leading from
Alien Resources ALIEN (project formerly titled STARBEAST)
Story by Dan O'Bannon & Ronald Shusett
Screenplay by Dan O'Bannon
1976
SYNOPSIS
En route back to Earth from a far part of the galaxy, the crew of the
starship SNARK intercepts a transmission in an alien language,
originating from a nearby storm-shrouded planet.
Mankind has waited centuries to contact another form of intelligent
life in the universe -- they decide to land and investigate. Their
search takes them to a wrecked alien spacecraft whose doors gape open
-- it is dead and abandoned. Inside they find, among other strange
things, the skeleton of one of the unearthly space travellers.
Certain clues in the wrecked ship lead them across the hostile surface
of the planet to a primitive stone pyramid, the only remnant of a
vanished civilization. Beneath this pyramid they find an ancient tomb
full of fantastic artifacts. Lying dormant in the tomb are centuries-
old spores, which are triggered into life by the men's presence. A
parasite emerges and fastens itself to one of the men's faces -- and
cannot be removed.
An examination by the ship's medical computer reveals that the
creature has inserted a tube down his throat, which is depositing
something inside him. Then it is discovered that the parasite's blood
is a horribly corrosive acid which eats through metal -- they dare not
kill it on the ship.
Ultimately it is dislodged from its victim and ejected from the ship,
and they blast off from the Hell-planet. However, before they can seal
themselves into suspended animation for the long voyage home, a
horrible little monster emerges from the victim's body -- it has been
growing in him, deposited there by the parasite... and now it is loose
on the ship.
A series of ghastly adventures follow. They trap it in an air shaft
and a man has to crawl down the shaft with a flamethrower -- it tears
a man's head off and runs away with his body -- a man is crushed in
the air lock door and the ship loses most of its air in a terrific
windstorm -- another man is burned to death and then eaten by the
creature -- and another is woven into a cocoon as part of the alien's
bizarre life cycle.
Finally there is only one man left alive, alone on the ship with the
creature, and only six hours till his air runs out; which leads to a
climax of horrifying, explosive jeopardy, the outcome of which
determines who will reach Earth alive -- man or alien.
CAST OF CHARACTERS
CHAZ STANDARD,
Captain.................A leader and a politician. Believes that
any action is better than no action.
MARTIN ROBY,
Executive Officer.......Cautious but intelligent -- a survivor.
DELL BROUSSARD,
Navigator...............Adventurer; brash glory-hound.
SANDY MELKONIS,
Communications..........Tech Intellectual; a romantic.
CLEAVE HUNTER,
Mining Engineer.........High-strung; came along to make his
fortune.
JAY FAUST,
Engine Tech.............A worker. Unimaginative.
The crew is unisex and all parts are interchangeable for men or women.
FADE IN:
EXTREME CLOSEUPS OF FLICKERING INSTRUMENT PANELS. Readouts and digital
displays pulse eerily with the technology of the distant future.
Wherever we are, it seems to be chill, dark, and sterile. Electronic
machinery chuckles softly to itself.
Abruptly we hear a BEEPING SIGNAL, and the machinery begins to awaken.
Circuits close, lights blink on.
CAMERA ANGLES GRADUALLY WIDEN, revealing more and more of the
machinery, banks of panels, fluttering gauges, until we reveal:
INTERIOR - HYPERSLEEP VAULT
A stainless steel room with no windows, the walls packed with
instrumentation. The lights are dim and the air is frigid.
Occupying most of the floor space are rows of horizontal FREEZER
COMPARTMENTS, looking for all the world like meat lockers.
FOOM! FOOM! FOOM! With explosions of escaping gas, the lids on the
freezers pop open.
Slowly, groggily, six nude men sit up.
ROBY
Oh... God... am I cold...
BROUSSARD
Is that you, Roby?
ROBY
I feel like shit...
BROUSSARD
Yeah, it's you all right.
Now they are yawning, stretching, and shivering.
FAUST
(groans)
Ohh... I must be alive, I feel dead.
BROUSSARD
You look dead.
MELKONIS
The vampires rise from their graves.
This draws a few woozy chuckles.
BROUSSARD
(shakes his fist in the
air triumphantly)
We made it!
HUNTER
(not fully awake)
Is it over?
STANDARD
It's over, Hunter.
HUNTER
(yawning)
Boy, that's terrific.
STANDARD
(looking around with a grin)
Well, how does it feel to be rich
men?
FAUST
Cold!
This draws a LAUGH.
STANDARD
Okay! Everybody topside! Let's get
our pants on and get to our posts!
The men begin to swing out of the freezers.
MELKONIS
Somebody get the cat.
Roby picks a limp cat out of a freezer.
INTERIOR - CONTROL ROOM
This is a fantastic circular room, jammed with instrumentation. There
are no windows, but above head level the room is ringed by
viewscreens, all blank for the moment.
There are seats for four men. Each chair faces a console and is
surrounded by a dazzling array of technology.
STANDARD, ROBY, BROUSSARD, and MELKONIS are entering and finding their
seats.
BROUSSARD
I'm going to buy a cattle ranch.
ROBY
(putting down the cat)
Cattle ranch!
BROUSSARD
I'm not kidding. You can get one if
you have the credit. Look just like
real cows, too.
STANDARD
All right, tycoons, let's stop
spending our credit and start
worrying about the job at hand.
ROBY
Right. Fire up all systems.
They begin to throw switches, lighting up their consoles. The control
room starts to come to life. All around the room, colored lights
flicker and chase each other across glowing screens. The room fills
with the hum and chatter of machinery.
STANDARD
Sandy, you want to give us some
vision?
MELKONIS
Feast your eyes.
Melkonis reaches to his console and presses a bank of switches. The
strip of viewscreens flickers into life.
On each screen, we see BLACKNESS SPECKLED WITH STARS.
BROUSSARD
(after a pause)
Where's Irth?
STANDARD
Sandy, scan the whole sky.
Melkonis hits buttons. On the screens the images all begin to pan.
CAMERA MOVES IN ON ONE OF THE SCREENS, with its moving image of a
starfield.
EXTERIOR - OUTER SPACE
CLOSE SHOT OF A PANNING TV CAMERA. This camera is remote controlled,
turning silently on its base.
CAMERA BEGINS TO PULL BACK, revealing that the TV camera is mounted on
the HULL OF SOME KIND OF CRAFT.
When the pullback is finished, WE SEE THE FULL LENGTH OF THE STARSHIP
"SNARK," hanging in the depths of interstellar space, against a
background of glimmering stars.
INTERIOR - BRIDGE
ROBY
Where are we?
STANDARD
Sandy, contact traffic control.
Melkonis switches on his radio unit.
MELKONIS
This is deep space commercial vessel
SNARK, registration number E180246,
calling Antarctica air traffic
control. Do you read me? Over.
There is only the HISS OF STATIC.
BROUSSARD
(staring at a screen)
I don't recognize that constellation.
STANDARD
Dell, plot our location.
Broussard goes into action, punching buttons, lighting up all his
instruments.
BROUSSARD
I got it. Oh boy.
STANDARD
Where the hell are we?
BROUSSARD
Just short of Zeta II Reticuli. We
haven't even reached the outer rim
yet.
ROBY
What the hell?
Standard picks up a microphone.
STANDARD
This is Chaz speaking. Sorry, but we
are not home. Our present location
seems to be only halfway to Irth.
Remain at your posts and stand by.
That is all.
ROBY
Chaz, I've got something here on my
security alert. A high priority from
the computer...
STANDARD
Let's hear it.
ROBY
(punches buttons)
Computer, you have signalled a
priority three message. What is the
message?
COMPUTER
(a mechanical voice)
I have interrupted the course of the
voyage.
ROBY
What? Why?
COMPUTER
I am programmed to do so if certain
conditions arise.
STANDARD
Computer, this is Captain Standard.
What conditions are you talking
about?
COMPUTER
I have intercepted a transmission of
unknown origin.
STANDARD
A transmission?
COMPUTER
A voice transmission.
MELKONIS
Out here?
The men exchange glances.
COMPUTER
I have recorded the transmission.
STANDARD
Play it for us, please.
Over the speakers, we hear a hum, a crackle, static... THEN A
STRANGE, UNEARTHLY VOICE FILLS THE ROOM, SPEAKING AN ALIEN
LANGUAGE. The bizarre voice speaks a long sentence, then falls
silent.
The men all stare at each other in amazement.
STANDARD
Computer, what language was that?
COMPUTER
Unknown.
ROBY
Unknown! What do you mean?
COMPUTER
It is none of the 678 dialects
spoken by technological man.
There is a pause, then EVERYBODY STARTS TALKING AT THE SAME TIME.
STANDARD
(silencing them)
Just hold it, hold it!
(glares around the room)
Computer: have you attempted to
analyze the transmission?
COMPUTER
Yes. There are two points of salient
interest. Number one: it is highly
systematized, indicating intelligent
origin. Number two: certain sounds
are inconsistent with the human
palate.
ROBY
Oh my God.
STANDARD
Well, it's finally happened.
MELKONIS
First contact...
STANDARD
Sandy, can you home in on that beam?
MELKONIS
What's the frequency?
STANDARD
Computer, what's the frequency of
the transmission?
COMPUTER
65330 dash 99.
Melkonis punches buttons.
MELKONIS
I've got it. It's coming from
ascension 6 minutes 32 seconds,
declination -39 degrees 2 seconds.
STANDARD
Dell -- show me that on a screen.
BROUSSARD
I'll give it to you on number four.
Broussard punches buttons. One of the viewscreens flickers, and a
small dot of light becomes visible in the corner of the screen.
BROUSSARD (CONT'D)
That's it. Let me straighten it out.
He twists a knob, moving the image on the screen till the dot is in
the center.
STANDARD
Can you get it a little closer?
BROUSSARD
That's what I'm going to do.
He hits a button. The screen flashes and a PLANET APPEARS.
BROUSSARD (CONT'D)
Planetoid. Diameter, 120 kilometers.
MELKONIS
It's tiny!
STANDARD
Any rotation?
BROUSSARD
Yeah. Two hours.
STANDARD
Gravity?
BROUSSARD
Point eight six. We can walk on it.
Standard rises.
STANDARD
Martin, get the others up to the
lounge.
INTERIOR - MULTI-PURPOSE ROOM
The entire crew -- STANDARD, ROBY, BROUSSARD, MELKONIS, HUNTER, and
FAUST -- are all seated around a table, with Standard at the head.
MELKONIS
If it's an S.O.S., we're morally
obligated to investigate.
BROUSSARD
Right.
HUNTER
I don't know. Seems to me we came on
this trip to make some credit, not
to go off on some kind of side trip.
BROUSSARD
(excited)
Forget the credit; what we have here
is a chance to be the first men to
contact a nonhuman intelligence.
ROBY
If there is some kind of alien
intelligence down on that planetoid,
it'd be a serious mistake for us to
blunder in unequipped.
BROUSSARD
Hell, we're equipped --
ROBY
Hell, no! We don't know what's down
there on that piece of rock! It
might be dangerous! What we should
do is get on the radio to the
exploration authorities... and let
them deal with it.
STANDARD
Except it will take 75 years to get
a reply back. Don't forget how far
we are from the Colonies, Martin.
BROUSSARD
There are no commercial lanes out
here. Face it, we're out of range.
MELKONIS
Men have waited centuries to contact
another form of intelligent life in
the universe. This is an opportunity
which may never come again.
ROBY
Look --
STANDARD
You're overruled, Martin. Gentlemen
-- let's go.
INTERIOR - BRIDGE
The men are strapping in, but this time it is with grim determination.
STANDARD
Dell, I want greater magnification.
More surface detail. I want to see
what this place looks like.
BROUSSARD
I'll see what I can do.
He jabs his controls. The image on the screen ZOOMS DOWN TOWARD THE
PLANET; but all detail quickly vanishes into a featureless grey haze.
STANDARD
It's out of focus.
ROBY
No -- that's atmosphere. Cloud
layer.
MELKONIS
My God, it's stormy for a piece of
rock that size!
ROBY
Just a second.
(punches buttons)
Those aren't water vapor clouds;
they have no moisture content.
STANDARD
Put ship in atmospheric mode.
EXTERIOR - "SNARK" - OUTER SPACE
The great dish antenna on the SNARK folds down against the main body
of the ship, and other parts flatten out, until the ship has assumed
an aerodynamic form.
INTERIOR - BRIDGE
STANDARD
Dell, set a course and bring us in
on that beam.
EXTERIOR - SPACE
The SNARK's engines cough into life, and send it drifting toward the
distant dot that is the planetoid.
CAMERA APPROACHES THE PLANETOID, until it looms large on screen. It is
turbulent, completely enveloped in dun-colored clouds.
The SNARK drops down toward the surface.
INTERIOR - BRIDGE
STANDARD
Activate lifter quads.
BROUSSARD
Activated. Vertical drop checked.
Correcting course. On tangential
course now, orbiting.
(brief pause as he
studies his instruments)
Crossing the terminator. Entering
night side.
EXTERIOR - "SNARK" - IN ORBIT
Beneath the orbiting SNARK, night's curtain rolls across the planet.
Descending at an angle, the SNARK drops down into the thick atmosphere
of the planetoid.
INTERIOR - BRIDGE
ROBY
Atmospheric turbulence. Dust storm.
STANDARD
Turn on navigation lights.
EXTERIOR - "SNARK"
Hydroplaning down through the pea-soup atmosphere, a set of brilliant
lights switches on, cutting through the dust, but hardly improving
visibility.
INTERIOR - BRIDGE
BROUSSARD
Approaching point of origin. Closing
at 20 kilometers, 15 and slowing.
Ten. Five. Gentlemen, we are
directly above the source of the
transmission.
STANDARD
What's the terrain down there?
BROUSSARD
Well, line of sight is impossible
due to dust. Radar gives me noise.
Sonar gives me noise. Infrared --
noise. Let's try ultraviolet. There.
Flat. It's totally flat. A plain.
STANDARD
Is it solid?
BROUSSARD
It's... basalt. Rock.
STANDARD
Then take her down.
BROUSSARD
Drop begins... now! Fifteen
kilometers and dropping... twelve...
ten... eight and slowing. Five.
Three. Two. One kilometer and
slowing. Lock tractor beams.
There is a LOUD ELECTRICAL HUM and the ship shudders.
ROBY
Locked.
BROUSSARD
Kill drive engines.
The engines fall silent.
ROBY
Engines off.
BROUSSARD
Nine hundred meters and dropping.
800. 700. Hang on gentlemen.
EXTERIOR - SURFACE OF PLANET - NIGHT
The night-shrouded surface is a hell of blowing dust. The SNARK hovers
above it on glowing beams of light, dropping down slowly.
Landing struts unfold like insect legs.
INTERIOR - BRIDGE
BROUSSARD
And we're... down.
EXTERIOR - SURFACE OF PLANET - NIGHT
The ship touches down, heavily; it rocks on huge shock absorbers.
INTERIOR - BRIDGE
The whole ship VIBRATES VIOLENTLY FOR AN INSTANT -- then all the
panels in the room flash simultaneously and the LIGHT'S GO OUT.
BROUSSARD
Jesus Christ!
The lights come back on again.
STANDARD
What the hell happened?
ROBY
(hits a switch)
Engine room, what happened?
FAUST
(over, filtered)
Just a minute, hold it, I'm
checking.
ROBY
Has the hull been breached?
BROUSSARD
Uh...
(scans his gauges)
No, I don't see anything. We've
still got pressure.
There is a BEEP from the communicator. Then:
FAUST
(over, filtered)
Martin, this is Jay. The intakes are
clogged with dust. We overheated and
burned out a whole cell.
STANDARD
(strikes his panel)
Damn it! How long to fix?
ROBY
(into microphone)
How long to fix?
FAUST
(over, filtered)
Hard to say.
ROBY
Well, get started.
FAUST
(over, filtered)
Right. Talk to you.
STANDARD
Let's take a look outside. Turn the
screens back on.
Melkonis hits buttons. The screens flicker, but remain black.
BROUSSARD
Can't see a blessed thing.
EXTERIOR - SHIP - NIGHT
Only a few glittering lights distinguish the ship from the absolute
darkness around it.
THE WIND MOANS AND SCREAMS. DUST BLOWS IN FRONT OF THE TINY GLIMMERING
LIGHTS.
INTERIOR - BRIDGE - NIGHT
STANDARD
Kick on the floods.
EXTERIOR - SHIP - NIGHT
A ring of FLOODLIGHTS on the ship come to life, pouring blinding light
out into the night.
They illuminate nothing but a patch of featureless grey ground and
clouds of blowing dust. The wind shrieks.
INTERIOR - BRIDGE - NIGHT
ROBY
Not much help.
Standard stares at the dark screens.
STANDARD
Well, we can't go anywhere in this
darkness. How long till dawn?
MELKONIS
(consults his instruments)
Well... this rock rotates every two
hours. The sun should be coming up
in about 20 minutes.
