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    Terry Bisson

    Page 7
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      1 always heard there were a few that got out alive, but man... I never thought I'd see one.

      Johner starts laughing.

      JOHNER

      Oh, Christ. Doing fucking nickel and dime border runs, selling second hand junk to

      the farm belt... and we're carrying the most expensive piece of contraband in the system.

      That's rich.

      PURVIS (getting anxious)

      It's great, she's a toaster oven... Can we leave now?

      Vriess tries to touch Call's wound.

      VRIESS

      Let me see.

      Call pulls away.

      JOHNER

      Yeah, get your socket wrench, Vriess.

      Maybe she just needs an oil change.

      RIPLEY

      Let's go.

      They start off again, Johner and St Just bringing up the rear

      JOHNER

      Can't believe I almost fucked the thing.

      ST JUST

      Yeah, like you've never fucked a robot.

      ANGLE: RIPLEY

      Letting DiStephano lead.

      RIPLEY

      DiStephano. Where are we?

      DISTEPHANO

      Upper decks... Storage... the chapell's up here, not much else.

      RIPLEY

      Can we get to the ship?

      DISTEPHANO

      Well, we're a ways out,of the way, but I think we can get through to the garden.

      From there, it's down a few levels, it's do-able.

      What if the fucking doctor gets there first?

      VRIESS

      It's a good point.

      DISTEPHANO

      Shit.

      They have reached an access door. Debris blocks the way.

      RIPLEY

      Another way?

      DISTEPHANO

      Uh, yeah. Through the wall. We'll have to get one of these panels off. It'll take a while.

      (to Vriess) You got tools?

      VRIESS

      Yeah, but no torch.

      JOHNER

      Fucking blow the door!

      HILLARD

      Assface, We're on the top of this thing.

      (pointing to the ceiling)

      That's hull.

      VRIESS

      What about Wren? if he gets in the computer he can really fuck us around.

      RIPLEY

      We have to get in too.

      DISTEPHANO

      There's no access console on this level. We'd have to-backtrack.

      HILLARD

      Fuck that.

      DISTEPHANO

      And I don't have the security access that Wren does anyway.

      Ripley turns to Call.

      RIPLEY

      Call.

      CALL

      No. I can't.

      JOHNER.

      Bullshit. She's a damn well talking machine.

      CALL

      There's another way.

      DISTEPHMO

      Just tell her to access it on remote.

      VRIESS

      Shit, that's right. Any of the new model droids can access the mainframe.

      JOHNER

      Just by blinking.

      CALL

      I can't.

      ST JUST

      No time to get coy, Annalee.

      CALL

      I can't. I burned my modem drive. We all did.

      VRIESS

      You can still patch in manually. You know that.

      Call looks over at the group, staring at her. She knows she doesn't have a choice.

      DISTEPHANO

      There's ports in the chapel.

      RIPLEY

      Come on.

      (to the others)

      You get started on that wall.

      CUT TO: INT. CHAPEL - CONTINUOU@

      Ripley and Call enter the small room. Ripley sits in one of the pews, pulls out a bible.

      it somewhat resembles a Newton Under the leather flap is a screen reading.:

      HOLY BIBLE. PRE START.

      Ripley pulls out the cord from the bible's port, holds it up

      CALL

      Don't make me do this.

      RIPLEY

      Don't make me make you.

      CALL

      I don't want to go in there.

      RIPLEY

      Get over it.

      CALL

      It's like... your insides are liquid. It's not real.

      RIPLEY

      You can blow the ship. Before it reaches Earth. Kill them all. Just give us time to get

      out first.

      That convinces Call. She pulls up her sleeve, and begins. pushes a part of her forearm,

      just below the crook of her elbow. It has a spring release catch, and a small panel rises

      up with two computer ports on it. She takes the cable from Ripley and plugs it in.

      It looks almost like she's mainlining heroin.

      She cocks her head.

      CALL

      Dammit.

