position unchanged.
Jenna approaches.
Sits near Amaroq.

JENNA: Anything new.
AMAROQ: He's holding, no changes.
JENNA: What about the Creature.
AMAROQ: It's got an outer layer of protein Polysaccharides. A lot of Amino Acids for prolonged resistance to adverse environmental conditions...That enough for you.
JENNA: Plenty. What's it mean.
AMAROQ: Interesting combination of elements making it one tough little son-of-a-bitch...
JENNA: Is that why you let it in?
AMAROQ: I was following a direct order.  Remember.
JENNA: While Autumn and Granite are off the ship, I'm Senior Officer.
AMAROQ: Yes, of course -- I forgot.
JENNA: You also forgot the science division's basic quarantine law.
AMAROQ: No. That I didn't forget.
JENNA: You just broke it.
AMAROQ: What would you have done with Granite..?  His only chance at staying alive was to get into the infirmary.
JENNA: By breaking quarantine procedure you risk everybody's life.
AMAROQ: Maybe I should have let him die out there. Maybe I have jeopardized the rest of us...It's a risk I'm willing to take.
JENNA: This is your official position as a science officer. Not exactly out of the manual.
AMAROQ: The first position of science is the protection and betterment of human life. I take my responsibility as seriously as you do... you do your job and I'll do mine.

Jenna stands...looks at Amaroq.
Walks out.

INT. MESS
Aaka playing with some string, amusing Jones.
Cat's Cradle.
Both looking bored.

INT. ENGINE ROOM CUBICLE
Much and Ebony at work on the final intake screen.

INT. NARCISSUS
Autumn listening to a primitive tape.
His foot tapping with the rhythm.
Beep.
An interruption on the communicator.

AUTUMN: Autumn.
AMAROQ: (Voice over) I think you should have a look at Granite. Something's happened.
AUTUMN: Serious.
AMAROQ: (Voice over) Interesting.

Autumn exits.

INT. CORRIDOR OUTSIDE IMFIRMARY WINDOW
Amaroq stares through window.
Autumn joins him.
Jenna appears behind.
A long pause.

AUTUMN: It's gone.
Granite's prone form.
The Alien is no longer on his face.
Granite still unconscious, but continues to breathe.
Face covered with sucker marks.

JENNA: The door is closed. It must still be in there.
AMAROQ: We can't open the door. We don't want to let it out.
JENNA: Yeah, I remember. We can't grab it. We can't kill it...
AUTUMN: Maybe we can catch it.
AMAROQ: As long as we're careful not to damage it.

INT. INFIRMARY
They enter cautiously.
Autumn begins moving slowly around the room.
Picking up a stainless steel tray.
Looking.
Amaroq and Jenna do the same.
Jenna bends down and peers under the bunk.
Nothing.
Accidentally kicks over a tray.
She stands.
Doesn't see the Alien on a ledge above her.
Her shoulder brushes against the Creature.
It drops on her.
She screams. Twists.
The Alien drops to the floor.
Then lies motionless.
Its skin faded to a dead-looking gray.
Jenna doesn't raise her eyes from the Creature.
Prods the Alien.
No response.

AMAROQ: I think it's dead. (Looks to Jenna) You okay.
JENNA: Yeah.

She carefully touches the Creature with a metal probe.
Fishes the motionless life form into the tray.
Quickly closes the lid.
Lifts it onto a stainless steel table.
Bright light trained on the Alien.
The Creature in a supine position.
Amaroq touches at the Alien with a surgical instrument.

AMAROQ: Look at those suckers. No wonder we couldn't get it off him.
JENNA: Where's its mouth.
AMAROQ: It's this tube-thing, up in here. (Carefully extracts the end of the organ) It's hardening. (Slips the Creature under a fluoroscope) It's dead. No life sign whatever.
JENNA: Let's get rid of it.
AMAROQ: This has to go back. This is our first contact with a Specimen like this. All kinds of tests need to be run.
JENNA: That thing bled acid. God knows what it'll do when it's dead.
AMAROQ: I think it's safe to assume it's not a zombie... Autumn, we have to keep this specimen.

Pause.

AUTUMN: You're the science officer. It's your decision.
AMAROQ: Then it's made... I'll seal it in a stasis tube.

Pause.

JENNA: What about Granite.

Amaroq turns back to the bunk.
Studies the life support gauges.
Granite continues to breathe steadily.

ROOM CUBICLE
Ebony waves his arms in exultation.

EBONY: We did it
MUCH: Walk in the park. When we fix something it stays fixed.

Big smiles.

INT. BRIDGE
The Nostromo now safely beyond gravity.

AUTUMN: Set our course and get us up to light plus four.

Aaka begins punching buttons.

AAKA: Feets get me out of here.

EXT. OUTER SPACE
The Nostromo now at light speed.
Perceptible movement in the surrounding universe.
A corona effect emerges.
Stars approaching the Nostromo appear blue.
Receding stars going to amber.
Red shift, made visible because of the craft's velocity.

INT. MESS
Much, Ebony, Autumn and Jenna around the table.
Drinking coffee.

