Starship Troopers Page #19

CARMEN:

Mayday, mayday ! This is

Lieutenant Carmen Ibanez in

lifepod RY63... I'm going in...

164EXTPLANET P - BASE CAMP - DAY - ROUGHNECKS

board the Skimmers. Zander approaches Johnny, upset.

JOHNNY:

What's your problem now,

Lieutenant ?

ZANDER:

The Rodger Young just burned up...

Johnny's face falls.

JOHNNY:

Any survivors ?

Zander points. Far in the distance, a glowing pod plummets toward the planet.

Johnny tracks it on his "head up".

165INTLIFEPOD - ATMOSPHERE - DAY - CARMEN

is shaken violently as the pod hits atmosphere.

166EXTPLANET P - DAY - CARMEN'S POD

hits and goes straight through the crust of Planet P.

167INTBUG CITY TUNNELS - DAY - THE POD

comes to rest. Carmen blows the hatch, pulls Deladier out, grabs a Morita

pulse rifle. Tunnels lead in every direction.

CARMEN:

This is Lieutenant Carmen Ibanez.

Is anyone receiving ?

168EXTBASE CAMP - DAY - JOHNNY

grabs the handset from Ace.

JOHNNY (O.S.)

Affirmative ! Carmen, this is Roughneck

base camp... What is your present

location ?

169INTBUG CITY TUNNELS - DAY - CARMEN

sees a warrior coming at her from out of the shadows. Carmen fires a burst

and kills it. Now there are two. Carmen backs up firing, but there are

too many.

CARMEN:

My present location is 42 degrees

South by 176 degrees East...

situation is extremely hostile...

I...AAAAAAAAA !

They have her. She puts the barrel of the Morita in her mouth, but a claw

cut her trigger finger off at the knuckle.

170EXTPLANET P - ROUGHNECK BASE CAMP - DAY - JOHNNY

and Zander are horrified by what they hear.

CARMEN (O.S.)

AAAAAAAAAAAAAA !

JOHNNY:

We've gotta go get her !

ZANDER:

You know as well as I do she's

probably already dead.

Johnny knows it's true, swallows bitterly, turns away. That's when he sees it.

Nearby, the ground shifts, a claw breaks through, a hole opens up and bugs

boil up out of the ground.

SUGAR WATKINS:

Here they come !

They turn and see a second bug hole open up.

JOHNNY:

We're outa here. Lieutenant, get

your men into the skimmers. This

real estate's about to go buggy.

ZANDER:

Hey, just calm down, I'm giving

the orders here-

The entire area underneath the base camp collapses to form a huge new

canyon. The Hercules boat topples, crushing Skimmers and unfortunate

Fleet personnnel.

171EXTNEW CANYON - DAY - JOHNNY

and the surviving Roughnecks pick themselves up. The are now 30 meters

below the planet's surface. Above them, bugs line the wide rim of the

newly formed canyon.

JOHNNY:

Form a perimeter !

Through the dust, exposed bug tunnels can be seen in the canyon walls and

piling out of them by the score, deadly Arachnid warriors. Johnny throws

Zander a pulse cannon.

JOHNNY:

Make yourself useful, fly boy...

PREPARE TO REPEL BUGS !

The Roughnecks open fire at the charging bug horde. Warriors are blown to

pieces. Gas grenades fly and H.E. rounds close tunnels. A maimed warrior

gets through and heads for Zander.

ZANDER:

AAAAAAAAAAA !

Johnny and Ace team up to blow it away. Zander takes a deep breath,

loos around, impressed. The Roughnecks have killed a great many bugs.

JOHNNY:

Ace, get on the com. Tell Fleet we

need retrieval... Sugar, salvage some

armor and suit up Lieutenant Barcalow.

Sugar Watkins tosses a bloody jump boot his way.

ZANDER:

Thanks.

ACE:

Fleet Command says retrieval's no go.

The battle group's at safe distance...

and we got another problem.

Ace points out a Tanker bug that's been brough up to the rim.