BROUSSARD
Good! Maybe we'll be able to see
something then.
ROBY
Or something will be able to see us.
They all look at him.
DISSOLVE TO:
EXTERIOR - SHIP - NIGHT (MAIN TITLE SEQUENCE)
The floodlights on the SNARK fight a losing battle against the
darkness and the storm. MAIN THEME MUSIC BEGINS, EXTREMELY OMINOUS.
THE TITLE APPEARS:
ALIEN
RUN TITLES.
Gradually, the screen begins to lighten as the SUN RISES. The
silhouette of the SNARK becomes visible, like some strange insect
crouching motionless on the barren plain. The floods shut off. Dense
clouds of impenetrable dust shriek and moan, obscuring everything and
reducing the sunlight to a dull orange.
END MAIN TITLES.
INTERIOR - BRIDGE - DAY
CLOSE ON A SCREEN - it shows nothing but swirling clouds of orange
dust.
PULL BACK FROM SCREEN. The men (Standard, Roby, Broussard, and
Melkonis) are sitting and standing around the room, drinking coffee
and staring at the screens, which reveal only the billowing dust.
ROBY
There could be a whole city out
there and we'd never see it.
BROUSSARD
Not sitting on our butts in here,
that's for sure.
STANDARD
Just settle down. Sandy, you get any
response yet?
MELKONIS
(pulls off his earphones)
Sorry. Nothing but that same damn
transmission, every 32 seconds. I've
tried every frequency on the
spectrum.
BROUSSARD
Are we just going to sit around and
wait for an invitation?
Roby gives Broussard a black look, then stabs a button on his console
and speaks into the mike.
ROBY
(into mike)
Hello, Faust!
FAUST
(over, filtered)
Yeah!
ROBY
How's it coming on the engines?
INTERIOR - ENGINE ROOM
Faust is seated at an electronic workbench, brightly lit, speaking
into a wall intercom.
FAUST
I never saw anything as fine as this
dust... these cells are all pitted on
a microscopic level. I have to
polish these things smooth again, so
it's going to take a while. Okay?
INTERIOR - BRIDGE - DAY
ROBY
Yeah, okay.
(puts down the mike)
STANDARD
Sandy... how far are we from the
source of the transmission?
MELKONIS
Source of transmission is to the
northeast... about 300 meters.
ROBY
Close...
BROUSSARD
Close enough to walk to!
STANDARD
Martin, would you run me an
atmospheric?
ROBY
(punches buttons and
consults his panels)
10% argon, 85% nitrogen, 5% neon...
and some trace elements.
STANDARD
Nontoxic... but unbreathable.
Pressure?
ROBY
Ten to the fourth dynes per square
centimeter.
STANDARD
Good! Moisture content?
ROBY
Zero. Dry as a bone.
STANDARD
Any microorganisms?
ROBY
Not a one. It's dead.
STANDARD
Anything else?
ROBY
Yeah, rock particles. Dust.
STANDARD
Well, we won't need pressure suits,
but breathing masks are called for.
Sandy -- can you rig up some kind of
portable unit that we can use to
follow that transmission to its
source?
MELKONIS
No problem.
BROUSSARD
I volunteer for the exploration
party.
STANDARD
I heard you. You want to break out
the side arms?
INTERIOR - MAIN ARM LOCK - DAY
Standard, Broussard and Melkonis enter the lock. They all wear gloves,
boots, jackets, and pistols.
Broussard touches a button and the inner door slides silently shut,
sealing them into the lock.
They all pull on rubber full-head oxygen masks.
STANDARD
(adjusting the radio on his
mask)
I'm sending. Do you hear me?
BROUSSARD
Receiving.
MELKONIS
Receiving.
STANDARD
All right. Now just remember: keep
away from those weapons unless I say
otherwise. Martin, do you read me?
INTERIOR - BRIDGE - DAY
ROBY
Read you, Chaz.
INTERIOR - MAIN AIR LOCK - DAY
STANDARD
Open the outer door.
Ponderously, the outer lock door slides open. ORANGE SUNLIGHT streams
into the lock, and clouds of dust swirl in. We hear the MOANING OF THE
WIND OUTSIDE.
A mobile stairway slides out of the open hatchway, and clunks as it
hits the ground.
Standard walks out into the storm, followed by the others.
EXTERIOR - PLANETOID - DAY
The three men trot down the gangplank to the surface of the planet.
Their feet sink into a thick layer of dust and loose rock.
The men huddle together, looking around. The wind screams and tugs at
their clothes. Nothing can be seen.
STANDARD
Which way, Sandy?
Melkonis is fiddling with a portable direction-finder.
MELKONIS
(pointing)
That way.
STANDARD
You lead.
Melkonis walks into the blinding dust clouds, followed closely by the
others.
STANDARD
Okay, Martin. We're on our way.
INTERIOR - BRIDGE - DAY
Roby is the sole occupant of the bridge. He is huddled over his
console, smoking a cigarette and watching three moving blips on a
screen.
ROBY
Okay, Chaz, I hear you. I've got you
on my board.
STANDARD
(over, filtered)
Good. I'm getting you clear too.
Let's just keep the line open.
EXTERIOR - PLANETOID - DAY
The three men plough their way through a limbo of yellow dust and
shrieking wind. With their rubbery masks and deliberate movements,
they look like deep-sea divers at the bottom of a murky ocean.
Melkonis leads the column, following the compass on the direction
finder.
STANDARD (CONT'D)
Can't see more than three meters in
any direction out here. We're
walking blind, on instruments.
They wade on, following Melkonis. Abruptly he halts.
STANDARD (CONT'D)
What's wrong?
MELKONIS
My signal's fading.
He studies the direction finder.
INTERIOR - BRIDGE - DAY
Roby is listening intently to the dialogue from the helmet radios.
MELKONIS (CONT'D)
(over, filtered)
It's the dust, it's interfering...
His concentration is so great that he does NOT NOTICE HUNTER COMING UP
BEHIND HIM.
MELKONIS (CONT'D)
(over, filtered)
... Hold it, I've got it again. It's
over that way.
Standing DIRECTLY BEHIND ROBY, Hunter speaks.
HUNTER
What's happening?
Startled out of his wits, Roby GASPS and whirls around to face Hunter.
ROBY
(startled silly)
Hell!
Hunter stares at Roby, whose momentary terror dissolves into
embarrassed anger.
EXTERIOR - PLANETOID - DAY
The three men push their way through the storm. Melkonis stops again,
studies the direction finder.
MELKONIS
It's close, real close.
STANDARD
How far?
MELKONIS
We should be almost on top of it. I
just can't quite...
Suddenly, Broussard grabs Standard's arm and points. The others stare
in the direction he is pointing.
REVERSE ANGLE - THEIR POINT-OF-VIEW
Through the dense clouds of swirling dust we can just barely make out
some kind of HUGE SHAPE.
As we watch, the dust clears slightly, REVEALING A GROTESQUE SHIP
RISING FROM THE SHIP LIKE SOME GIGANTIC TOADSTOOL. It is clearly of
non-human manufacture.
ANGLE ON THE MEN
They are struck dumb by the sight of the craft. Finally, Standard
finds his voice.
STANDARD
Martin, uh, we've found it.
ROBY
(sharply -- over, filtered)
Found what?
STANDARD
It appears to be some sort of
spacecraft. We're going to approach
it.
They start toward the alien ship.
INTERIOR - BRIDGE - DAY
STANDARD (CONT'D)
(over, filtered)
There are no signs of life. No
lights... no movement...
Roby and Hunter are listening with hypnotic concentration.
STANDARD (CONT'D)
(over, filtered)
We're, uh, approaching the base.
EXTERIOR - BASE OF TOADSTOOL SHIP - DAY
A strangely shaped DOOR yawns open at the base of the ship. Dust and
sand have blown in, filling the lower part of the entrance.
With great caution, the men approach the entrance and group around it.
STANDARD (CONT'D)
Appears to be a door hanging open,
the entrance is clogged with debris.
BROUSSARD
Looks like a derelict.
STANDARD
Martin, we're going in. I'm going to
hold the conversation to a minimum
from here on.
INTERIOR - ALIEN SHIP - DAY
The doorway is a glowing geometric blur of light against blackness,
spewing dust. In the darkness of the chamber are huge, formless
shapes.
Standard, Broussard and Melkonis appear silhouetted against the
doorway. They switch on flashlight-like devices called "DATASTICKS",
and step in.
Carefully, peering around, they pick their way past the indistinct
machinery.
MELKONIS
Air lock?
STANDARD
Who knows?
BROUSSARD
Let's try and find the control room.
As they move their lights around, they can see that the walls,
ceiling, and machinery are FULL OF HUGE, IRREGULAR HOLES.
MELKONIS
Look at these holes. This place
looks like Swiss cheese.
Broussard shines his light up into a huge hole in the ceiling.
BROUSSARD
This hole goes up several decks --
looks like somebody was firing a
military disintegrator in here.
They all peer up the hole into darkness.
STANDARD
Climbing gear.
Standard draws out a stubby spear gun with a graplon attached to it.
He aims it up into the hole and fires.
The graplon is launched up into darkness, trailing a thin wire. There
is a dull CLUNK, and the wire dangles.
BROUSSARD
I'll go first.
STANDARD
No, you'll follow me.
Standard attaches the wire to a powered gear box on his chest, and
presses a button. With a mechanical whine, he is pulled up into the
hole, using his feet for leverage where he can.
Broussard attaches the wire to his own chest unit.
INTERIOR - CONTROL ROOM OF ALIEN SHIP
This chamber is totally dark as Broussard arrives at the top of the
hole.
Standard stands with his flashlight/camera ("datastick") tracing a
beam through the hanging dust.
Broussard unclips himself from the climbing wire, then raises his own
light. At that moment, Melkonis arrives at the top of the hole.
THEIR LIGHTS SCAN THE ROOM. The beams are clearly visible as columns
of light in the floating dust. They reveal heavy, odd shapes.
Broussard stumbles over something. He shines his light down on it.
It is a large, glossy urn, brown in color, with peculiar markings.
Broussard stands it upright. It has a round opening in the top, and is
empty.
Suddenly, Melkonis lets out a grunt of shock. Their lights have
illuminated something unspeakably grotesque: A HUGE ALIEN SKELETON,
SEATED IN THE CONTROL CHAIR.
They approach the skeleton, their lights trained on it. IT IS A
GROTESQUE THING, BEARING NO RESEMBLANCE TO THE HUMAN FORM.
MELKONIS
Holy Christ...
Standard shines his light on the console at which the hideous skeleton
is seated. He moves his light closer and peers at the panel.
STANDARD
Look at this...
They approach.
STANDARD (CONT'D)
Something has been scratched here...
into the veneer. See?
Traced raggedly onto the surface of the panel, as by the point of a
sharp instrument, is a small triangle:
Hearing something, Broussard flashes his light across the room. As the
beam scans the walls, it briefly touches on SOMETHING THAT MOVES.
Melkonis convulsively yanks out his pistol.
MELKONIS
LOOK OUT, IT MOVED!
Standard knocks his hand down.
STANDARD
Keep away from that gun!
Standard shoulders himself in front of the others. Then, slowly, he
begins to move toward the far side of the room.
They approach a console on the wall, training their lights on it.
There is a machine. On the machine, a small bar moves steadily back
and forth, sliding noiselessly in its grooves.
STANDARD (CONT'D)
Just machinery.
BROUSSARD
But functioning.
Melkonis looks down at his direction finder.
MELKONIS
That's where the transmission is
coming from.
He throws a switch on the direction finder -- with a crackle and a
hum, the UNEARTHLY VOICE fills their earphones.
BROUSSARD
A recording. A damned automatic
recording.
EXTERIOR - PLANETOID - SUNSET
SINISTER ANGLE ON THE SNARK. As we watch, the sunlight turns the color
of blood, and then the sun is down, leaving murky blackness in its
wake. The ring of floodlights on the ship flares into life, feebly
combatting the darkness and the storm.
INTERIOR - MULTI-PURPOSE ROOM
The entire crew is seated around the conference table, watching
holographic pictures projected onto a screen. These are photos taken
by their "datasticks" (flashlight/cameras).
Standard is commenting on the changing slides.
STANDARD
... This is the control room...
Two or three pictures click onto the screen in succession, showing the
suited men standing against banks of machinery.
STANDARD (CONT'D)
... Some details of the control
room...
The SKELETON appears on the screen. The men react with mutters.
STANDARD (CONT'D)
... This is the skeleton... another
view of the skeleton... the
transmitting device...
The triangle that was cut into the alien's console appears.
STANDARD (CONT'D)
... This is a closeup of the triangle
we found scrawled on the console in
front of the skeleton...
Standard changes the slide. The screen goes white.
STANDARD (CONT'D)
... And that's it.
He turns off the projector and brings the lights up.
HUNTER
Phenomenal. Staggering.
BROUSSARD
We've got to go back and take a lot
more pictures, holograph
everything.
MELKONIS
And bring back as much physical
evidence as possible, too. The rest
of the skeleton. Some of the
machinery. Written records, if there
are any.
Roby is slumped in his chair. He has said nothing.
STANDARD
Martin?
ROBY
I agree. This is the single most
important discovery in history.
STANDARD
But?
ROBY
What killed it?
BROUSSARD
Hell, that thing's been dead for
years. Maybe hundreds of years. The
whole planet's dead.
FAUST
The way I figure it, they landed
here for repairs or something, then
they couldn't take off again. Maybe
the dust ruined their engines. They
set up an S.O.S. beacon, but nobody
came. So they died.
ROBY
He died.
FAUST
What?
ROBY
Not they... he...
They all turn to look in the direction of Roby's nod. CAMERA MOVES
OVER TO REVEAL THE ALIEN SKULL SITTING ON A TABLE.
ROBY (CONT'D)
... There was only one skeleton.
There is a moment of silence.
STANDARD
Jay... how's it coming on the
repairs?
FAUST
Well... I'm going to have to blow the
engines out...
STANDARD
And when will you be ready to do
that?
FAUST
Oh -- I'm not near ready yet.
STANDARD
Then why the hell are you sitting
around here?
FAUST
Right.
The men rise and begin to disperse, but Roby remains seated, deep in
thought, staring at the skull. Melkonis lingers in the room with him.
MELKONIS
And there sits man's first contact
with intelligent life in the
universe.
EXTERIOR - SHIP - NIGHT
ANGLE ON THE SHIP, its spotlights cutting into the gloom.
INTERIOR - ENGINE ROOM
A room throbbing with power, enormous pulsing engines capable of
releasing unimaginable energies.
Faust has a complicated arrangement set up at the base of one of the
engines, with spotlights on it. He is wearing goggles and thin gloves.
FAUST
You ready up there?
INTERIOR - BRIDGE - NIGHT
Broussard and Melkonis are seated at their consoles, conversing with
Faust while they watch their instruments.
BROUSSARD
Sure, we're ready.
INTERIOR - ENGINE ROOM
FAUST
Okay. I'm going to start the
extraction procedure now.
He pauses to wipe his brow.
INTERIOR - MULTI-PURPOSE ROOM
Roby is alone in the room, slumped into a chair, watching the
photographic slides on the screen. He is clicking slowly through them.
He stops on an angle of the skeleton, and stares at it.
The alien's misshapen skull is sitting on the table next to him. He
picks it up, holds it up to the screen for comparison, and studies it.
Standard appears in the doorway.
STANDARD
Alas, poor Yorick.
Roby STARTS, puts down the skull. Standard sits at the table.
STANDARD (CONT'D)
(nodding at the screen)
Find anything we missed?
ROBY
(shrugs)
I don't even know what I'm looking
for.
STANDARD
Still worried?
ROBY
Oh well... you know me.
STANDARD
I've always respected your opinion,
Martin. If something worries you, it
worries me.
Roby reaches over and changes the slide, to the one of the CRUDELY
DRAWN TRIANGLE ON THE ALIEN CONTROL PANEL.
ROBY
What would you say that was supposed
to mean?
STANDARD
Well... it's obviously intentional...
some kind of attempt at
communication... maybe it's a symbol
that means something to them...
ROBY
But why draw it on the wall?
Roby switches off the projector, sits up, and rubs his face wearily.
He rises and goes to the coffee machine.
ROBY (CONT'D)
(picking a hair out of
the coffeepot)
This ship is full of cat hair.
STANDARD
Tell you what, Martin. As soon as
the engine's fixed --
BEEP! The communicator interrupts Standard. He leans across and
presses the button.
STANDARD (CONT'D)
This is Chaz.
BROUSSARD
(over, filtered)
Chaz, this is Dell. Can you come
topside for a minute?
STANDARD
What's up?
BROUSSARD
(over, filtered)
Well, the sun just came up again,
and it seems the wind's died down.
It's as clear as a bell outside.
There's something I think you ought
to see.
STANDARD
I'm on my way.
He and Roby head for the door.
