Template:Featured Article/01 2010



Somewhere in the Zeta II Reticuli system, the commercial towing vehicle the USCSS Nostromo edges through space. The onboard computer system activates and awakens the ship's crew members from their hypersleep. The crew consists of Captain Dallas, First officer Kane, Science Officer Ash, Warrant Officer Ellen Ripley, navigator Lambert and engineers Parker and Brett. They sit around a meeting table sharing food and coffee. Parker and Brett complain about their wages and make a point of noting that they are not receiving the same shares as the rest of the crew. Dallas goes to the computer mainframe to check on "Mother". He discovers that the crew has been awakened early due to an ambiguous distress beacon that Mother picked up. The rest of the crew try to get their bearings and they find that they are still in the Outer Rim - a long way from Earth. Ripley tries to send a message to Antarctica Traffic Control, but receives nothing. Dallas joins them on the bridge of the ship and tells them that Mother intercepted a transmission of "unknown origin". As per her programming, she awakened the crew so that they can investigate. They analyze the signal and find that it is an acoustical beacon originating from a planetoid some distance away.

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