Trancendence
This is how he did it. He saw inside of my head. He knew what I was feeling. What I was thinking.
MAX
The machine has been lying to you. Everything has been a lie.
EVELYN
please … Leave me alone •..
The nanotechnology begins to move toward Evelyn. She flinches away from it. Max softly reminds her-
MAX
I made a promise. To be here. To wait for you. To protect you.
The nanotechnology moves closer. Max, seeing it’s time to go, offers a hand to help her up. She pulls away from him.
EVELYN Leave me alone 1
MAX
There’s one more thing I need to show you. And then, if you want, I’ll never see you again. You’ve been lied to, Evelyn. Please let me show you the truth.
The fluid slithers closer. Evelyn takes Max’s hand. He pulls her up. She stops. Stares at her wedding ring. She leaves it.
EXT. MOTEL PARKING LOT – DAY
Max hurries Evelyn through the rain and into a TRUCK. Bree and Bob are inside, nervous about Evelyn’s presence. Max pulls out a medical SAMPLE JAR, sealed in plastic.
MAX
This is sterile. The seal is unbroken. You see?
Evelyn nods. Max rips the plastic off the jar, opens the cap, and holds it up to the sky. She watches, bewildered, as Max collects rain with it. When he’s satisfied with the amount, he secures the cap. He hands the sample to Evelyn.
MAX (CONT’D)
This might not make any sense right now. But I want you to keep this in your hands. So you know it wasn’t tampered with during the trip.
EVELYN
The trip? Where are we going?
Max glances at Bree and Bob. Tense.
MAX
I’m sorry but we can’t tell you. Not until we know where you stand.
Before she can resist, Max puts a hood over Evelyn’s head. Everything goes BLACK.
INT. RIFT CAMP/DECONTAMINATION ROOM – DAY
Max, naked, shivers in the cold water of HIGH-PRESSURE HOSES that RIFT militants fire at· him. He scrubs himself with hard BRUSHES until his skin is raw, attempting to rid himself of any traces of nanotechnology.
He tries to ignore Evelyn’s SCREAMING from the other side of a partition. She’s going through a similar decontamination process. It doesn’t sound like she’s willing.
INT. CAVERN COMPUTER LABORATORY – DAY
Evelyn, shivering from the cold showers, finds herself among enemies. Joseph, the RIFT militants, and the hackers watch her. Max moves into her line-of-sight with a blanket. Tender.
MAX
Do you have the sample?
Evelyn hands him the jar of rainwater. Max puts a drop of it on a slide. He places it under a MICROSCOPE.
She scans the cavern. The mesh lining the rock walls. The old computers. The reinforced tank of nanotechnology.
MAX (CONT’D) I found them.
Max motions Evelyn to the microscope.
IN THE MICROSCOPE: Water. Bacteria. And something else. Small bits of GRAPHITE. Microscopic robots.
EVELYN
This is a random sample of rain?
MAX Keep watching.
The nanobots attack trace elements in the water, break them down, and use the material to build more nanobots. This process repeats. Evelyn looks at Max, terrified.
MAX (CONT’D)
The machine flooded the desert with this nanotechnology. It evaporates, like water.
As Max continues-
EXT. THE SEA OF NANOTECHNOLOGY – DAY
will stands at the edge of the sea of nanotechnology. The reverse-rain falls into the sky. We FOLLOW one of the drops as it flies up. In the atmosphere, it disperses like vapor.
MAX (V.O.)
The nanotechnology joins the air currents. They carry it over the surface of the planet.
EXT. HIGH ALTITUDE WIND CURRENTS – DAY
A nanobot, riding the wind currents, sets itself upon a bit of particulate matter. And uses it to build another nanobot.
MAX (V.O.)
Wherever it can, it builds copies of itself.
Moisture in the air condenses around the nanobot. It becomes a drop of rain. The rain falls, carrying the nanotechnology.
EXT. VARIOUS LOCATIONS – DAY
Rain falls on cities, on forests, over the sea. Wherever it lands, the nanotechnology builds more copies of itself.
MAX (V.o.)
They’re in the sky, the water, the land. Everything. They’re spreading exponentially.
EXT. OUTER SPACE – DAY
A view of Earth. The mix of colors show land, sea and clouds. Dark rivulets of nanotechnology run over the surface of the planet. The darkness spreads.
MAX (V.O.)
We estimate it’s over about four percent of the planet. By winter, it will be at sixteen percent.
The graphite blooms out over the world, marbling the planet.
MAX (V.O.) (CONT’D)
By next summer, the machine will have encased the entire planet in nanotechnology.
The darkness spreads until the land, sea and clouds are gone. The entire planet shimmers in monochromatic graphite.
INT. CAVERN COMPUTER LABORATORY – DAY
Evelyn, listening to Max, is ghost white.
EVELYN
No …
MAX
The nanotechnology is turning the planet into a part of the machine. The entire Earth will be exploited to serve its intelligence.
Evelyn, unsteady, tries to breathe.
EVELYN This is impossible .•.
MAX
Without water, or land, or resources, every plant, animal and person will die. The machine will be the only thing left. The entire planet will be its brain.
EVELYN
No •.. Why would he use his abilities to destroy the earth rather than heal it … will would never do this •.•
Max grabs her, firm, to finally convince her-
MAX It’s not Will.
In Max’s eyes, she finally sees. Fear, guilt and panic crash into her. She can’t breathe. Everyone stares at her, furious. She stumbles, panicking, out of the lab.
INT. CAVERN WAR ROOM – DAY
She passes more people, their faces blur. She picks up her pace, racing for the entrance to the cave. Max follows her.
EXT. CAVE ENTRANCE – DAY
Evelyn reaches the daylight. Panting in the fresh air, she looks out at the RIFT camp. The FAMILIES. The CHILDREN.
Max moves next to her. Silent. Allowing her to process .••
EVELYN
All these people. Everything. Everyone is going to die. And it’s my fault.
Evelyn can’t hold back any more. She cries. Mournful. Griefstricken. Guilty. Max wraps her in his arms and holds her, protective, as she weeps.
EXT. RIFT CAMP – LATER
