ALIEN: HARD-HEADS

Disclaimer: The ALIEN Franchise and all related characters wherein are the intellectual property of 20th Century Fox.


BONUS CHAPTER: ALTERNATE AND UNUSED MATERIAL


CHAPTER 01 ALTERNATE AND UNUSED SCENES

CHAPTER 01-A

INSIDE THE MAINTENANCE GARAGE

Dressed in a grey cargo-pant variation of the standard Brandy-Iron uniform, along with a dark brown flight jacket and a cowboy hat resting on her neck, Alexandra "Alex" Burns let out a sigh as she leaned back in the pilot seat of the main cargo transport's cockpit. Reaching into one of her breast pockets, she pulled out an old picture of herself, a man with black hair, and a young girl. The picture had been taken four years earlier, back when her life had been relatively happier.

Looking at the young girl, a small smile graced Alex's lips, before it became a frown as she looked at the man standing on the other side of the girl. "Cheatin' bastard," Burns growled in contempt for the black-haired man in the picture. She opened up a compartment in the floor and took out a small cooler, opening it to retrieve a bottle of whiskey before twisting off the cap and downing a shot. "What the hell?" she asked rhetorically as she held the bottle up to her lips.

She took a sip of the liquid inside, only to let out an exasperated growl. Her whiskey had been found and replaced with water by someone. She angrily dropped the bottle back into the cooler, letting out a huff of annoyance. "Dammit," she muttered in frustration before getting up from her seat, not caring if anyone found the cooler at this point.

"Son of a bitch," she spat as she walked out of the cockpit.

THE GALLEY

Ten miners sat around at various tables, having just come back from their shift. The second group of miners had just gone out on the next shift, and so the ten men and women inside the galley were now enjoying their after-work meal. Lining the walls of the galley were several automated food dispensers. Larger facilities with bigger crews and budgets often had an actual cooking staff, while Station #04 was a more modest facility with a crew of just 30 miners and 15 directorial staff, including 4 security officers, the operations director, 2 pilots for transports, a company meteorologist, a company geologist, two physicians, a communications operator, and 3 mechanical engineers or designated maintenance workers.

Much of the bulk work was done by several large drilling machines, piloted and maintained by the miners and the maintenance workers. Larger facilities with larger budgets also had automated machines for mining as well, but they also had more miners to work in areas that the machines were too large and bulky to safely operate inside of until after the miners had cleared them out. The Brandy-Iron company prided itself on rewarding skilled manual labor and remote machine operation equally, touting that its people recognized the values of both worlds.

Unfortunately, while Brandy-Iron had been a giant in the manufacturing of machinery and mining, its biggest competitor, Weyland-Yutani, was quickly gaining ground in that area as well. Unlike Brandy-Iron, Weyland-Yutani was a behemoth, tackling almost all venues from which profit could be drawn, meaning that specialized companies such as Brandy-Iron, Seegson, and others were finding themselves looking at a bleak future. While some companies, such as Seegson, chose to directly compete with Weyland-Yutani, Brandy-Iron had chosen the route of selective contractual negotiation with Weyland-Yutani in order to work in similar places while still producing its own product.

As Brandy-Iron had already begun making progress in the Caspron System prior to any arrival or influence from other companies, they were in prime condition to negotiate on their own terms with Weyland-Yutani. All of the equipment and people working on the Taros facilities were from Brandy-Iron, with Weyland-Yutani's only contributions being the paychecks for the materials mined and delivered by Brandy-Iron on the moon and other celestial bodies in the system, and the occasional corporate liaison. The situation was an extremely uncommon inversion of what was seen elsewhere in colonized space, as Weyland-Yutani usually held the upper hand.

As such, all of the miners on the moon of Taros felt relatively safe and comfortable with their jobs, at least as safe as one could feel given the nature of their job. And, unlike Weyland-Yutani, Brandy-Iron had a record of always fixing problems found by safety inspectors, even if that meant spending money on something. 'Workers who know that their employer cares about them won't try to leave for another company,' was the motto often found being espoused by various corporate suits within the company. It was well-known among other companies that Weyland-Yutani often would bribe safety inspectors instead of fixing problems with some of their ships and equipment, especially commercial vessels used for dirty jobs, such as commercial towing ships.

One notable incident, albeit one without any verifiable evidence, occurred in 2122, when a commercial towing ship and an ore refinery disappeared. When inspection materials were found and investigated back on the colony of Thedus, reports made by members of the ship's crew and various inspectors revealed a number of alarming discrepancies in official safety reports, leading most people to believe that the ship was destroyed by a malfunction with the engines, which in turn could have affected the refinery it was towing. While there was no official evidence to support this claim, many people in rival companies used this as an example to shame their competition and make their own employees less willing to leave them for Weyland-Yutani, citing the shrewd and obvious profit-over-people mentality as something to avoid.

But enough about philosophy.

Currently, the first shift miners were enjoying their food while the second shift went out to resume their work. And, stalking past the doors of the galley after several minutes was a disgruntled multi-license vehicle pilot. That she did not reek of booze at all was alarming for some of the workers who sat near the doorways and saw her.

"Was that Burns?" one miner asked the woman sitting next to him. "Looked like her," she said before stuffing the processed work-safe meal into her mouth. The other miner shrugged his shoulders before eating his food.

THE RECREATION ROOM

Standing on one side of a pool table, Head Mechanical Engineer Edgar Rains prepared his cue as he lined up his next shot. "Come on. Just hit the ball already," his assistant, Milo Thurgood, said impatiently. Rains scoffed at Milo's attitude. "Patience, Milo. Patience," Rains said as he carefully prepared to tap the ball with his cue.

