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
So whaddya think? You coming today? You don’t have to-
EVELYN
Are you kidding? Front row-
WILL
Just don’t want to subject you to it, you know? I feel like they’ve heard it all-
EVELYN
They hang on your every word.
Will’s cell RINGS. He pulls it out.
WILL
Hello? Hello?. Hello?
She gestures to the far side of the garden. Will moves there.
WILL (CONT’D)
Hello? .•
(To Evelyn) Dead zone.
EVELYN
What about Block Island instead of the Cape?
WILL
I love Block Island. When?
EVELYN Next weekend?
WILL
Make-up classes. Midweek?
EVELYN
Teaching.
She looks up at him, standing there, sipping coffee.
EVELYN (CONT’D)
You’re a sexy professor. I have to be at your lecture. Protect you from the cute coeds. We’re never going on vacation are we?
WILL
We should wait until summer so we can put the rest of it out of our minds. No phones, chargers, wikitweet-face-link-shit, no students.
He wraps his arms around her, puts his cheek close to her ear, and whispers-
WILL (CONT’D)
By the way, there are no cute coeds in the computer science department.
She lifts her arms and holds his head against hers. They stay there, close. The day is bright.
EXT. MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY – DAY
Bree (the baker) and Lance, carrying a KIT BAG, join a press of STUDENTS entering an auditorium.
INT. MIT LECTURE HALL – DAY
Max Waters addresses the packed house. He’s lean. Tailored.
MAX
My name is Max Waters. I’m a neurosurgeon and teach at the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology.
Lance slips through the door as students settle in.
MAX (CONT’D)
I’ve been friends with today’s speaker since we were roommates freshman year. And while we disagree on ..• pretty much everything …
Evelyn, in the front row, shares a grin with Max. Lance heads up a set of stairs.
MAX (CONT’D)
He’s a brilliant visionary, devoted teacher, and a dear friend. Please welcome the head of MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab – Professor Will Caster.
Max leads the APPLAUSE as will takes the stage. As he speaks, a MULTIMEDIA PRESENTATION helps visualize his ideas.
WILL
Computer intelligence doubles roughly every year. Human intelligence is limited by evolution and has remained static for hundreds of thousands of years.
ACOUSTIC PANELS line the ceiling. Lance, in the crawl space above one, opens his kit bag.
WILL (CONT’D)
One day computer intelligence will surpass that of a human. This moment, the birth of a greater-thanhuman technological intelligence,
is what we call the Singularity.
Max, listening in the wings, glances at Evelyn. Evelyn watches will. He is everything to her.
WILL (CONT’D)
This artificial intelligence won’t be limited by biological evolution. It will evolve itself at an exponential pace.
Lance finishes assembling a RIFLE.
WILL (CONT’D)
If this being comes online with the intelligence of two men, in a little more than a year it could have the intellect of four. Then 16. In seven years it could be as intelligent as 4.2 billion. By the end of the decade it would be more intelligent than everyone born in the history of the world.
Lance opens a LEAD BOX containing a single BULLET. He uses a pair of pliers to load it into the rifle.
WILL (CONT’D)
Imagine. All the intelligence of everyone ever born in one entity.
Lance finds Will in the CROSS-HAIRS. Will paces, forcing Lance to inch closer to the edge of the acoustic panel.
WILL (CONT’D)
A partnership with a Strong AI will help us unlock the secrets of the universe. It will help us heal our environment. It may even allow us overcome the greatest threat to biological life … Death.
Max glances at the audience. Freezes. He spots the RIFLE BARREL protruding from the acoustic panel.
WILL (CONT’D)
A self-aware, self-evolving intelligence will improve our lives in ways we can’t even imagine •..
Max RUSHES onto the stage – Lance PULLS THE TRIGGER – the GUNSHOT rings out – as Max tackles him, Will’s shoulder POPS with the bullet – everyone FREEZES …
Lance grimaces at his faulty shot. Bree, in the rear of the auditorium, sits absolutely still.
