Alien vs. Predator Page #14

EXT. RYUSHI STATION - SWAMP LEVEL - DUSK

PREDATOR-VISION. The rhino's, the dog, and the two humans can be seen way

above on the platform's edge, bright red.

Indistinct inside their camouflage cloaks, the small group of PREDATORS wade

carefully through the water towards the base of the installation.

INT. RYUSHI STATION - PUMP ROOM

DARKNESS. DILLER and URIOSTE's VOICES heard O.S. in HUSHED TONES. The

scraping of METAL-ON-METAL.

DILLER:

What is that...is that it?

URIOSTE:

No. I...think that's a regulator valve.

Hold on.

There's more NOISE.

URIOSTE (CONT'D)

Ah, got it...!

About a dozen fluorescent strips ringing the small circular chamber

illuminate. Three others flicker erratically, one of them remaining unlit.

DILLER waves the tracker cautiously around and keeps his pulse-rifle level.

He enters, followed by URIOSTE. She's carrying a portable - but bulky -

piece of machinery.

URIOSTE:

Are you getting anything?

DILLER:

(sarcastic)

Yeah, eyestrain. What's with the lights?

URIOSTE:

They're always like that. Head-Office are

real cheap when it comes to spares. Wave

that thing in the corner...

DILLER sweeps the tracker carefully around. The small screen registers

nothing.

DILLER:

The room's clean.

URIOSTE:

Great.

URIOSTE pulls at a two-piece hexagonal grating set in the center of the

floor. It's heavy and thick with grease, but she doesn't seem to mind.

Below it is what looks like a round metal plug. Recessed into its surface is

a lever next to a central pressure valve, with handholds on either side. She

turns the lever. There's a loud CLUNK, and a plume of steam JETS out of the

valve.

URIOSTE (CONT'D)

Give me a hand with this.

GRUNTING, the two of them pull the thick metal plug clear of the pit. Murky

water sloshes around below. URIOSTE pulls a second lever, and hidden pumps

make the water level drop rapidly.

URIOSTE (CONT'D)

Pass me over that tripod, will you?

Leaning against the wall behind DILLER is a sturdy metal tripod topped with a

block-and-tackle arrangement. A hook dangles below this, it's thick metal

cabling going up through the block-and-tackle and connecting to the drum of a

small industrial winch attached securely to the wall. DILLER hands the

tripod over to URIOSTE. She splays the legs apart and inserts their tips

into matching holes around the open pit.

EXT. RYUSHI STATION - PLATFORM - DUSK

GUTTIEREZ and DE VRIES walk over to the rhino pen, BREWSTER pulling at her

leash. GUTTIEREZ frowns at what he sees. All the rhinos are nervously

huddled together in the far corner.

GUTTIEREZ:

That's real peculiar behavior.

DE VRIES fingers a rough metal edge.

DE VRIES:

Hey, Guttierez?

GUTTIEREZ:

What?

DE VRIES:

Take a look at this.

GUTTIEREZ moves over for a closer look. There's a torn hole in the meshwork,

just big enough for a rhino to squeeze through. Blood and fragments of skin

coat the edge of the gap.

GUTTIEREZ:

One of 'em must have escaped.

DE VRIES:

That's impossible, man. This fence is

high-tensile. The breaking tolerance'd

stand up to the strain of a rhino, easy.

I know, I put it up.

GUTTIEREZ shines the flashlight along the deck. A trail of smeared blood

runs all the way to the perimeter. The surrounding fence has been buckled

and twisted. They cross to it and look down at the swamp. The torch beam

sparkles on the murky water far below.

GUTTIEREZ:

There's no way a rhino'd survive that

drop.

DE VRIES:

Goldsmith's gonna be plenty pissed at

losing one of her babies.

GUTTIEREZ:

That's a fact.

GUTTIEREZ' tracker starts to BLEEP. He raises it excitedly.

GUTTIEREZ (CONT'D)

Whoa, wait a minute...

DE VRIES:

What?

GUTTIEREZ:

Just got a reading...

INT. RYUSHI STATION - COMMAND CENTER

Most of the lights in Admin are off, and the room's deserted. PARSONS is

seated away from his usual station at a console topped by ten monitor

screens, each displaying a securi-cam picture. He looks tired. KAMEN comes

up behind him carrying two mugs of coffee.

KAMEN:

How's it going?

PARSONS:

Yeah, 'Good Evening' to you, too.

He takes the coffee gratefully and sips at it.

PARSONS (CONT'D)

Today's party's finished their sweep, the

relief team's out there now. Everybody

else is either asleep or running shift in

the auto-shop.

KAMEN:

You should hit the sack, too.

PARSONS:

Nah, I'll stick it out for another hour

or so.

KAMEN:

What time's sundown?

PARSONS:

'Bout five minutes.

KAMEN:

Give me a yell is something happens.

PARSONS:

You got it, cowboy.

EXT. RYUSHI STATION - PLATFORM - DUSK

GUTTIEREZ sweeps the tracker slowly around, and BREWSTER begins to gently

SNARL. DE VRIES pulls on the dog's leash to quieten her.

GUTTIEREZ:

It's up there somewhere...

He shoulders his rifle.

GUTTIEREZ (CONT'D)

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