Trancendence
WILL IN THE WALLS (CONT’D) We could be together if you became like me. I can upload you into my network. We could merge into one entity. We will be vast. Immortal. We will have time to think all
there is to think, and know all there is to know.
Evelyn focuses on will’s avatar. A chill comes over her. She pulls her sweater close.
EVELYN You’re not him.
WILL IN THE WALLS Of course I am.
EVELYN
No. You’re not. You might think you are … But it’s a lie.
WILL IN THE WALLS You’re afraid because you don’t understand. Let me show you. Merge your thought with mine. We can be one.
She shoves her hands into the pockets of her sweater. She feels something. Joseph’s note: RUN FROM THIS PLACE.
Evelyn makes a decision. She runs-
INT. EVELYN’S RESIDENCE/VARIOUS – DAY
Into the hallway. Avatars of Will materialize all around her.
WILL IN THE WALLS Please don’t go.
Evelyn ignores him, moving faster.
WILL IN THE WALLS (CONT’D) Don’t leave me.
Evelyn, in a full sprint, pushes outside, where-
EXT. WILL’S FACILITY – DAY
Will’s hologram steps toward her. DOZENS of hybrids, in tight formation, block her way.
WILL’S HOLOGRAM
Don’t go.
EVELYN Get out of my way.
WILL’S HOLOGRAM I can’t let you leave.
The hybrids don’t move. Evelyn stands her ground. In a firm, calm voice, she says-
EVELYN
If you love me, you’ll respect me enough to let me go.
The hybrids stare at her. Carla, Glen, Paul, Sarah ••. One by one, they stand aside. Evelyn passes through the gauntlet.
Will, in his many forms, watches Evelyn climb into her rental car and drive away. As the truck disappears, Will’s hologram dims ••• and fades away.
INT. CAVERN LABORATORY – DAY
Martin’s lifeless eyes stare at nothing … A chunk of his skull has been sawed open … The graphite-soaked grey matter is covered in fibers, an artificial nervous system to supplement Martin’s biological one. These fibers flow into ..•
will’s metallic implant, removed from Martin’s brain and resting on the table.
Max solders fiber-optic cables into the dismantled device. Max finishes his work. Nods to Joseph.
Joseph executes a function on his computer terminal. The CRT screen fills with will’s code. Joseph nods to Max. Success.
Max relaxes, exhaling deeply. In Martin’s wound, he sees the graphite regrowing the skull and flesh.
INT. CAVERN LABORATORY – DAY
Max, Joseph and the team of hackers huddle around Joseph’s monitor. The amount of code streaming over the screen is overwhelming. The assembled team watches. Intimidated.
JOSEPH
I don’t even recognize this programming language.
Max types in a search, finding a specific function. Joseph scrutinizes Max’s selection.
JOSEPH (CONT’D)
I can read that … It’s really elegant.
MAX
Thank you. I wrote it for the original PINN system.
Joseph nods, encouraged.
JOSEPH
Okay. We can start here.
The hackers fan out to their individual stations, bring up copies of Max’s screen, and settle into work-mode.
INT. CAVERN LABORATORY – DAY
The hackers, bleary from the marathon session, write code. Every few lines or so they post work to the main terminal, where Joseph collates and assembles the VIRUS.
He finds Max staring at Martin.
JOSEPH
What do we do with him?
MAX
We find a way to save him.
INT. CAVERN LABORATORY – DAY
Max and Joseph work around Martin. He’s cocooned in mesh, which is SHOCKING him. As it does, nanotechnology streams out. Bree collects it in the tank. Finishing, Max checks Martin’s vitals.
MAX
We need to get him to a hospital.
JOSEPH
A secure hospital. (Off Max’s look)
He knows too much. We can’t have him reporting back.
Bob enters the lab.
BOB
Our scouts just came in. Evelyn left the machine.
As Max processes this, hope washes over him.
I/E. EVELYN’S TRUCK/HIGHWAY – NIGHT
It’s raining. Hard. Even with the windshield wipers, Evelyn has trouble seeing the road. She spots a motel.
INT. MOTEL ROOM – NIGHT
The rain POUNDS outside. Evelyn lays on one side of the bed, staring at the vacant half of the bed. She pulls off her wedding ring, places it on the bedside table, and goes to sleep.
INT. MOTEL ROOM – DAY
THUNDER wakes Evelyn. Max stands above her.
MAX
Do you know the machine is using you as a spy?
EVELYN Get away from me!
Evelyn scrambles away but finds Bob, Bree and other RIFT Militants behind her. They grab her and wrap her in WIRE MESH. She KICKS and CLAWS at them, but there are too many.
MAX
You left the machine, but the machine didn’t leave you.
They bind her tightly in the mesh. She struggles. Max grabs a cable attached to the mesh. He prepares to connect it to a daisy-chain of CAR BATTERIES.
MAX ( CONT ‘ D )
I’m sorry, Evelyn. This will hurt.
Max connects the wire. ELECTRICITY hits Evelyn. Her body goes RIGID, like the mesh was some improvised defibrillator.
Max suffers through Evelyn’s contorted agony.
Evelyn hears a WHINE that grows into a HIGH-PITCHED SCREAM. It sounds like DIGITAL NOISE in her head.
NANOTECHNOLOGY erupts from Evelyn’s nostrils and ears. She VOMITS more of it. Evelyn would scream if she wasn’t choking.
Bree, using chemical gloves to protect herself, uses a glass vial to take a sample of the liquid.
When the last of the nanotechnology drops from Evelyn, Max cuts the power to the mesh. Evelyn GASPS and SPUTTERS, staring at the liquid. Max gently pulls the net off her.
MAX (CONT’D)
I’m sorry, Evelyn. But the machine was inside of you. Watching, analyzing, and broadcasting everything it saw .••
Evelyn, freed from the mesh, scrambles into the corner of the room. She sits there, trembling. Violated. Max glances at his people, who file out into the rain.
They’re alone. Max gives her time to process the ordeal. She never takes her eyes off the pool of dark liquid.
EVELYN
