- [last lines]
- Ripley: Final report of the commercial starship Nostromo, third officer reporting. The other members of the crew - Kane, Lambert, Parker, Brett, Ash, and Captain Dallas - are dead. Cargo and ship destroyed. I should reach the frontier in about six weeks. With a little luck, the network will pick me up. This is Ripley, last survivor of the Nostromo, signing off.
- [to Jonesy the cat]
- Ripley: Come on, cat.
- Ripley: Ash, can you hear me?
- [slams her hands down on the table]
- Ripley: Ash?
- Ash: [awakens and starts speaking in an electronic and distorted voice] Yes, I can hear you.
- Ripley: What was your special order?
- Ash: You read it. I thought it was clear.
- Ripley: What was it?
- Ash: Bring back life form. Priority One. All other priorities rescinded.
- Parker: The damn company. What about our lives, you son of a bitch?
- Ash: I repeat, all other priorities are rescinded.
- Ripley: How do we kill it, Ash? There's gotta be a way of killing it. How? How do we do it?
- Ash: You can't.
- Parker: That's bullshit.
- Ash: You still don't understand what you're dealing with, do you? The perfect organism. Its structural perfection is matched only by its hostility.
- Lambert: You admire it.
- Ash: I admire its purity. A survivor... unclouded by conscience, remorse, or delusions of morality.
- Parker: Look, I am... I've heard enough of this, and I'm asking you to pull the plug.
- [Ripley goes to disconnect Ash, who interrupts]
- Ash: Last word.
- Ripley: What?
- Ash: I can't lie to you about your chances, but... you have my sympathies.
- Dallas: Something has attached itself to him. We have to get him to the infirmary right away.
- Ripley: What kind of thing? I need a clear definition.
- Dallas: An organism. Open the hatch.
- Ripley: Wait a minute. If we let it in, the ship could be infected. You know the quarantine procedure. Twenty-four hours for decontamination.
- Dallas: He could die in twenty-four hours. Open the hatch.
- Ripley: Listen to me, if we break quarantine, we could all die.
- Lambert: Look, could you open the god-damned hatch? We have to get him inside.
- Ripley: No. I can't do that and if you were in my position, you'd do the same.
- Dallas: Ripley, this is an order. Open that hatch right now, do you hear me?
- Ripley: Yes.
- Dallas: Ripley. This is an order. Do you hear me?
- Ripley: Yes. I read you. The answer is negative.
- Ripley: [nervously eyeing Alien while she pushes buttons] You are my lucky star. You... Lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky.
- Ripley: Ash. Any suggestions from you or Mother?
- Ash: No, we're still collating.
- Ripley: [laughing in disbelief] You're what? You're still collating? I find that hard to believe.
- Ash: What would you like me to do?
- Ripley: Just what you've been doing, Ash: nothing. I've got access to Mother now, and I'll get my own answers, thank you.
- Ripley: Unless somebody has got a better idea... we'll proceed with Dallas' plan.
- Lambert: [hysterical] What? And end up like the others? Oh, no. You're out of your mind!
- Ripley: You got a better idea?
- Lambert: Yes! I say that we abandon this ship! We get the shuttle and just get the hell out of here! We take our chances and... just hope that somebody will pick us up!
- Ripley: Lambert, the shuttle won't take four.
- Lambert: Well, then why don't we draw straws and...
- Parker: I'm not drawing any straws. I'm for killing that goddamn thing right now.
- Ripley: Okay. Well, let's talk about killing it. We know it's using the air shafts...
- [Parker mumbles underneath]
- Ripley: Will you listen to me, Parker? Shut up!
- Parker: Let's hear it. Let's hear it.
- Ripley: It's using the air shafts.
- Parker: You don't know that.
- Ripley: That's the only way! We'll move in pairs. We'll go step by step and cut off every bulkhead and every vent until we have it cornered, and then we'll blow it the fuck out into space. Is that acceptable to you?
- Parker: If it means killing it then it's acceptable to me.