      RIPLEY

      Anything?

      CALL

      Hold on.

      She reaches in her chest, reconnects some tubes. She twitches then shuts her eyes.

      It's beginning.

      She begins speaking very rapidly, eyes still shut.

      CALL

      Breach in sector seven sector three sector nine unstable -- engines operating at eighty

      six percent -forty six minutes until earthdock.

      Her voice has a slight mechanical quality as she rattles this off. Her eyes open.

      CALL

      We burned too much energy -- I can't make critical mass. I can't blow it.

      RIPLEY

      Then crash it.

      TO: INT. HALL - CONTINUOUS

      As the crew works at getting the wall panel off,.

      TO: INT. CHAPPEL A BIT LATER

      CALL

      Ground level recalibrated... new destination 760, 403. Done. Forty one minutes until impact.

      RIPLEY

      Try to clear us a path to the ship.

      CALL

      Tracking movement in sublevels six through nine. Video is down. Attempted rerouting

      nonfunctional, wait, partial visual in waste tank 5, unauthorized presence...

      VRIESS

      Unauthorized?

      CALL

      Nonhuman.

      RIPLEY

      How many?

      Please wait.. emergency override on. console 45V, level one... handprint ID...

      (like herself)

      It's Wren. He's almost at the Betty.

      RIPLEY

      And how do you feel about that?

      CUT TO: INT. HALL - CONTINUOUS

      Wren is holding his hand to the scanner, just as Call described. The red light turns

      green and we hear the locks the door crack open.

      FATHER

      Emergency override validated.

      The door begins to rise. Looking around him, Wren waits to through.

      The door grinds to a halt, still too low to climb under. Th lights go out, only the

      faintest glow coming from various instrument panels. wren's expression drains.

      WREN

      Father, reboot systems on 45V, authorization 'starling'.

      Nothing happens. Wren looks about him, beginning to sweat.

      Did the aliens do this?

      WREN

      Father, locate power drain, report.

      Father?

      CALL - (on the system)

      Father's dead, asshole.

      Wren spins in shock at the sound of Call's voice. it,s everywhere around him.

      She has downloaded her vocal matrix place of Father's.

      (She's not just speaking over a PA, she is the PA.)

      The door SLAMS back-down, locks clack into place. The doors behind him open up,

      emergency lighting pulsing along toward him.

      CALLSHIP

      Intruder on level one... all aliens please proceed to level one.

      Wren is freaking. He turns back down the corridor, looking about him wildly.

      CUT TO: INT. CHAPEL - CONTINUOUS


      Call pulls the cord out of her port.

      RIPLEY

      You got a mean strak.

      CALL

      It's done. That should hold the fuck.

      This as her voice track slips even more. She works the wires in her cheest, trying

      to fix it.

      RIPLEY

      Let me see

      CALL

      Don't touch me.

      Ripley backs off.

      CALL

      You must think this is pretty funny.

      RIPLEY

      Yes. But I'm finding a lot of things funny lately. And I'm not sure they are.

      CALL

      Why do you go on living? How can you stand it? How can you stand... yourself?

      Ripley shrugs.

      RIPLEY

      Not so hard. Not much choice.

      CALL

      At least there's p art of you that's human. I'm just... fuck. Look at me....

      She looks at the hole in her chest, the white and sticky fibers.

      CALL

      I'm disgusting.

      Her voice is at its slowest here, low and eerie. It's a mechanical problem, but

      it sounds just like despair.

      RIPLEY

      Do you dream?

      CALL

      I ... we have neural processors that run through.... (stops) Yes.

      RIPLEY

      When I sleep, I dream about it. Them. Every night. All around me ... in me.

      I used to be afraid to dream, but I'm not anymore.

      CALL

      Why?

      RIPLEY

      Because no matter how bad the dreams get ... when I wake up it's always worse.

      Purvis enters.

      PURVIS

      I guess we're almost there.