Someone SCREAMS. CHAOS breaks out. Will grabs his bleeding shoulder. Max drags him offstage. Evelyn scrambles to them.
IN THE AUDITORIUM: Lance is gone. Bree is gone.
EXT. MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY – DAY
TERRIFIED STUDENTS stampede out of the building. Lance and Bree, with backpacks and feigned panic, escape with them.
INT. HOSPITAL ROOM – DAY
Will, bandaged, contemplates a glass vial containing the bullet. Evelyn kisses him. Will looks in her eyes to make sure she knows-
WILL
I’m fine.
She’s not convinced. Max reviews the medical charts.
MAX
Everything looks good. They’re releasing you into my care. That means I’m your doctor. You have to do what I say. No work.
will grabs his smart phone. Starts thumbing it.
I/E. MIT/STATA CENTER – DAY
Joseph, flanked by ANDERSON and other FEDS, moves into the building. They pass rooms of COMPUTER RESEARCH: robotics, system hardware, and theoretical algorithms.
Evelyn, Max and will (arm bandaged and in a sling) speak to POLICE DETECTIVES. Joseph’s men take the cops aside.
EVELYN
Joseph?
She embraces him. Warm.
JOSEPH
Is there somewhere we can talk?
INT. WILL’S OFFICE – DAY
A large, chaotic workspace. Joseph passes GRUESOME CRIME PHOTOS of the recent attacks to Will, Evelyn and Max.
JOSEPH
Over the past 48 hours there’s been a highly coordinated string of attacks. A bomb at Caltech killed Norman Causewell.
(MORE)
JOSEPH (CONT’D)
Dr. Daniels at Princeton was killed. Mike Lacy at the University of Chicago.
Evelyn covers her mouth in shock.
WILL
We know these people .•.
JOSEPH
There were others, all-
MAX
In artificial intelligence?
Joseph nods. Will, Evelyn and Max process the information.
MAX (CONT’D) You’re working with the FBI?
JOSEPH
They’ve brought me on as an advisor. Because of my background. And because I know one of the suspects. My project at the Department of Defense was the first attack. Two days ago a colleague …
Joseph holds up an ID CARD PHOTO of Lance, all smiles.
JOSEPH (CONT’D)
Brought a birthday cake into the lab. It was laced with dioxin. Within an hour my team was dead … They were good people.
EVELYN I’m so sorry.
JOSEPH
He’s part of a larger group. They call themselves the RIFT. Have you ever heard of them?
Will, Evelyn and Max shake their heads. Joseph sets down a document titled: REVOLUTIONARY INDEPENDENCE FROM TECHNOLOGY.
JOSEPH (CONT’D)
All we have is their manifesto. It appeared on a public server in Amsterdam. We can’t trace it beyond that.
Max picks up the manifesto. Joseph sums it up with-
JOSEPH (CONT’D)
They believe the Singularity is about to happen. They’re convinced it would be an apocalyptic event.
Joseph takes the three of them in.
JOSEPH (CONT’D)
I could count on my hands the people in this country who might be able to wake up a Strong AI. Myself, the three of you and ••• the six others are dead.
Joseph makes eye contact, making sure they understand-
JOSEPH (CONT’D)
You are all in very great danger.
Joseph watches them. As the news settles, he leans in-
JOSEPH (CONT’D) Can I meet your machine?
INT. PROJECT PINN, MAIN LAB – DAY
A line of state-of-the-art, custom-built towers make the supercomputer called PINN. Throughout the laboratory, FLATSCREENS map PINN’s network. Joseph steps toward the machine.
PINN
Your work in self-evolving algorithms inspired a great deal of my functionality, Dr. Tagger.
JOSEPH
That’s encouraging. Tell me a little about yourself.
PINN
I am PINN. A Physically Independent Neural Network, invented by-
JOSEPH
That’s great. Can you prove that you’re self-aware?
PINN
That’s a difficult challenge. Can you prove that you are?
Joseph blinks at PINN for a second. He glances at Will.
JOSEPH
It has your sense of humor.
Will, a little pale, smiles.
