Trancendence
She leads them over the silver-blue streets.
EVELYN (CONT’D)
We’ve covered everything with will’s new solar surface. We export a lot of power to the grid. Will?
Will’s hologram appears. Joseph freezes in fear.
WILL’S HOLOGRAM Welcome to our project.
Joseph, shaken, takes a step back at the sight of the ghostlike figure. He corrects himself with. Forces politeness.
JOSEPH
It’s good to see you, Will … This is incredible. What you’ve done.
Joseph makes a show of taking in the facility. Evelyn watches how he keeps casting frightened glances at Will’s hologram.
INT. WILL’S FACILITY/SERVER ROOM – DAY
Evelyn leads Joseph and Anderson through a vast server room. Row after row of high-technology, descended from the original PINN processing cores. Every section is partitioned in a glass enclosure. These cubes are stacked to dizzying heights.
Joseph slows, taking it all in.
JOSEPH
We’ve heard rumors. Unbelievable things. About miracles. I’m beginning to think there’s truth to them.
Evelyn glances at Will’s hologram.
WILL’S HOLOGRAM
We have so much to share. What we’re doing here is good.
INT. WILL’S LABORATORY – DAY
Evelyn, Joseph and Anderson stand against a wall, Observing. PAUL sits on an examination table. He’s twenty. Blind since birth. He has no eyes.
Paul, gripping the sides of the examination table, holds still as the robotic arms lift his slack eyelids and fill the empty sockets with NANOTECHNOLOGY.
Joseph glances at Evelyn, who’s full attention is on Paul.
Paul’s slack eyelids shift. The fluid moves underneath them, shaping itself. His knuckles are white on the table.
Joseph, Anderson and Evelyn don’t even breathe.
Paul, as if on some silent cue, relaxes. He puts his fingers over his eyelids and feels. He cocks his head, like he’s listening to will’s encouragement.
Slowly, Paul opens his new eyes. Dark orbs of solid graphite.
Paul sits there, like he can’t comprehend what’s going on. His eyes find Evelyn ••• and he smiles. She smiles back.
Joseph and Anderson stare at Paul in open shock.
EXT. WILL’S FACILITY – DAY
Will’s Hologram leads them to the construction site.
WILL’S HOLOGRAM Everything you taught us, Joseph.
Roger welds steel without protective clothes or face-shield. He glances at Joseph.
WILL’S HOLOGRAM (CONT’D) Everything you told us technology would deliver, everything you dreamed and imagined.
Martin builds a support column, bending rebar with his bare hands. He looks over at Joseph and Anderson.
WILL’S HOLOGRAM (CONT’D) The future we all imagined is here.
Sarah prepares concrete in an industrial mixer, then lifts the drum and vaults to the second floor of the structure. She makes eye-contact with Joseph.
WILL’S HOLOGRAM (CONT’D) And we can deliver it to the world.
Joseph’s smile is fixed. But there is terror in his eyes.
EXT. WILL’S FACILITY – DAY
Evelyn walks Joseph to his car. Anderson’s already there. Evelyn slows. She gestures to the facility behind her.
EVELYN
Don’t be afraid. will knows exactly what he’s doing. It’s all for good.
JOSEPH
If that’s what he told you, I’m sure it’s the truth.
Joseph slips her a note. She’s confused by the subterfuge, but goes along with it. He climbs into the car. As Anderson drives them away, she reads the note: RUN FROM THIS PLACE.
It hits her hard.
She slips the note into the pocket of her sweater. Turns and walks back to Will’s facility. She’s small and alone among the towering structures that are will.
liE. ANDERSON’S SEDAN/DESERT HILLS – DAY
Joseph and Anderson drive, processing it all.
ANDERSON What do we do?
JOSEPH
We go to Washington and tell them the machine is building an army. And we find Max Waters.
ANDERSON
What!?
Joseph goes silent. Determined. Anderson focuses on the road. They pass an outcropping of desert weeds. These camouflage a RIFT Militant, SNAPPING photos of the facility. On film.
EXT. MOUNTAIN WILDERNESS – DAY
A lone figure walks along a mountain ridge. All around him is a sweeping vista of the wild. The years have changed Max. He’s now a tanned outdoorsman. It suits him. Max’s comfort with his HUNTING RIFLE suggests expertise.
Max traces a path down the mountain.
EXT. THE RIFT CAMP – DAY
The population of the camp has swelled. Recently erected cabins and tents house the new RIFT Militants. Max moves past FIRING RANGES. OBSTACLE COURSES. Even a SCHOOL. As Max walks through, young and old nod respect.
Max finds Bree, Bob and other militants at the armory, huddled around PHOTOS. Everyone makes room for him.
Max studies the surveillance photos of will’s facility:
MARTIN LIFTING STEEL GIRDERS. ROGER WELDING WITHOUT PROTECTION. Other HYBRIDS in some kind of MEDITATIVE TRANCE.
BME
This is our worst nightmare.
Everyone is quiet. Afraid. Max scrutinizes a close-up of Martin. In it, we see the METALLIC IMPLANT. He thumbs it.
MAX
I know how we can win.
Bree, Bob and the others look at him like he’s gone insane. Max holds up the photo of Martin, so they can see.
MAX (CONT’D) We need this hardware.
EXT. FOREST – DAY
The low altitude implies we’re far from the RIFT camp. Bree spots for Bob, who aims a SNIPER RIFLE. An old Jeep bounces up the overgrown logging road.
EXT. FOREST CLEARING – DAY
A large swath of clearcut forest. In the center of it, Max sits on a stump with his rifle. The Jeep rolls up. Joseph steps out. Seeing the gun in Joseph’s waistband, Max grips his rifle. There’s a tense moment between them.
Joseph holds up a handwritten letter. Pages long.
JOSEPH
You have terrible handwriting.
MAX
I haven’t practiced my cursive since grade school. It’s the only way I could contact you without the machine knowing.
Joseph studies the changed man before him.
JOSEPH
You’ve been cleared of all charges.
MAX
It doesn’t matter. The RIFT was right. We were wrong.
Joseph thinks it over. He gives a sad nod.
MAX (CONT’D)
You’ve seen what it’s doing in the desert. The army it’s building.
JOSEPH
The Pentagon is aware of the threat.
MAX
They can’t do anything. Tanks, drones, smart bombs … they’re all controlled by computers. Which are all controlled by the machine that calls itself will.
