Trancendence

untitled Wally Pfister Project

written by Jack Paglen

5.1.12

A FIELD OF WHITE fills the screen. Slowly, the white is invaded by rivulets of fragmented black matter. This graphitelike material forms intricate streams from the top and sides of the frame. The network moves, builds, expands and intertwines until the screen is completely black. In the blackness a REFLECTION slowly fades into view. The reflection is in the black smoke glass of a massive room of computer servers. We pan to find ourselves in-

INT. DATA CENTER, BOSTON – DAY

An endless row of computer servers stand lifeless and dark. Illuminated only by a long row of skylights above. There is no power. Two men walk through. MAX WATERS is in his forties. Dirty jeans. Stained coat. JOSEPH TAGGER is sixty. Ungroomed. They take in the dark building, still as a tomb.

JOSEPH

How is it out there? Have you found anything?

MAX

No. Nothing. I heard Tokyo has power. Berlin, too. But they’re just rumors.

JOSEPH Nobody’s connected?

MAX

No. No phone. No internet. No power. Nothing.

They walk in silence, both lost in thought. Max takes in the lifeless machines all around them.

JOSEPH

You know we’re rebuilding the same system?

Max goes silent. They move to the exit, guarded by SOLDIERS with assault rifles.

JOSEPH (CONT’D) Let me know what you find.

Max walks away. Joseph moves back into the facility.

EXT. BOSTON STREETS – DAY

Max walks through the rain .•• scores of BICYCLISTS are the only traffic •.• the STOP LIGHTS are dark •..

a pair of MARINES stand near a broken and looted ATM machine .•. A group of HUNGRY PEOPLE wait in line to enter a dark grocery store •..

EXT. CAMBRIDGE STREET – DAY

Max walks along the line of lifeless townhouses. The stillness is broken by a MAN using a hand saw to cut wood. A WOMAN installs a new frame for their breached front door.

They stop and watch Max. Suspicious. They wait for him to pass halfway down the block before getting back to work.

Max stops in front of an old townhouse. Shattered windows. The front door is missing. He climbs the steps and enters-

INT. LOOTED TOWNHOUSE – DAY

Max takes in the abandoned home. Water stains. Debris. Piled mattresses suggest squatters have come and gone. The floorboards were scavenged for firewood – the charred evidence is in the fireplace.

In the center of the room is a pile of discarded cell phones, laptops, and tablet machines. Max grabs one of the phones.

He leans against a wall. He slides into a crouch. He tUrns the phone over in his hand. It’s dead.

His breathing quickens as he fights back emotion. He sits there. Alone.

MAX

I’m sorry.

Outside, the rain has stopped. The day brightens. Max looks to the rear of the house. Something arrests his attention. He makes his way through the 19th century townhouse and-

EXT. GARDEN – DAY

Steps into the garden, which is lush and full of life. Ivy covers the walls. Flowers of every shape and color. The garden contrasts everything we’ve seen of this world.

In the corner rests a set of vintage garden furniture. A small table, two chairs. Dark, lightly rusted metal. Max stares at the empty seats.

Water from the recent rains drips in a PERCUSSION. As it does-

A calmness comes over Max. His attention settles on a leaf of ivy, where moisture collects into a bead of water.

He studies the shimmering drop of liquid. As he stares, something new emerges in his eyes … Recognition.

CUT TO BLACK:

TITLE CARD TEN YEARS EARLIER.

EXT. WASHINGTON D.C. – DAY

An AERIAL view of the Capitol … moving south east toward the Anacostia River …

INT. EASTERN MARKET/BAKERY – DAY

The CAKE is a work of art. BREE, the tattooed baker, boxes it up with latex gloves. She gives it to the customer, LANCE, a white-collar professional.

liE. LANCE’S CAR/WASHINGTON D.C. – DAY

Lance glances at the cake next to him. He drives by the CAPITOL BUILDING … through a WOODED AREA .•. makes a hidden turn. He hands an ID CARD to a GUARD holding an assault rifle. A SECOND GUARD searches the car’s undercarriage with a mirror. They wave him to an ANONYMOUS OFFICE BUILDING.

INT. OFFICE BUILDING – DAY

Lance passes the cake through an X-RAY machine and moves through METAL DETECTORS. GUARDS scrutinize him. Lance sets a palm on a scanner and positions for an iris scan.

INT. ELEVATOR – DAY

Buttons indicate three floors. Lance waves his ID at a sensor. The elevator descends. B1. B2. B3. B4. B5. Stops.

INT. UNDERGROUND LAB/SERVER ROOM – DAY

Lance carries the cake past endless rows of COMPUTER SERVERS.

INT. UNDERGROUND LAB/TERMINAL ROOM – DAY

JOSEPH TAGGER writes code at a COMPUTER TERMINAL. Behind him, ten other TEAM MEMBERS work at similar stations. Joseph, wearing EAR PLUGS, can’t hear anything. Someone CLAPS Joseph on the back. Joseph turns and finds-

Lance, holding the cake, covered in candles. Joseph blows out the candles .•. The team eats cake •.• Joseph slides his piece next to his seat, forgetting it as he gets back to work.

Lance watches his colleagues eat. He sets his untouched piece down and slips away from the group.

Joseph, working, itches at his ear plug. As he pulls it out, we hear the ambient WHIR of computer servers. His chair CREAKS as he swivels to face the room, where he finds …

All the other team members are dead.

EXT. CAL TECH – NIGHT

We tilt down past a large cloud of black smoke to a BURNING university building. Emergency equipment surrounds it.

INT. CAL TECH LAB – NIGHT

FIREFIGHTERS race into an INFERNO. BODIES lay on the floor. COMPUTER HARDWARE melts in the heat. BURNING GASOLINE spells out: SLAVES.

INT. CHICAGO COMPUTER LABORATORY – NIGHT

Moving slowly through a massive room of SUPER COMPUTER TOWERS, we reach a section where several towers have been overturned. One has crushed the head of a SCIENTIST. In the blood someone wrote: SLAVES.

liE. PRINCETON UNIVERSITY/SERVER ROOM – DAWN

A PROFESSOR hangs, strangled by the cables binding her to servers. Someone carved SLAVES into the wall. ANDERSON, a veteran FBI Special Agent, leaves the forensic teams to do their work .•. Outside, he joins Joseph Tagger.

ANDERSON

Another computer scientist. Sarah Daniels.

JOSEPH

I used to work with her.

liE. WILL AND EVELYN’S TOWNHOUSE/GARDEN – DAY

As we move through the 19th century townhouse, we recognize it as the same house Max visited earlier, but now we find-

WILL CASTER making coffee. Mid-thirties. He grabs two mugs in one hand, the coffee pot in the other, and uses a knee to open the back door.

We follow him into the garden. It’s not much to look at. Clutches of weeds spattered on dry dirt. It doesn’t matter, he only has eyes for-

EVELYN CASTER taps on her laptop at the garden table. She’s a thirty-year-old genius. She smiles at will and the-

EVELYN Coffeeeeeeeee …

will hands her a mug. She cradles it. Elixir of the gods. The sight makes his day. He kisses the top of her head.

WILL