Evelyn opens one of PINN’s processing towers. It’s not like anything you’ve seen. The modular core is grey and crystalline, encased in a transparent shell. Joseph beams with pride at will, Evelyn and Max.
JOSEPH (CONT’D)
Look at what you’ve done. This is amazing. Evelyn was all of sixteen when I first taught you.
EVELYN
It’s not self-aware, but it’s learning.
WILL We’ll get there.
Max continues a decade-long debate with-
MAX
We can’t program a machine to be self-aware because we have no idea how our own consciousness works.
will’s about to argue, but Evelyn shoots him a look. Will, looking feverish, chooses uncomfortable diplomacy with-
WILL
We agreed to disagree.
MAX
We agreed we’d be satisfied with PINN’S medical applications.
Evelyn and Joseph share a glance. They’re both familiar with Max and Will’s rival posturing. Joseph turns to Max.
JOSEPH
Mike Lacy thought he found a way around the self-awareness
question … They killed him before he could publish.
Max, doubtful, glances at Will – who looks increasingly ill.
MAX
You okay?
WILL
Yeah. A little nausea.
MAX
It could be the shock. You could be coming down with the flu. Either way, you’re going home to rest.
EXT. WILL AND EVELYN’S GARDEN – DAY
will flips through documents. Evelyn TAPS the keyboard on her laptop. It’s not responding.
WILL
This is interesting.
EVELYN
What?
WILL
Mike Lacy was working on-
Evelyn SWATS her keyboard in frustration.
WILL (CONT’D) What’s wrong?
EVELYN
I just have to reboot.
Evelyn resets her machine. Waiting for her computer, she glances at will. He’s ashen, sheened in sweat, and trembling.
EVELYN (CONT’D) Want to lay down for a while?
will gives a weak nod.
INT. WILL AND EVELYN’S BEDROOM/BATHROOM – NIGHT
Evelyn wakes up to an empty bed. At the sound of RETCHING, she moves to the light of the bathroom door. Inside, will VOMITS. He looks at her, scared, and VOMITS again.
She puts a soothing hand on him. He keeps RETCHING.
INT. HOSPITAL ROOM – DAY
Will, very sick, lays in bed. Evelyn strokes his hair. Max reviews the LAB REPORTS with DOCTOR STRAUSS.
DOCTOR STRAUSS Negative for dioxin. Negative for anthrax. Negative for-
MAX
Why is his white blood cell count under three thousand?
Evelyn finds Will’s hair is falling out in large patches.
EVELYN
Max.
She shows them the symptom. Max goes pale.
MAX
No, God. Please no.
INT. HOSPITAL ROOM – DAY
A TECH examines will with a RADIATION SURVEY METER. It CRACKLES. will closes his eyes against the death sentence.
INT. HOSPITAL ROOM/HOSPITAL HALLWAY – DAY
Max, with somber simplicity, shares the results with will.
MAX
The bullet delivered a large dose of polonium. It entered your blood stream and •.• It dispersed through your entire body .•.
Max’s professionalism breaks. He tries to recover it.
MAX (CONT’D)
You have severe radiation
poisoning … It’s, um, it’s really bad ..• I mean, we’ll try everything but this is a lethal dose ..•
This is not a patient. This is his best friend.
MAX (CONT’D)
You have four, maybe five weeks ••.
will looks through a glass partition into the hallway, where he makes eye-contact with-
Evelyn, just back with will’s coat and other personal items, is frozen in the window. Her hands cover her mouth. The expressions on will and Max says it all.
INT. WILL AND EVELYN’S TOWNHOUSE – DAY
We move slowly down the hallway of the townhouse’s interior, eventually rounding a corner into the living room, where will and Evelyn hold each other on the couch. Evelyn sobs quietly.
INT. WILL AND EVELYN’S TOWNHOUSE – LATER
Evelyn opens the refrigerator. Other than a few condiments and a random can of Sprite, the fridge is bare. She stares into it. She’s woefully unprepared for this.