      RIPLEY

      Right.

      He exits again. Call finishes fiddling with her internal wiring. We hear her voice slip

      back to normal as she says:

      CALL

      Let's get going.

      CUT TO: INT. TUNNEL

      As they come one by one through the wall.

      DISTEPHANO

      Not far now.

      PURVIS

      God, I'm so tired...

      JOHNER

      Yeah, well, we'll sleep when we're dead.

      Ripley follows him through.

      RIPLEY

      Don't count on it.

      The rest of them come through and walk into:

      INT. THE GARDEN CONTINUOUS

      The Garden runs nearly half a mile straight across, and then down on a terraced slope.

      Everywhere are different kinds of plants: trees, vegetable plants, exotic and experimental

      hybrids.

      Access paths crisscross the beds.

      It's huge, the single biggest space on the ship. Yet the low ceiling, laticed with grow-lamps

      now dim in nightcycle, and prodigeous undergrowth make it labyrinthian, almost claustrophobic.

      From where the crew is, they can barely see where it slopes down.

      JOHNER

      What's this fucking deal?

      DISTEPHMO

      This supplies most of the food for the unit.

      VRIESS (holding a lucious ripe pear)

      You guys got something against spam?

      DISTEPHMO

      And there's some lab work here too. Hybridization.

      RIPLEY

      At the other end?

      DISTEPHMO

      Runs down to the by the waste tanks. We can get to the dock from there. You,okay?

      Ripley is holding her head. She shuts her eyes.

      CALL

      What is it?

      Ripley shakes it off.

      RIPLEY

      Nothing. I'm okay.

      She looks out at the jungle, they have to cross.

      CALL

      We should get moving.

      ST JUST

      Hey! Check it out!

      He has come upon a small loading truck, a sort of platform jeep. Vriess checks it out,

      takes a huge bite of his pear.

      VRIESS

      Beats walking.

      He hauls himself up-into it. Everybody piles onto the back flatbed just a foot or so off

      the ground and just big enough to hold everyone but Vriess, Call and Ripley, who pushes

      into the driver's seat.

      VRIESS

      Quickly and quietly, people.

      Ripley stares unconprehendingly at the controls for a momen till Call flips on the ignition.

      RIPLEY

      Thank,you.

      The jeep pulls out. It's electric, so it emits just a low hum as she takes it at a good clip

      toward the other side.

      The access paths are just a bit wider than the jeep itself, plants rising tall all around them.

      Ripley concentrates on driving.

      The pass through as section of wheat , then of corn. As they come to another section,

      The crew's expressions change to one of pleased disbelief.

      You gotta be fucking me. St Just! Is this real?

      ST JUST

      So this is what heaven looks like.

      We see they have driven into a healthy section of CANNABIS plants growing ten feet high.

      The car screeches to a halt. Ripley's at a crossroads of sorts.

      RIPLEY

      Which way?

      HILLARD (looking at the plants)

      I always wondered where the military got its funding...

      An alien SHOOTS out of the brush and lands on Hillard everyone SCREAMS -- Ripley SLAMS her

      foot on the pedal

      The jeep PEELS OUT, as more emerge from the brush.

      HILLARD

      Get it off MeeeaaaaAAGGHRE!!!!

      It bores into her head before St Just can blow it away. It's head exploding in fragments of

      bone and sizzling blood as it falls away from the jeep, Hillard's body still clutched in arms.

      Another leaps out at them, but the jeep is going a good clip and it misses.

      The crew peppering it with bullets.

      They look,about them, guns ready.

      ANGLE: IN THE BRUSH

      Something runs parallel to them in the plants.

      ANGLE: ABOVE

      Two more run on top of the grow-lamps, pacing them as well.

      One DROPS DOWN -- Ripley SWERVES out of the way, driving in the plants.

      They are varied, exotic -- and there are aliens behind half of them.

      The crew BLASTS away all around them Ripley drives a drunkard's path through the brush,

      avoiding trees that dot the scape.

