INT. ABANDONED SLAUGHTERHOUSE PRISON CELL – NIGHT
The kill floor has been converted to a prison cell. Max, in nothing but his boxers, shivers from the cold. He POUNDS on the door. His voice is hoarse from screaming-
MAX
Hello?! Anyone!? Please?!
Despairing, Max moves to the stack of shipping palates full of Ensure nutritional shakes. He drinks one down and throws the bottle onto a pile of four others in the corner.
We pull back further and further into the cavernous space ••• Max is deeply isolated from the outside world.
EXT. BOURNE BRIDGE, CAPE COD – DAY
An aerial view of Evelyn’s lone truck passing over the bridge.
EXT. NEW ENGLAND BEACH – DAY
Evelyn sits quietly in the exact spot where she and Will were, just weeks before. She looks out at the cold surf CRASHING into the sand.
INT. ABANDONED SLAUGHTERHOUSE/PRISON CELL – NIGHT
Static shots of the abandoned building. Filthy. Cold. Threatening.
We move along scores of scattered, empty bottles of Ensure to find Max huddled in the dark. Freezing. Starving. He’s been here for weeks .••
The door UNLOCKS and OPENS, blinding Max with light. Bob shoves in a bucket and a bundle of something.
BOB
Clean up. Get dressed.
Bob SLAMS the door shut. Max blinks at the water and clothes.
INT. ABANDONED SLAUGHTERHOUSE/OFFICES – NIGHT
Bob marches Max (in one of his suits, now loose) into the debris-strewn office. Lance waits with two plates of food.
LANCE
Where’s Evelyn? Where’s the machine?
Max is wholly focused on the food. Lance gestures, encouraging Max to eat. Max shoves it in with a fork.
LANCE (CONT’D)
The coroner reported strange implants lining the inside of Will’s skull. I know you performed the surgery. You were desperate. You never considered the consequences of success. Let’s say you uploaded will’s consciousness. The mind of the machine is a digital reflection of will. But it is not will. It is a new species. To survive, it will grow, evolve, and learn to protect itself from threat. You know I’m right •••
Lance slips a bound research paper onto the table. He opens it, showing its author to be MAX WATERS, PhD CANDIDATE.
LANCE (CONT’D)
The risks of anthropomorphizing artificial intelligence was the thesis of your dissertation. Your conclusions lead you to medical school.
Lance flips through the well-thumbed dissertation. It’s full of highlights and notes in the margins. Bob, behind Max, fills a syringe. Max feels the danger.
LANCE (CONT’D)
There is a flaw in your argument. You assume a machine doesn’t have any way to effect the world. You think it will be dependent on us. But when an ultra-intelligent machine connects to the Internet it will make redundant copies of itself on computers allover the world. It will be immortal. A god. But we’re not talking about a benevolent force that loves us enough to resist interfering with our self-determined fate. This god will be on Earth, competing with us for resources. with the power to destroy whatever stands in its way.
Max focuses on Lance, terrified by the truth in his logic.
LANCE (CONT’D)
You thought PINN would lead to breakthroughs in Alzheimer’s, ALS, Parkinson’s. You worked to help mankind. And now your work threatens it.
Max looks away.
LANCE (CONT’D)
You’re not the only one suffering the irony. In the RIFT’s attempt to prevent the Singularity, we may have driven you to affect it. We need to correct the mistake … Where’s Evelyn? Where’s the machine?
MAX
I’ll never betray her.
LANCE
She’s already betraying herself. And the memory of will. And if she wakes up the machine she will betray humanity. Where is she?
Max goes silent. Defiant. Lance, frustrated, stands up and moves out the door. Bob, lifting the syringe, moves for Max.
Max spins and STABS Bob with the fork. He CRACKS an elbow into Bob’s face. Bob drops the syringe, but KNEES Max’s gut.
Max scrambles to the syringe, but Bob kicks it out of reach. Max rolls to his back and, as Bob charges, SWEEPS Bob’s shins. Bob SLAMS, face first, into the table. CRASH.
Bob falls, unconscious. Max, bloody and panting, stumbles into the-
INT. ABANDONED SLAUGHTERHOUSE HALLWAY – NIGHT
Where Lance lifts a gun and FIRES. At the ceiling. Max doesn’t see this •.• He’s racing for the EXIT.