Will, on the couch, takes in their home. Motherboards and computer hardware cover the table. A mess. will summons the strength to stand. Woozy, he corrects his balance. He inches across the room, finally lunging to the table for support.
Evelyn searches the kitchen like it’s alien terrain. She looks surprised to find the pots and pans and .•. a can of tomato soup. She takes it.
She finds will sorting the mess of hardware.
EVELYN What are you doing?
WILL
Cleaning. We’ve been working so hard. I forgot … my chores …
will looks dizzy. His legs give out. He CRASHES onto the floor. Evelyn jumps to help him up, but his dead weight is too much for her. She slips and falls next to him.
There’s no place they’d rather be. They stay there. Holding each other. Trying to treasure every detail.
INT. MAX’S APARTMENT – DAY
Max steps into the foyer of his well-appointed home. It looks terribly empty. He stares at it and, perhaps realizing he couldn’t bear to be alone right now, leaves.
liE. EVELYN’S SEDAN/BOURNE BRIDGE, CAPE COD – DAY
An aerial view of a lone car passing over the bridge ••• Evelyn drives will in silence ..•
EXT. NEW ENGLAND BEACH – DAY
Will and Evelyn sit among the dunes. She pours soup from a Thermos and offers him a sip. Will, blanketed against the autumn day, shakes his head.
WILL
My dad was an engineer. He spent his life lost in complicated problems.
Evelyn offers him saltines. He shakes his head.
WILL (CONT’D)
When he was dying he told me something I never knew. He always wished he had spent more time in his garden ..• That it was important. I couldn’t figure out what the hell he was talking about.
She cracks open the Sprite. Offers it. He shakes his head.
EVELYN
Will. Please drink this.
will gives in. She helps him take a sip.
EVELYN (CONT’D)
We need to keep your strength up.
He feigns strength. She smiles. He vomits up the soda. She soothes him ..• he stills ••• she wraps her arms around him ••• they watch the sea.
INT. BOXING GYM – NIGHT
Max unloads on a HEAVY BAG. POUNDING it, again and again. He gives it a final SLAM. All his pain and fury. Panting, he watches it swing right back at him.
INT. WILL AND EVELYN’S LIVING ROOM – NIGHT
Evelyn works on her laptop with a thousand-yard stare. She discovers her hands trembling with rage. She makes fists.
She focuses on the screen. A few clicks. Something arrests her attention. She leans in.
From the bedroom, will MOANS in weak agony. She turns her head. As the silence lengthens, she starts reading again.
INT. WILL AND EVELYN’S BEDROOM – DAY
will flips through thick binders of RESEARCH. Evelyn paces.
EVELYN
We’ve talked for years about the inevitability of this technology. Mike did it. Not fifty years from now. He did it six months ago.
Will closes the research. Ambivalent. Evelyn holds up a piece of hardware. A fragile-looking IMPLANT.
EVELYN (CONT’D)
This could be the key to everything we’ve been working for. All of your noble ambitions.
WILL
I’m not afraid to die. You have to be sure. Is this really what you want?
EVELYN
I already have a place. And equipment. Please let me do this.
He masks his sad doubt with a nod. She kisses him.
EVELYN (CONT’D) We’re gonna need Max.
INT. WILL AND EVELYN’S LIVING ROOM – NIGHT
Max examines an IMPLANT, thinner than a strand of hair. will struggles through his fatigue to say-
WILL
That, right there, is why they killed Mike Lacy. He implanted it in a rhesus monkey. That pushed The RIFT off the deep end ..•
will cannot continue. It motivates Evelyn.
EVELYN
He recorded its brain activity. He duplicated it digitally. He uploaded the animal’s consciousness into a computer. Just like it was a song or a movie.
Max puts down the implant, perhaps frightened by it.
MAX
Where did you get this?
EVELYN
I lied to one of Lacy’s grad students. Told him I worked with the project’s financier.
MAX This is insane.
Max unpacks grocery bags. Medications and jars of baby food.
EVELYN
His body is dying. But Will is not his body. His being is a pattern of electrical signals in his mind. We can upload it all into PINN.
