Alien (1979) by Walter Hill and David Giler. Based on screenplay by Dan O'Bannon. Revised final. June, 1978. Science fiction plucks from within us our deepest fears and hopes then shows them to us in rough disguise: the monster and the rocket. W.H. Auden We live, as we dream -- alone. Joseph Conrad "A L I E N" FADE IN SOMETIME IN THE FUTURE: INT. ENGINE ROOM Empty, cavernous. INT. ENGINE CUBICLE Circular, jammed with instruments. All of them idle. Console chairs for two. Empty. INT. OILY CORRIDOR - "C" LEVEL Long, dark. Empty. Turbos throbbing. No other movement. INT. CORRIDOR - "A" LEVEL Long, empty. INT. INFIRMARY - "A" LEVEL Distressed ivory walls. All instrumentation at rest. INT. CORRIDOR TO BRIDGE - "A" LEVEL Black, empty. INT. BRIDGE Vacant. Two space helmets resting on chairs. Electrical hum. Lights on the helmets begin to signal one another. Moments of silence. A yellow light goes on. Data mind bank in b.g. Electronic hum. A green light goes on in front of one helmet. Electronic pulsing sounds. A red light goes on in front of other helmet. An electronic conversation ensues. Reaches a crescendo. Then silence. The lights go off, save the yellow. INT. CORRIDOR TO HYPERSLEEP VAULT Lights come on. Seven gowns hang from the curved wall. Vault door opens. INT. HYPERSLEEP VAULT Explosion of escaping gas. The lid on a freezer pops open. Slowly, groggily, KANE sits up. Pale. Kane rubs the sleep from his eyes. Stands. Looks around. Stretches. Looks at the other freezer compartments. Scratches. Moves off. INT. GALLEY Kane plugs in a Silex. Lights a cigarette. Coughs. Grinds some coffee beans. Runs some water through. KANE Rise and shine, Lambert. INT. HYPERSLEEP VAULT Another lid pops open. A young woman sits up. LAMBERT What time is it. KANE (voice over) What do you care. INT. GALLEY Pot now half-full. Kane watches it drip. Inhales the fragrance. KANE Now Dallas and Ash. (calls out) Good morning Captain. DALLAS (voice over) Where's the coffee. KANE Brewing. LAMBERT walks into the kitchen. Pours herself a cup. INT. HYPERSLEEP VAULT Two more lids pop open. A pair of men sit up. Look at each other. INT. GALLEY Kane enjoys a freshly-brewed cup. KANE Ripley... Another moment. And then the sound of another lid opening. KANE And if we have Parker, can Brett be far behind. Lid opening sound. KANE Right. INT. HYPERSLEEP VAULT DALLAS looks at his groggy circus. DALLAS One of you jokers get the cat. RIPLEY picks up a limp cat out of one of the compartments. INT. MESS The crew of the United States commercial starship Nostromo seated around a table. Dallas.........Captain Kane...........Executive Officer Ripley.........Warrant Officer Ash............Science Officer Lambert........Navigator Parker.........Engineer Brett..........Engineering Technician Jones..........Cat Five men and two women: Lambert and Ripley. LAMBERT Jesus am I cold. PARKER Still with us, Brett. BRETT Yo. RIPLEY Lucky us. They yawn, stretch, shiver. Dallas looks over at a flashing yellow light. KANE I feel dead. Kane is not yet fully awake. Yawns. PARKER You look dead. ASH Nice to be back. PARKER Before we dock maybe we'd better go over the bonus situation. BRETT Yeah. PARKER Brett and I think we deserve a full share. DALLAS You two will get what you contracted for. Just like everybody else. BRETT Everybody else gets more than us. DALLAS Everybody else deserves more than you two. ASH Mother wants to talk to you. DALLAS I saw it. Yellow light for my eyes only...Now, everybody hit their stations. INT. COMPUTER ROOM ANNEX Floor to ceiling data banks. Another flashing yellow light. A legend underneath. COMMAND PRIORITY ACCESS ONLY. Dallas enters. Sits at his console. Removes insignia master computer key attached to his shirt. Plug it into the board under the light. All banks burst into life. Dallas punches up a computer code on the keyboard. Legend on the screen... What's my God damn key. Print-out from computer answers... 01335 on the binary side. DALLAS Thank you Mother. Dallas punches up the combination on the keyboard. Immediately start getting a readout. CUT TO: INT. BRIDGE Above eye level the room is ringed by viewscreens. All of them blank. Kane, Ripley, and Lambert enter. Dallas' seat remains empty. All of them now dressed; they find their way to individual consoles. Ripley puts down the cat, straps herself into the high- backed chair. KANE Plug us in. All three crew members begin throwing switches. The control room starts to come to life. Colored lights flicker. Chase each other across glowing screens. KANE Give us something to look at. Lambert presses a bank of switches. Viewscreens glimmer into life. LAMBERT Take a look at this. On each screen, blackness speckled with stars. LAMBERT Where's Earth. KANE You're the navigator. RIPLEY That's not our system. KANE Scan. Lambert hits several toggles. On the screens the images begin to drift. ONE OF THE SCREENS A moving image of a starfield. EXT. NOSTROMO The Factory Starship lumbering with the depths of inter-stellar space. Function: Petroleum tanker and Refinery. Capacity: 2000,000,000 tons. Length: One and one half kilometers. Battered exterior encrusted with dark sludge. INT. BRIDGE Lambert pores over charts. Consults her console. Puzzled. KANE Contact traffic control. Ripley switches on her transmission unit. RIPLEY This is commercial vessel Nostromo. Registration number 180246. Do you read me. Over. Nothing but the hiss of static. RIPLEY Nothing. KANE Keep trying. Turns to Lambert. Ripley attempting transmission in b.g. KANE You got a reading yet. LAMBERT We're way out in the boondocks here... KANE Keep trying... LAMBERT Working on it. Eureka. LAMBERT Found it. KANE Hard to believe. LAMBERT What the hell are we doing out here. KANE What are you talking about. RIPLEY It's not our system. INT. ENGINE ROOM Giant reactor system purring smoothly. INT. ENGINE ROOM PARKER and BRETT in a glass cubicle. Each having a beer. Huge powerplant stretching before them. All units on automatic hyper-drive. Parker hits a switch above his desk. A green light goes on. PARKER How's your light? BRETT Green. PARKER Mine too. They both take a swig. Suddenly a beeper signal begins. PARKER Christ. What is it now. BRETT Right. RIPLEY (voice over) Report to the mess. INT. OILY CORRIDOR - "C" LEVEL PARKER I want to know why they never come down here. This is where the work is. BRETT Same reason we have half a share to their one, our time is their time, that's the way they see it. PARKER Well, I'll tell you something... it stinks. They move towards the companionway. INT. MESS Entire crew present. DALLAS Some of you may have figured out that we're not home. BRETT What the hell. DALLAS Mother's interrupted the course of the voyage. Mother is programmed to interrupt