INTERIOR - BRIDGE - DAY
Broussard is alone in the control room when Standard and Roby arrive.
STANDARD
What is it?
BROUSSARD
Take a look.
EXTERIOR - SHIP - DAY
The dust no longer blows. The day is crisp, clear, and silent.
INTERIOR - BRIDGE - DAY
BROUSSARD
I was scanning the horizon to see
what I could pick up. Look there, on
that screen.
STANDARD
What is it, I can't --
BLIP! Broussard enlarges the image.
The screen now shows a TAPERING STONE PYRAMID on the horizon.
They all stare at the image for a long moment. The silhouette of the
PYRAMID IS INSTANTLY SUGGESTIVE OF THE SCRAWLED TRIANGLE in the alien
ship.
Standard presses the nearest communicator and speaks into the grille.
STANDARD
This is Chaz. All hands topside.
Now.
INTERIOR - BRIDGE - DAY - A LITTLE LATER
ANGLE ON A VIEWSCREEN. It shows the PYRAMID on the horizon. CAMERA
PULLS BACK to reveal all the men, sitting and standing around the
room.
STANDARD
Doesn't seem much doubt about it,
does there?
MELKONIS
That creature sure must have
considered it important... using his
last strength to draw it...
BROUSSARD
Maybe they built it.
FAUST
As what?
BROUSSARD
A marker for buried instrumentation?
HUNTER
Or a mass grave.
BROUSSARD
Maybe the rest of the crew is in
there -- in some kind of suspended
animation, waiting to be rescued.
MELKONIS
It wasn't necessarily built by them.
On the screens, a puff of DUST blows in front of the pyramid.
ROBY
Here comes the dust again.
EXTERIOR - SHIP - DAY
WITH A SHRIEK, THE DUST STORM RETURNS, completely obscuring the SNARK.
INTERIOR - BRIDGE - DAY
STANDARD
Well, does anyone else agree with
Martin that we should not explore
it?
Everyone looks around the room, but no one volunteers.
STANDARD (CONT'D)
Then the sooner we get moving, the
better.
EXTERIOR - PLANETOID - DAY
LONG SHOT OF THE STONE PYRAMID, dust blowing in front of it. It is a
crumbling, ancient edifice, made of eroded grey stones, windowless,
tapering toward the top.
Standard, Broussard, and Melkonis, wearing the protective suits,
approach the pyramid. As they draw near, it becomes clear that the
pyramid is roughly 50 feet tall.
STANDARD
We can't make out any details or
features yet... but it's definitely
too regular for a natural
formation...
INTERIOR - BRIDGE - DAY
Roby and Hunter are present. They are listening to Standard's VOICE ON
THE RADIO.
STANDARD (CONT'D)
(over, filtered)
... There's one thing I can say for
sure though...
BUZZZZZ! Standard's voice is DROWNED OUT BY STATIC.
ROBY
Now what's wrong?
HUNTER
I've completely lost their signal.
ROBY
Can you get them back?
HUNTER
I'm trying.
EXTERIOR - BASE OF PYRAMID - DAY
The three men come to the base of the massive structure. Dust and sand
have piled thickly around the crumbling, grey stones that form the
base.
MELKONIS
This looks ancient.
STANDARD
Can't tell -- these weather
conditions could erode anything,
fast.
They walk around the base.
BROUSSARD
There's no entrance.
MELKONIS
Maybe the entrance is buried. Could
be under our feet.
STANDARD
Maybe there is no entrance; the
thing may be solid.
INTERIOR - BRIDGE - DAY
ROBY
Well, there ought to be some way we
can get through to them --
The INTERCOM BEEPS. Faust's voice is heard.
FAUST
(over, filtered)
Sorry to interrupt, but I'm gonna
charge up the engines for a minute,
okay?
ROBY
Yeah, okay. Go ahead.
A LOUD, POWERFUL THROBBING BEGINS, drowning out all other sounds, as
the engines are tested.
A light on Roby's panel is FLASHING. We can see that it is the
COMPUTER ALERT.
Irritably, Roby throws the switch.
ROBY (CONT'D)
Yes!
COMPUTER
I have a temporary sequence on the
monitor --
ROBY
Hold it, I can't hear a damn thing!
He puts an earphone to his ear and switches the computer's voice over.
ROBY (CONT'D)
Go ahead!
There is a PAUSE while Roby listens to the computer. His eyes widen.
ROBY (CONT'D)
You mean... you've translated it?
Another PAUSE as he listens to the earphone.
ROBY (CONT'D)
Well come on, come on! What does it
say?
Another PAUSE. Roby's face changes; he looks CHILLED TO THE BONE. His
mouth works.
Abruptly, THE ENGINES SHUT OFF, LEAVING A RINGING SILENCE.
HUNTER
(looking over at Roby)
What? What was that?
ROBY
The computer just translated the
goddamn message. It's not an S.O.S.
It was a warning.
EXTERIOR - BASE OF PYRAMID - DAY
BROUSSARD
Maybe we can get in by the top.
STANDARD
You want to try?
BROUSSARD
Sure.
Broussard takes out the graplon-gun, and fires the hook up toward the
top of the pyramid. It catches. He clips himself to the wire.
BROUSSARD (CONT'D)
You guys just wait down here till I
say it's okay to come up.
Broussard turns on the climbing device, and begins to walk up the side
of the pyramid.
OMINOUS ANGLES showing Broussard climbing the pyramid, the dust
blowing, the wind shrieking.
EXTERIOR - TOP OF PYRAMID - DAY
The peak of the pyramid is in extreme disrepair. Broussard arrives at
the top and clings to the jagged, crumbling stones.
BROUSSARD
There's a hole at the top.
EXTERIOR - BASE OF PYRAMID - DAY
STANDARD
Can we come up?
BROUSSARD
(over, filtered)
No, it's too small, only room enough
for one person.
STANDARD
Can you see anything in the hole?
EXTERIOR - TOP OF PYRAMID - DAY
Broussard leans over and looks into the hole. He sees only blackness.
Freeing one arm, he unclips his datastick from his belt, switches on
the "flashlight" function, and shines it down into the hole.
BROUSSARD
I can see... partway down. It just
goes down like a stovepipe. Smooth
walls. I can't see the bottom --
light won't reach.
INTERIOR - BRIDGE - DAY
Faust comes trotting up the steps, a questioning look on his face.
FAUST
Yes? What is it?
ROBY
Jay, we've got a problem. I was
wondering if there was any way you
could shortcut the repairs and give
us immediate takeoff capability.
FAUST
(quickly)
Why, what's wrong?
ROBY
The computer's translated the alien
signal, and it's kind of alarming.
FAUST
What do you mean?
ROBY
It couldn't translate the whole
thing, only three phrases. I'll just
read it to you the way I got it:
(reads from a strip of paper)
"... HOSTILE... SURVIVAL... ADVISE DO
NOT LAND... "
(looks up at the others)
And that's all it could translate.
EXTERIOR - TOP OF PYRAMID - DAY
Hanging from the lip of the hole, Broussard is unclipping gear from
his belt.
STANDARD
(over, filtered)
Dell, you want to come down, we can
figure out where to go from here.
BROUSSARD
No, I want to go in.
EXTERIOR - BASE OF PYRAMID - DAY
Standard and Melkonis exchange a glance.
STANDARD
Okay, Dell, but just for a
preliminary look-around. Don't
unhook yourself from your cable. And
be out in less than ten minutes.
EXTERIOR - TOP OF PYRAMID - DAY
BROUSSARD
Right.
Broussard has rigged a tripod across the mouth of the hole. He
unspools a couple feet of wire from the device, and attaches the end
of it to his chest unit.
He climbs over the lip and drops into the hole. He is now hanging by
the wire, with his head and shoulders out of the hole.
BROUSSARD (CONT'D)
Okay, I'm in the mouth of the
chimney now, and I'm starting down.
STANDARD
(over, filtered)
Take care.
Broussard activates the climbing unit and lowers himself down into the
hole.
INTERIOR - PYRAMID - DAY
Bracing his feet against the rough stone wall of the vertical tunnel,
Broussard switches on his datastick and points it down into the
depths.
The beam penetrates only thirty feet or so, then is lost in darkness.
BROUSSARD
It's noticeably warmer in here. Warm
air rising from below.
He starts down, paying out the line and moving down in short hops,
pushing off each time with his feet.
He stops to catch his breath. His breathing rasps loudly in his
helmet.
A little sunlight filters down from above. Looking up, he can see the
mouth of the hole, a glowing spot of light.
Standard's voice comes over his earphones.
STANDARD
(over, filtered)
Are you okay in there?
BROUSSARD
(gasping for breath)
Yeah, I'm okay. Haven't hit bottom
yet. Definitely a column of warm air
rising; it keeps the shaft clear of
dust.
STANDARD
(over, filtered)
What was that Dell, I lost you, do
you read me?
BROUSSARD
Yeah, but this is hard work. Can't
talk now.
He kicks off and continues down, taking longer and longer hops as he
gains confidence.
Pausing for a moment to regain his breath, he shines the light on his
instruments.
BROUSSARD (CONT'D)
I'm way below ground level.
EXTERIOR - BASE OF PYRAMID - DAY
STANDARD
What'd he say?
MELKONIS
I couldn't make it out -- too much
interference.
INTERIOR - BRIDGE - DAY
Roby and Hunter.
HUNTER
I'm getting nowhere. The whole area
around the pyramid is dead to
transmission. I think we should go
after them.
ROBY
No.
HUNTER
What do you mean, no?
ROBY
We're not going anywhere.
HUNTER
But they don't know about the
translation! They could be in danger
right now.
ROBY
We can't spare the personnel. We've
got minimum takeoff capability right
now. That's why Chaz left us on
board.
HUNTER
Why, you chickenshit bastard --
ROBY
Just can that crap! I'm in command
here till Chaz returns! And nobody's
leaving this ship!
INTERIOR - PYRAMID - DAY
Broussard resumes his downward climb. SUDDENLY, HIS FEET LOSE THEIR
PURCHASE AS THE WALLS OF THE SHAFT DISAPPEAR.
The tunnel has reached its end. Below him is an unfathomable,
cavernous space.
BROUSSARD
(huffing and puffing)
Tunnel's gone -- cave or something
below me -- feels like the tropics
in here; air is warm and humid...
(consults his instruments)
... high oxygen content, no dust,
it's completely breathable --
Puffing with exertion, he releases his purchase on the stone walls and
begins to lower himself on power. Now he is dangling free in darkness,
spinning slowly on the wire as the chest unit unwinds.
Finally, his feet hit bottom. He grunts in surprise and almost loses
his balance.
INTERIOR - TOMB - DAY
Broussard is standing on a dusty stone floor, with a feeble column of
sunlight shining down around him from the tunnel above. Around is
solid darkness.
He flashes his datastick around. The beam reveals that he is in a
stone room. STRANGE HEIROGLYPHICS are carved into the walls. They have
a primitive, religious appearance. Row after row of pictograms stretch
from floor to ceiling, some epic history in an unknown language. Huge
religious symbols dominate one wall.
Spaced at intervals are stylized stone statues, depicting grotesque
monsters, half anthropoid, half octopus.
BROUSSARD
It's unbelievable! It's like some
kind of tomb... some primitive
religion! Hey, is anybody there? Do
you read me? Standard!
Annoyed, Broussard yanks off his breathing goggles, and leaves them
hanging around his neck. He takes a deep breath of the wet air.
EXTERIOR - BASE OF PYRAMID - LATE AFTERNOON
Standard and Melkonis are standing around nervously.
STANDARD
If we don't hear from him soon, I
think we better go in after him.
MELKONIS
Sun will be down in a minute.
INTERIOR - TOMB - LATE AFTERNOON
Face bare, Broussard approaches the center of the room, which is
dominated by a large, broad pedestal. On the pedestal are ROWS OF
LEATHERY URNS OR JARS, EXACTLY LIKE THE ONE BROUSSARD STUMBLED ACROSS
IN THE ALIEN SHIP -- EXCEPT THESE ARE ALL SEALED.
He walks around the urns, studying them. They all have sealed lids. He
shines his light on one of them; then he lays his gloved hand on it.
He lifts his mask radio to his lips.
BROUSSARD
I don't know if you can hear me, but
the place is full of large bottles
or jars, just like the one we found
on the other ship -- except these
are all sealed. Also they're soft to
the touch.
He peers more closely at the leathery object.
BROUSSARD (CONT'D)
Another funny thing -- I just put my
hand on it, and now there are these
raised areas appearing where my
fingertips were.
EXTERIOR - BASE OF PYRAMID - DAY
THE SUN DROPS BELOW THE HORIZON, throwing the landscape into gloom.
Standard and Melkonis switch on their lights.
STANDARD
Let's go.
He attaches his chest unit to the wire and starts up.
INTERIOR - TOMB - NIGHT
Broussard is moving his light along the rows of heiroglyphs on the
wall. They depict stylized drawings of strange monsters.
He pauses to quickly change the film clip in his datastick; then he
turns back to the "urn" he was examining -- BUT NOW THERE IS A HOLE IN
THE TOP OF IT.
He shines his light on the floor at the base of the "urn." There lies
the "lid" -- the stopper that had filled the hole. He picks it up and
studies it. It appears more organic than artificial; the inside
surface is spongy and irregular.
Then he turns the light to the now-open "urn."
He bends over the mouth of the "urn" shining the light in, AND WITH
SHOCKING VIOLENCE, A SMALL, OCTOPUS-LIKE THING LEAPS OUT AND ATTACHES
ITSELF TO HIS FACE, WRAPPING ITS TENTACLES AROUND HIS HEAD.
With a MUFFLED SCREAM, he launches himself backward, tearing at the
thing with his hands.
EXTERIOR - TOP OF PYRAMID - NIGHT
The dust blows and howls as Standard and Melkonis arrive at the top,
lights bobbing in the darkness.
STANDARD
(puffing with exertion)
Here's his line. We can haul him out
of there if we have to.
MELKONIS
It'll yank him right off his feet if
he's not expecting it. The line
could get tangled in something.
STANDARD
But what can we do? He's out of
radio contact.
MELKONIS
Maybe we should just wait a few more
minutes.
Standard hesitates, clinging to the lip of the hole.
STANDARD
(making up his mind)
No, I told him to be out in ten
minutes. It's been much longer.
Let's get him out of there.
Standard pulls himself up and crouches precariously on the edge of the
tunnel. He begins to fiddle with the winch mechanism from which
Broussard's line dangles.
STANDARD (CONT'D)
The line's slack. Christ, do you
think the idiot unhooked himself?
He switches on the winch motor. With a whine, it begins to reel the
line in. After a moment, the line TIGHTENS WITH A JERK -- and the
motor slows down, laboring under the added weight.
STANDARD (CONT'D)
There, it caught!
MELKONIS
Is it still coming up, or is it
hooked on something?
STANDARD
No, it's coming.
MELKONIS
Can you see anything?
Standard shines his light down into the hole.
STANDARD
No, I can't see far enough. The
line's moving, though.
For a moment, the two men hang to the narrow top of the pyramid,
saving their strength, while the line reels in and the wind howls.
Then Standard shines his light back down in.
STANDARD (CONT'D)
I can see him! Here he comes!
The winch begins to LABOR HEAVILY.
STANDARD (CONT'D)
Get ready to grab him!
Broussard appears at the top of the pit, dangling limply from the
wire. Standard reaches for him -- then RECOILS SHARPLY.
STANDARD (CONT'D)
Look out! There's something on
his face!
Melkonis attempts to come to his aid.
MELKONIS
What is it?
STANDARD
Don't touch him, watch it!
In their panic and confusion, the men teeter momentarily, finally
regain their balance. They shine their lights on Broussard.
He appears to be completely unconscious -- AND THE OCTOPUS THING IS
STILL WRAPPED AROUND HIS FACE, MOTIONLESS.
MELKONIS
Oh God, oh God no.
STANDARD
Help me -- I'm going to try to get
it off.
With his gloved hands, Standard grasps the tentacled mess and tries to
pull it from Broussard's head.
STANDARD (CONT'D)
It won't come -- it's stuck.
MELKONIS
What is it?
STANDARD
How the hell should I know? Come on,
give me a hand, let's get him out of
there!
The two men grapple with Broussard's limp body, lifting him from the
hole.
INTERIOR - BRIDGE - NIGHT
Roby and Hunter are sitting moodily, silent. There is a long moment
while nothing is said, then:
HUNTER
I've got 'em! They're back on my
screens!
ROBY
(leaps to his feet)
How many?
HUNTER
Three blips! They're coming this
way!
Roby grabs a microphone.
ROBY
(into mike)
Hey, can you guys hear me?
STANDARD
(over, filtered)
Yeah, we hear you! We're coming
back!
ROBY
Thank Christ! We lost you! Listen,
there's been a new development --
STANDARD
(over, filtered)
Can't talk now; Broussard's injured.
We'll need some help getting him
into the ship.