MAX
No. Absolutely not. If we’d made progress with nanotechnology, we could use the synthetic blood cells to purify his system-
EVELYN Nanotechnology is decades away!
(She grabs the implant)
This is what we have. But without your help, without you doing the surgery, we don’t have anything.
MAX
Aside from the certainty of failure, aside from performing criminal medical procedures on a terminally ill man … You won’t be uploading will. At best, you’ll be making a digital approximation of him. It will be a machine that thinks it is will. It will be a lie. Trapped in a box of hardware-
EVELYN
You can’t know that for sure! We have to try. This is our only chance!
Max sits there, shaking his head. She presses with-
EVELYN (CONT’D)
You’re a doctor. You took the Hippocratic Oath. You swore to save life-
MAX
Don’t lecture me on Hippocratic oath 1 The oath says, above all, I must not play at God. A man is more than a machine. A machine might be able to pattern your thought, but it can’t pattern your soul.
WILL Yes. It can.
Max stands there, shaking his head.
MAX
All the intelligence in the world will never amount to a shred of wisdom. This is wrong.
Evelyn takes Max’s hands in her own. will watches Max try to hide how much he cherishes her touch.
EVELYN
Look at will. Look at what they did to him. Then tell me about right and wrong.
Max faces will. He can’t bear it for long.
EVELYN (CONT’D)
If you don’t do the surgery, I’m going to do it myself.
MAX
You’ll be killing him.
EVELYN
I won’t be the only one.
Evelyn’s eyes are steel. Max doesn’t back down.
MAX
You can’t escape what’s happening by turning it into an experiment.
with that, Max walks out. will and Evelyn watch him go.
EXT. BOSTON STREETS – NIGHT
Max runs. The hood of his sweatshirt pulled low. He pushes himself. Faster. Harder. He wipes away the sweat and tears.
INT. WILL AND EVELYN’S LIVING ROOM – NIGHT
Evelyn spoons some of the baby food for will. He swallows. Waits. As his stomach settles, he nods •.. and stares off.
EXT. WILL AND EVELYN’S TOWNHOUSE – NIGHT
Will sits on the stoop. Deep in thought. He looks up as Max arrives. Max climbs the steps, eases himself next to will.
They sit in silence. Max has to help his friend.
INT. STATA CENTER HALLWAY – NIGHT
Joseph hurries to meet Anderson outside the PINN lab.
ANDERSON There’s been a break-in.
JOSEPH
Was anything taken from the lab?
ANDERSON
I wouldn’t even know how to tell.
Joseph pushes through the doors into-
INT. PROJECT PINN, MAIN LAB – NIGHT
Joseph looks relieved to see the PINN hardware intact. But as he opens one of the towers, he pales. He opens more. The crystalline cores are all gone.
JOSEPH
They stole the processing cores.
ANDERSON
The RIFT?
JOSEPH
No.
EXT. WILL AND EVELYN’S TOWNHOUSE – NIGHT
UNMARKED SEDANS fill the street. FEDS move in and out of the building, investigating.
I/E. EVELYN’S SEDAN – NIGHT
Evelyn drives. Max, in the back, keeps an eye out for anyone tailing them. Will sees the REVOLVER in Evelyn’s lap. She pulls the car into a-
INT. PARKING GARAGE – NIGHT
Evelyn and Max help will into an old 4×4 TRUCK. She explains-
EVELYN It’s unregistered.
liE. EVELYN’S TRUCK – NIGHT
Evelyn races the truck up the north-bound freeway. She merges into the left lane. In the REAR VIEW: she watches a car, a few lengths back, merge after her … a tail?
EVELYN
Max?
MAX
I see it.
WILL We’re going north?
EVELYN Just hold on.
Evelyn SPINS the truck off the freeway and into the median, SLAMS the accelerator, and enters the south-bound traffic. Cars HONK and SWERVE to keep from hitting them. Max keeps an eye on the traffic behind them. Nobody follows.
WILL
Evelyn?
EVELYN
We can’t trust anyone.
