Instead, they just think that they have been handed another task in their usual job.
At first glance, this conversation seems like little more than world building.
But the structure of the conversation highlights the entire crews position in the galaxy.
They all operate according to contracts, a predetermined set of rules that determines their interactions with one another.
To be clear, thats not entirely a bad thing.
However, the resolution to that conflict illustrates the limits of the contractual approach.
But as Dallas makes clear later, Ash didnt break the rules.
How does that happen?
demands Ripley when she confronts Dallas.
Same way everything else happens, he rejoins.
Orders from the Company.
The claustrophobic manner in which Scott shoots the tunnel in which they argue heightens their confinement.
Theyre both trapped within contracts they dont understand from a company that doesnt care about them.
Standard procedure is do what they tell you, Dallas says.
The Origin of Weyland-Yutani
The final shooting script forAlienonly refers to the Nostromos employers as the Company.
But Weyland-Yutani itself always covers its cold profit calculations behind a human face.
But the most chilling version appears inAliens, in the form of Carter Burke (Paul Reiser).
To the credit of both Reiser and Cameron, Burke maintains that approach throughout the movie.
As viewers, were tempted to read his excuses as lies.
Or he might be in fact be the most realistic person in the room.
After all, as Dallas told Ripley decades earlier, standard procedure comes from the Company.
Anyone who thinks that the Company cares about them as people, theyre the ones who are delusional.
You dont seethemfucking each other over for a goddamn percentage.
ButAlienputs a new spin on the idea by emphasizing class and capital.
It allows humans to turn themselves into predators much scarier than the Xenomorph.
