the ship.
AMAROQ: Our supplies are based on us spending a limited amount of time out of suspended animation.  Strictly limited.
JENNA: First we have to find it.
AUTUMN: No. First we've got something else to do.

He looks at Granite's body through mess doorway.

INT. AIR LOCK
Granite's body wrapped in a makeshift shroud.

INT. BRIDGE
The crew looking at Granite's body on view screens.
Silent.
Depressed.

AUTUMN: Inner hatch sealed.

Jenna nods.

AUTUMN: Anybody wants to say anything.

Nothing to say.
He nods to Jenna.
She presses a button.

INT. AIR LOCK
The outer hatch opens.
Yawning space outside.
Granite's body shoots out into eternity.
The hatch closes.

INT. MESS
The crew is assembled.

JENNA : I've checked on the supplies.  For about a week we can stay out of hyper sleep.
EBONY: Then what.
AAKA: We run out of food and oxygen.
AUTUMN: All right, that's what we've got.  A week. It's plenty of time.
MUCH: I say we put on our pressure suits and blow all the air out of the ship. That might kill it.
AAKA: What a swell idea.
MUCH: What's wrong with it?
AMAROQ: We've got forty-eight hours of air in our pressure suits and it takes six months to get home.
AAKA: Other than that...A swell idea.

Much won't give up on this idea.

MUCH: Maybe we could cut some kind of special lines to the tanks. Ebony and I are pretty good practical engineers...We got us back up you know.
JENNA: All by yourselves.
AMAROQ: I hate to point this out but it might be better off without oxygen. It lived that way long enough.
JENNAL There's another problem. How do we find it? There's no Visual communication on B and C decks. All the screens are Out.
AUTUMN: We're going to have to flush it Out.
AMAROQ: Sounds great...but how.
AUTUMN: Room by room, corridor by corridor.

One of those suggestions that nobody likes.

AAKA: And what do we do when we find it.
JENNA: Trap it somehow.
EBONY: If we had a really strong piece of net, we could bag it... I could put something together. A long metal rod with a battery in it.  Only take a few hours.
AAKA: Why do we listen to this meathead?

Autumn turns it over.

AUTUMN: He might be right...

EXT. OUTER SPACE
The Nostromo continues through the vortex.

INT. INFIRMARY
Autumn enters.
Amaroq working at a read-out section.

AUTUMN: I want to talk.
AMAROQ: I'm a little busy at the moment.

Pause.

AUTUMN: I don't care.

Pause.

AMAROQ: All right, go ahead.
AUTUMN: Why did you let the Alien survive?  inside Granite.
AMAROQ: I'm not sure you're getting through to me.
AUTUMN: Mother was monitoring his body. You were monitoring Mother. You must have had some idea of what was going on.
AMAROQ: What are you trying to say?

A long moment.

AUTUMN: You want the Alien to stay alive...I figure you have a reason.
AMAROQ: Name one.
AUTUMN: Look, we both work for the same company. I just want to know what's going on?
AMAROQ: I don't know what the hell you're talking about. And I don't like any of the insinuations. The Alien is a dangerous form of life...I don't want it to stay alive any more than you do.
AUTUMN: You're sure.
AMAROQ: Yeah, I'm sure. You should be too.

Autumn walks out.
Amaroq watches him go.
Stares in his direction a long while...

INT. NARCISSUS
Autumn seated in the shuttlecraft.
Staring at the myriad lights of outer space.
Jenna climbs beside him.

JENNA: I thought I'd find you here.

Autumn continues to stare.

AUTUMN: Are the nets finished?

Pause.

JENNA: We've got an hour...Look I need some relief.
AUTUMN: Why did you wait until now?

Jenna leans forward.

JENNA: Let me tell you something. You keep staring out there long enough, they'll be peeling you off the wall.

Jenna begins taking off her boots.

AUTUMN: We're the new pioneers, Jenna. We even get to have our own special disease.
JENNA: I'm tired of talking.

She rises and removes her upper garments.

AUTUMN: You waited too long.
JENNA: Give it a try anyway.

Clothing removed.
His arms move around her.

INT. BRIDGE
The crew has assembled.
Ebony unfolds several yards of asbestos netting.
Hands out five thin rods.
Each of them like metal broom handles.

EBONY: I put portable generators in each of these. They're insulated down here. Just be goddamn careful not to get your hand on the end.

He touches the tip to a metal object.
A blue spark leaps.

EBONY: It won't damage the little bastard unless its skin is a lot thinner than ours...It'll just give it a little incentive.
AAKA: Now if we could only find it.

Amaroq picks up a portable unit.

AMAROQ: I've taken care of that...tracking device. You set it to search for a moving object...It hasn't much range but when you get within a certain distance it starts beeping.

Jenna takes the tracker from Amaroq's hand.

JENNA: What's it key on.
AMAROQ: Micro changes in air density. Keep it pointed ahead of you.
AUTUMN : We'll break into two teams. Whoever finds it first catches it in the net and ejects it from the nearest air lock. (Pause) For starters, let's make sure the bridge is safe.