Edgar Rains was a man of rather modest musculature and build, standing at 5 feet and 4 inches, with a shaved head, brown eyes, and an earring in his left ear. Milo Thurgood was a very lanky man with curly brown hair, stood at 5 feet and 10 inches, and an entire portion of his upper jaw replaced with dentures. Both men had worked together in the Brandy-Iron company for seven years. Rains was in his forties, while Milo was in his mid-thirties.

Sitting around a circular table near a corner of the room, four people sat around with cards. Vernon Shore, the secondary transport pilot; Samantha Goodwin, the Chief of Security for the station; Jenny Howard, a meteorologist hired by the company; and Carl Brooks, a company geologist. All four of these people were enjoying a card game while they bided their time for something interesting to happen, as the station had not seen anything exciting happen for months.

THE MEDICAL LAB

Chief Medical Officer and Physician Elliot Yulan sat at a computer terminal and looked over the latest test results for the miners as he prepared to add the data to the medical charts in the station's employee medical database. Sleeping on a cot behind him was an injured miner, Jeff Green, who had broken his several hours earlier after slipping on a wet floor.

THE MINERS QUARTERS

Nine miners were sleeping in their bunks, with their alarm clocks getting ready to go off in less than two hours' time so that they could prepare for the third shift.

THE SHOWER ROOM

Anna Torres, the main electronics engineer and computer maintenance worker, was cleaning herself off after fixing the electrical wiring inside a dirty maintenance duct.

BACK IN THE OPERATIONS CENTER

Fred Marcus turned his head when he heard the door slide open. Turning around in his chair, he looked back to see Alexandra Burns approaching him, fuming with a scowl on her face. "Burns? Is something wrong?" Marcus asked her. "Were you in the main transport at all today?" she asked him aggressively.

"Watch your tone, Burns. And no, I wasn't. Elliot was," Marcus replied sternly. "Did you know what he was doing in there?" she asked him. "Yes. He was taking preventative measures again. You've started to regress again in the past month," Marcus said in reply.

"I don't have a problem," Burns snapped. "I said watch your tone," Marcus said, narrowing his eyes at her. "Dammit, Fred! I-" "I said, watch your tone. I am your boss, and you will respect me. Is that clear?" Marcus interjected sternly as he stood up and walked in front of her, glaring at her face. Burns looked away ashamedly.

"Look at me and give me an answer, Burns. Do you understand?" Marcus asked her. "Yes... sir," Burns replied reluctantly, looking him in the eyes. "Good. Now, go see Elliot and talk to him about this. He does have training in counseling," Marcus said. Burns sighed in defeat. "Yes, Fred. Where's he at right now?" she asked him.

"He's down in the medical lab with one of the miners. Someone slipped on a wet floor a while ago," Marcus explained. "Right," Burns said, nodding her head before slowly turning around. "Oh, and Burns?" Marcus asked, causing her to pause and look back at him. "You come in here and talk to me like that again... you'll find yourself shipped back to HQ for counseling or license suspension. Am I clear?" Marcus asked her in a firm tone.

"Yes, Fred. Crystal," Burns replied quietly before exiting the room. Martin continued snoring, having remained asleep the entire time. Marcus let out an exasperated sigh. As much as he despised boredom, he'd rather have peace than unruly employees developing drinking problems to pass the time.

CHAPTER 01-B

"Um... I... haven't started that yet," Burns said sheepishly. "Then hop to it," Marcus said sternly, glaring at her. "Yes sir," Burns said before getting up from her seat and walking away, before stopping just at the precipice of the doorway. "Wait, can't Vernon handle the second shuttle?" Burns asked Marcus. "I asked you to do it," Marcus said in response.

Burns sighed in frustration. "Yes, Fred. I'll get right on it," she said in a tired and mildly annoyed tone before exiting the room. Martin looked away from the door and back over to Marcus with a raised eyebrow. "What's her problem?" Martin asked Marcus.

Marcus shrugged his shoulders. "Ah, she's always had an attitude problem," Marcus replied. "Yeah, but... she's really gotta stop skirting the line between flippancy and insubordination like that. She's gonna burn herself one day if she's like that around corporate suits," Martin said in response. "She already did burn herself around a corporate suit once," Marcus said with a smirk.

"And she still acts like this?" Martin asked him. "She used to be a lot worse," Marcus said. "You're kidding," Martin said skeptically. "Nope. Trust me, though, she learned her lesson," Marcus said. Martin raised an eyebrow. "If you say so," the communications operator said in a skeptical fashion.


CHAPTER 03 ALTERNATE AND UNUSED SCENES

CHAPTER 03-A

"Elliot, please make copies of this for us," Marcus said. Elliot grabbed the paper and made his way back over to the printer before scanning the document and saving an electronic version of it on the computer. He then began the copying process. "God damn it," Garfield muttered under his breath as he watched Elliot perform his task, his sole consolation being that the Engineer ship would soon be in the hands of Weyland-Yutani.

ONE HOUR LATER...

Marcus had called all of the station's personnel to the operations center. Thirty miners and fourteen administrative staff looked at him expectantly, while two Weyland-Yutani employees stared at him, one with contempt, and the other in mild curiosity. "Alright, people. I've called all of you in here because I have an important announcement to make," Marcus said with a grin.

"We're getting bonuses?" one miner, Akiho Yoshida, asked him. Marcus frowned. "WHO TOLD YOU!?" Marcus snapped at her. Yoshida backed off and raised her arms in a defensive manner. "It was... just a guess," she said nervously.

"Oh. Well... yes, but I was hoping to keep that a surprise," Marcus said in a disappointed tone.