Will nods. The truck races back toward Boston.
EXT. ABANDONED BUILDING – NIGHT
Evelyn parks. They unload will and the gear.
INT. ABANDONED BUILDING – NIGHT
Evelyn unpacks one of PINN’S modular cores from a duffel bag. She adds it to the others, already connected in a net of fiber optic cables.
Her ad-hoc system looks like a cybernetic spider web, dotted with hardware salvaged from PINN. Flat-screens show diagnostics. A pair of control terminals rest on a table that may have been reclaimed from a dumpster.
Cables run into a hole in the concrete floor where there’s an exposed UTILITY LINE. She’s tapped into Boston’s power grid.
Max and Will have some privacy in a make-shift sterile room. Will’s prepped for surgery. Max loads anesthesia.
MAX
You know this isn’t going to work.
WILL
I have my doubts.
Max, resigned, injects the anesthesia into Will’s drip.
MAX
I want you to count back from ten.
WILL
I know you love her.
MAX
Just count back from ten.
WILL
Promise me. When it happens, you’ll take care of her.
MAX
Just count back from ten.
WILL Promise me.
MAX
I promise.
The drugs take Will. Darkness.
EXT. BOSTON – DAY
The early morning sun creeps across the waking city. A COMMUTER TRAIN slides by a station platform.
PEDESTRIANS walk the streets, texting, talking on cell phones. A lone CREW BOAT glides along the Charles River.
INT. ABANDONED BUILDING – DAY
Will finds himself on a bed. A living space has been set up. He sees Max and Evelyn studying the cascade of information streaming over an array of screens. Evelyn moves to him.
Wires run out of his skull from twenty insertion points. The cables, tied into a tether, connect to PINN’S stolen cores.
EVELYN
Don’t worry. It worked.
will nods and, groggy from the drugs, falls back asleep. Evelyn joins Max at PINN, displaying an intimidating amount of information.
MAX
It took Mike Lacy a year to do this.
EVELYN We have a month.
They process what lays before them. Evelyn, committing, sits at the terminal. Max follows. They get to work.
INT. ABANDONED BUILDING – VARIOUS
Max helps will take one of a collection of pills as Evelyn sits at the monitors, writing code.
Evelyn takes a digital recording of Will’s voice as Max takes a shift at the terminal.
Max performs a lidar scan on Will as Evelyn types at the machine.
Evelyn gives Will a sponge bath as Max codes at the machine.
Evelyn works as Max plays chess with Will. Will, too weak to even move the chess pieces, topples them.
will sleeps. Max and Evelyn work in the dim light of the data stream. She watches him wiping sweat away. Stress.
Evelyn works at PINN. Behind her, Max reads to will. will’s skin is grey. The radiation is killing his system.
Evelyn tries to comfort will as he WRITHES in pain. Max, sitting at PINN, tries to control his grief.
Late at night. Evelyn and Max sleep. Will lays awake in the dim light, staring at the machine …
The machine might be staring back at him.
INT. ABANDONED BUILDING – NIGHT
Evelyn holds will. At the edge of death, he comforts her with-
WILL
We’re made of matter. The same elements ..• make everything in nature. We come from it. We live in it. We return to it.
EVELYN
Just rest. We’ll get there. Max and me. Don’t worry.
WILL
No. It’s not working. There wasn’t any time. Don’t lose yourself to this. Everything I am .•• will be in the world around you … Let me go.
She kisses him, gently.
EVELYN
Never.
Her conviction pains will.
INT. ABANDONED BUILDING – DAY
Evelyn, sleeping in an armchair, wakes to find-
Max, drained by hours of weeping, stares at will. Evelyn jumps to her feet to see •.• will is dead.
EVELYN
No •.. No. We’re not ready. We need more time! Why are you just sitting there?! Do something!
Max doesn’t have the strength to respond. Evelyn, irrational and despairing, starts changing out Will’s IV. As she does, a low, mournful MOAN comes out of her ••.