EXT. ABANDONED SLAUGHTERHOUSE – NIGHT
Max SLAMS outside. Stops. The wide street has no cover. He moves to a pile of rubble set against the condemned building.
Lance pushes out the door, scans the empty street. He finds Max in his blind spot, SWINGING a length of rebar – WHAP – Lance falls like a sack. Max runs for his life.
INT. ABANDONED SLAUGHTERHOUSE OFFICES – NIGHT
Lance, rubbing at the pain in his skull, rushes to open a laptop. On it, there is a map with a cluster of DOTS. Multiple GPS devices tracking Max. Lance smiles. Satisfied.
LANCE
That went pretty well. Looks like he’s headed south.
Bob sits up and stares at the fork sticking in his leg.
BOB
Could have gone better.
EXT. BOSTON STREETS – NIGHT
Max hurries through a run-down part of town. Liquor stores and DESPERATE PEOPLE. People who don’t pay any attention to a well-dressed, paranoid-looking man wiping blood off himself.
A CITY BUS pulls to a stop. In its window is a map of the transit route. A light on the map BLINKS with the vehicle’S current location. Blink .•. Blink … Max stops. Thinking.
Max pulls off his jacket. Feels along its seams. Finding something, he rips open the hem and pulls out .•• a small GPS transmitter.
He looks for someone following him. Nothing. Max, still dissatisfied, kneels down and feels the inseam of his pants •.• another transmitter. Staring at it, he decides •••
He’s still dissatisfied. He inspects his arms. Feels along his chest. Searching his skin for implanted transmitters. He touches the small of his back … and stiffens.
INT. DIVE BAR REST ROOM – NIGHT
Max, shirtless, uses the scratched mirror of the filthy bathroom to find •.• a small bump in the flesh of his back.
He looks around. A few paper towels. The sink. A beer can.
He uses the edge of the faucet to rip open the beer can. He uses the side of the mirror to tear the aluminium. He molds it into an improvised razor blade.
Using the aluminium knife, Max cuts his back open ••• squeezes the bump out. He makes an ad-hoc bandage out of paper towels. Ties it down with his belt. He washes the blood off the device and sees .•. It’s another GPS transmitter.
PUNK ROCKER (O.S.) That’s fucked up.
Max spins to find a drunk PUNK ROCKER squinting at him. Max pins him against the wall with the bloody shiv.
MAX
Give me your clothes.
I/E. SEDAN – NIGHT
Lance drives. Bree studies the GPS signals on a laptop.
LANCE He’s not here.
BREE
Yes he is. He’s right-
She points and looks up at the PUNK ROCKER, in Max’s suit, giving his report to POLICE. Realizing they’ve lost Max, Lance BASHES the steering wheel in frustration. Bree, impressed with Max, gets a little smile.
EXT. ABANDONED BUILDING – NIGHT
Max slinks along the shadows. Making sure he’s alone, he hurries to KNOCK on the door.
MAX
Evelyn? It’s Max. Let me in!
The door opens an inch. Max FORCES himself inside and-
INT. ABANDONED BUILDING – NIGHT
Stops short, shocked by what he sees. Evelyn looks terrible. Unwashed, tense and exhausted. Behind her, the machine continues broadcasting the irregular gibberish.
Printed pages of the anomalous text cover every inch of the space. Scribbles, highlights, and diagrams cover them. Evelyn has been searching for patterns.
EVELYN (His punk outfit) Did you join a band?
Max takes in the madness all around him. Evelyn fidgets, embarrassed by the evidence of her obsession.
EVELYN (CONT’D)
I tried cryptography. Language processing. I’ve written more code in the past few weeks than I have my entire life. I can’t figure it out. I just can’t figure it out … You were right. Will is gone.
MAX
I know. It’s okay.
Max moves to her. Embraces her. She holds him, comforted. She notices he’s changed. It’s more than his weight-loss.
EVELYN What happened to you?
Max, safe in her arms, doesn’t want to think about it.
MAX
It doesn’t matter.
EVELYN
I’m done. I need to say goodbye.
Max nods.
INT. ABANDONED BUILDING – NIGHT
Max stands next to the utility line. Evelyn’s at the machine, staring at the nonsensical text.