CHAPTER 03-B

Seeing that Bowman was still busy choosing his food at the dispenser, Garfield lowered his voice as he whispered to Eastman. "If you can get me into that blocked area, or someplace else, I can try to increase your bonus," Garfield said, causing Eastman to stop chewing his food and raise an eyebrow cautiously. He swallowed his food and paused before taking another bite as Garfield continued.

"If I can get a physical sample from that ship to take back, I can secure you a very high-paying contracted position at one of our more prestigious operations. You're a geologist, and you've had field experience as a miner. I can place you on high-paying survey jobs where your experience means that you won't be overshadowed by some pencil pusher who's never set foot inside a cave, with benefits that no one can match," Garfield continued. Eastman glanced around the room, seeing that Bowman was almost finished with his order.

"Give me some time to think about your offer. Will the kid be coming with us into the mine with us?" Eastman asked him quietly. "I doubt it. He'll probably try to make an excuse to avoid joining us. Take his word and let him go when he does. I'll say something condescending to keep him from getting suspicious," Garfield replied.

"He... isn't on the same level as you, is he?" Eastman asked Garfield. Garfield smiled in response. "Not even close. He doesn't even know about the company's history of finding these things. He hasn't been in the company long enough," Garfield explained. Eastman saw Bowman making his way back to their table and resumed eating his pizza.

Garfield craned his neck as he heard Bowman approaching him from behind. He looked at the contents of the man's tray, which basically included a bowl of mac & cheese, and an apple.


CHAPTER 04 ALTERNATE AND UNUSED SCENES

CHAPTER 04-A

The pilot quickly made her way over to the com system, brushing past Garfield and Fairbank. "Hey, Fred," Burns said through her suit into the phone. "Burns? Burns, please put Mister Garfield on the line," Marcus requested with restrained anger in his voice.

"Sure thing, Fred. Hey, Garfield, get your ass over here," Burns called out. Garfield quickly marched over to the com system. "Hello, Mister Marcus," Garfield said over the com.

"Hello, Mister Garfield. What happened out there?" Marcus asked him pointedly. "We were inspecting the ship," Garfield replied. Marcus remained silent, expecting Garfield to continue. Eventually, Garfield got the hint. "We came across a hole in the floor that was large enough to fit through, and Eastman went down to explore it," Garfield continued.

"What did he find?" Marcus asked him.

"Well... he told us that he had entered some kind of chamber. He said that there were several trenches in it with egg-like objects covered by some kind of blue mist or something," Garfield explained. "He lost his flashlight in one of the trenches and attempted to retrieve it, and then... I don't know what happened. We heard him panicking after a few minutes, and when he tried to climb back up, his tow line must have gotten caught on something and he fell back down, which is when... this thing attacked him," Garfield explained.


CHAPTER 05 ALTERNATE AND UNUSED SCENES

CHAPTER 05-A

THE GUEST QUARTERS

Carefully checking to make sure that no one else was around, Marvin Garfield removed his laptop from his suitcase and retrieved the external battery and power adapter. Checking for an appropriate power plug in the wall, Garfield assembled the power supply and external battery before hooking them up to the laptop and powering it on. He set the laptop on a turned-over red plastic milk crate.

Booting up the small computer, Garfield searched for a networking port to connect his laptop to the station's system with. Finding one that had a rubber plug in it, he removed the cap and connected his own network cable between the laptop and the wall-port. Taking a zip-lock bag out of his suitcase, Garfield unzipped it and retrieved a folded piece of paper.

Reading the network codes on the paper, he waited until his machine had reached the login screen before accessing the OS. It was a proprietary corporate operating system on the laptop, albeit one of the fancier personal ones that were used in offices on colonized planets, unlike the more basic and ergonomic operating systems seen throughout industrial workplaces found in ships and on space stations.

Reading the network codes on the paper, Garfield soon accessed the network link for the Malvo orbital supply station.

CHAPTER 05-B

THE GUEST QUARTERS

Carefully checking to make sure that no one else was around, Marvin Garfield removed his laptop from his suitcase and retrieved the external battery and power adapter. Checking for an appropriate power plug in the wall, Garfield assembled the power supply and external battery before hooking them up to the laptop and powering it on. He set the laptop on a turned-over red plastic milk crate.

Booting up the small computer, Garfield soon logged in and opened a window before accessing the window properties menu. He unchecked the box that hid specified folders and files, and then quickly accessed a formerly-hidden folder. He double-clicked on the folder named WYARCHIVEXXX121 and opened it.

Inside the folder were several files regarding all currently known information collected on the organism known as Xenomorph-XX121. Opening the file called LifeCycle, Garfield read through the detailed statements on the first stages of the life cycle in order to confirm what he already knew about the facehugger and the eggs. His real interest, however, was regarding how to handle the next phase of the organism's life cycle.

CHAPTER 05-C

THE RECREATION ROOM

Marvin Garfield looked down at the holographic chess board in front of him. He was currently playing against the computer itself, and it was winning. He moved one of his remaining pawns forward, only to have a knight take it. He frowned as he moved his king one space, only for the computer's bishop to move forward next and trap him.

"YOU ARE IN CHECK," the machine said. Garfield frowned and looked down at the board, scanning for possible escape routes. He knew, right then, that he was fucked.

"Fuck you, you piece of shit," Garfield spat as he turned off the machine and walked away.

CHAPTER 05-D

THE MAINTENANCE GARAGE...

Burns looked down at the panel in front of her as Anna Torres checked the cables inside. "Mm, yeah. Everything here looks good," Torres said before closing the access panel and moving on to the next one. Bruns handed her a cable checker as she began unplugging certain wires and inserting them into the device. Burns watched as Torres began running another cycle of tests on the next batch of cables, one wire at a time.