MUCH: The best thing to do is just to freeze him. Stop the god dam disease. He can get a doctor to look at him when we get back home.
EBONY: Right.
JENNA: Whenever he says anything you say 'right'. You know that, Ebony.
EBONY: Right.
JENNA: What do you think, Much? Your staff just follows you around and says 'right'. Like a regular parrot.

Much turns to Ebony.

MUCH: Yeah. Shape up. What are you, some kind of parrot.
EBONY: Right.
AUTUMN: Knock it off... Granite will have to go into quarantine.
JENNA: Yeah. And so will we.

Aaka enters.

AAKA: How about a little something to lower your spirits.
AUTUMN: Thrill me.
AAKA: According to my calculations...based on the time spent getting to and from the planet and the speed at which it's moving away from the other...
AUTUMN: Give me the short version...
AAKA: It'll take us six weeks to get back on course.
AUTUMN: How far to Earth?
AAKA: Ten months.
JENNA: Christ.

Beep.

AUTUMN: Autumn.
AMAROQ: (Voice over) Come and see Granite right away...
AUTUMN: Any change in his condition.
AMAROQ: (Voice over) It's simpler if you just come see him.

INT. CORRIDOR OUTSIDE INFIRMARY WINDOW
What they see is...Not what they expect.
Granite is sitting up in bed...wide-awake.
They enter...

AAKA: Granite...Are you all right.
GRANITE: Mouth's dry...can I have some water.

Instantly, Amaroq brings him a plastic cup and water.
Granite gulps it down in a swallow.

GRANITE: More.

Jenna quickly fills a much bigger container.
Hands it to Granite.
He greedily consumes the entire contents.
Then sags back, panting, on the bunk.

AUTUMN: How do you feel?
GRANITE: Terrible. What happened to me?
AMAROQ: You don't remember.
GRANITE: Don't remember anything. I can barely remember my name.
MUCH: Do you hurt?
GRANITE: All over. Feel like somebody's been beating me with a stick for about six years. (Smiles) God, I'm hungry.
JENNA: What's the last thing you can remember.
GRANITE: I don't know.
AUTUMN: Do you remember what happened? on the planet.
GRANITE: Just some horrible dream  about smothering. Where are we.
JENNA: We're on our way home.
EBONY: Getting ready to go back into the freezers.
GRANITE: I'm starving. I want some food first.
MUCH: I'm pretty hungry myself.
AUTUMN: One meal before bed.

INT. MESS
The entire crew is seated.
Hungrily swallowing huge portions of artificial food.
The cat eats from a dish on the table.

GRANITE: First thing I'm going to do when we get back is eat some decent food.
MUCH: I've had worse than this, but I've had better too, if you know what I mean.
AAKA: Christ, you're pounding down this stuff like there's no tomorrow.

Pause.

MUCH: I mean I like it.
GRANITE: No kidding.
MUCH: Yeah. It grows on you.
GRANITE: It should. You know what they make this stuff out of...
MUCH: I know what they make it out of.  So what. It's food now. You're eating it.

Suddenly Granite grimaces.

JENNA: What's wrong?

Granite's voice strains.

AAKA: What's the matter?
GRANITE: I don't know... I'm getting cramps.

The others stare at him in alarm.
Suddenly he makes a loud groaning noise.
Clutches the edge of the table with his hands.
Knuckles whitening.

AMAROQ: Breathe deeply.

Granite screams.

GRANITE: Oh God, it hurts so badly.  It hurts. It hurts. (Stands up) Ooooooh.
EBONY: What is it? What hurts?

Granite's face screws into a mask of agony.
He falls back into his chair.

GRANITE: Ohmygooaaaahh.

A red stain.
Then a smear of blood blossoms on his chest.
The fabric of his shirt is ripped apart.
A small head the size of a man's fist pushes out.
The crew shouts in panic.
Leap back from the table.
The cat spits, bolts away.
The tiny head lunges forward.
Comes spurting out of Granite's chest trailing a thick body.
Splatters fluids and blood in its wake.
Lands in the middle of the dishes and food.
Wriggles away while the crew scatters.
Then the Alien being disappears from sight.
Granite lies slumped in his chair.
Very dead.
A huge hole in his chest.
The dishes are scattered.
Food covered with blood.

AAKA: No, no, no, no, no.
EBONY: What was that? What the Christ was that?
MUCH: It was growing in him the whole time and he didn't even know it.
AMAROQ: It used him for an incubator.
JENNA: That means we've got another one.
AUTUMN: Yeah. And it's loose on the ship.

Slowly they gather around Granite's gutted corpse.
Then they all look at one another.
Then at Granite.
Dead on the table.

INT. CORRIDOR - "A" DECK
Empty.
Much and Ebony descend companionway.
They join Amaroq, Aaka, Jenna and Autumn.

AUTUMN: Any signs.
AAKA: Nothing.
AMAROQ: Nothing.
MUCH: Didn't see a goddamn thing.
EBONY: Didn't see anything.
JENNA: We can't go into hyper sleep with that thing running loose. We'd be sitting ducks in the freezers. We have to kill it first.
AAKA: We can't kill it. If we do, it will spill its body acids right through the hull...
EBONY: Son-of-a-bitch.
JENNA: We have to catch it and eject it from the ship.