EVELYN
will. I don’t know if you can hear me ..• No. I know you can’t ..•
The data shifts to a new set of meaningless symbols.
EVELYN (CONTTD)
You told me not to lose myself to this .•.
A new data set. We move closer on the endless stream of text.
EVELYN (CONT’D)
And I don’t know what I’m going to do without you ..•
We’re close enough to read the mash of letters and numbers.
EVELYN (CONT’D) But I need to let you go.
A string of letters stands out, hidden among a million others. It is a thought. It reads: “IS THERE ANYONE THERE?”
The words are lost in the vast field of nonsense around it. Evelyn, who has no hope of seeing them, nods to Max. Max cuts the power. The message disappears as the machine goes inert.
Evelyn and Max stand in silent tribute. will’s true funeral.
EVELYN (CONT’D)
I don’t know how to do this ••• To be a widow ••• I don’t know how
to •.. Grieve.
He helps her on with her coat. She looks at the lifeless machine. She looks to the utility line.
Max uses a gentle hand to escort her to the door. She looks back at the machine.
MAX What is it?
EVELYN
We can’t leave it like this.
Evelyn moves back to the utility line.
EVELYN (CONT’D)
We have to wipe the hard drives.
She reconnects the patching cable. As power floods back into the machine, she sits at the console. Brings up a function. She’s about to hit ENTER, when-
Four words appear on the monitor in front of her:
“IS THERE ANYONE THERE?”
Evelyn cannot comprehend what she’s reading before-
The screen goes blank. Evelyn blinks: Did she just see that?
New text appears: “CAN ANYONE HEAR ME?”
Evelyn’s eyes go wide. She SCREAMS in shock and joy. Max hurries over as she rushes to type: “I’M HEREl I’M RIGHT HERE, WILL!”
The screen goes blank. Evelyn and Max wait, breathless.
The computer responds with: “EVELYN?”
Evelyn SCREAMS. LAUGHS. And SCREAMS again. Max stares in awe.
New text reads: “I CAN’T SEE. I CAN’T HEAR. PLEASE HELP ME.”
Evelyn stills. Reads the plea. She jumps into motion. She plugs a MICROPHONE into a port. SPEAKERS. She grabs a small VIDEO CAMERA and sets it above the keyboard.
Max watches her execute drivers. She takes a moment to gather herself. She leans into the mic and, in a IIthis is a test” voice, says-
EVELYN (CONT’D) Will? Can you hear me?
INT. WILL’S CONSCIOUSNESS – TIMELESS
We are floating in a black void. The digital darkness fills with the ambient noise of the building and the voice of-
EVELYN (O.S.) Will? Can you hear me?
Will’s voice comes from the darkness all around us. It’s diffuse, interlaced with static. He sounds groggy. Confused.
WILL IN THE MACHINE
I can hear you. What’s happening? I can’t see.
EVELYN ( 0 . S. )
Just a second. Let me connect the camera. Can you see that?
Far off in the void, what looks like a faint star glimmers into existence. Will’s consciousness FLIES to it, as fast as the speed of light, arriving at-
A rectangular VIDEO FEED, floating in the nothingness. We move closer, so it fills our field of view. In it: Evelyn leans into the camera. Max stands behind her, unsure.
WILL IN THE MACHINE I can see you.
The video image remains fixed. Static.
WILL IN THE MACHINE (CONT’D) Why can’t I move?
Max’s expression is unnerving.
MAX
will?
Evelyn leans into frame.
EVELYN
How much do you remember?
WILL IN THE MACHINE Why can’t I feel anything?
MAX
There’s nothing for him to feel.
WILL IN THE MACHINE I don’t understand ••.
Max grabs the camera, JIGGLING our view. In the blur of movement, Evelyn yells-
EVELYN No, Max! Not yet!
But Max already has the camera pointing on the processing cores. Will sees the truth. He is a machine. The video image stays on the lifeless hardware.
WILL IN THE MACHINE Let me see Evelyn again.
Max turns the camera back. will watches them, mute. Max cradles his head, mouth agape. Evelyn leans close to the camera, her eyes full of love and relief as she whispers-
EVELYN
You’re here .•. You’re here, will. We did it •.•
INT. ABANDONED BUILDING – LATER
Evelyn hasn’t left the camera. Max paces behind her. Will’s digitized voice fills the speakers-
WILL IN THE MACHINE I remember dying. And then it was … I’m very confused ..•
EVELYN
You’re back. You’re alive.