Checking her watch, which had been adjusted for the moon's orbital rotation and size relative to the nearby colony planet, Burns saw that two hours had passed since they had begun the physical manual inspection phase. "So... how many of these wire-checking devices do you have? You know, in case one breaks or gets lost?" Burns asked Torres. Torres glanced up at Burns, who was standing over her.

"Mm... I think I have about-I guess-uh... nine more?" Torres said, somewhat uncertain. Burns blinked at her in surprise. "Nine... more?" Burns asked her curiously, surprised.

"I think so, although one of them did stop working a while back. So, I have eight more functioning cable testers," Torres said before she returned her attention to the device in her hands. Burns nodded her head in thoughtful consideration.

"That's a lot of spares," Burns said. Torres nodded her head in agreement as she kept her eyes on the small device in her hands. She soon unplugged the first few wires and then re-inserted them back where she had unplugged them before inserting a new selection of wires into the device.

"So... um, are all of you wire or cable testers made by the same company? Do ones from different companies have different functions, or do they all pretty much work the same?" Burns asked the computer technician. Torres glanced up at Burns with an expression of minor annoyance on her face.

"Well?" Burns asked her curiously. Torres raised an eyebrow at the pilot before glancing back down at the device in her hands. The device was almost finished testing the wires. Torres let out a sigh of annoyance as she glanced back up at Burns.

"Look, Burns, I'd be glad to talk about this at a later time, but I really need to focus. If I miss a single bad wire during this test, it could have disastrous consequences for the shuttle. It could easily affect the rest of the systems and components that we need to test later on," Torres responded with a warning tone in her voice.

"Look, I'm just curious is all," Burns said in response. Torres gave Burns a disbelieving look in response before she removed the wires from the device and re-insterted them where she had originally pulled them. Before moving on to the next batch inside the panel, an idea occurred to Torres.

"Burns, why don't I teach you how to use this?" Torres suggested.


CHAPTER 06 ALTERNATE AND UNUSED SCENES

CHAPTER 06-A

Looking down at the tray, Marcus frowned. "I think we should throw it out of an airlock," Goodwin said with a frown. Marcus raised an eyebrow as he glanced up at her. "Not so fast, Antsy Nancy," Marcus quipped.

"We could use this," Marcus added. Goodwin looked at him incredulously. "Use it? For what?" she asked him skeptically.

"I'll bet you anything that Weyland-Yutani would pay us extra to get their hands on this thing," Marcus said.

"Oh, come on!" Goodwin retorted. "That's a load of crap, Fred. Besides, Fairbank and Garfield said that they both saw trenches full of eggs down in that ship. Once Weyland-Yutani gets their hands on the ship, they'll have access to all of those things in there. You'll have nothing to negotiate with," she finished.

"Not if we destroy the rest of them," Marcus said.

Goodwin blinked in confusion. "I-I'm sorry. Say that again," she requested, dumbfounded.

"We can destroy them. I mean, we may need to do that anyway, given what we've seen one of them do so far," Marcus said. Goodwin stared at him blankly for a minute.

CHAPTER 06-B

Turning his head to look at the three miners and one geologist, Marcus took note of how Fairbank was holding his head in his hands and muttering to himself. "Hey, Lewis? You doing okay there?" Marcus asked the miner as he approached him. Fairbank was sitting on an exam table while the others were sitting in chairs, with Elliot digging through a drawer for something.

"That's how it works," Fairbank said. "Huh?" Marcus asked him as he stepped closer. "They turned them into eggs. Then they hatch and turn others into monsters. They turned them into monsters. They turned them into monsters," Fairbank repeated.

Marcus raised an eyebrow in confusion. He glanced back over at the others. "What the hell's he talkin' about?" Marcus asked them.

"We found the... remains of the ship's crew," Green said as he clasped his hands together. Marcus widened his eyes in surprise. "Well... I wasn't expecting that," he muttered to himself.

"We found one of them... half-way transformed into an egg... we think. It could have just as easily been a poorly preserved cocoon as well," Brooks stated. "No, that was an egg," Hoffman said firmly.

"Wait a minute. Just... hold on a minute. Eggs? Like the ones that the facehugger came from?" Marcus asked them. "Uh, yeah," Hoffman replied.

"Did you guys record any of this?" Marcus asked them. "We didn't use the suits with cameras," Brooks said regretfully. "I get you guys not using those suits, but-no, never mind. So, um, you were saying about the eggs?" Marcus responded curiously.

"We found a room that had four dead humanoids in it. One was... either cocooned or being converted into an egg, possibly, while attached to the wall," Brooks relayed, still disturbed by what he had seen, albeit not to the same degree as Fairbank.

"And you guys all saw this as well?" Marcus asked Green and Hoffman. "Yeah, we saw it. Why do you think Fairbank is having a breakdown?" Hoffman replied as he jerked his thumb in the direction of the third miner, who was now being given a mild sedative by Elliot.

"Elliot, that'd better not knock him out," Marcus warned. "I need him functional, not asleep," he added. "I know, Marcus. I know. Trust me, I know what I'm doing," Elliot said with a nod of his head as he inserted the needle into Fairbank's outstretched arm.

Marcus then turned his attention back to the three men in the chairs. "Okay, did you bring the scanning probes back or did you leave them in the ship?" he asked them. "We left them in the ship," Brooks replied.

"Now, did you turn them off?" Marcus asked them.

"Yes. To save on power," Brooks replied.

CHAPTER 06-C

"Well... maybe this will help calm you down. The facehugger removed itself from Eastman and died some time ago," Marcus said. This got the men's attention.