Roby collapses into a chair, suddenly limp with apprehension. He's
feared something like this all along, and now it has begun to happen.
ROBY
(to himself)
Oh no.
HUNTER
(into intercom)
Jay, this is Cleave! Meet me at the
main air lock!
Hunter dashes from the room.
Roby remains where he is, seated at his console. He is stunned, his
mind racing. CAMERA MOVES IN ON HIS FACE.
INTERIOR - CORRIDOR OUTSIDE AIR LOCK - NIGHT
Hunter comes racing down the steps and hurries up to the inner lock
door.
He presses the wall intercom.
HUNTER
(into intercom)
Martin, I'm by the inner lock door!
I'll wait here for you to let them
in!
INTERIOR - BRIDGE - NIGHT
ROBY
(strangely quiet)
Right.
INTERIOR - CORRIDOR OUTSIDE AIR LOCK - NIGHT
Faust comes running up, covered with grime.
FAUST
What the hell's going on?
HUNTER
Don't know -- Broussard got hurt
somehow.
FAUST
Hurt! How?
HUNTER
Don't know -- maybe we'll be real
lucky and he just broke his neck.
(a beat)
I knew we shouldn't of come down
here.
INTERIOR - BRIDGE - NIGHT
Roby is seated alone in the room, listening to the transmission from
Standard and Melkonis.
STANDARD
(over, filtered)
Martin, are you there?
Roby leans forward and speaks into the microphone.
ROBY
Here, Chaz.
STANDARD
(over, filtered)
We're coming up now, open the outer
lock door.
ROBY
Chaz -- what happened to Broussard?
STANDARD
(over, filtered)
It's some kind of organism, it's
attached itself to him. Let us in.
Roby does not reply.
STANDARD (CONT'D)
(over, filtered)
You hear me, Martin? Open the outer
door.
ROBY
Chaz, if it's an organism, and we
let it in, the ship will be
infected.
STANDARD
(over, filtered)
We can't leave him out here, open
the door.
ROBY
(urgently)
Chaz, listen to me -- we've broken
every rule of quarantine. If we
bring an organism on board, we won't
have a single layer of defense left.
STANDARD
(over, filtered)
Martin, this is an order! Open the
door!
Hating it, Roby leans forward and throws the switch.
INTERIOR - CORRIDOR OUTSIDE AIR LOCK - NIGHT
A RED LIGHT goes on, on a console on the wall. The whine of a large
servo is heard, followed by a solid metallic CLUNK.
HUNTER
Outer door's open.
After a moment, they hear the motor sound again, followed by another
CLUNK. The outer door has closed again. The red light goes off.
The inner door slides open, and Standard and Melkonis stagger through,
carrying the sagging body of Broussard. A cloud of choking dust
follows them out of the lock.
STANDARD
(pulling off his mask)
You men stay clear, there's a
parasite on him.
Hunter and Faust RECOIL.
HUNTER
Oh -- God -- oh --
FAUST
Is it alive?
STANDARD
I don't know but don't touch it.
Give us a hand here, let's get him
up to the Autodoc.
Hunter and Faust move in carefully to help with the limp burden.
INTERIOR - INFIRMARY
One of them flicks on the lights as they come shuffling into the
medical room, carrying Broussard.
Revealed is a rather small cubicle whose walls are lined with
machinery. The principle item of interest is a mechanized bunk bed,
which rests in a cradle and slides in and out of a slot in the wall.
STANDARD
Help me, come on, let's get him up
here.
They slide the man onto the bunk.
HUNTER
That thing, God almighty, didn't you
try to get it off him?
STANDARD
It wouldn't come.
Standard yanks off his gloves.
STANDARD (CONT'D)
Medical gloves.
They pull thin elastic gloves from a dispenser in the wall, and pull
them on.
Gingerly, they approach Broussard.
Standard places his hands on the octopus-thing that is slowly pulsing
on Broussard's face. He grasps the tentacles in his hands and tries to
pull it free.
STANDARD (CONT'D)
It's really on there tight.
FAUST
Here, let me try.
Faust takes a pair of pliers from a rack, and carefully grasps the tip
of one of the tentacles. Squeezing tightly, he leans back with all his
weight.
STANDARD
(grabbing Faust's hands)
Stop it, you're tearing his face.
A trickle of blood begins to ooze down Broussard's cheek.
MELKONIS
It's not coming off -- not without
his whole face coming off too.
STANDARD
Let's let the machine work on him.
Efficiently, they strip Broussard naked, then Standard presses a
couple of switches on the wall. The machine lights up, and Broussard
is sucked into the slot in the wall.
He is visible inside. The machine immediately sprays a cloud of
disinfectant on him, then sterilizes him with a blinding pink light.
A bank of video monitors pops on, revealing X-ray images of different
parts of his body. Sensors begin to scan, relays chatter.
ROBY APPEARS IN THE DOORWAY.
Standard turns and looks at him. For a long moment, the two men regard
each other, then STANDARD STEPS FORWARD AND SLAPS ROBY ACROSS THE
FACE.
The others are shocked.
HUNTER
Hey now, what is this?
STANDARD
Ask him.
ROBY
(slowly puts his hand
to his cheek)
I understand why you did that.
STANDARD
Good.
MELKONIS
He wouldn't open the lock; he was
going to leave us out there.
HUNTER
Yeah... well, maybe he should have. I
mean, you brought the goddamn thing
in here. Maybe you deserve to get
slapped.
FAUST
(embarrassed)
Excuse me, I've got work to do.
Faust exits.
HUNTER
I keep my mouth pretty much shut,
but I don't like hitting.
ROBY
(to Standard)
I guess I had it coming. Let's call
it settled.
After a hard stare at Roby, Standard gives him a curt nod and turns
his attention to the machinery.
ROBY (CONT'D)
(slowly)
Would somebody fill me in?
STANDARD
He went into the pyramid alone. We
lost radio contact with him. When we
pulled him out, it was on his face.
It won't come off, not without
injuring him.
HUNTER
Where did it come from?
MELKONIS
He's the only one that knows that.
HUNTER
How does he breathe?
They study the monitors.
MELKONIS
Blood's thoroughly oxygenated.
HUNTER
Yeah, but how? His nose and mouth
are blocked.
STANDARD
Let's look inside his head.
Standard punches some buttons, and on the monitors, a kind of X-ray
image in vivid colors appears, depicting Broussard's HEAD AND UPPER
TORSO.
The parasite is clearly visible on Broussard's face. In X-ray, the
creature is a maze of complicated biology. But the shocking thing is
that, in X-ray, we can see that Broussard's jaws are forced wide open,
and THE PARASITE HAS EXTRUDED SOME KIND OF LONG TUBE, WHICH IS STUFFED
INTO HIS MOUTH AND DOWN HIS THROAT, ending near his stomach.
ROBY
Look at that.
HUNTER
What is it -- I can't tell
anything --
ROBY
It's some kind of organ -- it's
inserted some kind of tube or
something down his throat.
HUNTER
(turning sick)
Oh... God...
Hunter bends over and RETCHES.
ROBY
I think that's how it's getting
oxygen to him.
HUNTER
It doesn't make any sense. It
paralyzes him... puts him into a
coma... then keeps him alive.
MELKONIS
We can't expect to understand a life
form like this. We're out of our
back yard. Things are different
here.
HUNTER
Well, can't we kill it? I mean, we
can't leave the damn thing on him.
MELKONIS
We don't know what might happen if
we tried to kill it. At least right
now it's keeping him alive.
HUNTER
How about cutting it off? We can't
pull it loose, but we can cut off
everything but the bottom layer,
where it's stuck to his face.
STANDARD
You're right... we can't stand here
and do nothing.
Standard picks up his dusty breathing mask and pulls it over his head.
Then he pulls back on his bulky gloves. Finally, he presses a switch
and Broussard slides back out of the booth.
STANDARD (CONT'D)
(muffled in his mask)
Somebody give me a scalpel.
Melkonis takes a glittering surgical blade from a slot in the wall,
and carefully passes it to Standard.
Clumsily because of the gloves, Standard manipulates the knife in his
hand till he has a decent grip on it. Then he flicks a little button
with his thumb. The scalpel begins to hum.
Standard advances on the parasite. The others draw back nervously.
Roby reaches over and draws yet a longer blade from the rack, and
holds it inconspicuously at his side.
Standard bends over the parasite. Carefully, he touches the scalpel to
the extreme end of one of the tentacles, where it curves toward the
back of Broussard's head.
Effortlessly, the electronic blade slides through the alien tissue.
Immediately, a urine-like fluid begins to flow from the wound.
STANDARD (CONT'D)
(muffled)
I've made an incision... it's not
reacting... but some kind of
yellowish fluid is leaking out of
the wound...
The noxious-looking liquid drips down onto the bedding next to
Broussard's head. Instantly, it starts to hiss, and a thin stream of
smoke curls up from the stain.
STANDARD (CONT'D)
(muffled)
Hold it, this stuff's smoking!
The others REACT nervously.
By now, the yellow fluid has eaten a hole through the bunk bed and has
dripped down onto the floor below. The metal floor begins to bubble
and sizzle, and more smoke rises.
The men start to COUGH.
MELKONIS
God, that smoke's poisonous!
HUNTER
(pointing)
It's eating a hole in the floor!
Abruptly, the men jostle their way out of the room and huddle in the
corridor outside, coughing their lungs out.
Standard, who is masked, remains. Frantically, he attempts to put a
bandage on the wound, but the fluid instantly melts the bandage, and
in the process, some of the stuff gets on Standard's gloves. They
begin to smoke.
Frantically Standard leaps back, pulling off the smouldering gloves.
Then he runs out into the corridor and yanks off his mask.
INTERIOR - CORRIDOR OUTSIDE INFIRMARY
STANDARD
That stuff's eating right through
the metal! It's going to eat through
the decks and right out through the
hull!
By this time Standard has started to run for the stairs.
INTERIOR - CORRIDORS IN SHIP
Followed by the others, Standard frantically clangs down the stairs to
the level below.
STANDARD
There! Look!
A droplet of the fluid is sizzling on the ceiling. It oozes down and
drips to the floor.
It bubbles on the floor.
MELKONIS
Jesus, what can we put under it?
Standard and Hunter charge down the stairs to the level below.
INTERIOR - LEVEL BELOW
Standard and Hunter move cautiously down the corridor, looking up at
the ceiling.
STANDARD
(pointing)
There. Should be coming through
about there.
HUNTER
Careful, don't get under it!
INTERIOR - LEVEL ABOVE
Roby and Melkonis crouch by the spot on the floor where the acid
sizzles.
MELKONIS
Christ, that stinks.
Roby fishes a pen out of his pocket and probes into the hole in the
floor.
ROBY
Seems to have stopped penetrating.
Hunter comes charging up the steps.
HUNTER
What's happening up here?
ROBY
I think it's fizzled out.
Hunter approaches and looks. Roby straightens up, starts to put the
pen back in his pocket, then changes his mind and stands holding it by
the end.
MELKONIS
I never saw anything like that in my
life... except molecular acid.
HUNTER
But this thing uses it for blood.
MELKONIS
Hell of a defense mechanism. You
don't dare kill it.
Standard comes up the stairs.
STANDARD
It's stopped?
MELKONIS
Yes, thank heaven.
STANDARD
We're just plain lucky. That could
have gone right through the hull --
taken weeks to patch it.
MELKONIS
Reminded me of when I was a kid and
the roof leaked -- everybody running
for the pots and pans.
ROBY
My God, what about Broussard?
They turn and run up the stairs.
INTERIOR - INFIRMARY
They all come into the room (Roby carrying the partially melted pen).
Broussard is still motionless on the bunk, with the thing on his face.
ROBY
Did it get on him?
Standard approaches and peers at Broussard's head.
STANDARD
No, thank God... just missed him.
MELKONIS
Is it still dripping?
STANDARD
(examining it)
It appears to have healed itself.
HUNTER
It makes me sick to see him like
that.
MELKONIS
Isn't there some way we can get it
off him?
STANDARD
I don't see how. But let's do what
we can for him.
Standard presses a button, and Broussard slides back into the
diagnostic coffin. He presses more buttons, and the displays light up
again, showing different parts of Broussard's body.
STANDARD (CONT'D)
I think we'd better get some
intravenous feeding started. God
knows what that thing is leaching
out of him.
Standard operates some controls, and the machine begins to invade
Broussard's body, sliding needles into him.
ROBY
(studying the screens)
Look there, what's that stain on his
lungs?
The X-ray reveals a spreading dark blot in the vicinity of Broussard's
chest. In the center, the stain is completely opaque.
MELKONIS
It appears to be a heavy fluid of
some sort... it blocks the X-rays...
ROBY
That tube must be depositing it in
him.
MELKONIS
Could be some kind of venom, or
poison...
HUNTER
This is horrible.
ROBY
Hey! what about the film?
STANDARD
What film?
ROBY
Broussard had film in his datastick,
didn't he? We can see what happened
to him.
INTERIOR - MULTI-PURPOSE ROOM
Again we are watching slides in the darkened room. This time Standard,
Roby, Melkonis, and Hunter are watching the sequence of photographs
taken automatically by Broussard's datastick as he probed the tomb.
The camera reveals the "urns." The climax of the sequence of stills
comes when THE CREATURE LEAPS OUT OF THE "URN" TOWARD THE CAMERA --
and after that the camera drops to a useless angle and proceeds to
show a series of meaningless blurs. Then the reel ends.
HUNTER
That must have been when he got it.
ROBY
The same thing must've happened to
the creatures on the other ship...
except they took one of those jars
on board, and opened it there.
MELKONIS
(clicks back through the
slides to a picture of
one of the "urns")
At first I thought they were jars
too, or artifacts anyway. But
they're not. They're eggs, or spore
casings. Let's go back to the
heiroglyphics.
CLICKETYCLICKETYCLICK -- Melkonis accelerates through the slides in a
blur, stopping at the one he wants -- which shows a strip of
heiroglyphs on the wall of the tomb.
STANDARD
I personally can't make any sense
out of it...
CLICK. CLICK. Melkonis is changing the slides as they talk, showing
different angles on the glyphs.
MELKONIS
It's a crude symbolic language --
looks primitive.
HUNTER
You can't tell -- that kind of stuff
could represent printed circuits...
STANDARD
That sounds a little fanciful...
MELKONIS
Primitive pictorial languages are
based on common objects in the
environment, and this can be used as
a starting point for translation...
ROBY
What common objects?
HUNTER
Listen, hadn't somebody better check
on Broussard?
STANDARD
(rising)
I'll do it. The rest of you
continue.
HUNTER
(rising)
I'll come with you.
INTERIOR - CORRIDOR OUTSIDE INFIRMARY
Standard and Hunter come down the passageway.
STANDARD
You know, it's fantastic -- the
human race has gone this long
without ever encountering another
advanced life form, and now we run
into a veritable zoo.
HUNTER
What do you mean?
STANDARD
Well, those things out there aren't
the same, you know -- the spaceship
and the pyramid. They're from
different cultures and different
races. That ship just landed here --
crashed like we did. The pyramid and
the thing from it are indigenous.
HUNTER
How could anything be indigenous to
this asteroid? It's dead.
STANDARD
Maybe it wasn't always dead.
They arrive at the infirmary.
INTERIOR - INFIRMARY
The door slides open, and they step into the room. Hunter activates
the bed, and it slides out of the wall.
THERE IS A LONG, HORRIFIED PAUSE.
HUNTER
It's gone.
They rush to Broussard's prone form. THE PARASITE IS GONE FROM HIS
FACE.
Broussard is still unconscious, but he is breathing. HIS FACE IS
COVERED WITH SUCKER MARKS.
HUNTER
Now we're in for it.
STANDARD
The door was closed. It must still
be in here.
They immediately grow very tense. Hunter starts edging toward the
door. Standard grabs his arm.
STANDARD (CONT'D)
No, don't open the door. We don't
want it escaping.
HUNTER
(very nervous)
Well, what the hell good can we do
in here? We can't grab it -- it
might jump on us --
STANDARD
Maybe we can catch it.
Standard picks up a stainless steel tray with a lid.
STANDARD (CONT'D)
As long as we're careful not to
damage it...
Tray in one hand, lid in the other, Standard begins moving slowly
around the room. There are very few places to hide.
He bends down and peers under the bunk.
As he is down on his hands and knees, WE SEE ONE TENTACLE OF THE
THING, VIBRATING ON A LEDGE JUST ABOVE STANDARD.
He rises, and HIS SHOULDER BRUSHES THE TENTACLE. THE PARASITE DROPS TO
THE FLOOR.
STANDARD
(leaping back)
Shit!
But the thing is not moving. It lies motionless on the floor, its
tentacles curled up. Its color has faded to a dead-looking grey.
Without taking his eyes off the thing, Standard reaches behind him and
takes a long probe from the wall. He prods the thing; it does not
respond.
STANDARD (CONT'D)
I think it's dead.