Johnny sees another.

JOHNNY:

Looks like they're gonna hose us down...

Johnny chews on this.

JOHNNY:

Alright... Listen up, Roughnecks.

We're gonna head west down through

bug city, pick up any Rodger Young

survivors we run across, and join A

Company. Get me ?

ROUGHNECKS:

We get you, sir !

Zander, awkward in a power suit, confronts Johnny.

ZANDER:

What do you think you're doing ?

JOHNNY:

I'm gonna save Carmen.

ZANDER:

That would mean a comlete disregard

for the mission objective. They hang

you for that, Rico.

JOHNNY:

Yeah, that's right.

Johnny and Zander stare each other down.

ZANDER:

Let's go.

JOHNNY:

Move out.

Johnny starts for the gaping mouth of an exposed bug tunnel and

the others fall in behind him.

ACE:

Bug hunt !

ROUGHNECKS:

BUG HUNT !

172INTTUNNEL - DAY - JOHNNY

leads his deadly force through enemy territory. The Roughnecks kill

everything that gets in their way. Zander lends his inexperienced hand.

JOHNNY:

Mr. Barcalow, save power, don't

waste it on workers...

Ace, tell Aardvark we're on our

way...

ACE:

Yes, sir !

Warriors appear in the tunnel behind them.

JOHNNY:

Sugar, close the tunnel...!

SUGAR:

Fire in the hole !

Sugar Watkins fires an H.E. round and seals the tunnel.

173INTBUG CITY - FEEDING PIT - DAY - CARMEN

opens her eyes. She can hear BUGS CLICKING. She's in a pit filled

with human dead. A nearby carcass wears a uniform from 4th Brigade

Off in the dark she hears HUMAN MOANING.

She crawls over rotting corpses toward the sound. The moaning turns

to SCREAMING. It's coming from outside the pit. She pulls herself

up to peer over the edge.

174INTBUG CITY - THE ROYAL COURT - DAY - CARMEN

sees hundred of bugs at work, WARRIORS, WORKERS and dozens of

small (2 meters) CHARIOT BUGS. Aworker walks pas, stepping on her,

but pays her no attention.

She sees the source of the screaming:Captain Deladier is hold

between two warriors, and she's screaming because of what she sees,

DELADIER:

NAAAAAAAA...! OH PLEASE...

The BRAIN BUG is huge (5 meters) and pulpy. I has vestigial legs that

cannot support ist weight, and so it must be moved by a shifting carpet of

chariot bugs.

DELADIER:

...OH GOD AAAAAAAAAAAAA...!

A thorn-like PALP unfolds out of the brain bug and strikes, driving deep into

Deladier's head and sucks her brains out.

DELADIER:

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA !

Carmen watches horrified as Deladier dies. The suddenly a warrior grabs her

from above and drags her out of the pit. She screams as its claws slice into

her limbs.

CARMEN:

AAAAAAAAAAAAAA !

Now the brain bug comes for her. She sees the palp unfold, the thorn-like

spike coming toward her. Carmen is no longer looking for escape.

All she wants to do is die.

Suddenly, every bug in the chamber stops as though to listen. Carmen hears it.

A HIGH-PITCHED SQUEAL, getting louder.

Johnny enters the chamber alone.

The warriors move toward him. He holds up a NUKE, source of the high-pitched

tone. The ready light flashes. The Brain Bug emits a series of harsh clicks.

The warriors freeze.

JOHNNY:

You know what this is...?

Johnny makes an explosive sound. The Brain Bug slowly withdraws its palp.

JOHNNY:

Sure you do... You're a big fat smart

bug, aren't you ?

Johnny moves toward Carmen. The Brain Bug's multiple eyes track him.

The warriors holding Carmen threaten. Johnny turns on the brain bug,

his finger on the nuke's trigger.

JOHNNY:

I'll take you with me.

The Brain Bug clicks. The warriors back off. Carmen collapses.

Johnny reaches for her.

JOHNNY:

Take my hand !

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