"Is he awake?" Hoffman asked. "No. He's still in a coma," Marcus replied, with Elliot walking up behind him. "Marcus? I need to talk to you for a minute," Elliot said, gesturing for Marcus to follow him over to the physician's desk.

"Look, I know that you might want some kind of good news to cheer everyone up, but I still need to run tests on Eastman and the alien. I still don't know why it removed itself, and I have to check Eastman's blood to see what happened to the sedative and find out why he's still breathing," Elliot said to him. "Please, try to keep your voice down about his... 'recovery' if you will. At least until he wakes up or after I've run the tests," Elliot asked of him.

"Alright. I'll make sure that these guys keep quiet too," Marcus said before walking back over to the others.


CHAPTER 07 ALTERNATE AND UNUSED SCENES

CHAPTER 07-A

This time, Elliot spoke up. "It was... some kind of... embryo that had been planted inside of him by the facehugger," the droid said carefully. Everyone looked at him curiously.

"Gee, maybe we should have frozen Eastman like I'd suggested earlier, huh?" Garfield remarked bitterly. "I mean, at least then we could have found a way to inspect him before it... hatched or erupted. Maybe we could've saved him," Garfield added.

CHAPTER 07-B

"Yeah. Yeah, if we find it soon enough, we can shoot it with rubber bullets and kill it without the risk of spilling its blood," Burns said, leaning back against a recently-cleaned spot on the wall. "Bring a shotgun for me," she requested.

"Do you have a license to use a firearm?" Goodwin asked her. "Yes," Burns replied. "I have firearms training. I used to be a military pilot," she explained. "Colonial Marines?" Bowman asked her. "Pfft, hell no. Colonial Army," Burns replied. "Show me the license and proof of training, and I'll get you one,"


CHAPTER 08 ALTERNATE AND UNUSED SCENES

CHAPTER 08-A

TAROS STATION, LEVEL 03...

Inside a small corner of a somewhat spacious labyrinth of a room, Yellow Bill, a seven foot tall biomechanical nightmare, slowly stood up from its resting position and walked through the various narrow walkways between the cubicles that were used by the residents of the station.

Yellow Bill lifted its head up towards the ceiling before lowering it and stalking forward. It aimed its shiny domed head at the cubicle door it had stopped in front of, tilting it to the side before reaching and arm forward and running a six-fingered hand down the wall. It soon reached the door controls and "glanced" down at them.

Tentatively, Yellow Bill pressed a button on the panel and waited for the door to slide open. Letting out a breath and sniffing the air in curiosity through its mouth, Yellow Bill stepped into the cubicle quietly bobbing its head up and down and left and right as it explored the contents of the room. Yellow Bill, as with all Xenomorphs from its particular strain, was a more advanced version of the basic monstrosity that had been developed by the beings known as Engineers.

With yellow stripes running down its back, the largest stripes above, between, and below its four dorsal tubes and dorsal spine, Yellow Bill was easily identifiable out in the open, but dangerously camouflaged when inside a dark and industrial environment, an environment that the Engineers realized humanity would eventually begin producing over the course of its civilization.

Stepping towards the nearest bed, Yellow Bill knelt down and reached for the covers before pulling them off the bed, leaning down to check under the bunk for signs of life. After confirming that there were no prey hiding under the bed, Yellow Bill stood back up and turned around, leaving the room. Yellow Bill, having learned from a previous journey into another room, waited until its tail was safely in the corridor before pressing the button to close the door again.

The creature soon began the same investigation again, one dorm cubicle at a time, before stopping in the corridor after the third room. It lifted its head up and and began walking over to the dorm's exit, walking over to an open hatch for a maintenance shaft. It paused before climbing inside, and soon began making its way through the lowest level of the station, hunting for more prey.


CHAPTER 09 ALTERNATE AND UNUSED SCENES

CHAPTER 09-A

SOMEWHERE ON LEVEL 03...

Fred Marcus opened his eyes and looked around the room he was in. There was a strange resin-like substance covering him, and he was attached to the wall. He tried to shift himself around in the resin cocoon, until he heard a strange noise nearby. Looking up, Marcus saw Goodwin on the wall opposite of him, also encased in a secreted resin-like substance. Unlike himself, however, Goodwin had a hole in her head, and her cocoon was more pronounced in shape, appearing... just like one of the giants found inside the ship.

Marcus looked around the rest of the room, seeing that the resin was covering a great deal of the walls, creating an organic look to the place. Looking nearby, Marcus then saw another cocoon, this one also similar to Goodwin's, only much further along in its development. "Hoffman," Marcus whispered in dismay as he saw the egg-like resin covering up most of the man's torso. There was a hole in Hoffman's head as well.

Fairbank was right, Marcus thought to himself. These things turned that ship's crew into eggs, and that giant on the wall... oh, please no! Marcus soon began to panic as he realized the fate that the alien had in store for him. He also soon realized that the alien had left the net around him, making it almost impossible for him to move around and escape. Marcus gulped as he realized that he was trapped with no way out.

CHAPTER 09-B

"He's got a point," Garfield said. "Alright. Elliot will be the bait if we go with the airlock trap. While I will be the bait if we go with the maintenance garage," Burns said as a compromise. "Is that acceptable to you?" she asked the droid.

"Fair enough," Elliot said reluctantly. Burns nodded her head at him. "Good," Burns said.

"Wait," Bowman started, "I thought Elliot was the second-in-command. Shouldn't he be the one giving the orders?" Elliot raised an eyebrow before smirking at Burns. "Oh, god dammit, Bowman! You just had to open your mouth," Burns spat at him.

"S-Sorry," Bowman stuttered apologetically.