With great care, he uses the probe to fish the motionless parasite
into the tray. Then he quickly closes the lid.
INTERIOR - LABORATORY
Standard, Roby, and Melkonis have the parasite spread-eagled on a
stainless steel table, with a bright light on it. It is belly-side up.
Wearing gloves, Standard probes at the thing with an instrument.
STANDARD
Look at these suckers -- no wonder
we couldn't get it off him.
ROBY
Is that its mouth?
MELKONIS
More likely that organ -- the tube-
like thing -- fits up in there.
With a pair of needle-nosed pliers, Standard fishes in the fleshy
aperture. Carefully, he extracts the end of the tube-organ.
ROBY
Ugh.
Suddenly, it starts to FALL APART IN THE PLIERS.
STANDARD
Quick -- it's decomposing -- gimme
something to grab it with!
It begins to SMOKE AND BUBBLE.
Roby grabs a long pair of tongs from the wall and thrusts them at
Standard -- who throws down the pliers, snatches the tongs and seizes
the thing in the tongs.
It is smouldering and dripping acid on the floor.
STANDARD (CONT'D)
Christ! Let's get it out of here!
Carrying the thing, he heads for the door.
INTERIOR - CORRIDORS IN SHIP
The men run down the passageways, Standard carrying the dripping thing
in the tongs. It leaves little smoking droplets on the floor.
INTERIOR - CORRIDOR OUTSIDE AIR LOCK
They come running up to the airlock. Roby stabs the button and the
inner door slides open. By the time Standard is in the lock, Roby is
already on the intercom:
ROBY
(shouts into intercom)
For Chrissake, open the main lock!
INTERIOR - AIR LOCK - DAY
Roby stumbles in as the inner door closes; and with a heavy whine, the
thick surface door rumbles open. Orange sunlight billows in, followed
by the inevitable dust.
Standard HURLS THE CARCASS OUT, tongs and all.
EXTERIOR - BASE OF SHIP - DAY
The parasite hits the ground and begins to sink into the dust,
smouldering and fuming.
INTERIOR - AIR LOCK - DAY
The outer door rolls shut.
ROBY
(slumping against the
wall)
My God, it's lethal even when it's
dead!
Melkonis gets down on his knees and studies the small burn-holes in
the floor.
Standard opens the inner door and steps out into the corridor. There,
he activates the wall intercom and punches out a combination.
INTERIOR - CORRIDOR OUTSIDE AIR LOCK
HUNTER
(over intercom,
filtered)
Yes?
STANDARD
How's Broussard?
HUNTER
(over, filtered)
He's running a fever.
STANDARD
Still unconscious?
HUNTER
(over, filtered)
Yes.
STANDARD
Can you do anything for him?
HUNTER
(over, filtered)
The machine will bring his
temperature down. His vital
functions are strong.
STANDARD
Good.
He switches off the intercom.
STANDARD (CONT'D)
(suddenly exhausted)
I need some coffee.
He turns and walks away.
INTERIOR - MULTI-PURPOSE ROOM
The cat is strolling around as Roby and Melkonis drop into seats;
Standard draws a cup of coffee from the machine.
MELKONIS
These day and night cycles are
totally disorienting. I feel like
we've been here for days, but it's
only been how long?
ROBY
(stroking the cat)
About four hours.
STANDARD
(staring into his coffee
cup)
I'm sorry to say it looks like you
were right in the first place,
Martin. We never should have landed
here.
ROBY
Look, I'm not trying to rub
anybody's nose in anything. The
important thing is just to get away
from here as fast as possible.
STANDARD
I can't lean on Faust any harder --
he's been working non-stop on the
engines.
ROBY
If we knew exactly what happened to
the beings on the other ship --
MELKONIS
We do know that.
ROBY
Yeah?
MELKONIS
They never made it off the planet.
The parasites won.
This brings a CHILLY SILENCE.
ROBY
Where did the parasites come from?
STANDARD
They seem native to the planet. It's
got an atmosphere and a dense
gravity. It's dead now, but once it
must have been fertile.
MELKONIS
No. It's just too small to support
fauna as big as the parasites. If
there were a native ecology, it
would have to be microscopic.
ROBY
Couldn't the pyramid have been built
here by space travellers?
STANDARD
Too primitive. It's a pre-
technological construction. That
slab was engineered by an Iron-Age
culture at best.
MELKONIS
They're from a dead civilization;
they're spores from a tomb. God
knows how long they've been here.
ROBY
I think we better take another look
at those heiroglyphs.
Suddenly the door opens and Faust sticks his head in. He is covered
with dirt and grime.
FAUST
Hey, guess what?
STANDARD
What?
FAUST
The engines are fixed.
EXTERIOR - PLANETOID - DAY
The SNARK's engines cough and then with a ROAR BEGIN TO BELCH OUT
STREAMS OF SUPERHEATED AIR, cutting through the tulgy dust.
The ship roars and vibrates like a huge beast, capable of unlimited
power.
INTERIOR - BRIDGE - DAY
They are all at their posts.
STANDARD
Switch on tractor beams.
There is a hair-tingling ELECTRICAL HUM which permeates the whole
ship, and it begins to float, like a cork in water.
STANDARD (CONT'D)
Lock tractor beams.
The pitch of the hum changes, and the ship levels itself.
STANDARD (CONT'D)
Retract landing struts.
EXTERIOR - SHIP - DAY
The ship is hovering above the ground on beams of shimmering force.
The landing struts fold up under the belly of the ship.
INTERIOR - BRIDGE - DAY
STANDARD
Take us up.
ROBY
(into intercom)
Up one kilometer, Jay.
EXTERIOR - PLANETOID - DAY
The SNARK begins to levitate up into the sky, on the beams of light.
INTERIOR - BRIDGE - DAY
STANDARD
Switch on lifter quads.
A POWERFUL, DEEP THROBBING BEGINS. THE SHIP VIBRATES.
EXTERIOR - "SNARK" - DAY
The hovering SNARK begins to accelerate through the choking
atmosphere.
INTERIOR - BRIDGE - DAY
STANDARD
Engage artificial gravity.
Roby throws a switch, and the ship LURCHES.
ROBY
Engaged.
STANDARD
Let's take her into an escape orbit.
The men get busy with switches.
ROBY
I'm altering our vector now; should
give us an easy escape velocity --
A HUGE TREMOR RUNS THROUGHOUT THE SHIP.
ROBY & MELKONIS
(in concert)
What was that?
In answer, THE COMMUNICATOR BEEPS.
FAUST
(over, filtered)
This dust is getting clogged in the
intakes again!
STANDARD
Just hold us together till we're in
space, that's all!
The pitch of the engines changes, deepens.
EXTERIOR - SKY - DAY
The SNARK swoops up at an acute angle into the boiling clouds.
Visibility is zero.
INTERIOR - ENGINE ROOM
Faust is pulling on a gasmask, because the engine chamber is beginning
to fill with dust. He turns on a huge exhaust unit which begins to
suck up some of the dust.
INTERIOR - BRIDGE - DAY
On the screens, nothing but clouds. Then, ANOTHER TREMOR SHUDDERS
THROUGH THE SHIP. The men no longer speak; their expressions are grim,
set, and sweating; they are watching their instruments. Periodically
they mutter technical instructions to each other.
EXTERIOR - SHIP - DAY
Abruptly the ship CLEARS THE TOP OF THE CLOUD LAYER AND BURSTS OUT
INTO STAR-SPRINKLED SPACE, trailing a wake of dust behind it.
INTERIOR - BRIDGE - OUTER SPACE
They all CHEER.
ROBY
(pounds his panel)
We made it! Damn, we made it!
STANDARD
You bet we made it. Martin, set
course for Irth and accelerate us
into stardrive.
ROBY
With great pleasure.
Roby begins to punch buttons.
MELKONIS
I feel like an escapee from Hell.
DISSOLVE TO:
EXTERIOR - SHIP AT LIGHT SPEED - LATER
The ship's speed is so great that there is perceptible movement in the
universe all around.
There is a strange corona effect which causes the stars approaching
the ship to appear blue, and the receding ones to be red. This is
redshift, made visible because of their incredible velocity.
INTERIOR - BRIDGE - OUTER SPACE
They are unstrapping.
ROBY
That's the part that always makes me
feel like I'm gonna puke -- when we
accelerate into light speed.
STANDARD
Quit complaining; we're in space.
They rise and head out of the room.
INTERIOR - CORRIDOR
As they walk along.
STANDARD
I think the best thing to do with
Broussard is to just freeze him as
he is. It'll arrest the progress of
his disease, and he can get complete
medical attention when we get back
to the Colonies.
ROBY
We'll have to go into quarantine,
maybe for quite a while.
STANDARD
That's okay, he can remain in
hypersleep until they're ready to
treat him.
They enter the infirmary.
INTERIOR - INFIRMARY
As they enter the room, THEY ARE SHOCKED TO SEE BROUSSARD SITTING UP
in BED -- AWAKE.
BROUSSARD
(hoarsely)
... Mouth's so dry... can I have some
water...
Instantly, Roby brings him a plastic cup of water. Broussard gulps it
down in a swallow.
BROUSSARD (CONT'D)
More.
Roby quickly fills a much bigger container and hands it to Broussard,
who greedily consumes the entire thing. Then he sags, panting, on the
bunk.
STANDARD
(softly)
How do you feel, Dell?
BROUSSARD
(weakly)
Wretched. What happened to me?
STANDARD
Don't you remember?
BROUSSARD
Don't remember nothing. Can't hardly
remember my name.
ROBY
Are you in pain?
BROUSSARD
Not exactly, just feel like
somebody's been beating me with
rubber hoses for about six years.
Melkonis laughs at this remark. Broussard smiles faintly at him.
STANDARD
Hell, you're in great shape, you've
got your sense of humor back!
BROUSSARD
God I'm hungry.
ROBY
Dell, what's the last thing you can
remember?
BROUSSARD
... I don't know...
ROBY
Do you remember the pyramid?
BROUSSARD
No. Just some horrible dreams about
smothering. Where are we?
STANDARD
We're going home. We're in
hyperspace.
MELKONIS
We're going into the freezers now.
BROUSSARD
I'm really starving; can we get some
food before we go into the freezers?
STANDARD
(laughs)
I think that's a pretty reasonable
request.
INTERIOR - MULTI-PURPOSE ROOM
The entire crew is seated around the table, eating huge portions
greedily. The cat eats from a dish on the table.
HUNTER
Boy do I feel a lot better. It's a
straight shot back to the Colonies,
and then we can start taking bids on
the paydirt. Any bets on the top
bid?
FAUST
(chewing)
Well, we should at least be able to
each buy our own planet.
They all CHUCKLE.
MELKONIS
I'm going to write a book about this
expedition. I'm going to call it
"The Snark Log."
STANDARD
(stiffly)
The commander normally has first
publication rights.
MELKONIS
Maybe we could write it together.
ROBY
First thing I'm going to do when we
get back is eat some biological
food.
MELKONIS
What's the matter, you don't like
this stuff?
ROBY
Tastes like something you'd feed a
chicken to make it lay more eggs.
STANDARD
Oh it's okay. I've had better cag
than this, but I've had worse too,
if you know what I mean.
FAUST
I kind of like it.
ROBY
You like this shit?
FAUST
It grows on you.
ROBY
You know what they make this stuff
out of?
FAUST
(annoyed)
Yes, I know what they make it out
of, so what? It's food now. You're
eating it.
ROBY
I didn't say it was bad for you,
it's just kind of sickening, that's
all.
HUNTER
Do we have to talk about this kind
of crap at the dinner table?
Suddenly, unexpectedly, BROUSSARD GRIMACES AND GROANS.
STANDARD
What's wrong?
BROUSSARD
(his voice straining)
I don't know... I'm getting these
CRAMPS!
The others stare at him in alarm. Another GROAN is torn from his lips.
He clutches the edge of the table with his hands, his knuckles
whitening.
STANDARD
Breathe deeply.
BROUSSARD
(screaming)
OH GOD IT HURTS SO BAD!
ROBY
What Dell -- what?
Broussard's face is screwed up into a mask of agony, and he is
trembling violently from head to foot.
BROUSSARD
(incoherent shriek)
OhmygooaaAAAHHHHH!!!
A RED SMEAR OF BLOOD BLOSSOMS ON THE CHEST OF BROUSSARD'S TUNIC.
THEIR EYES ARE ALL RIVETTED TO BROUSSARD'S CHEST AS THE FABRIC OF HIS
TUNIC IS RIPPED OPEN, AND A HORRIBLE NASTY LITTLE HEAD THE SIZE OF A
MAN'S FIST PUSHES OUT.
Everybody SCREAMS and leaps back from the table. The cat spits and
bolts.
The disgusting little head lunges, comes spurting out of Broussard's
chest trailing a thick, wormlike tail -- splattering fluids and blood
-- lands in the middle of the dishes and food on the table -- and
scurries away while the men are stampeding for safe ground.
When they finally regain control of themselves, it has escaped.
Broussard lies slumped in his chair, a huge hole in his chest,
spouting blood. The dishes are scattered and the food is covered with
blood and slime.
HUNTER
Oh, no. Oh, no.
FAUST
What was that? What the Christ was
that?
MELKONIS
It was growing in him the whole time
and he didn't even know it!
Slowly, they gather around Broussard's gutted corpse.
ROBY
That thing used him for an
incubator!
EXTERIOR - SHIP - OUTER SPACE
A hatch slides open on the side of the ship, and Broussard's wrapped
body tumbles silently out.
AN ELECTRONIC BASS DRUM BEATS A DIRGE as Broussard drifts into
eternity.
INTERIOR - CORRIDORS
The entire remaining crew is walking toward the bridge.
MELKONIS
We can't go into hypersleep with
that thing running around loose.
HUNTER
We'd be sitting ducks in the
freezers.
ROBY
But we can't kill it. If we kill it,
it will spill all its body acids
right through our hull and out into
space.
FAUST
Shit...
STANDARD
We'll have to catch it and eject it
from the ship.
MELKONIS
(sighs)
Well, I kind of hate to point it
out, but all our supplies are based
on us spending a strictly limited
amount of time out of suspended
animation... and as you know, we used
up most of that time in harvesting.
STANDARD
We've got about a week left, right?
HUNTER
And then we run out of food and
oxygen.
FAUST
The water will still recycle.
ROBY
We won't need it then.
STANDARD
All right, so that's what we've got.
A week. It's plenty of time.
ROBY
But if we haven't caught it in a
week, then we have to go into the
freezers anyway.
They enter the bridge.
INTERIOR - BRIDGE
STANDARD
So does anybody have any
suggestions?
FAUST
We could put on our pressure suits
and blow all the air out of the
ship. That would kill it.
STANDARD
No, we can't afford to lose that
much oxygen. We're going to have to
flush it out.
MELKONIS
How?
STANDARD
Room by room, corridor by corridor.
No one likes this thought.
MELKONIS
And what do we do when we find it?
STANDARD
We'll have to trap it somehow. If we
had a really strong piece of net, we
could bag it.
FAUST
We could cut a section out of that
metallite netting. It won't hold up
to that acid, but aside from that
it's pretty strong.
ROBY
We have to avoid injuring it. What
we really need is some electric
animal prods.
HUNTER
I think I could cobble something
together. A long metal rod with a
battery in it. Give it a hell of a
shock.
STANDARD
Good. Get on it. But first, I'm
issuing a standing order: from this
moment forth, every one of us will
wear protective garments, including
helmets. Let's get down to the
locker and change.
They start for the exit.
EXTERIOR - OUTER SPACE
The SNARK continues on its way through the weird vortex of hyperspace.
INTERIOR - CORRIDORS IN SHIP
Standard is walking purposefully along the corridor, alone. He is
garmented in an unusual outfit which makes him look like a riot
policeman, including clear plastic helmet.
He reaches a corner and turns. But this new passageway has a different
gravity orientation -- Standard seems to be walking down a vertical
wall.
He makes yet another disorienting turn, and now he is walking upside-
down. He reaches a set of steps and climbs up them -- or rather, down
them.
INTERIOR - VENTRAL OBSERVATION DOME - VIEW OF OUTER SPACE
Melkonis is seated in the dome, upside-down, peering down into space.
He also wears the protective suit.
Standard, upside-down, climbs into the dome. It is dark and eerie
here, under the stars of interstellar space. A few glowing panels
provide the only illumination.
STANDARD
I thought I'd find you here.
MELKONIS
I was thinking of a line from an old
poem: "Water, water everywhere, but
not a drop to drink." All that space
out there, and we're trapped in this
ship.
STANDARD
That's the one about the albatross,
right?
MELKONIS
We can't even radio for help; the
carrier wave wouldn't reach its
destination till long after we'd
died and turned to dust. We are
utterly, absolutely alone. Can
anybody really visualize such a
scale of distances? Halfway across
Creation...
STANDARD
We came out there, we'll go back. A
long time by the clock, but a short
time to us.
