Trancendence

MAX

I’m not hungry, you can have it.

Thompson grins. picks up the burger. Chews. Max goes back to reading. Thompson, swallowing, gets a look. He turns to Burke, scared.

BURKE I told you.

Thompson’s eyes roll back. Drugged, he stumbles, then falls next to Max’s bed. Burke points his gun at Max.

MAX

You’re with the RIFT.

Burke responds by opening the door to the suite. Bree steps inside and lays documents on the bed.

BREE

In the past 72 hours a dummy corporation called Premier Communication flooded the US patent office with applications.

Max glances at the patent applications. The blueprints are unmistakably Will’s designs.

BREE (CONT’D)

Premier Communication is owned by Network Finance International, which made over a million financial trades in the past few days. On an investment of ten grand, they’ve made millions. There are dozens of shell companies, all wholly owned by Evelyn Caster.

Max blinks in shocked silence.

BREE (CONT’D)

The machine is online. It may have already backed itself up. We need someone who’s seen its source code. You did this, Max. You brought this on us. Do the right thing.

MAX

Are you trying to recruit me?

Bree nods to Burke. Burke lifts his radio and, feigning pain, reports into it-

BURKE

This is Agent Burke. Doctor Waters drugged my partner … assaulted me … He’s with the RIFT!

Burke turns off the radio. Bree smiles at Max.

BREE

It’s more of a draft.

Max, looking for options, spots Thompson on the floor next to him, and the service weapon still in his belt.

MAX

I’ll never tell you where she is.

B~E

We don’t need you to. Over the past few days millions worth of equipment was delivered to an abandoned building-

MAX

No.

B~E

We have teams on their way now-

MAX

No!

Max jumps to grab Thompson’s weapon – Burke FIRES – the wall next to Max’s head POPS – Bree has her gun out – BAM – Thompson’s body QUAKES as Max rolls with the gun – Max FIRES blindly – BAM-BAM-BAM – dropping both Bree and Burke.

Max, terrified by his loss of control, jumps to check Thompson’s vitals. He’s dead. He moves to Burke, pleading-

MAX (CONT’D) No. No. No. No. No .•.

But Burke’s gone, too. Max stills. The guilt comes. Max sees Bree struggling with her bullet proof vest. Bree’s face contorts with hate for Max.

B~E

You … Asshole. You’re so screwed. Two dead FBI Agents? You’re gonna have the whole world after you. You gotta come with me .••

Max, terrified, drops the gun. She moves for her gun, but she’s slow. She probably has some broken ribs. Max, panicked, grabs Thompson’s keys and races out.

I/E. UNMARKED SEDAN/BOSTON STREETS – NIGHT

HONKING and CHAOS as Max speeds through a stop light.

INT. ABANDONED BUILDING – NIGHT

Crates lay everywhere, full of new hardware. Evelyn has added a DOZEN NEW PROCESSING TOWERS to Will’s system. New cameras and flat-screens are allover. A camera angles down at-

Evelyn, sound asleep in the bed.

ON THE FLAT-SCREENS will designs some kind of machine. He goes through draft after draft, evolving it in seconds. It gets SMALLER and SMALLER. until it’s infinitesimal. Will adds millions of them. He runs models of how they might

interact •.. It looks strange, like malleable water. (We will recognize this later as nanotechnology.)

We move INTO THE SCREEN ••• and find a digital universe floating in the void. IMAGES FLASH of GENETICS, ANATOMY, BACTERIA, WEATHER SYSTEMS, FINANCIAL TRADES, NEWS REPORTS, RENDERINGS OF HIGH-TECHNOLOGY … will thinks it all.

We settle on the feed of a SURVEILLANCE CAMERA. It watches the street outside, where CARS and VANS pull up.

EXT. ABANDONED BUILDING – NIGHT

WILL’S CAMERA ON THE ROOF tracks the vehicles outside. RIFT MILITANTS swarm from them. One of them kneels to PICK THE LOCK. THERE IS A DIAL TONE. A RING.

911 OPERATOR (V.O.) 911. What’s your emergency?

WILL’S VOICE (V.O.) There are intruders in our building! They have guns!

INT. ABANDONED BUILDING – NIGHT

WILL’S AVATAR appears on the flat screens-

WILL IN THE FLAT SCREEN Evelyn. Wake up, you’re in danger-

All the power in the building goes out as-

A RIFT Militant pulls the power cables from the utility line. More RIFT Militants pour in. Evelyn stirs at their FOOTSTEPS.

Half-dreaming, she reaches across the bed, feeling for Will’s absent body .•.

There’s a CRASH. She STARTS awake to find-

The RIFT Militants smashing will’s system. They CRUSH the crystalline cores and pour GASOLINE on everything.

EVELYN

No!

GLOVED HANDS grab her. She bites them. Her assailant SCREAMS.

LANCE rips off his mask and checks his hand. Furious, he BACKHANDS Evelyn. Pulls a GUN. Aims it at her as-

MAX RUNS OUT OF NOWHERE AND SLAMS into Lance. They fall to the floor in a tangle. Lance rolls and pins Max.

Lance aims his gun at Max’s face – Evelyn appears behind Lance with a gun – but can’t shoot – Lance COCKS the hammer on his pistol – as Evelyn CRACKS Lance with her gun.

Lance, unconscious, rolls off Max and into the gasoline.

The RIFT Militants OPEN FIRE. Evelyn turns the gun on them and UNLOADS. A WILD BULLET IGNITES THE GASOLINE.

Max pulls her behind cover. The Militants destroy the rest of will’s system before the FIRE forces them to retreat. They rush outside.

Evelyn moves to the inferno to save will’s hardware, but Max pulls her for the door. It only opens an inch, CHAINED from outside. They’re trapped. Choking on the black smoke. Evelyn struggles to get to Will, but Max hauls her up the stairs •

.•• Lance is left for dead in the intense inferno.

EXT. ABANDONED BUILDING/ROOFTOP – NIGHT

BLACK SMOKE and FLAMES spew from below. Max drags Evelyn to a DRAIN PIPE. He helps her over, then follows.

EXT. ABANDONED BUILDING – NIGHT

Max shimmies to the street. Evelyn stares at the burning building. He steps close to her.

EVELYN You did this.

MAX

I had nothing to do with it.

She looks at him with cold rage.

MAX (CONT’D)

I’ve been nothing but loyal to you. I’ve done everything for you.

Evelyn despairs at the inferno. Her emotion troubles him.