CHAPTER 09-C

Burns scrunched her face in confusion. "What are you waiting for?" she asked it quietly. "Come on. I'm right here," she said as she fiddled with the safety of the weapon. She quickly squeezed the trigger to produce a click, and promptly feigned surprise and fear as she backed away further.

This seemed to do the trick as Yellow Bill stepped forward again, curling its lips and baring its teeth at Burns. Burns steadied her breath as the alien moved towards her, carefully switching the safety off again and waiting for it to fully enter the room. The alien soon stopped moving again, moving its head around curiously as it let out a hiss and a huff, before aiming its head at Burns again. It closed its lips and backed away from her.

"You dirty son of a bitch," Burns growled at Yellow Bill as she slowly sat up and began to stand her ground. She then glanced over at Brown and Kendricks. "Do it! Don't let it leave the room!" she shouted. Kendricks stood up and aimed his shotgun at the beast.

Yellow Bill quickly spun around and dashed out of the room before Kendricks could fire. "No!" Burns exclaimed in anger and frustration. "Get back here!" she shouted.

CHAPTER 09-D

Burns quickly tapped her headset. "Hansen, this is Burns. Please respond, over," Burns said into the headset. "This is Hansen. I saw the security feed. Listen, you guys need to get out of there. I've already called Elliot's team back," Hansen said over the headset.

"No, Hansen. If you can track this thing on the cameras, then we can find and rescue Kendricks and the others," Burns retorted. "Burns, I've lost the feed from three security cameras," Hansen said. Burns paused and shook her head.

"What?" Burns asked Hansen. "I don't know if it's doing it on purpose or by accident, but the alien has taken out three security cameras on that level. I can't-shit! I just lost another one," Hansen hissed over the headset.

"Where? Which camera did you lose?" Burns asked him. "What? Burns, I-" "Which camera!?" she asked him forcefully. "Three-D-Zero-Three. Burns, just retreat to the elevators and get back to a higher level," Hansen pleaded.


CHAPTER 10 ALTERNATE AND UNUSED SCENES

CHAPTER 10-A

"Guys?" Hansen asked over a radio on the table. "Yes, Hansen. What is it?" Burns asked as she grabbed the radio. "I'm starting to lose more cameras on level three," Hansen reported.

"Are you sure?" Burns asked him incredulously. "Look, I'm positive. The alien is taking them out one by one. We're not gonna have any video on that floor soon. Either you guys need to come up with a plan to kill it before it gets all of the cameras, or you're gonna have to find another way to get into that level, because without any cameras watching the elevators, I won't be able to tell which ones it's waiting at," Hansen replied.

"Shit!" Burns hissed angrily. "We should've stayed down there when we had the chance," she added bitterly. "W-What?" Bowman asked her incredulously. "We should have... stay-are you out of your fucking mind!? I mean, have you already forgotten what happened to Brown!?" he asked her.

"Bowman, if we had stayed down there, then we wouldn't have to worry about this thing waiting in front of an elevator without cameras to watch for it," Burns explained. Elliot and Garfield both silently nodded their heads in agreement with Burns' statement, while everyone else was rather... skeptical. "This is horse shit," Milo muttered under his breath.

"Amen," Rains said in agreement.

"Garfield, have any other recorded aliens displayed this kind of behavior?" Burns quickly asked the man. "I don't recall seeing anything like that described in the reports. Maybe, but nothing that I can remember," Garfield said.

"He's telling the truth. All of the recorded encounters describe xenomorphs differently than this one. Not just in behavior, but also in appearance," Elliot said as he continued scrolling through the data on Garfield's company laptop. "It seems that our black and yellow friend, courtesy of Green's testimony earlier, is unique among theses things," Elliot added.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Rains asked him uneasily. Elliot turned to look at the mechanic. "Well, according to data on Mister Garfield's computer, all previously encountered xenomorphs have been grey, black, brown, or some variation thereof. This one, having a very distinct color scheme, is not something that has been recorded in prior encounters, at least not those found on this machine," Elliot relayed.

"So... this might be a different sub-species? Or... what?" Garfield asked him, having forgotten about Green's rather brief testimony regarding the appearance of the Xenomorph some hours earlier, shortly after Goodwin's death. Elliot looked at him and nodded his head. "I believe so. What we're dealing with isn't like the other recorded encounters. We have a whole different breed on our hands," Elliot said.


CHAPTER 11 ALTERNATE AND UNUSED SCENES

CHAPTER 11-A

"Uh? Huh?" Marcus asked groggily as he looked around. Marcus glanced over to his right and looked at the Hoffman-Egg, grimacing in realization of his fate before he noticed Garfield and Elliot. "E-Elliot? Garfield?" Marcus asked, confused by their presence.

"W-What are you doing here?" Marcus asked them. "We're, uh, looking for the alien," Garfield replied. "Yellow Bill?" Marcus asked. Garfield and Elliot both looked at Marcus questioningly.

"Y-Yellow... Bill?" Garfield asked Marcus in confusion. "That's... my name for it," Marcus said. "It... sounds kind of stupid now that I think about it," Marcus said sheepishly. "I guess Bill Junior would've been more appropriate," he added.

CHAPTER 11-B

"Then don't waste your time with me," Marcus said tiredly. "No way. We've found you, and we don't know how long it'll take before that egg over there-wait, was that... Hoffman?" Garfield asked as he took a closer look at the developing egg. "It was," Marcus replied somberly, glancing at the Hoffman-Egg with an expression of dismay on his face.

"Well, we don't know how long we have before that thing is done growing. By the time we get back, that thing could hatch, and you'll be a host for another xenomorph," Garfield said, causing Marcus to raise an eyebrow in confusion. "Xeno...what?" Marcus asked him.