MELKONIS
Time and space have no meaning out
here. We're living in Einsteinian
equation.
STANDARD
I can see you're putting your spare
time to good use.
(leans forward and taps
him on the knee)
Let me tell you something: you keep
staring at hyperspace for long
enough, they'll be peeling you off a
wall. I've seen it happen.
MELKONIS
(smiles at him)
We're the new pioneers, Chaz. We
even have our own special diseases.
STANDARD
Come on -- let's go above and see
how they're coming with the gear.
INTERIOR - BRIDGE
The whole crew has assembled. Faust is unfolding several yards of
shimmering metallic netting.
Hunter hands out five thin rods, like metal broom handles.
HUNTER
These have portable generators in
them. They're insulated down to here
-- just be careful not to touch the
end.
He demonstrates by touching the tip of one of the rods to a metal
object. A blue spark leaps.
FAUST
Might even incinerate the damn
thing.
STANDARD
(sharply)
I hope not.
HUNTER
Don't worry, it won't damage it,
it'll just give it a little
incentive.
STANDARD
How do we locate the creature?
FAUST
With these.
He picks up a small portable unit.
FAUST (CONT'D)
Tracking device. You set it to
search for a moving object... It
hasn't got much range, but when you
get within a certain distance, it
starts beeping.
Standard takes the device and studies it.
STANDARD
These will be very useful. At least
we won't have to go digging around
in closets with our bare hands. All
right, here's the battle plan: we're
going to break into two teams and
start systematically covering the
ship. Whoever finds it first,
catches it in the net and ejects it
from the nearest airlock. Clear?
ROBY
Even simple.
Standard shoots him a vicious look, then continues:
STANDARD
For starters, let's make sure the
bridge is safe.
Faust takes the device and turns it on. He scans it around the room.
FAUST
It's clear.
STANDARD
All right -- Roby and Melkonis will
go with Faust. Hunter and I will
make up the second team.
They start doling out the equipment.
STANDARD (CONT'D)
We'll all carry communicators. We
want to keep in constant touch.
INTERIOR - CORRIDORS IN SHIP
Melkonis and Roby carry the net, while Faust walks directly behind it,
carrying the tracking device. He continually scans it from side to
side.
FAUST
Nothing yet... nothing... we can move
pretty fast as long as there's
nothing on the tracker.
INTERIOR - OTHER CORRIDORS
Standard and Hunter move silently along. Standard is forced to serve a
double function, carrying one edge of the net and the tracker as well.
INTERIOR - CORRIDORS
Roby's team is moving at a fairly brisk pace, when:
FAUST
Hold it.
Faust's tracker is BEEPING, and a small light flashes.
FAUST (CONT'D)
I've got something.
Immediately, they grow very tense and start looking around.
ROBY
Where's it coming from?
FAUST
(peers closely at tracker
and frowns)
Machine's screwed up, I can't tell.
Needle's spinning all over the dial.
MELKONIS
Is it malfunctioning?
Faust turns the tracker on its side, and the needle stabilizes.
FAUST
No, just confused. It's coming from
below us.
They all look down at their feet.
INTERIOR - MAINTENANCE LEVEL
Roby, Melkonis, and Faust come carefully down a set of crude metal
stairs, into a drab, functional section of the ship.
The corridors in this level are lit by rows of bare bulbs in the
ceiling. The effect is ugly and confining.
They stop at the foot of the stairs and move into position, spreading
the net across the corridor.
ROBY
Okay.
FAUST
(looking at tracker and
nodding down the passageway)
That way.
They begin to walk down the passageway, footsteps clanging on the raw
metal flooring. It is extremely dark.
ROBY
What happened to the lights?
FAUST
Bulbs burned out, nobody bothered to
replace 'em.
They switch on the helmet lights.
CAMERA FOLLOWS THEM AROUND A COUPLE OF TURNINGS, AND THEN:
FAUST (CONT'D)
Hold it.
They all stop quickly, almost stumbling.
FAUST (CONT'D)
(whispering)
It's within 4 meters.
Roby and Melkonis heft the net, each keeping his prod in hand. Faust,
prod in one hand and tracker in the other, has the unpleasant job of
approaching the source of the signal.
He moves with great care, in a half crouch, ready to leap back at any
second, prod extended, constantly glancing at the tracker.
The tracking device leads him right up to a small hatch or door in one
wall.
Behind his plastic mask, sweat is pouring down Faust's face as he sets
down the tracker and reaches for the little door. He raises the prod,
grasps the door handle, yanks it open, and jams the electric prod
inside.
WITH A NERVE-SHATTERING SQUALL, A SMALL CREATURE COMES FLYING OUT OF
THE CABINET, EYES GLARING, CLAWS FLASHING.
Instinctively, they throw the net over it, but:
ROBY
(very annoyed)
Oh, hold it!
They open the net and release the creature. IT IS THE CAT. Hissing and
spitting, it scampers away.
MELKONIS
We're making fools of ourselves!
Roby's COMMUNICATOR BEEPS.
ROBY
(into communicator)
Yes!
STANDARD
(over, filtered)
We've got it up here! It's trapped!
Get up here fast!
ROBY
Where are you?
STANDARD
(over, filtered)
Food-storage room!
ROBY
We're coming!
They dash for the stairs.
INTERIOR - CORRIDORS IN SHIP
Roby, Faust, and Melkonis charge down the hallways until they arrive
at:
INTERIOR - CORRIDOR OUTSIDE FOOD STORAGE ROOM
Standard and Hunter are waiting for them, in hysterics.
HUNTER
We saw it inside and slammed the
door on it! It's in there now!
On the other side of the door, CRASHING AND BANGING can be heard.
ROBY
What's it doing, having a seizure?
STANDARD
It started crashing around right
after we locked it in.
ROBY
Now what?
STANDARD
I guess we open the door and net it.
HUNTER
I hate to open that door.
Again the thing can be heard CRASHING AROUND INSIDE.
STANDARD
It looks completely different from
the first one -- it's more like a
worm with legs... and tentacles.
FAUST
Well we better do something.
HUNTER
Maybe we don't have to. It's trapped
in there. We could just leave it in
there all the way back to Irth.
STANDARD
(snaps)
Don't be an idiot.
FAUST
I know what we can do. We can pump
poison gas into the room and kill
it. Through those ventilator slots
there.
He indicates a row of slots in the bottom of the door.
ROBY
Hey, wait a minute! That's all our
food supplies in there! We can't
pump poison gas all over them!
STANDARD
Once we kill the thing we won't need
the food any more -- we can go
straight into hypersleep. Also, it
sounds like that thing is already
doing a pretty good job on our
supplies; it may be fouling them
all.
ROBY
You win.
FAUST
Somebody gimme a hand, I'll get the
stuff.
INTERIOR - CORRIDOR OUTSIDE FOOD LOCKER - LATER
CAMERA PULLS BACK TO REVEAL THAT they are fastening a large funnel-
shaped device over the ventilator grill at the bottom of the door.
This funnel is attached to a thick hose, which runs back to a large
metal tank with pressure gauges.
STANDARD
Get those masks on.
They pull on gas masks.
ROBY
This stuff's deadly -- I hope we
know what we're doing.
STANDARD
Go ahead, Jay.
Faust turns on the machine. It begins to throb as it pumps the gas
through the hose and into the room.
Immediately, THE CRASHING NOISES RISE IN CRESCENDO, AND THE THING CAN
BE HEARD SCREECHING AND SQUEALING.
Then the sounds stop altogether.
STANDARD (CONT'D)
Shut it off.
Faust shuts off the pump.
ROBY
Now what?
STANDARD
What do you think? Now we go in.
Standard steps to the door and opens it. A thick cloud of gas billows
out.
INTERIOR - FOOD STORAGE ROOM
The room is thick with the poison gas. The men look like insects in
their gasmasks.
The food packages are ripped to shreds, and foodstuffs are scattered
all over the floor.
FAUST
Looks like he helped himself.
Carefully, the men poke through the garbage, net and prods raised.
Then Hunter points.
HUNTER
God damn it.
They all look where he is pointing. In the wall, A VENTILATOR GRILL
HAS BEEN RIPPED OPEN.
HUNTER (CONT'D)
It escaped.
They move to the shredded ventilator and shine their lights into it.
ROBY
Where does that go?
FAUST
All over the ship; we'll have to
check the charts to know for sure.
STANDARD
Then let's go and do it.
They head for the door.
HUNTER
Have we got any food at all left in
the ship?
They slam the door shut and seal it.
INTERIOR - BRIDGE
The screens are showing them a schematic of the ship's system of
ventilator shafts.
FAUST
That one section of the ventilator
shaft has only two outlets -- you
notice? The food storage room on one
end --
HUNTER
-- And the cooling unit on the
other.
STANDARD
So it's trapped in between -- now we
have to drive it out.
FAUST
Poison gas...
HUNTER
We can't pump poison gas down into
the cooling unit! It'll flood the
whole ship!
STANDARD
The only other thing I can think of
is for somebody to crawl in there
and flush it out.
ROBY
Are you crazy?
STANDARD
The man would need protection,
obviously -- as well as some way to
drive the thing before him.
FAUST
How about a flamethrower? That
wouldn't poison the air.
MELKONIS
So one of us goes into the airshaft
and drives the thing along --
STANDARD
While the rest of us wait down in
the cooling unit with the net.
HUNTER
Sounds like a rough one.
STANDARD
Got a better idea?
Hunter shrugs.
ROBY
So the only question left is: who
gets to crawl down the airshaft?
STANDARD
Let's be democratic.
He tears five small sheets of paper from a pad on his console. On one
of them, he draws a large X. Then he wads each piece of paper into a
tiny little ball.
He rolls the paperballs between his hands and tosses them on the table
like dice.
STANDARD (CONT'D)
Martin, take one.
Roby picks one up and unfolds it. It is blank.
Melkonis picks up another and opens it. Again blank.
Faust picks up a ball, and Standard immediately picks his own up. They
are both blank.
They all look at Hunter, who has not yet unfolded his.
STANDARD (CONT'D)
Open it up, Cleave.
INTERIOR - FOOD STORAGE ROOM
Hunter is strapping on an oxygen mask and a flame thrower. Faust is
helping him.
Finally, Faust hands him a tracking device.
FAUST
Well, uh... good luck. I hope you
won't need me, but if you do, I'm
here.
HUNTER
(grimly)
Right.
Hunter turns and climbs into the ventilator opening, which is just
large enough to crawl through.
INTERIOR - AIR SHAFT
It is completely dark in the shaft. Hunter reaches up and turns on his
helmet light. Then he switches on his radio.
HUNTER
Hey, do you guys read me down there?
INTERIOR - CLIMATE CONTROL ROOM
Standard, Melkonis and Roby are spreading out the net. We hear the hum
of huge cooling plants, and their hair ruffles. Large airshafts run
off in different directions.
STANDARD
Yeah, we're getting into position.
INTERIOR - AIR SHAFT
HUNTER
Okay, I'm starting now.
He begins to crawl forward into the narrow metal tunnel. He turns a
corner.
After a couple more tight turns, THE TRACKER SUDDENLY BEEPS.
Hunter twitches. He raises his flamethrower and FIRES A BLAST INTO THE
DARKNESS. It roars loudly in the confined tube, and the air instantly
heats up. Smoke drifts back into his face. He begins to sweat.
INTERIOR - CLIMATE CONTROL ROOM
Roby points to a large rectangular opening in one wall.
ROBY
(pointing)
There. That's where it's got to come
out.
He throws a switch, and a large metal panel rises and seals off the
opening.
ROBY (CONT'D)
That's a flip-flop gate to channel
the air, but we can use it to trap
the thing.
STANDARD
Right now let's keep it closed.
Melkonis is setting up a little portable unit with a screen on it. The
screen shows a section of the ship's schematic.
MELKONIS
I've got Hunter... and something else
as well, in front of him.
STANDARD
Are they close?
MELKONIS
They're on the next level up.
STANDARD
Let's get moving with this net.
They lift the net up, holding it in front of the opening.
INTERIOR - AIR SHAFT
Hunter is still crawling on hands and knees. Up ahead, he can see that
the shaft takes an abrupt downward turn.
He crawls toward the down angle, then fires another blast from his
flamethrower.
Then he starts crawling down, head first.
When he is nearly upside-down, the shaft takes yet another turning
which puts him into a nearly impossible position, almost immobilized.
Then the tracker starts BEEPING LIKE CRAZY.
Frantically, he fumbles the flamethrower around, but the space is
narrow -- it is difficult maneuvering. He hears a HISSING CRY up
ahead, and claws scrambling on metal.
Then he has the weapon into position, and sprays another lethal
flaming burst toward the sound.
INTERIOR - CLIMATE CONTROL ROOM
Melkonis is staring at his screen.
MELKONIS
They're getting pretty close now.
STANDARD
All right, then -- when it gets to
the other side of the door, you sing
out, then drop the door. Okay?
MELKONIS
Okay.
STANDARD
(to Roby)
And you and I will bag it, and then
we'll take it to the ventral air
lock, got it?
ROBY
(tensely)
Uh-huh.
INTERIOR - AIR SHAFT
Hunter is huddled against a wall of the shaft, clutching the
flamethrower.
HUNTER
(whispers)
Hey, you guys.
INTERIOR - CLIMATE CONTROL ROOM
STANDARD
(into communicator)
Yes!
INTERIOR - AIR SHAFT
HUNTER
(whispering)
I don't think this shaft goes on too
much farther... anyway it's getting
pretty hot in here...
INTERIOR - CLIMATE CONTROL ROOM
STANDARD
(into communicator)
Okay, our screens show you as being
near to the opening. We'll open it
up, then we'll cue you and you can
start blasting. That'll drive it
right out. You don't have to go any
farther.
INTERIOR - AIR SHAFT
HUNTER
Good.
He readies the flamethrower.
INTERIOR - CLIMATE CONTROL ROOM
STANDARD
Okay, get ready.
He and Roby heft their respective ends of the net, crouched to catch
the small creature when it darts out. Melkonis picks up his electric
prod.
STANDARD (CONT'D)
Open the vent, Sandy.
Melkonis reaches over and throws the switch. The metal gate drops
down, opening up the shaft.
A SIX-FOOT MONSTROSITY STANDS IN THE OPENING. GHASTLY BEYOND
IMAGINATION, SQUAMOUS, COVERED WITH TENTACLES, IT HOPS DOWN LIKE AN
OVER-SIZED BIRD AND GRABS MELKONIS IN RAZOR-SHARP TENTACLES.
Melkonis lets out a horrible shriek, and the thing grabs his head in
one claw and TWISTS IT OFF LIKE A MAN PULLING THE HEAD OFF A CHICKEN,
THEN THROWS IT TO THE FLOOR WITH AN AUDIBLE CLUNK.
CLUTCHING MELKONIS' BODY TIGHTLY AGAINST ITSELF, IT TURNS AND BOUNDS
DOWN THE HALL. MELKONIS' HEADLESS BODY IS STILL KICKING AND STRUGGLING
AS THE MONSTER LEAPS HEAD-FIRST INTO ANOTHER AIR SHAFT.
Standard and Roby are left standing in shock. After a moment, Hunter
climbs out of the shaft.
HUNTER
What happened? Where is it?
They break from their paralysis, and run toward the opening the
creature just leaped into. It is another shaft, going down into
darkness.
STANDARD
(awed)
How did it get so big?
ROBY
By eating our food supplies.
HUNTER
Where's Melkonis?
INTERIOR - FOOD STORAGE ROOM
Faust is still waiting.
FAUST
(into his communicator)
Hey, are you guys still there?
What's going on?
STANDARD
(over, filtered)
Meet us on the bridge. Be careful --
it's huge now.
FAUST
Right.
Faust lets himself out of the food storage room and carefully locks
the door behind him.
INTERIOR - CORRIDORS
Standard, Roby and Hunter are rapidly ascending toward the bridge.
HUNTER
You mean his body was still kicking
when it ran off with him?
ROBY
It was horrible -- horrible. Like a
chicken.
INTERIOR - BRIDGE
Standard, Roby and Hunter enter and drop into chairs. Faust follows
shortly. They all look blank, stunned.
FAUST
What happened? Where's Sandy?
ROBY
Dead.
FAUST
Dead!
ROBY
It's monstrous -- it grew, like some
horrible tapeworm. We were
completely unprepared.
FAUST
It's still in the ship?
STANDARD
We'd better seal off the lower
maintenance level; at least trap it
there.
(throws a switch;
circuitry lights up)
HUNTER
At least it can't get up here now.
ROBY
Two down, four to go.
STANDARD
(angrily)
What's that supposed to mean?
ROBY
Nothing.
HUNTER
Listen, it sure didn't like this
flamethrower.
STANDARD
That's right -- we can't kill it on
the ship, but we can at least keep
it at bay -- and maybe drive it into
the air lock.
HUNTER
Thing is, I'm about out of fuel.
FAUST
There's some more combustible fuel
down in the storage lockers next to
the lounge.