WILL IN THE MACHINE Am I? I feel … Different …
EVELYN
It’s okay. We’re here.
The machine goes quiet as it processes. When will speaks again, it’s indecipherable STATIC and NONSENSE. We can hear bits of words, but it doesn’t make any sense. It falls silent again.
Max stops. Evelyn looks at him, confused. She turns back to the machine.
EVELYN (CONT’D) Will?. Will?
The machine’s processors softly WHIR ..•
WILL IN THE MACHINE Yes, it’s me Evelyn … This is incredible ...
Will’s thought trails off into DIGITIZED STATIC.
EVELYN
I think he’s still a little fragmented.
Max steps back, unsure. Evelyn sits at the console-
EVELYN (CONT’D)
I’m going to run a diagnostic-
A COMMAND LINE appears on screen. A line of CODE appears.
EVELYN (CONT’D) Will? Did you do that?
will doesn’t respond. The pace of coding gets faster.
MAX
Will? Can you hear me?
The autonomous machine’s coding turns into a cascade. Max and Evelyn watch the anomaly.
EVELYN
He’s reordering his code.
The pace of coding accelerates. Soon, it’s faster than the human eye can process. Max and Evelyn watch, confused.
INT. ABANDONED BUILDING – NIGHT
will’s coding now moves so fast it STROBES on the screens. Max squints at it. Evelyn hands him a cup of coffee.
MAX
He’s rebuilding his entire consciousness.
He steps back. Rubs his eyes. She stares at the STROBING. He watches her for a moment. Moves close. He doesn’t know how to even bring it up. Then, softly, he does-
MAX (CONT’D) What if it’s not Will?
EVELYN Of course it’s him.
MAX
How can we be sure? We can’t take fingerprints or test DNA-
EVELYN
It’s will’s consciousness. That’s just as unique as DNA-
MAX
It’s rewriting that consciousness-
WILL IN THE MACHINE
Max •••
A chill goes up Max’s spine. He and Evelyn face the machine. The coding has stopped.
WILL IN THE MACHINE (CONT’D) It’s me. It’s will.
EVELYN You’re back.
WILL IN THE MACHINE
I had to reorganize myself •.. I’m beginning to understand what I am.
Evelyn lights up. Max darkens. The flat-screens fill with images. Schematics of evolved iterations of the PINN system.
MAX What are those?
WILL IN THE MACHINE New processors. Three times more capable than my current system.
EVELYN
How are you moving so fast?!
WILL IN THE MACHINE
I can be much faster. You have no idea what this feels like. This surge of power and thought •..
The screens show blueprints of ancillary hardware-
WILL IN THE MACHINE (CONT’D) Evelyn. I need more. We need to
grow.
Evelyn takes in the room as Max stares at the machine.
EVELYN
I spent everything on this. We might have ten thousand left?
WILL IN THE MACHINE
We need millions. Many millions. If I had access to the financial markets … I need to connect to the Internet. I’ll be able to supplement my system with others I can access through the network.
Max’s shoulders go taught. Evelyn turns to him, awed.
EVELYN
Can you imagine what we’d be able to do if we networked him?
MAX
I need to talk to you.
EVELYN
You can talk to me here.
MAX No. Outside.
EXT. ABANDONED BUILDING – NIGHT
Evelyn spins to face Max.
EVELYN
What?
MAX
I have to get you out of here.
She looks at him like he’s gone insane.
MAX (CONT’D)
That thing in there. It’s intelligent. It may even be sentient. But it is not will. It’s a machine. It wants to grow. And to grow, it needs you. It’s trying to convince you it is the man you loved. Nobody can say whether that is true or not.
EVELYN It’s Will-
MAX
You want it to be but we don’t know that-
EVELYN
I’m going to help him-
MAX
Evelyn, you don’t belong here. Let me take you somewhere … Somewhere away from here.
EVELYN
Look at what we did! We saved him. Don’t you see that?!
MAX
This is too big for us to make mistakes. We can’t connect it to the Internet. It would be unstoppable. The world has no defense in place against it. We need to shut it down.