      An alien DROPS onto the hood, another grabs the side -- Vries takes out the first,

      blowing it off, but the second grabs Johner, he goes flying over the side,.dropping his gun.

      St Just is too preoccupied with his own problems on the othe to see that Johner is being

      dragged, the alien still clutching onto him.

      Shots bang out, ripping into the alien, which lets go. Johner looks up to see Purvis

      holding Johner's gun.

      Johner drags himself back on.

      One jumps down onto St Just, tears a good chunk out of his midsection before he dusts it.

      Another alien jumps on the hood just as the jeep SAILS over first ledge of the terraced

      slope, comes-down hard enough knock it off, SAILS over the next -- the crew can barely

      hang on as the jeep crashes down slope after slope.

      Ripley swerves back onto the road, the jeep sliding over onto the steps beside it,

      rocking violently as they shoot down the remainder of slope, the aliens close on their heels.

      Still blasting away at the beasts, the crew is able to put little distance between them as

      they come to the end of the garden. Here it divides into three sections, all open

      halls with access for the jeep.

      RIPLEY

      Which way?

      DISTEPRMO (looking over)

      Left! Left!

      She swerves left,
    the jeep-bouncing into the hall

      INT. HALL CONTINUOUS

      Where windows running along either side look out onto black space.

      Ripley drives as far as she can, till a staircase -- going -- fills her vision, too steep

      for the jeep. She SLAMS on brakes. the jeep spinning out and coming to a halt.

      The crew piles out, Di Stephano grabbing Vriess. At the other end of the hall, the aliens

      can be seen approaching.

      The crew BLASTS at them, the aliens, blood splattering the narrow hall.

      ANGLE: THE BLOOD

      Eating into the walls. the floor.

      CALL/Ship

      Warning. potential hullbreach. Clear sector.

      DISTEPHANO (indicating the steps)

      Down here!

      They start down -- all but St Just. He gets out of the jeep with difficulty.

      Looks down at his wound.

      Johner looks around to see him still standing atop the steps

      JOHNER

      St Just! Come on, man.

      St Just looks down at the wound. Back at Johner. He walks calmly away, towards the aliens.

      CALL

      St Just!

      ST JUST

      You go.

      He looks at the appraching aliens.

      ST JUST

      I'm bored.

      CALLSHIP

      Warning. Evacuate sector.

      A moment, then the crew takes off.

      St Just takes a handful of pills, pops them into his mouth. Only the slightest grin suffuses his face ,as he waits for the aliens.

      They close on him, and he raises his guns.

      CALLSHIP

      warning...

      CUT TO:

      INT HALL NEARBY - CONTINUOUS

      The crew runs full out.

      DISTEPHANO

      We have to get out of the sector!

      RIPLEY

      Where!

      DISTEPHANO

      There!

      He points at a door that's down two flights and across the hall.

      CUT TO: INT. HALL CONTINUOUS

      The aliens close, and St Just FIRES, blasting away with bot guns. Aliens writhe on the

      floor before him, still they cover the bodies of their brothers, still he fires,

      Callship monotones of warning in sharp contrast to the chaos

      -- St Just fires until both guns are empty. In one smooth motion he drops them both

      and jerks his wrists and TWO-MORE disposable guns fly into his palms and he blasts away

      ANGLE: THE BLOOD

      Eating through the hull.

      ANGLE: THE CREW

      desperately racing for the door.

      ANGLE: ST JUST

      Firing with quiet glee.

      ANGLE: THE CREW

      The first of them are through the door.

      ANGLE: St JUST

      The aliens are getting closer, but still he mows them down Both his guns click, spent.

      ST JUST

      Damn.

      CALLSHIP

      Warning --

      and BOOM!!!!, the hall BURSTS OPEN, everything explodes into space, the wind rushes out as

      BOOM!!!, the whole garden sector rips open, sucked out, as

     


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