(rises)
I'll go get it.
STANDARD
No, I don't want us separated.
FAUST
You just sealed it off; it can't get
to that section.
ROBY
Don't count on it.
HUNTER
We sure need this flamethrower.
STANDARD
All right... but do not go below
decks.
FAUST
Right.
(heads for the door)
STANDARD
And be right back.
Faust exits.
ROBY
I think it's time we took a hard
look at those heiroglyphs.
Roby begins to punch buttons; the photographs of the heiroglyphics
appear on some of the screens.
ROBY (CONT'D)
Can you make out any pattern in all
that?
STANDARD
(baffled)
Well... yes... there's a pattern... but
it's meaningless to me.
ROBY
I know it looks like a senseless
jumble, but if you look closely,
there are recognizable forms.
HUNTER
Recognizable! In that?
ROBY
In symbolic form... very stylized...
but if you stare at it, you can see
some of the different creatures
we've been dealing with.
HUNTER
Well... I suppose that star-shaped
thing could be the parasite that got
on Broussard. Is that what you mean?
ROBY
And right next to it, that oval
design with the markings -- it's a
dead ringer for the spore casings.
STANDARD
That next thing there -- six legs,
tentacles -- that's the thing we saw
in the food locker.
ROBY
So the next step should be --
HUNTER
-- The big one. And there it is.
Out of meaningless geometric symbols on a wall, it has become possible
to recognize each stage in the alien's life cycle.
ROBY
This is all the same creature. We're
seeing the different stages in its
life-cycle.
STANDARD
Then that tomb... must have been some
kind of fertility temple... where
they stored their eggs, and maybe
held mating rituals...
HUNTER
... And Broussard got caught in their
reproductive cycle.
ROBY
You will notice, though, that there
are no more phases. Only four forms
are shown. After that the pattern
repeats.
STANDARD
Which presumably means...
ROBY
... More spores coming.
INTERIOR - CORRIDOR OUTSIDE AIR LOCK
Faust quickly turns a couple of corners and then comes to an abrupt
halt when he notices that a DOOR LEADING TO THE LOWER DECKS HAS BEEN
WRENCHED OFF ITS HINGES.
He hesitates, uncertain what to do, then there is A SOUND FROM THE
DIRECTION OF THE AIR LOCK... AND THE INNER LOCK DOOR IS OPEN.
Faust hesitates and peers into the lock.
INTERIOR - AIR LOCK
The creature is squatting in the middle of the floor, gnawing on a
bloody thigh bone. It does not see Faust.
INTERIOR - CORRIDOR OUTSIDE AIR LOCK
Stealthfully, dropping back into the shadows, Faust presses the wall
intercom and speaks into it.
FAUST
(whispering)
It's in the lock -- blow the main
lock.
INTERIOR - BRIDGE
Standard, Roby and Hunter are staring at the pictures. The call from
Faust catches Standard in mid-sentence.
STANDARD
(into intercom)
What?
INTERIOR - CORRIDOR OUTSIDE AIR LOCK
FAUST
(whispering)
It's in the main air lock. Blow the
lock.
INTERIOR - BRIDGE
Standard hesitates, starts to frame a reply -- then changes his mind
and runs to his console -- and THROWS THE SWITCH.
INTERIOR - AIR LOCK
With a mechanical whine, the inner door starts to close. The creature
hears it and INSTANTANEOUSLY LEAPS OUT OF THE LOCK.
INTERIOR - CORRIDOR OUTSIDE AIR LOCK
The creature comes flying out of the lock and DEALS FAUST A BACK-
HANDED BLOW, KNOCKING HIM ACROSS THE THRESHOLD OF THE AIR LOCK DOOR.
FAUST SCREAMS IN MORTAL AGONY AS THE INNER DOOR CLOSES ON HIS WAIST,
crushing him to a thickness of about three inches.
On the wall, a green light goes on:
"INNER DOOR CLOSED"
INTERIOR - AIR LOCK
Despite the fact that the inner door is still held open a few inches
by Faust's squashed body, THE OUTER DOOR BEGINS TO SLIDE OPEN.
IMMEDIATELY, THERE IS A TREMENDOUS SCREAM OF ESCAPING AIR.
EXTERIOR - SHIP - OUTER SPACE
In dead silence, a thick spurt of steam comes out of the open air lock
door. This is the ship's atmosphere freezing as it squirts out into
the vacuum under pressure.
INTERIOR - BRIDGE
INSTANTLY, A TREMENDOUS WINDSTORM STARTS UP as the ship's air is
sucked out toward the lock.
A SIREN BEGINS TO SOUND, AND A RED LIGHT FLASHES:
"CRITICAL DEPRESSURIZATION"
After a moment of panic and confusion, Roby bolts out of the control
room.
INTERIOR - CORRIDORS
Loose papers and articles of furniture hurtle through the passageways,
as Roby hurries toward the rock, partly running, partly sucked along
by the air current.
EXTERIOR - SHIP - OUTER SPACE
A huge plume of steam grows from the side of the ship, with all kinds
of tiny loose particles tumbling out in it.
INTERIOR - CORRIDORS
Whipped by the hurricane wind, Roby crashes to a momentary halt
against a wall. As he hesitates there, trying to regain his balance,
HE SEES THE CREATURE SCURRYING AWAY DOWN ANOTHER CORRIDOR.
Ignoring the monster, he pushes off from the wall and starts running
again.
INTERIOR - CORRIDOR OUTSIDE AIR LOCK
Roby stops himself by grabbing the edge of a doorway at the end of the
hall down from the airlock. Here, the wind is really terrific -- his
clothes flap on his body and all kinds of things fly by -- the sound
is a DEAFENING WHISTLE.
Instantly, Roby starts turning a large wheel, which begins to close a
sliding hatch door, closing off the air lock corridor. As the hatch
closes, THE CURRENT DECREASES, THEN IS FINALLY CUT OFF AS HE SEALS IT.
Done in, he collapses to the floor.
Then he clutches his throat and begins to gasp for breath. Because of
the thinness of the air, THE SOUND LEVEL IN THE SHIP IS VERY ODD --
THIN, DISTANT, ALMOST INAUDIBLE. Roby is gasping loudly, but we can
barely hear him; and his footsteps boom thinly like a man walking
underwater.
INTERIOR - CORRIDORS
Clutching his throat, he comes across the others -- Standard and
Hunter -- and they are all choking, clawing at their throats, gasping
like fishes out of water. They are sweating heavily and their noses
bleed.
They try to speak to each other, but the sound is so muffled we can
only hear distant croaks.
Standard mumbles something and stumbles down the hall. The others
follow him.
INTERIOR - MAIN AIR TANK ROOM
The door bursts open and Standard reels in, his footsteps pinging
thinly on the metal flooring. We see several rows of large oxygen
tanks, all connected by hoses to a few petcocks.
Standard staggers to these and starts twisting the handles, opening
them. THERE IS A PIERCING HISS OF ESCAPING AIR, AND THE SOUND LEVEL
GRADUALLY RETURNS TO NORMAL as Standard and the others sink to the
floor, gasping in the oxygen gratefully.
Finally they have recovered enough to be able to sit up.
ROBY
How much oxygen did we lose?
Standard rises unsteadily and peers at the gauges.
STANDARD
We've got six hours left.
HUNTER
(groans)
Oh my God.
STANDARD
Does anybody know what happened?
ROBY
I saw it. Faust got himself jammed
in the air lock door. His body held
it open.
STANDARD
Can we get to him?
ROBY
No, I had to seal off a whole
section. We'd lose too much of our
remaining air if we opened the
connecting door.
INTERIOR - AIR LOCK
Faust's body, crushed in the inner door, floats weightlessly in the
vacuum. His nose and mouth are crusted with huge gobs of dried blood.
INTERIOR - BRIDGE
The three survivors -- Standard, Roby and Hunter -- slump into chairs.
The cat emerges from a hiding place, yowling with fear.
ROBY
(picking up the cat)
Poor kitty; puss puss puss.
STANDARD
At least we're rid of the damn
monster. It must have been the first
thing sucked out of the ship.
ROBY
No such luck. I saw it running down
one of the corridors.
HUNTER
(groans)
Oh no! We can't fight this thing!
There's only six hours of air left
-- we're dead men!
STANDARD
I don't buy that. There's still time
to destroy it and get ourselves in
the freezers.
HUNTER
How?
STANDARD
It's time for drastic remedies.
ROBY
It was time for that a couple days
ago.
STANDARD
That kind of remark is pointless.
Now come on -- I want to hear every
suggestion you can come up with, no
matter how wild.
HUNTER
We can't kill it on board. It's huge
now and must have tremendous amounts
of that acid in its body.
ROBY
I've got an idea, but you're not
going to like it.
STANDARD
Let's hear it.
ROBY
Okay. First we shut down all the
cooling systems on the stardrive
engines.
STANDARD
That'll blow the ship up.
ROBY
Right... but it'll take a few minutes
for the engines to overheat and melt
down the core. In the meantime, we
get in the lifeboat and leave the
ship.
HUNTER
Blow the ship up?
ROBY
And the creature with it. We can
make it back to Irth in the
lifeboat.
STANDARD
But the lifeboat can't accelerate to
light speed.
ROBY
Doesn't matter -- we're already at
light speed. And when we get back to
the Colonies, they'll pick us up in
the network.
HUNTER
What about all the minerals and
elements in the cargo hold? That's
the only reason we came out here.
We'd have to abandon them all. We'd
be broke.
ROBY
Our lives are more important.
Anyway, we can take a small amount
of the most valuable stuff with us
on the lifeboat.
STANDARD
No, it won't work and I just
realized why. There's only one
hypersleep freezer on the lifeboat.
Only one of us could survive.
ROBY
Yeah... I forgot.
STANDARD
But the idea's good, if we could
just turn it around somehow.
They think.
STANDARD (CONT'D)
If we could just get the creature
into the lifeboat, we could launch
it into space and blow it up.
HUNTER
Good! That's good!
STANDARD
We can load the lifeboat up with
explosives and trigger them
remotely, once the lifeboat is in
space.
ROBY
I think it's going to be almost
impossible to drive it up into the
lifeboat.
HUNTER
We can use the flamethrower.
ROBY
It's not going to work.
STANDARD
You can't say that; I think it's a
good plan.
HUNTER
The flamethrower needs more fuel.
STANDARD
Right. We've got a lot to
accomplish. Let's get moving.
INTERIOR - MINING & CARGO BAY
The three men come down steps into this rather dirty area of the ship.
A lot of tools and large items of machinery are stored around.
LONG RACKS OF SHELVES ARE STOCKED WITH METAL CONTAINERS OF VARIOUS
SHAPES. Each container is well packed and labelled.
HUNTER
Which explosive should we use?
STANDARD
I'd suggest the N-13 sticks. They're
portable, and they can be radio
detonated.
Hunter begins to unlock a locker and draw out long, red sticks like
broomhandles, with tiny printing on them.
Meanwhile, ROBY IS STARING AT THE ROWS OF METAL CANNISTERS. He touches
one of them.
ROBY
You know, it's funny -- this stuff
we went to so much trouble to dig up
-- this treasure, the paydirt --
it'll make it back to Irth just fine
-- even if we're not with it.
STANDARD
Here, carry these.
Hunter takes an armload of the red broomsticks, and stumbles.
ROBY
(grabbing at him)
Hey watch it!
STANDARD
(grinning)
It's stable; it doesn't hurt to drop
it.
They begin to carry the explosives up the steps.
INTERIOR - CORRIDOR
The three men are carrying their equipment along the hallway, when
Hunter's tracker suddenly BEEPS.
HUNTER
Hold it!
They all stop. The tracker BEEPS AGAIN. Hunter puts down his stuff and
points the tracker around.
HUNTER (CONT'D)
(nodding up some steps)
Up there.
They all look at each other. Standard puts down his bundle and picks
up the flamethrower.
ROBY
So what do we do? Do we ignore it
and finish loading the explosives
into the boat -- or do we flush it
out now?
STANDARD
Now. If we can get it into the boat,
we won't have to blow it up -- we
can just eject it into space.
Standard hefts the flamethrower and starts up the steps.
INTERIOR - DIM STAIRWELL
Standard's face is tense as he advances up the circular steps.
Suddenly, a METALLIC TAPPING SOUND is heard. He freezes.
Then he continues up.
EXTERIOR - DORSAL OBSERVATION DOME - VIEW OF OUTER SPACE
The view of interstellar space is spectacular. As Standard comes up
the steps, the METALLIC TAPPING is heard again.
Standard looks around. Then he sees it -- BROUSSARD'S CORPSE FLOATS
OUTSIDE THE GLASS OF THE DOME. It is tangled in some rigging, and the
movement of the machinery causes the cadaver to tap on the glass
periodically.
STANDARD
(shouts)
You can come up! It's safe!
The others come up the steps.
ROBY
(spying the corpse)
Oh -- Jesus --
Broussard's corpse is blue and bloated where the wrappings have torn
loose. Bumping against the glass, he looks like he wants to come in.
STANDARD
The ship's gravitational attraction
must have drawn him back.
HUNTER
(horrified)
Should we go outside and bring him
in?
STANDARD
No... the risk is too great. Perhaps
after we've destroyed the thing.
Glancing back, the men retreat from the observation dome. Broussard
remains against the glass, peering in with dead eyes.
INTERIOR - NOSE OF SHIP
The floor slopes upward slightly here as the corridor funnels in and
ends in the entrance to a narrow passageway or crawl-way. This
passageway connects the nose of the ship with the lifeboat.
The three men come up to the entrance to the passageway, carrying the
equipment. They duck in and walk the short distance to the lifeboat.
INTERIOR - LIFEBOAT
The passageway connects into the rear of the lifeboat. It is an
extremely simple, stripped-down vehicle; even the metal struts and
beams-are exposed. A single hypersleep freezer takes up a fair amount
of floor space. It is an escape-craft, nothing more.
STANDARD
(pointing)
Along the base of the walls there.
They begin to stack the red broomsticks against the base of the walls
on both sides of the lifeboat, and to wire them into position tightly.
HUNTER
This should do it.
ROBY
I should hope so! And we'd better
make sure it's pretty far from the
ship when we blow it.
STANDARD
It will be.
HUNTER
(surveys the craft uneasily)
What we really need is some red meat
in here for bait.
ROBY
Well, if we had some, I'd eat it.
I'm starting to get hungry.
By this time, they are exiting.
INTERIOR - NOSE OF SHIP
STANDARD
Well... now we have to herd that
thing up here.
HUNTER
(nervously)
Whoever's doing the herding is gonna
have their hands pretty full. I
think somebody should stay by the
lifeboat to slam the door on the
thing once it's inside, and to serve
as... as...
(searches for a word)
ROBY
Isn't "bait" the word you used?
HUNTER
Hey look, somebody has to have his
hands free to lock the creature in
the lifeboat!
STANDARD
Yes, and maybe launch the boat and
blow it too... if the others are
injured.
ROBY
Who gets the privilege?
INSERT: THREE CRUMPLED PIECES OF PAPER. Three hands pick them up.
ANGLE ON ROBY. He unfolds his paper, turns it so the others can see
it. It has a big X on it.
ANOTHER ANGLE - SHORTLY LATER. Hunter is showing Roby a small device
like a transistor radio.
HUNTER
Just keep your finger off the button
till she's way away from the ship,
that's all.
ROBY
Is it armed?
HUNTER
If you press the button right now,
it will blow the whole nose of the
ship off.
ROBY
Thanks for the thought.
(puts detonator in his
breast pocket)
STANDARD
All right, Martin, we'll be in touch
with you on the communicator.
ROBY
And you'll let me know when you've
got it coming this way...
STANDARD
And you stand aside while we drive
it in, then shut the hatch, launch
the boat, and --
ROBY
Kablooey.
Hunter's face twitches nervously at this.
STANDARD
Come on; we haven't much time, air
is a factor.
They leave the nose of the ship, Standard carrying the flamethrower,
Hunter the tracker.
Roby settles himself at the controls, runs through them briefly to
familiarize himself. Using a switch, he opens and closes the lifeboat
door a couple of times. It slams open and shut quite rapidly.
He presses a few buttons and sets the launch button to "READY."
Then STANDARD'S VOICE comes from the communicator:
STANDARD
(over, filtered)
We've got something on the
tracker... got to be it, it's
too big for the cat.
This is a VERY SPOOKY SCENE, ROBY ALONE BY THE LIFEBOAT, LISTENING TO
THE VOICES ON THE COMMUNICATOR.
HUNTER
(over, filtered)
It's coming from down there.
Roby hears various tinny sound effects, rustlings, clunkings,
breathing, etc.
INTERIOR - CORRIDOR IN SHIP
Standard has the flamethrower at the ready, and Hunter is staring at
the tracker.
HUNTER
It must have stopped moving. I'm not
getting anything.
STANDARD
Let me go first; you stay behind me.