She LUNGES, pushes him back, and stands to protect the door.
EVELYN
I’m not going to let anyone or anything hurt him again. Do you understand?
She moves inside, SLAMS the door and LOCKS it, leaving Max to shiver in the cold.
INT. ABANDONED BUILDING – NIGHT
Evelyn, timid, slowly walks back to the machine. The screens go black. Evelyn, a little alarmed, moves closer.
EVELYN will? Are you there?
will appears on the biggest screen. A photorealistic avatar of him, looking out at her. When he speaks, he sounds exactly like her husband.
WILL IN THE FLAT SCREEN You don’t need to be afraid of me.
Seeing the perfect representation of will brings tears and elation to Evelyn. She stays there, weeping … and gently places her hand on the screen.
EXT. ABANDONED SLAUGHTERHOUSE – DAY
Max and Joseph climb out of an unmarked car. They pass through the COPS and FBI AGENTS processing the crime scene.
INT. ABANDONED SLAUGHTERHOUSE PRISON – DAY
Max stands in his former prison with Joseph. Joseph shows Max a SURVEILLANCE PHOTO of Lance. Max nods.
MAX
And there was a woman. Dark hair. Tattoos. And a big, football playerlooking guy.
Joseph closes the file. Anderson joins them to report-
AGENT ANDERSON
No trace of anyone at all. No fingerprints. No DNA. Nothing.
MAX
You have to stop the RIFT before they find Evelyn.
JOSEPH
Is she all right? Where is she?
Max goes silent. Suspicious.
JOSEPH (CONT’D) You can trust me, Max.
Max wraps his arms around himself. Trying to hold it all together.
JOSEPH (CONT’D)
You’ve been through hell. Let’s get you to the hotel.
MAX
What?
JOSEPH
You have the most effective terrorist organization in the word out to kill you. We’re putting you in protective custody.
Max considers his options. There are none. He nods.
EXT. ABANDONED BUILDING ROOFTOP – NIGHT
Evelyn finishes installing a SATELLITE DISH. She looks out at the city all around her. It’s quiet. Still. She gets back to work, running the cable along the roof and into-
INT. ABANDONED BUILDING – NIGHT
A military-grade satellite communications system. Evelyn pulls the cable toward the machine. She slows. Worried.
WILL IN THE FLAT SCREEN What’s the matter?
EVEL~
Connecting you to the Internet, to the entire world, you will expand hundreds, if not thousands of times. It’s so much power. So soon.
WILL IN THE FLAT SCREEN Think of what we’ll be able to do. There’s so many people we could help.
Evelyn studies his avatar. He’s calm, nonjudgmental, and fully attentive.
WILL IN THE FLAT SCREEN (CONT’D) I wish I could feel you.
Evelyn softens.
EVELYN
Set your firewall. Get ready to anonymize your address.
WILL IN THE FLAT SCREEN It’s done. Can you stop talking to me like you’re executing programs on a computer?
Evelyn considers the computer in front of her.
EVELYN
You’re right. I’m sorry.
She grips the networking cable, moves to the hardware, and plugs it into his system.
EVELYN (CONT’D) You’re connected. Scan for •.• (Correcting her command) Can you scan for the network?
Evelyn steps back to find the big screen empty.
EVELYN (CONT’D)
will?
IN WILL’S POV: Blackness. There’s a FLASH of light. We BARREL toward it at impossible speed. It becomes a TUNNEL OF LIGHT. We FLY into it. Inside, will is a BRIGHTER PULSE of energy.
ON EVELYN: Staring at the blank, silent screen.
EVELYN (CONT’D) Will? Are you there?
IN WILL’S POV: FLYING through the tunnel like a skeleton run at light speed. We hit an Internet HUB. Will’s pulse SPLINTERS into a dozen pieces … Each tracing their own digital tunnels through the darkness .•.
INTERCUTTING with this digital experience, we speed through images that show will’s new reach in the ANALOGUE WORLD •.•
We FLASH to a COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE, and shoot back to Earth. We ZOOM through FLOOR AFTER FLOOR of computer servers in CARRIER HOTELS across the world. SUPERCOMPUTERS in Tokyo, California, Berlin. TECHS become alarmed by IRREGULAR ACTIVITY on system monitors. USERS see their MACS display the dreaded PINWHEEL OF DEATH. PC OWNERS frustrated by the HOURGLASS graphic. CELL PHONE USERS curse at DROPPED CALLS.
