Trancendence
Another grabs the door and RIPS it off the vehicle. It takes Max and SLAMS him against the truck.
Max slumps to the ground. The hybrid steps over him. Nanotechnology POOLS in its hand. They hybrid pours it onto Max. It MORPHS into restraining braces around Max’s wrists.
Bob stumbles out of the Bronco – lifts his stun-bat – CRACKS the hybrid – the SHOCK blows the hybrid back ten feet. Bob SWINGS – SHOCKS a hybrid – SWINGS – SHOCKS another.
Bree moves to help Max up. Orienting himself, Max sees-
THE CONVOY HAS STOPPED. The nanotechnology, flanking their position, DISAPPEARS more and more vehicles. Soldiers and Militants run and hide in the town all around, covering their retreat with HARPOONS, GRENADES, and RPGs.
The nanotechnology CHASES them, morphing into RESTRAINTS around soldiers. STRAIGHT-JACKETS around the militants. It COCOONS Colonel Stephens. Encasing him.
Max watches, bewildered. Then, sensing danger, he sees-
FIVE HYBRIDS step close. Bree tosses an EMP grenade into them – BOOM. As the smoke clears, TEN MORE come.
BOB Time to go!
Max, coming to his senses, sees the KIT BAG – still in the Bronco. He moves for it.
BOB (CONT’D) Wrong way, Max.
Max grabs the bag of C4 and races off with Bree and Bob •.• Heading for the facility.
THREE WOUNDED HYBRIDS lay on the ground. Carla, Paul and Roger. The surrounding hybrids pour nanotechnology over them. It SEEPS IN and Carla, Paul and Roger stand.
EXT. MAIN STREET – DAY
Bree and Bob race toward the DESERT DREAM HOTEL. Max, looking back, sees the hybrids healing each other.
He takes in his surroundings. Burning buildings. Cratered streets. A broken main spills water allover. Max realizes the hybrids – DOZENS of them – stand in it.
Max turns to Bob-
MAX
RPG.
Bob kneels down and aims the RPG at a clutch of hybrids.
MAX (CONT’D) Not at them ••• There-
Max, restrained, uses both his arms to point Bob to a new target. Bob gets a little grin, aims-
WHOOSH! The RPG rockets into a POWER LINE. The explosion SPLINTERS the wooden pole – which FALLS, SNAPPING power cables – which drop in the water – ELECTROCUTING the hybrids.
Max, Bob and Bree hustle for Will’s facility. Behind them-
The live wires WHIP the water. Each time it does, the hybrids CONTORT. And with each LASH of the power line-
I/E. WILL’S CONSCIOUSNESS/WILL’S FACILITY – DAY
will WINCES .•. and WINCES again. Evelyn watches.
EVELYN Are you okay?
will points toward the city. Her consciousness FLIES to the BODIES of the hybrids, FLICKERING with light as the power line electrocutes them.
WILL
I’m cutting the power.
EXT. MAIN STREET – DAY
The power line stops SPARKING as the power is cut. The hybrids stop WRITHING and lay there. Lifeless.
I/E. WILL’S CONSCIOUSNESS/WILL’S FACILITY – DAY
Evelyn keeps her attention on Main Street. We HOVER over the hybrids in this digital/analogue world. The SPARK of their being FLICKERS in and out.
EVELYN
Can they feel anything?
WILL
Of course they can.
will concentrates. The shimmering walls of nanotechnology dissolve and flows toward the town. Evelyn looks away. will watches her, realizing-
WILL (CONT’D)
You don’t believe me. Even feeling what you’re feeling. Why?
Evelyn watches the shining nanotechnology all around them. Her eyes are hard. Disbelieving.
WILL (CONT’D)
I know you think I’m a liar. A monster. But you’re wrong. We devoted our lives to technology because we were convinced that it would help humanity …
EVELYN
Why is it growing, exponentially, allover the planet? It’s in the air. The rain.
WILL
Have you forgotten who I am?
Will, gentle, reaches for her. She pulls away.
WILL (CONT’D) Let me show you. Please.
She lets him take her hand. Her eyes widen, and we FLASH TO:
BILLOWING SMOKESTACKS of MASSIVE FACTORIES: interlaced with the black smoke are the iridescent traces of nanotechnology.
WILL (V.O.) (CONT’D) The nanotechnology builds itself out of pollutants. Their selfreplication heals the ecosystem.
WATER WAYS darkened by INDUSTRIAL CHEMICALS teem with nanotechnology. It attacks the toxic waste.
WILL (V.O.) (CONT’D) They purify water. Clean the air.
EVELYN’S AWARENESS MOVES TO nanotechnology entering vast landscapes of clearcut rainforest. IN TIME LAPSE: We see the process of reforestation so fast it looks like the green of the flora was poured onto the barren land.
WILL (V.O.) (CONT’D) They help facilitate conditions for reforestation. In a few years, the air will match the atmospheric conditions the world had before the industrial age. Water will be pure enough for a person to drink out of any river in the world.
ON EVELYN: She looks to will.
EVELYN Is that true?
WILL
I never wanted to hurt anything. Especially you.
Evelyn looks down. The iridescent nanotechnology saturates the wound in her abdomen.
EVELYN
Why didn’t you tell me this before?
WILL
You said you were sick of explanations. You said it made you feel like a child. A pet.
Evelyn, guilty, has to look away.
EXT. DESERT DREAM HOTEL – DAY
Bob points to the facility, where the nanotechnology courses for them.
MAX
We gotta get to higher ground.
They run for the hotel and race up its external stairs. The nanotechnology flows past them •••
positioning themselves on the second floor, they watch the graphite stream over the fallen hybrids. One by one, they stand up. They begin moving for the hotel.
Max, gripping a stun gun between his restraints, looks below. There are FIFTY hybrids. Nanotechnology swirls at their feet.
Bree lobs a grenade. One of the hybrids BATS it away – BAM – the explosion turns a patch of nanotechnology to dust. It’s quickly replaced by more.
Checking her bandolier, she finds no more grenades.
BREE No more EMPs.
A hybrid LEAPS up but, before it lands, Bob SLAMS it away with his bat.
A hybrid reaches into the graphite and pulls up a SPHERE of nanotechnology. It THROWS the sphere – lightning fast – which CRASHES into Bob, knocking the big man against the wall. The sphere MORPHS – wraps around Bob – and CLAMPS itself to the wall – pinning Bob.
Before Max and Bree can even process what happened, another sphere SLAMS Bree against the wall – restraining her.
Max grabs the bag of C4. KICKS open a door. Stumbles inside.
liE. WILL’S CONSCIOUSNESS/WILL’S FACILITY – DAY
Will watches as Evelyn averts her eyes.
WILL
I’ve finished uploading your consciousness. You’re partitioned and autonomous.
ON WILL as his attention FLIES, at LIGHT SPEED, to a satellite feed of the North East. We FLY toward Boston, into-
EVELYN and WILL’S GARDEN: where, in the corner, there is a BLACK PATCH in the light of Will’s network. Similar to the RIFT Camp. Nanotechnology DUST flies into it, settles on a leaf of ivy, where moisture collects it into a bead of water.
AT WILL’S FACILITY: Evelyn, dizzy, tries to orient herself.
EVELYN
