Guys...this thread is fun and all... but this whole thing can be totally negated by the reasons Parker gives to Dallas.
From the SCRIPT...
EXT. NOSTROMO
Engines coughing to life.
Nostromo begins its descent.
Below night's tide rolls across the planet's surface.
INT. BRIDGE
The viewscreen shimmers.
RIPLEY
Turbulence.
EXT. NOSTROMO
Tug-module hydroplaning downward.
A set of brilliant lights switch on.
Cut through the thick atmosphere.
INT. ENGINE ROOM - CUBICLE
Parker and Brett strapped in their seats.
Begin rocking from the sudden, extreme turbulence.
PARKER
Chirst. Overloading. What the
hell are we going through.
BRETT
Dust fritzing the compressor.
PARKER
There goes the conversion
stabilizer.
BRETT
I don't know if the digital
solenoid...
PARKER
Forget it. If we don't crash,
dollars to your aunt's cherry
we get an electrical fire...
INT. BRIDGE
The turbulence continues unabated.
Lambert's eyes follow cross-plot gauges.
LAMBERT
Drop begins...now. Fifteen
kilometers and descending...
twelve...ten...eight and
slowing. Five. Three. Two.
One kilometer and slowing.
DALLAS
Lock tractor breams.
A loud electrical hum.
KANE
Locked.
DALLAS
Kill drive engines.
The engines fall silent.
LAMBERT
Nine hundred meters and dropping.
Eight hundred. Seven hundred.
EXT. PLANET - NIGHT
Storm blowing across the night-shrouded surface.
The Nostromo hovers on glowing beams of light.
Landing struts unfold like insect legs.
The ship slams down.
Rocks heavily on massive shock absorbers.
INT. BRIDGE - NIGHT
RIPLEY
We're down.
An enormous vibration.
The panels in the room flash simultaneously.
Light go out.
KANE
Lost it. Lost it.
INT. ENGINE ROOM
Another huge vibration.
An electrical fire breaks out along three control panels.
INT. OILY CORRIDOR
Huge flash fire whips along corridor.
INT. ENGINE ROOM - CUBICLE
Parker and Brett see the pandemonium below.
Brett hits the secondary generator switch.
A pressure valve blows.
Another conduit breaks loose.
All lights go out.
They grab hand lights from wall.
INT. BRIDGE
Still in darkness.
LAMBERT
Secondary generator should
kick over.
KANE
Where is it.
Moments. Nothing. Kane grabs emergency headlamp from
facia.
Followed by Dallas and Lambert.
DALLAS
What happened?
Ripley hits the voice-amp.
RIPLEY
Engine room, what happened.
PARKER
(voice over)
God damn electrical fire, that's
what happened.
BRETT
(voice over)
It's big.
INT. ENGINE ROOM
Parker fighting an electrical fire on one of his panels.
Brett shouting into his voice-amp.
BRETT
The intakes are clogged. We
overheated and burned out a
whole cell...Christ, it's really
breaking loose down here...
INT. BRIDGE
DALLAS
Somebody give me a simple answer,
Has the hull been breached.
Ripley scans her gauges.
RIPLEY
I don't see anything. We've still
got pressure.
A beep from the communicator.
DALLAS
Hit the screen.
Kane snaps three toggles.
The screens flicker, but remain black.
KANE
Nothing.
EXT. SHIP - NIGHT
The wind sounds.
Storm continues to blow around the craft.
A few glittering lights distinguish the Nostromo from
absolute darkness.
INT. ENGINE ROOM CUBICLE
Parker on the communicator to the bridge.
PARKER
4 panel is totally shot, the
secondary load sharing unit is
out, at least three cells on
12 module are gone.
INT. BRIDGE
Ripley listening to Parker.
Dallas standing over her.
No images on any screens.
RIPLEY
Is that it.
PARKER
(voice over)
Couldn't fix it out here anyway.
And we need to reroute a couple
of these ducts. Can't really fix
them without a whole drydock...
DALLAS
What else.
PARKER
(voice over)
We lost a cell. Some fragments
caked up and blew the whole
system. We've got to clean it
all out and repressurize.
BRETT
(voice over)
Right.
RIPLEY
Get started on 4 panel. I'll
be down in five minutes.
She shuts off her voice communicator.