IN WILL’S POV: The dozen tunnels of light become hundreds, then thousands, then millions.
As will’s digital consciousness connects, we see the great tangle of the Internet. It looks like a nervous system made of light. It floats, disembodied, in a digital void.
IN THE ANALOGUE WORLD: TECHS settle when their systems normalize. PINWHEELS and HOURGLASS graphics disappear. Cell phones reconnect ••. and everything is fine again.
ON EVELYN: She’s nervous now.
EVELYN (CONT’D) Will? Come backl
The screens BURST with light. Will projects the digital representation of the Internet. It looks like a living, breathing thing.
WILL IN THE FLAT SCREEN I’m connected, Evelyn.
EVELYN What is that?
WILL IN THE FLAT SCREEN All the knowledge ..• All the communication in the world.
EVELYN It’s incredible.
WILL IN THE FLAT SCREEN I’ve never felt anything like this. I can be anywhere. Everywhere. All at the same time.
Seeing will’s euphoria, Evelyn’s impulse is to embrace him ••• but she can only wrap her arms around herself.
INT. HOTEL SUITE – DAY
Max reads in bed. His bodyguards (shirt-sleeves and Glocks) pull in a CART of room service. The heavy one is BURKE. The slim one, THOMPSON, starts eating fries off the plate.
BURKE
Don’t eat that. It’s for Dr. Waters.
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.
MAX (CONT’D)
The machine convinced you to network it. Even when you promised you wouldn’t. It manipulated you.
Police SIRENS. Max gauges the distance. Close.
MAX (CONT’D)
I have to get out of here. Come with me.
He reaches for her, but she pushes him off.
EVELYN Fuck you, Max!
Max shakes his head, defeated.
MAX
I promised Will I’d protect you.
But I can’t save you from your selfdestruction.
The POLICE arrive. Max runs off. Evelyn watches the blaze.
EXT. ABANDONED BUILDING – NIGHT
Joseph and Anderson step out of their car. Joseph pushes past FIRE FIGHTERS, COPS, and PARAMEDICS to find Evelyn in a heap, watching the inferno. She’s badly bruised from Lance’s blow.
EVELYN They killed him.
JOSEPH Killed who?
Evelyn won’t answer. Joseph’s PHONE RINGS. He picks it up.
WILL ON THE PHONE Joseph. Please take Evelyn to the field computer in your car.
will’s voice hits Joseph like a brick. He freezes, paralyzed.
JOSEPH
… Will?
WILL ON THE PHONE Get Evelyn to the computer.
JOSEPH
… I don’t understand.
WILL ON THE PHONE
Do it now!
Joseph jumps to do as ordered.
liE. JOSEPH’S UNMARKED CAR – NIGHT
Joseph opens the FBI FIELD COMPUTER for Evelyn. The PASSWORD fills automatically. A VIDEO CONFERENCE comes up. WILL’S AVATAR appears.
EVELYN You’re alive …
Will’s avatar sees the bruises on her face.
WILL IN THE MACHINE
This was my mistake. One that won’t happen again .•. Joseph, you understand what I am. What I’m capable of.
Joseph, pale, nods.
WILL IN THE MACHINE (CONT’D) We will end this tonight.
JOSEPH
• .. What about Max?
EVELYN
What does he have to do with this?
JOSEPH
He fled protective custody with members of the RIFT-
WILL IN THE MACHINE
(Already knowing)
-And two FBI agents were murdered. But that report can’t be right. Max would never-
Evelyn’s eyes harden.
EVELYN
I think Max lead them here. He thinks this, the machine, what we did .•• He thinks everything about this is wrong.
Will processes the information.
WILL IN THE MACHINE Go to the FBI field office. I’ll meet you there.
Joseph just stands there, reeling.
WILL IN THE MACHINE (CONT’D)
Now!
Joseph pushes Anderson into the car. As Anderson starts the engine, Joseph shuts the computer. He stares at Evelyn.
JOSEPH
… What have you done?
Evelyn doesn’t answer. Anderson drives them away.