- Ripley: Obviously it means killing it. But we have to stick together.
- Dallas: Well... some of you may have figured out we're not home yet, we're only half way there. Mother's interrupted the course of our journey. She's programmed to do that should certain conditions arise. They have. It seems that she has... intercepted a transmission of unknown origin. She got us up to check it out.
- Ripley: A transmission? Out here?
- Lambert: What kind of a transmission?
- Dallas: Acoustical beacon. It, uh... repeats at intervals of twelve seconds.
- Kane: S.O.S.?
- Dallas: I don't know.
- Ripley: Human?
- Dallas: Unknown.
- Dallas: Now, this air shaft may work to our advantage. Here. It leads up to and comes out in the main airlock. All right, there's only one big opening along the way, we can cover that up, and then we... drive it into the airlock and zap it into outer space.
- Parker: How? This son of a bitch is huge! I mean, it's like a man; it's... it's big!
- Ash: [softly] Kane's son.
- [Kane wakes up from his comatose state]
- Parker: How ya doin'?
- Kane: Terrific. Next silly question?
- [they laugh, Ash hands him a cup of water]
- Kane: Oh, thank you.
- Dallas: You remember anything about the planet?
- [Kane shakes his head]
- Ripley: What's the last thing you do remember? Huh?
- Kane: I remember some... horrible dream about... smothering? I don't know... Anyway, where are we?
- Dallas: We're right here.
- Ripley: We're on our way home!
- Brett: Yeah, back to the ole freezerinos. Ahaha.
- Ripley: [Ash is observing the facehugger] That's amazing. What is it?
- Ash: Uh, yes, it is. Um. I don't know yet. Did you want something?
- Ripley: Yes, I, uh... have a little talk. How's, uh, how's Kane?
- Ash: He's holding, no changes.
- Ripley: And, uh, our guest?
- Ash: Um.
- Ripley: Hm?
- Ash: Well, as I said, I'm still... collating, actually, but uh, I have confirmed that he's got an outer layer of protein polysaccharides. Has a funny habit of shedding his cells and replacing them with polarized silicon, which gives him a prolonged resistance to adverse environmental conditions. Is that enough?
- Ripley: That's plenty. What does it mean?
- [Ripley bends down to look through the micro-scanner]
- Ash: Please don't do that. Thank you.
- Ripley: I'm sorry.
- Ash: Well, it's an interesting combination of elements making him a... tough little son-of-a-bitch.
- Ripley: And you let him in.
- Ash: I was obeying a direct order. Remember?
- Ripley: Ash. When Dallas and Kane are off the ship, I'm Senior Officer.
- Ash: Oh, yes. I forgot.
- Ripley: You also forgot the Science Division's basic quarantine law.
- Ash: No, that I didn't forget.
- Ripley: Oh, I see. You just broke it, hm?
- Ash: Look, what would you have done with Kane, hm? You know his only chance of survival was to get him in here.
- Ripley: Unfortunately, by, uh, breaking quarantine, you risk everybody's life.
- Ash: Maybe I should have left him outside. Maybe I've jeopardized the rest of us, but it was a risk I was willing to take.
- Ripley: That's a pretty big risk for a Science Officer. It's, uh, not exactly out of the manual, is it?
- Ash: I do take my responsibilities as seriously as you, you know. You do your job and let me do mine, yes?
- [first lines]
- Brett: This is the worst shit I've ever seen, man.
- Parker: What you say? You got any biscuits over there?
- Ripley: Here's some cornbread.
- Parker: Cornbread. Yeah.
- Lambert: I am cold.
- Parker: Still with us, Brett?
- Brett: Right.
- Kane: Oh, I feel dead.
- Parker: Anybody ever tell you you look dead, man?
- Dallas: [observing the Space Jockey] Alien life form. Looks like it's been dead a long time. Fossilized. Looks like it's growing out of the chair.
- [climbs up for a closer look]
- Dallas: Bones are bent outward, like he exploded from inside.
