INT. SECOND LEVEL CORRIDOR: Burke and Newt are moving back and forth with cartons of food on a hand truck and in their arms, stacking it inside the operations center. Behind them, Hicks and Ripley are covering an air duct opening with a metal plate, welding it in place, showering sparks in the semi- dark corridor. Hicks sets down his welder and hits the plate.

HICKS: For what it's worth. Here, I want you to put this on.

He removes what looks like a wristwatch from his arm. It is a standard issue Locating Beeper.

RIPLEY: What's it for?

HICKS: It's a locator. Then I can find you anywhere in the complex on this...

He indicates a tiny Locator hooked to his battle harness.

HICKS: It’s just a precaution.

Ripley pauses for a moment, regarding him quizzically.

RIPLEY: Thanks.

HICKS: Doesn't mean we're engaged or anything.

Ripley smiles and looks at the beeper.

HICKS: Now, what's next?

She consults a printout of the floor plan.

EXT. CONTROL BLOCK: The wind has utterly died and in the eerie stillness, a diffuse mist has rolled in to shroud the complex. Everything looks like it's underwater. There is no movement.

INT. CORRIDOR: In the barricaded corridor, sentry guns 'C' and 'D' sit waiting, swiveling on their tripods, their 'ARMED' lights flashing green.

INT. MED-LAB ANNEX - SURGERY: Ripley carries an exhausted Newt through the inner connecting rooms of the medical wing. She reaches an Operating Room, which is small but very high-tech...vault-like metal walls, strange equipment. A cot has been set up, displacing O.R. equipment, which is pushed into one corner. Newt is resting her head on Ripley's shoulder, barely awake...out of steam.

RIPLEY: Last stop. Get in.

Ripley sets her down on the cot’s edge and Newt scoots under the covers. Ripley sits beside her.

RIPLEY: Scoot down. That's good. Now, you lie here and have a nap. You're very tired.

NEWT: I don't want to...I have scary dreams.

This obviously strikes a chord with Ripley, but she feigns cheerfulness.

RIPLEY: Well, I bet Casey doesn't have bad dreams. Let's take a look.

She lifts the doll's head from Newt's tiny fingers and looks inside. It is, of course, empty.

RIPLEY: Nope. Nothing bad in there. See. Maybe you could just try to be like her.

Newt rolls her eyes as if to say "don't pull that six-year-old shit on me, lady. I'm seven."

NEWT: Ripley,...she doesn't have bad dreams because she's just a piece of plastic.

RIPLEY: Right. (laughs) I'm sorry, Newt.

Ripley turns, reaching for a Portable Space Heater sitting nearby, and slides it closer to the bed. She switches it on. It hums and emits a cozy orange glow.

RIPLEY: There.

NEWT: My mommy always said there were no monsters. No real ones. But, there are.

Ripley's expression becomes sober. She brushes damp hair back from the child's pale forehead.

RIPLEY: Yes, there are, aren't there.

NEWT: Why do they tell little kids that?

Newt's voice reveals her deep sense of betrayal.

RIPLEY: Most of the time, it's true.

NEWT: Did one of those things grow inside her?

RIPLEY: I don't know, Newt. That's the truth.

NEWT: Isn't that how babies come? I mean, people babies... they grow inside you?

RIPLEY: No, it's very different.

NEWT: Did you ever have a baby?

RIPLEY: Yes, I did. I had a little girl.

NEWT: Where is she?

RIPLEY: She's gone.

NEWT: You mean dead.

It's more statement than question.

RIPLEY: Yea. . .

Ripley unsnaps the Tracer Bracelet, given to her by Hicks, and puts it on Newt's tiny wrist, cinching it down.

RIPLEY: Here, take this...for luck.

She switches off the light by the bed and starts to rise. Newt grabs her arm. A plaintive voice in the dark.

NEWT: Don't go! Please.

RIPLEY: Newt. I'll be right in the next room. And, see that camera right up there?

Newt looks at the video security camera above the door. Its swivels on its mount as it scans the room.

RIPLEY: I can see you right through that camera, all the time, to see if you're safe. I'm not going to leave you, Newt. I mean it. That's a promise.

NEWT: You promise?

RIPLEY: I cross my heart.

NEWT: And hope to die?

Ripley flinches slightly at the innocently grim expression.

RIPLEY: And hope to die.

Newt grabs her in a desperate hug and Ripley returns it slowly, a bit overwhelmed at first, then with fierce emotion. The child's need is so vast, Ripley prays she has made a promise she can keep. With a kiss on the cheek, Newt let's go and lays back down.

RIPLEY: Now go to sleep...and don't dream.

Newt points at Ripley's shirt. Ripley looks down and Newt playfully flicks Ripley's nose. She laughs.

RIPLEY: Sneak.

Ripley EXITS and Newt turns on her side, gazing at the bracelet in the orange glow of the heater.