Alien vs. Predator Page #5

Thanks.

She turns back to KAMEN.

HIROKO (CONT'D)

Let me sort this out and we'll go over

the logistics in my office.

INT. RYUSHI STATION - COMMAND CENTER

HIROKO peers at the display with undisguised concern. A sense of urgency

buzzes around the room.

HIROKO (CONT'D)

When?

CASSIE:

Seven minutes ago, the third course change

in an hour. Those incomings are going to

skim past the communications platform just

a little too close for comfort.

HIROKO:

Can we move it to a different orbit in

time?

PARSONS looks up from his board in harassment.

PARSONS:

Already working on it.

HIROKO:

Get off an all-bands emergency distress,

and put it on a repeater.

She meets KAMEN's eyes.

HIROKO (CONT'D)

Looks like you were right. Someone's

lobbed a pair of smart-missiles at us.

KAMEN shakes his head.

KAMEN:

Relay station like us out in the middle

of the boonies; why bother? All you're

gonna do is punch a temporary hole in the

traffic control net. That'd be small

potatoes even for terrorists.

PARSONS and CASSIE are all-business at the control board.

PARSONS:

Can you patch me a temporary loop on

DCMGS?

CASSIE:

Okay, give me the numbers.

She flips a switch. A nearby screen changes to display an orbital path

sketched out in rectangular neon blocks.

EXT. SPACE

A cluster of thruster rockets on one corner of the relay frame ignites, and

the darkened bulk of the satellite begins to move.

EXT. DEEP SPACE

The two pods ROAR towards us at immense speed.

INT. RYUSHI STATION - COMMAND CENTER

The two blips on the holo-board representing the pods make a marked

alteration in their course.

PARSONS:

They've changed their heading again.

HIROKO:

Compensate!

PARSONS:

Punch me in a solution for their delta-

vee.

CASSIE:

What do you need?

PARSONS:

A three-second burn to port, on my mark.

CASSIE:

It's on the board.

EXT. SPACE

Framed against the green backdrop of Ryushi, the PREDATOR pods rocket towards

the communications platform.

CASSIE:

Picking up velocity.

HIROKO:

Match it!

A bead of sweat trickles down PARSONS' temple.

PARSONS:

Not gonna make it...

EXT. DEEP SPACE

The pod speeds THUNDEROUSLY into CAMERA, blotting out our view.

INT. RYUSHI STATION - COMMAND CENTER

One of the two blips on the holo-display vanishes, and three-quarters of the

monitors abruptly turn to static. PARSONS curses.

PARSONS:

Goddammit!

He pulls off his headset with weary resignation.

PARSONS (CONT'D)

We've lost the downlink. It's gone.

EXT. SPACE

The mass of the satellite tumbles end-over-end. A gaping rent is torn

through it; something sparks and flashes within. The second pod accelerates

off curving into the atmosphere.

EXT. LINSON'S RANGE - RIVERBANK - DUSK

A SONIC THUNDERCRACK BOOMS overhead; YORK looks up in time to see an object

sear across the dusk sky. He pulls his bike to a stationary hover.

YORK:

Sh*t! What's that?

ACKLAND has already dismounted as he watches the fireball hurtle to the

ground. A BOOMING ECHO resonates across the forest, followed by a few

plaintive SCREECHES from the planet's indigenous lifeforms, before settling

back into an eerie silence.

ACKLAND:

Meteor, I guess.

He raises a set of compact field binoculars to his face. THROUGH THEM he

sees a thin haze of smoke rising from the treetops.

ACKLAND:

D'you feel any impact shock?

YORK:

(uncertain)

Not really.

He lowers the binoculars and frowns.

ACKLAND:

Me either. I tell you, I used to be with

a mining outfit on Callisto, and when

something like that hits... believe me,

you know about it.

YORK:

Do you wanna head back and call it in?

ACKLAND:

(hesitant)

I dunno... I dunno. Something about this

feels funny.

He looks across at the plume of smoke snaking off into the sky.

ACKLAND (CONT'D)

That is the _damndest_ impact I've ever

saw...

EXT. LINSON'S RANGE - IMPACT SIGHT - DUSK

The earth around the crater-rim is charred and cracked; some of the

surrounding brush still aflame. A SCORPION scuttles inquisitively to the

edge of the pit and stops, it's stinger twitching hesitantly. We HEAR a LOW

HUM, and the SOUND of METAL-ON-METAL. Before the SCORPION can decide what to

do, it's fate is sealed. A large METAL CLAW comes down, crushing it in an

instant. A SECOND CLAW emerges, and a MACHINE heaves itself out of the hole,

it's surface smoking with heat. It pauses for a BEAT like some giant

tarantula seeking prey, them moves purposely outwards about twenty yards

before halting. A hatch on the underside opens, and a complex delivery

mechanism extends. After a moment there's a LOW CLUNK, and the mechanism

retracts. In it's place is an ALIEN EGG. The MACHINE crawls off, vanishing

into the long reeds.

EXT. RYUSHI STATION - NIGHT

HIROKO sits on the front wheel of KAMEN's crawler, her knees pulled up to her

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