"Xenomorph. It's the name of the life form," Elliot explained as he placed his hands on the resin trapping Marcus's arms and prepared to pull. "How do you know any of this?" Marcus asked him, confused and slightly disoriented.

"The Weyland-Yutani company has a secret record of encounters with these things. Garfield here knew about this thing from the start," Elliot explained.

CHAPTER 11-C

Yellow Bill let out what sounded like a defiant and victorious squeal before it dropped Elliot's arm and placed both hands around the droid's neck, twisting it and snapping it off of his body, spilling white fluid everywhere, spraying it onto Marcus's face and the walls. Yellow Bill's front was covered in android pressure fluid, or blood, and it gently ran its right hand up its body to collect the fluid onto its finger tips. Yellow Bill then brought its white fluid-coated finger tips up to its lips and opened its mouth to let its inner jaw gently tap against them.

It quickly spat out the fluid and walked over to Marcus, rubbing its hands in his hair and on his face to clean them. Marcus grimaced and spat out the liquid that got into his mouth in disgust. "Oh, god! That's disgusting," Marcus groaned in disgust.

"Pfft!" Elliot vocalized from where his head had been deposited on the floor. "At least your head is still attached to your body," Elliot said with a frown, his spare vocal circuits coming online. Of course, without being attached to his artificial larynx, his voice was now very robotic in tone and far less organic sounding than it had been just a minute earlier.

CHAPTER 11-D

Falling onto his back, Garfield cried out in surprise and pain before rolling over and raising a hand to rub the back of his head. He looked down at the floor where he had slipped and saw some kind of slime on the bottom of his shoes. "Son of a bitch," he muttered as he slowly got up and began to turn around.

His progress was halted when a black six-fingered hand slammed into his face and sent him stumbling back. "Gyahh!" Garfield cried out as Yellow Bill stepped forward, its domed head angled so that he could see the ridged structure underneath it. Backing up against the wall, Garfield quickly raised his hands and balled them into fists.

"Burns... I can't make it," Garfield said into his headset. "Why?" she asked him. "It won't let me get there," Garfield answered as Yellow Bill raised its head and curled its lips into a snarl. It took another step forward, its tail swaying on the floor behind it. "Burns... I'm sorry. For everything that's happened here because of me," Garfield said with a gulp.

"Where's Elliot?" Burns asked him. "I don't know, but I don't think he's in better shape than I am right now," Garfield said as he took in the sight of the white liquid splattered on the Xenomorph's front side. Garfield then tapped the headset and took it off before taking a deep breath to prepare himself.

He was alone. He was afraid. He was probably going to die. But most importantly, he was going to do whatever was necessary to fix the mess that he had helped create, even if it cost him his life, however much he hated to think about it.

"I wonder if you remember me?" Garfield asked the Xenomorph as he looked at his still-bandaged right hand. Yellow Bill, aside from a single hiss, remained silent as it took another step forward. "Come on," he said with a gulp. "Let's dance."

CHAPTER 11-E

"Do either of you have a motion tracker with you? Would you know where it is?" Burns asked them. "Shit. No, we don't," Rains admitted over the headset. "Then stay put. I'll-oh no," Burns said as she turned to look at the monitors. "Rains! Milo! Get your asses in gear! It's in the room with you!" Burns shouted as she saw the camera feed for the maintenance garage go dark.

She quickly limped out of the security center as fast as she could, with Bowman and Hansen both close behind. "Burns, wait!" Bowman called out as he caught up with her. "By the time you get a suit on and get in the airlock-" "I'm not using the airlock! Hansen, unlock one of the elevators!" Burns snapped as she

THE MAINTENANCE GARAGE...

"Shoot it!" Rains said as he aimed his shotgun at the black and yellow alien crawling along the wall. The creature had entered the room using one of the maintenance shafts. "I don't have my ear plugs in! I don't wanna go deaf!" Milo yelled out.

Rains looked at his subordinate and pulled out a pair of ear-plugs as he waited for Milo to do the same. "Alright, game time!" Rains said as he re-aimed his shotgun at the wall, only to see that the alien had disappeared. "Did you see where it went?" he asked Milo.

"No," Milo said as he walked over to Rains. Both men look up at the parked shuttle that was still on its maintenance pad. "Son of a bitch," Rains muttered as he backed up, scanning the room for signs of the alien.

"We can do this," Rains said. "We can do this. We have the guns. We have the floors. We can kill it," he reiterated firmly.


CHAPTER 12 ALTERNATE AND UNUSED SCENES

CHAPTER 12-A

A coughing sound soon drew Burns and Bowman's attention from the others. Looking down at the floor, the duo saw Elliot looking up at them, his head lying on its side. "So... if you're all here, I take it the plan succeeded?" Elliot asked hopefully.

"We hope so. We'll be leaving to go inspect the maintenance garage soon," Burns replied, slightly put off by the sight of Elliot's decapitated head. "By all means, don't let me stop you," Elliot commented. His voice was more monotone than before, and slightly more hoarse, with more synthetic undertones to it, now that his head was no longer attached to his body and his other vocalization systems.

Looking around at the rest of Elliot's dismembered limbs, Burns grimaced. "Not a pretty sight, is it?" Elliot asked her as he noticed where she was looking. Burns looked back at his head and shook her own in response.

"Looks like you're gonna need more than a few stitches after this mess," Burns said in attempt at humor. Elliot forced his gaze away from Burns before looking back at her. "Burns, I don't... I think I've reached the end of the line," Elliot said somberly.

Burns' eyes widened. "What!? That's horseshit!" Burns spat. Elliot looked up at her with a mournful expression. "Burns, look at me," Elliot said. "The damage to my body is too extensive. It's too severe."