Much turns on his unit.
Scans it around the room.

AAKA: We seem to be okay...If this damn thing works.
AUTUMN: Amaroq and myself will go with Aaka. Ebony and Much will make up the second team. Jenna, you command it.

They start doling out the equipment.

AUTUMN: Channels are open on all decks.  We'll be in constant touch.

INT. PASSAGEWAY - "A" LEVEL
Aaka and Autumn carry the net.
Amaroq walks directly behind, carrying the tracking device.
He continually scans from side to side.
Aaka stops by a stairwell.

AAKA: Anything down there.

INT. ANOTHER PASSAGEWAY - "B" LEVEL
Much and Jenna move silently along.
Jenna ahead of them with the tracker by the stairwell.

JENNA: Nothing.

The move on.
A small light fl Amaroq.

JENNA: Hold it. I've got something.

Much and Ebony grow tense.
Start looking around.

EBONY: Where's it coming from.

Jenna peers closely at the tracker.

JENNA: Machine's screwed up. I can't tell. Needle's spinning all over the dial.
EBONY: Goddamn, malfunction.

Jenna turns the tracker on its side.
The needles stabilize.

JENNA: No, just confused. It's coming from below us.

They all look down at their feet.

INT. MAINTENANCE - "C" LEVEL
Jenna, Much and Ebony come down ladder onto an endless oily corridor.
They stop at the foot of the companionway...
They move down corridor into darkness.

JENNA: Okay.

Looks at the tracker.
Nods down the passageway. Stops.

JENNA: Back this way.

They begin to walk in that direction.
Entering drab section of the ship.
Surrounded by deep shadows.
Footsteps clanging on the metal deck.

JENNA: I thought you fixed 12 modules.
EBONY: We did.
MUCH: Circuits must have burned out.

They switch on lights.
Move around two turns.

JENNA: Wait.

They stop quickly, almost stumbling.

JENNA: It's within five meters.

Much and Ebony heft the net.
Jenna has the prod in one hand, tracker in the other.
Moves with great care.
Almost in a half-crouch, ready to leap back.
Prod extended, Jenna constantly glances at her tracker.
The device leads her up to a small hatch in the bulkhead.
Perspiration rivers down her face.
She sets aside the tracker.
Raises the prod, grasps the hatch handle.
Yanks it open.
Jams the electric prod inside.
A nerve-shattering squall.
Then a small creature comes flying out of the locker.
Eyes glaring, claws slashing.
Instinctively, they throw the net over it.
Very annoyed.
They open the net and release the captive.
Which happens to be the cat.
Hissing and spitting...as it scampers away.

JENNA: God damn it...hold it.
MUCH: We should have killed it...Now we might pick it up on the tracker again.
JENNA: Go get it. We'll go on.
EBONY: Right.

Jenna and Much move down the passageway.
Ebony follows the direction taken by the cat.
Moves across passageway into equipment maintenance area.

INT. EQUIPMENT MAINTENANCE AREA - "C" LEVEL
Ebony walking between rows of shadowed equipment.
Looking for the cat.
Nervous.

EBONY: Jones...Here kitty...Jones...Goddamn it Jones.

Scratching noises.
A reassuring cat yowl.
Ebony moves on.

INT. PASSAGEWAY - "C" LEVEL
Jenna and Much walk along.
Tracker signal weakens.
Finally stops.

JENNA: Nothing here.
MUCH: Let's go back.

INT. UNDERCARRIAGE ROOM - "C" LEVEL
Ebony enters.
Still looking for Jones.
Another yowl followed by a hiss.
Two eyes shining in the dark.
Jones.
Relieved, Ebony moves toward the cat.

EBONY: Here kitty...Come on Jones.

Ebony reaches for Jones.
Jones hisses.
An arm reaches for Ebony.
The Alien.
Now seven feet tall.
Hanging from the undercarriage strut in reverse position.
Grabs Ebony and swings up into darkness.
Ebony screams.
To no avail...
In the doorway Jenna and Much.
They witness the horror.

INT. MESS
The remaining crew assemble.
Long faces.

AAKA: Now what.
MUCH: Blast the rotten bastard with a laser and take our chances.
JENNA: No. At its present size it's  holding enough acid to tear a hole in this ship as big as this room.
AMAROQ: It wouldn't do any good. It's self-regenerating. You saw that when we operated on it.
JENNA: The only plan that's going to work is the same one we had before. Drive it into an air lock and blow it out into space.
MUCH: Drive it...The son-of-a-bitch is huge.
AAKA: For once he has a point. How do we drive it.
JENNA: The science department should be able to help...
AMAROQ: According to Mother, he's a primitive form of encephalon...
AAKA: How come it's a he.
AMAROQ: Just a phrase. As a matter of fact he's both, bisexual or hermaphrodite to be precise.
AUTUMN: Skip its sex life. How do we kill it.
AMAROQ: It seems to have adapted to an oxygen-rich atmosphere and it's certainly adapted well for its nutritional requirements. The only thing we don't know about is temperature.
JENNA: Curious

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