Carefully, Standard advances down the corridor. Then THE CREATURE POPS
OUT OF HIDING BEHIND HUNTER, AND PICKS HIM UP.
HUNTER SCREAMS.
Standard whirls around, sees the thing clutching Hunter. It holds him
off to one side, as though to keep Standard from getting at him.
Standard doesn't know what to do.
HUNTER
The flamethrower!
STANDARD
I can't, the acid will pour out!
At that moment the creature TAKES A BITE OUT OF HUNTER, WHO SCREAMS IN
MORTAL AGONY.
Standard can take it no longer; he raises the flamethrower and fires
-- BUT THE CREATURE SWINGS HUNTER AROUND AS A SHIELD AND HUNTER
CATCHES THE FULL BLAST OF THE FLAME.
Standard instantly stops firing, but now Hunter is a kicking ball of
flame, held out at arm's length by the monster.
INTERIOR - NOSE OF SHIP
Roby is listening to all this on the communicator. He can hear the
shrieks and crashing noises.
Then the communicator goes dead, and all he hears is a rush of static.
ROBY
Hello? Standard? Hunter?
He waits quite a while for a response, but we can see from his
expression that he expects none.
He drops his face into his hands. When he lifts his head again, he has
managed to summon a certain amount of resolve.
INTERIOR - CORRIDORS IN SHIP
Roby walks along watching the tracker, carrying a pistol in the other
hand. He comes across Standard's flamethrower, lying on the floor. He
picks it up, substituting it for the pistol.
Then he continues to follow the tracker; it takes him down the steps
into the maintenance level.
INTERIOR - MAINTENANCE LEVEL
Roby follows the device for a short distance until it indicates that
the source of the signal is directly under his feet. Looking down, he
sees that he is standing on a square metal plate.
Getting down on his hands and knees, he removes the heavy plate,
revealing a black opening with a ladder going down.
Substituting the tracker for a flashlight, but still carrying the
flamethrower, Roby starts down the ladder.
INTERIOR - DARK STORAGE ROOM
Shining the light around into the darkness, Roby descends the metal
ladder to the floor.
THE PLACE IS A HORRIBLE LAIR, FULL OF BONES, HAIR, SHREDS OF FLESH,
PIECES OF CLOTHING, AND SHOES.
Something moves in the darkness -- Roby turns his light on it.
HANGING FROM THE CEILING IS A HUGE COCOON. It appears to be woven from
some fine, white, silk-like material, and it is slowly undulating.
Flamethrower ready, Roby approaches the cocoon. As he gets close
enough, he sees that the cocoon is semi-transparent and THE BODY OF
STANDARD IS INSIDE IT.
Unexpectedly, Standard's eyes open, and focus on Roby -- who jumps
violently.
STANDARD
(a feeble whisper)
Kill me...
ROBY
(sickened)
What did it do to you?
STANDARD
(moves his head slightly)
Look...
Roby turns his light where Standard indicates. Another cocoon dangles
from the ceiling, but this one looks a little different. It is smaller
and darker, with a harder shell. In fact, it looks almost EXACTLY LIKE
THE SPORES IN THE TOMB.
STANDARD (CONT'D)
(whispering)
That was Melkonis... it ate Hunter...
ROBY
(looking around for a tool)
I'll get you out of there.
STANDARD
No... don't...
ROBY
But I can save you -- get you to the
Autodoc!
STANDARD
No good... it's eaten too much of
me...
ROBY
(in horror)
What can I do?
STANDARD
Kill me...
Roby stares at him in horror, then bends down and takes a closer look
at him. REACTING, he straightens back up, raises the flamethrower, and
sprays a molten blast. When the entire room is in flames, he turns and
scrambles back up the ladder.
INTERIOR - MAINTENANCE LEVEL
Roby drops to his knees and gasps for breath, trying not to throw up.
At length, he regains control of himself.
EXTERIOR - OUTER SPACE - AT LIGHT SPEED
The SNARK appears to hang motionless, with planets and star clusters
rolling past in the infinite distance.
INTERIOR - BRIDGE
Roby is putting the cat into a metal, vacuum-sealed catbox, with a
little oxygen tank on it.
ROBY
Kitty go bye-bye.
He seals the catbox, then turns on the oxygen. There is a faint hiss
of pressurized air. Wild-eyed, the cat peers out of a little window in
front. It YOWLS.
He picks up the pressurized catbox and leaves the bridge.
INTERIOR - MINING & CARGO BAY
Carrying the catbox and a shoulder bag (and of course the
flamethrower), Roby goes quickly to the nearest rank of metal
cannisters.
ROBY
(reading from labels)
What'll it be, Kitty? Here -- how
about some Tacitum-35, ten kilos of
it. This'll buy us an island on some
nice planet.
Putting the invaluable cannister into the shoulder bag, he hurries
back up the steps.
INTERIOR - ENGINE ROOM
Catbox in one hand, flamethrower in the other, Roby enters the engine
room, containing the massive stardrive engines.
He puts down his parcels and approaches the main control board for the
engines. Studying the instructions, he begins to close switches, one
by one.
A SIREN BEGINS TO HONK THROUGHOUT THE SHIP.
COMPUTER
Attention! The cooling units for the
stardrive engines are not
functioning! Engines will overload
in 4 minutes, 50 seconds! Attention!
Finally Roby closes the last switch. Shaking with nervousness, he
hurriedly picks up catbox, bag and flamethrower and hurries out of the
engine room.
INTERIOR - CORRIDORS IN SHIP
Roby hurries on, listening to the siren.
COMPUTER
Attention! Engines will overheat and
main core will melt in 4 minutes, 30
seconds!
INTERIOR - NOSE OF SHIP
Roby comes hustling up to where the lifeboat is berthed. Hands full,
he starts to enter the connecting passageway.
INTERIOR - CONNECTING PASSAGEWAY
THE CREATURE IS WAITING AT THE OTHER END OF THE PASSAGEWAY, INSIDE THE
LIFEBOAT.
It HISSES and starts toward him.
INTERIOR - NOSE OF SHIP
Roby leaps out of the passageway, bounds to the controls, and throws
the switch. The hatch door SLAMS SHUT, locking the thing in the
lifeboat.
COMPUTER
Attention! Engines will overload in
4 minutes!
Indecisive, Roby stares at the lifeboat "LAUNCH" button. The thing can
be heard fumbling around in the passageway.
Finally, he turns and bolts back toward the engine room.
INTERIOR - CORRIDORS IN SHIP
Like a maniac, Roby runs through the ship, level after level, pounding
down stairwells, his footsteps clanging metallically throughout the
ship as he sprints for the engine room.
COMPUTER
Attention! Engines will overload in
3 minutes, 30 seconds!
INTERIOR - ENGINE ROOM
The door crashes open and Roby comes running in. The room is full of
smoke and the engines are whining dangerously. It is extremely hot in
the room; Roby instantly breaks out in sweat.
He runs to controls and begins throwing back on the cooling unit
switches.
Still THE SIREN CONTINUES.
COMPUTER
Attention! Engines will overload in
3 minutes!
Roby pushes a button and speaks into it.
ROBY
Computer! I've turned all the
cooling units back on! What's wrong?
COMPUTER
The reaction has proceeded too far.
The core has begun to melt. Engines
will overload in 2 minutes, 35
seconds.
A look of terror comes onto Roby's face. He turns and runs from the
engine room.
INTERIOR - CORRIDORS IN SHIP
Again, Roby must run through all the levels of the ship, this time
up the stairs, exhausted, stumbling, while the computer counts down:
COMPUTER
Attention! Engines will overload in
2 minutes!
INTERIOR - NOSE OF SHIP
Reeling, gasping for breath, Roby staggers into the vestibule where
the lifeboat is berthed. He grabs the flamethrower and turns it toward
the passageway.
It is then he realizes that THE LIFEBOAT DOOR IS OPEN AGAIN.
Quickly, he glances around to see if the creature might be behind him.
Then he advances on the passageway.
INTERIOR - PASSAGEWAY
Dripping with sweat, his face a mask of fear, Roby enters the
passageway, flamethrower gripped tightly in his hands. He is goaded on
by the siren and the computer:
COMPUTER
Attention! Engines will explode in
90 seconds!
He makes it all the way to the end of the passageway, then sticks his
head into the lifeboat.
INTERIOR - LIFEBOAT
HIS POINT-OF-VIEW as he quickly scans the lifeboat, reveals that it is
EMPTY.
INTERIOR - PASSAGEWAY
Immediately, he turns and dashes back to the head of the passageway.
There he grabs the catbox and bag, then runs back into the lifeboat.
COMPUTER
Attention! Engines will explode in
60 seconds!
INTERIOR - LIFEBOAT
He comes in on the run, hurls the catbox and bag toward the front, and
does a dive over the back of the control chair. He is no sooner in the
seat than he hits the "LAUNCH" button.
EXTERIOR - NOSE OF SHIP - OUTER SPACE
The retainer clips drop away, and with a blast of ramjets, THE
LIFEBOAT IS LAUNCHED AWAY FROM THE "SNARK."
INTERIOR - LIFEBOAT
Roby is frantically strapping himself in, as the lifeboat accelerates
away from the mother ship.
EXTERIOR - SPACE
The tiny pod of the lifeboat accelerates away from the larger bulk of
the SNARK. The scene is strangely serene for such deadly
circumstances.
INTERIOR - LIFEBOAT
Roby finishes strapping himself in, then he reaches and grabs the
catbox. The cat is YOWLING. Roby hugs the box to his chest and hunches
his head down over it.
EXTERIOR - SPACE
The SNARK drifts ever farther away as the lifeboat leaves it behind,
until it is barely a point of light.
THEN IT BLOWS UP.
AN EXPANDING ORANGE FIREBALL WITH PIECES OF METAL FLYING IN ALL
DIRECTIONS.
INTERIOR - LIFEBOAT
The shockwave hits the escape craft, jolting it and rattling
everything inside. Then all is quiet.
Roby unhooks himself from his straps, rises, and goes to the back of
the lifeboat. He stares out through the porthole. His face is bathed
in orange light.
EXTERIOR - SPACE
What he sees is the boiling fireball, now fading and fizzling away
into nothingness, and a couple of pieces of debris floating past.
INTERIOR - LIFEBOAT
Roby's expression is mournful as he watches the final obliteration of
his ship and friends.
BEHIND HIM, THE CREATURE EMERGES FROM SOME HIDING PLACE -- IT HAS BEEN
INSIDE THE LIFEBOAT ALL ALONG.
The cat SCREECHES.
Roby whirls, and finds himself facing the thing across the length of
the boat. It squats, then pulls out its trophy -- a man's arm.
It begins to eat the arm, watching Roby.
His first thought is for the flamethrower -- unfortunately, it lies on
the floor right next to the monster. Next he glances around for any
place to hide. His eye falls on a tiny locker containing a space suit,
with the door standing open.
He begins to edge toward the locker. The creature rises. He freezes.
It throws down the arm. With that, Roby dives for the open locker
door, hurls himself inside, and slams the door shut.
INTERIOR - SPACESUIT LOCKER
There is a clear glass panel in the door, and the thing puts its face
right up to the glass, peering in at Roby. The locker is so small that
Roby's face is only inches away from the creature's. The sight is
disgusting. It turns its head, looking at him in curiosity.
Then the MOANING OF THE CAT distracts it.
INTERIOR - LIFEBOAT
The creature waddles over to where the pressurized catbox sits. It
bends down and peers inside. The CAT YOWLS LOUDER.
It picks up the catbox in its tentacles.
INTERIOR - SPACESUIT LOCKER
Trying to distract the monster away from the cat, Roby TAPS ON THE
GLASS.
But the monster reacts so fast that its face is instantly back at the
glass, startling the hell out of Roby.
Getting no more interference from him, the thing returns to the
catbox.
Roby looks around. He spies the spacesuit. Quickly, he begins to pull
it on.
INTERIOR - LIFEBOAT
The creature picks the catbox up in its tentacles and shakes it to see
if there is anything inside. The cat MOANS.
INTERIOR - SPACESUIT LOCKER
Roby is halfway into the pressure suit.
INTERIOR - LIFEBOAT
The creature throws the catbox down. It clangs, and bounces. The thing
picks it up again and hammers it against the wall. Then it jams it
into a crevice in the wall.
With one tentacle, it begins to pound the sealed catbox into the
crevice. The cat has gone beyond hysterics.
INTERIOR - SPACESUIT LOCKER
Roby pulls on the helmet, latches it into place, then turns on the
oxygen. With a hiss, the suit fills itself.
In a rack on the wall is a long metal rod with a blunt rubber tip.
Roby peels the rubber off, revealing a sharp steel point.
Again he raps on the glass.
INTERIOR - LIFEBOAT
The creature turns. It faces the locker, peers at him.
INTERIOR - SPACESUIT LOCKER
ROBY
Try a little of this, you fucking
bastard.
HE KICKS THE DOOR OPEN.
INTERIOR - LIFEBOAT
The creature rises, but just in time to catch THE STEEL SHAFT RIGHT
THROUGH ITS MIDRIFF.
IT MAKES A HORRIBLE NOISE AND CLUTCHES AT THE SPUR. The yellow acid
begins to flow from the wound.
Before the acid can touch the floor, Roby reaches back and pulls a
switch -- BLOWING THE REAR HATCH.
In a poof, the tiny atmosphere in the lifeboat is sucked out into
space -- and the bleeding creature along with it. Roby grabs a steel
strut to keep from being sucked out, but as the creature passes him IT
WRAPS THE END OF A TENTACLE AROUND HIS ANKLE.
EXTERIOR - LIFEBOAT - OUTER SPACE
Roby is now hanging halfway out of the lifeboat, with the thing
clinging to his leg. He kicks at it with his free foot, but it won't
let go.
INTERIOR - LIFEBOAT
Looking for any salvation, Roby grabs the hatch control lever and
yanks it.
The hatch slams shut, closing Roby safely inside but TRAPPING THE END
OF THE CREATURE'S TENTACLE IN THE DOORJAMB.
It instantly releases Roby, who staggers back.
EXTERIOR - LIFEBOAT - OUTER SPACE
The creature is now outside the lifeboat, in the vacuum, squirming,
the tip of its tentacle caught in the closed hatch.
INTERIOR - LIFEBOAT
Where the tentacle is caught in the hatch, it is wounded, and is
starting to foam with acid, eating away at the metal.
Roby stumbles forward to the controls and pushes a lever labeled:
"RAM JETS"
EXTERIOR - LIFEBOAT - OUTER SPACE
The jet exhausts are located at the rear of the craft, right where the
creature is wriggling. THE ENGINES BELCH FLAME FOR A FEW SECONDS, THEN
SHUT OFF.
INCINERATED, THE CREATURE TUMBLES SLOWLY AWAY INTO SPACE.
INTERIOR - LIFEBOAT
Roby hurries to the rear hatch and looks out after the thing.
EXTERIOR - OUTER SPACE
The burned mass of the monster drifts slowly away into space, a
writhing, smoking, foaming mass.
As it tumbles into the distance, pieces drop off it -- it bloats --
then bursts, soggily, sending a spray of particles off in all
directions. The last we see of it is a few smouldering rags, dwindling
into infinity.
DISSOLVE TO:
INTERIOR - LIFEBOAT - LATER
The boat is re-pressurized and Roby is seated in the control chair. He
seems calm and composed, almost cheerful. The cat purrs in his lap.
ROBY
(dictating)
... So it looks like I'll make it
back to the Colonies on schedule
after all. I should be to the
frontier in another 250 years or so,
and then with a little luck the
network will pick me up. I'm not as
rich as I was a couple days ago --
but I'm not exactly broke either.
Incidentally, I did manage to
salvage one souvenir out of this
whole mess.
He reaches down into the carrying bag he brought on board, and pulls
out the ALIEN SKULL.
ROBY (CONT'D)
Poor Yorick here should go at least
partway toward proving I'm not a
crank. I wish it was him we'd met in
the first place -- things might have
turned out different.
He puts the skull down on a shelf and locks a glass lid over it.
ROBY (CONT'D)
This is Martin Roby, executive
officer, last survivor of the
commercial vessel SNARK, signing off.
Come on, cat, let's go to sleep.
Roby leans forward and switches off the recorder. Then he rises and,
carrying the cat, walks to the hypersleep freezer, which stands open.
He climbs in and stretches out on his back, holding the cat against
his chest. With one hand, he presses a switch, and THE LID CLOSES OVER
HIM.
CLOSE-UP OF THE ALIEN SKULL, watching sentinel over the slumbering
Roby like some dead, melancholy pixie.
EXTERIOR - OUTER SPACE
The lifeboat -- SNARK 2 -- sails away toward its rendezvous with Irth,
250 years from now.
As SNARK 2 drifts past camera, we suddenly see that A SPORE POD IS
ADHERED TO THE UNDERBELLY OF THE CRAFT.
ROLL END TITLES & MUSIC.
THE END
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