Author's Notes: These were all of the alternate, deleted, and expanded scenes that I had planned but eventually removed from the story. I originally wanted Burns to have a military background, but I changed my mind halfway through the story because I felt that it conflicted with the blue-collar vibe that I wanted the miners to give off. As with the first ALIEN, Hard Heads is a story about mostly ordinary working people dealing with something out of the ordinary.

As you can tell, this story went through quite a few changes before the final chapter had been posted. Also, I had originally planned for Burns to sing along with the Weed, Whites & Wine song that One Night sang in The Abyss but I felt it would be too similar. And, of course, I originally planned to make Burns a mother who had lost custody of her daughter. I changed this because I realized that this aspect made her far too similar to Ellen Ripley. I know that it's common to say that the strong female protagonist is 'The Ripley' of the story, but I wanted to make Burns more like a female R.J. MacReady from The Thing than an Ellen Ripley clone. In the end, she's a bit of an amalgamation of both characters, although I deliberately wrote her to take more after MacReady than Ripley.

I had also originally planned for the battle between Rains, Milo, and Yellow Bill to be described in greater detail, but I felt that it worked better being heard by Burns over her headset. This was also inspired by a scene cut from the original ALIEN where Parker attempted to blow the alien out of the Nostromo's main airlock before needing to be rescued by Lambert and Ripley after the plan went awry. All of the action involving Parker and the alien is relayed through the ship's comm systems, along with Ripley's rescue of Parker while Lambert listens in.

For a sequence that I had planned but never wrote, I initially planned on having Garfield die by attempting to trap Yellow Bill in an airlock so that he could capture the creature alive and take it back to company labs for study. Garfield would try to lure the creature into the airlock using food taken from one of the storage rooms, only for Yellow Bill to wise up and attack Garfield before dragging him off to the nest, where he would end up being face-hugged next to another facehugger victim, Marcus.

Kendricks was also planned to be face-hugged as well, but since I had already planned on Marcus getting face-hugged, and since Kendricks has less dialogue and presence in the story than Marcus, I decided to simply make Marcus the sole victim of the hive egg. It increased the dramatic impact, in my opinion, since Marcus was focused on heavily earlier in the story. Kendricks is simply someone in the background most of the time.

Another unused death was for Hansen as he and the others tried to trap Yellow Bill in an airlock, only for Yellow Bill to get the jump on the team and accidentally open the hatches with an unsuited Hansen inside. Hansen would then get sucked out into space, while Milo would get sucked into the airlock and get bisected when the doors closed again. I ended up heavily reworking this idea into the sequence where Fairchild dies.

Another final battle sequence that I had fantasized about was one where Burns would attempt to use the airlocks to travel around the station unnoticed by Yellow Bill, only to encounter the creature outside. She would then try to fight the creature off with her shotgun before retreating back into an airlock and delivering the final blow as Yellow Bill stopped the airlock from closing to enter it, only for Burns to circumvent the security systems and open the inner hatch, letting the force of the oncoming air and debris push Yellow Bill back from the airlock and give her a chance to shoot it from a safe distance. I never found a suitable way to incorporate this scene after giving Burns her leg injury, so I decided to let go. The sequence was heavily influenced by the final battle from OUTLAND (1981).

I had also initially planned to have Elliot die after being ripped apart by Yellow Bill, as you can tell from the final alternate scene.

In another bit of trivia the Brandy-Iron company name is inspired by the Brandy-Wine production company associated with all of the ALIEN movies.

For the sequences that involved Yellow Bill exploring the station and learning things on its own, I cut those because the more I detailed the alien by itself, the less scary and mysterious it became for me as I previewed the chapters. It also gave away the surprise that Yellow Bill is a thinking creature, something that I wanted you, the readers, to discover alongside the human characters in the story. While I did end up detailing more of Yellow Bill later on near the end, I decided that following the JAWS approach, i.e. less is more, seemed to be the best route early on, before the action sequences kicked in and there was no longer any need to really shy away from describing Yellow Bill anymore.

I also did plan on having the characters use flamethrowers early on, but I eventually decided that it would just make things too similar to both ALIEN and THE THING, and I'd already included enough references to John Carpenter's masterpiece simply with the character of Burns and portions of her dialogue. I also decided against using flamethrowers because I wanted something that would set the story apart from nearly all other ALIEN fan fiction stories. Come on, how many stories don't use flamethrowers or fire against the alien(s) in some way? While I did use fire briefly, it was a result of an accident within the story itself and not a deliberate usage by the characters.

Also, as some of you have noticed, I've included various references to non-Alien films and books as well in the story. There are bits of dialogue taken straight from John Carpenter's Big Trouble In Little China (1986), character backgrounds inspired by the plot of Blade Runner (1982), Various overarching plot and background detail references to OUTLAND (1981), and the already-mentioned Abyss and The Thing references. Oh, and that one reference to those Where's Waldo books in chapter 12.

In one final bit of trivia, the black and yellow color scheme for Yellow Bill, which I had previous said was meant to be industrial, had one other influential source. See, there's this move from 1989 about a mentally disturbed vigilante (played by Michael Keaton) who beats up criminals at night while dressed like a fucking bat. He fights another deranged lunatic who's played by Jack Nicholson. I am, of course, talking about Tim Burton's BATMAN (1989). The color scheme for Yellow Bill, while still deliberately industrial, was also influenced by the color scheme of the 1989 Batman costume. I just really dig that suit and the color aesthetic. Also, the atmosphere processor and hive set pieces from ALIENS were re-used by the crew of BATMAN for the set of the Axis chemical plant.

So, with all of that out of the way, I hope that everyone enjoyed HARD HEADS, and I hope you were all entertained. Let me know what you thought of these sequences in your reviews.