- Lambert: Wonder what happened to the rest of the crew. Let's get the hell out of here.
- Parker: If they find what they're lookin' for out there, that mean we get full shares?
- Ripley: Don't worry, Parker, yeah. You'll get whatever's coming to you.
- Brett: Look, I'm not gonna do any more work until we get this straightened out.
- Ripley: Brett, you're guaranteed by law to get a share.
- Parker: What?
- Ripley: Why don't you just fuck off?
- Parker: What?
- Brett: Uh, what'd you say, Rip?
- Ripley: If you have any trouble, I'll be on the bridge.
- Brett: [realizing Nostromo has changed its course and they have to investigate] Well, so what?
- Kane: Well, we are obligated under section eight...
- Parker: I hate to bring this up but, uh, this a commercial ship, not a rescue ship...
- Brett: Right.
- Parker: ...and it's not in my contract to do this kind of duty. Now what about the money? If you wanna give me some money to do it, I'll be happy to, uh, t-to, you know, oblige.
- Brett: The man's right.
- Dallas: Parker...
- Parker: Let's go over the bonus situation. We haven't... Can we just talk about the bonus situation?
- Ash: I'm sorry, can I say something?
- Parker: Let's talk about the bonus more.
- Ash: There is a clause in the contract which specifically states any systematized transmission indicating a possible intelligent origin must be investigated.
- Parker: I don't wanna hear it...
- Brett: We don't know if it's intelligent.
- Parker: I wanna go home and party.
- Dallas: Parker, will you just listen to the man?
- Ash: On penalty of total forfeiture of shares. No money.
- Dallas: You got that?
- Parker: [chuckling] Well, yeah.
- Dallas: All right, we're going in.
- Parker: [to Brett] Yeah, we're going in, aren't we?
- Mother: [over PA] Danger. The emergency destruct system is now activated. The ship will detonate in T minus ten minutes.
- Ripley: Ash, that transmission... Mother's deciphered part of it. It doesn't look like an S.O.S.
- Ash: What is it, then?
- Ripley: Well, I... it looks like a warning. I'm gonna go out after them.
- Ash: What's the point? I mean by the-the time it takes to get there, you'll... they'll know if it's a warning or not, yes?
- Ripley: This is commercial towing vehicle Nostromo out of the Solomons, registration number 1-8-0-niner-2-4-6-0-niner. Calling Antarctica traffic control. Do you read me? Over.
- Parker: Uh, before we dock, I think we oughta discuss the bonus situation.
- Brett: Right.
- Parker: Brett and I, we think we oughta... we deserve full shares, right baby?
- Brett: Right. You see, Mr. Parker and I feel that the bonus situation has never been on a-an equitable level.
- Dallas: Well, you get what you're contracted for like everybody else.
- Brett: Yes, but everybody else, uh, gets more than us.
- Brett: Here, kitty. Here, kitty, kitty. Enough of that kitty crap. Jones. Jonesy? Here, Jonesy. Meow. Meow. Jonesy? Here, kitty, kitty, kitty. Meow. Here, Jonesy. Jonesy?
- Ripley: Come on, Ash. I mean, the Science Department should be able to help us. What can we do to drive it?
- Ash: Yes, well, it's adapted remarkably well to our atmosphere considering its nutritional requirements. The only thing we don't know about is temperature.
- Ripley: Okay, what about temperature? What happens if we change it?
- Ash: Let's try it. I mean most animals retreat from fire, yes?
- Dallas: Fire, yeah.
- Kane: The first thing I am going to do when I get back is get some decent food.
- Parker: I dig it man. Let me tell you, I've tasted worst food than this. I've tasted better, you know what I am saying.
- Lambert: Well you pound down the stuff like there's no tomorrow.
- Parker: [Smiles at Lambert] I'd rather be eating something else but, uh, right now I'm not thinking of food.
- Kane: Well you should know what it's made of.
- Parker: No man, I don't want to know what it's made of.