It turns into a SCREAM. She SHATTERS the lamp next to Will. As she continues destroying the living space, she yells-
EVELYN (CONT’D) Bastards! Those fucking bastards!
She kicks over a tray of meds, which CLATTER to the floor. Looking for something else to destroy, she turns to the hardware and ••• slows to a stop ••.
The flat screens of the PINN system are filled with vast fields of text. Endless rows of well-ordered numbers, letters and symbols. They make no sense at all.
They disappear for a moment, but are quickly replaced by a new field of the inscrutable code.
Evelyn stands there, staring at the anomalous text .••
EXT. CEMETERY – DAY
MOURNERS surround will’s grave. Max struggles against his grief. Evelyn is calm and neutral. Joseph watches her.
INT. WILL AND EVELYN’S TOWNHOUSE – DAY
The reception. Max sits with Joseph. Anderson watches Max. Suspicious. Joseph gives Anderson a look: ease off. Anderson, resigned, moves to the buffet. Joseph focuses on Evelyn.
JOSEPH
It hasn’t hit her yet, has it?
Max looks to see MOURNERS paying respects to Evelyn. She’s gracious, quiet, and unmoved. She even glances at her watch.
INT. WILL AND EVELYN’S HOUSE – NIGHT
Evelyn cleans up after the reception. Max stands at the sink, staring at nothing as water runs over the dishes.
EVELYN He isn’t gone.
Max turns to her, utterly confused.
EVELYN (CONT’D)
He isn’t dead. We saved him. The upload. It worked.
Max takes her in. She’s certain. Not a trace of doubt.
INT. ABANDONED BUILDING – NIGHT
Max stands with Evelyn in front of the machine. Covering the flat-screens are the endless fields of text. Max inspects the random letters, numbers and symbols in well-ordered lines. It’s incomprehensible.
MAX
What is this, Evelyn?
EVELYN
It’s will. Ask him something.
Max faces the machine.
MAX
will? Can you hear me?
Nothing.
EVELYN
Type it.
Max types “WILL, CAN YOU HEAR ME?” Presses ENTER. The screens go black for a heartbeat. The indecipherable code re-appears. Max looks at Evelyn, confused.
EVELYN (CONT’D) Try it again.
Max types “I CAN’T UNDERSTAND YOU.” ENTER. The screens fill with new fields of gobbledygook.
MAX
I’m not sure what we’re looking for.
EVELYN Wait. Just watch.
Evelyn keeps her focus on the screens, where a new field of meaningless text appears.
EVELYN (CONT’D)
It happens at irregular intervals. It always responds to input ..• It’s Will. He’s trying to communicate.
In Evelyn’s hopeful eyes, Max sees self-delusion.
EVELYN (CONT’D)
His consciousness is in the machine, but the information isn’t indexed-
MAX
Don’t do this to yourself-
EVELYN
He’s fragmented. That’s why it doesn’t make sense. I need your help figuring out how to sort him-
MAX
He’s gone. We failed. There wasn’t enough time. That’s real. This is-
(The code on the screens)
This is madness. And I can’t watch you look for meaning in it. I can’t see you do this to yourself.
She gets a look. It’s often that others can’t perceive what her genius sees in perfect clarity. Evelyn gets to work deciphering the code. Max watches her. She’s not leaving any time soon.
INT. BAR – DAY
Max stares at his scotch. The BARTENDER slides him another.
BARTENDER
From the lady. I mentioned you’re a doctor. And single. Good luck.
Max spots Bree at the end of the bar. Max slides the bartender a twenty and moves to her. She smiles.
INT. APARTMENT BUILDING HALLWAY – NIGHT
Bree kisses Max, passionate. A performance. He stops. Waits. She looks into his eyes. When it’s real, Max moves in. Kisses her. Intimate. Dangerous.
Unlocking an apartment door, she pulls him inside.
INT. VACANT APARTMENT – NIGHT
Seeing the vacant space, Max realizes his mistake. Max turns and bumps into a man’s chest. A hulk of a man. This is BOB. Bob BASHES Max with a cudgel, knocking him out.
