOHNER
What’s up?
WOODS
Silent running. They’re coming. They’ll want
to even the score for what happened at the
Outcast camp. They’ll want vengeance trophies.
Then the rest will come.
RIPLEY
(O.S.)
Tight spot.
ON RIPLEY
sagging against the doorframe.
RIPLEY
There’s one thing missing, Woods.
She gathers her strength, and manages to walk forward.
RESUME SCENE
RIPLEY
Even if you managed to train the Aliens,
how could you ever mass produce them?
Every time you needed a new division,
what? Get your Queens to pump out the
eggs, kidnap a few hundred more unfortunate
souls, and commit mass murder?
WOODS
No. We created thousands of artificial
units to simulate the necessary heat,
moisture, texture, and biological functions
that a Facehugger would require. We
nicknamed them BiOids.
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