EXT. ONE CENTER PLAZA – NIGHT
Anderson hurries Joseph and Evelyn into the FBI building.
INT. FBI STRATEGIC OPERATIONS CENTER – NIGHT
They enter the large room filled with FBI AGENTS, computers, and wall-mounted screens to monitor operations. The agents are in full panic because-
FBI TECH
Someone just took control of our network! We can’t even isolate it!
Evelyn and Joseph share a glance. The screens fill with CODE. The room fills with the sound of-
WILL IN THE FBI NETWORK I can find them.
The assembled agents back away from the talking computers.
JOSEPH
We have no evidence. No records. No leads. No way to find them.
WILL IN THE FBI NETWORK It won’t be difficult.
The screens fill with images pulled from CRIMINAL RECORDS DATABASES. PROFILES appear, labeled RIFT SUSPECTS. LANCE’s image is tagged: DECEASED. Next to it are images of BREE and BOB labeled: WANTED. There are dozens more.
will searches PHONE RECORDS and INTERNET HISTORIES. Images of RIFT SUSPECTS are pulled from social-networking sites. BANK and CREDIT HISTORIES. INSURANCE PROFILES. TAX FORMS lead to ADDRESSES. will compiles a massive tree of the entire RIFT organization. The dossier on each would put the NSA to shame.
Anderson’s excited. Joseph glances at Evelyn, accusing. Evelyn looks away.
Satellite images fill with DOTS over the united States. A TITLE READS: CURRENT LOCATIONS OF SUSPECTED RIFT MEMBERS.
WILL IN THE MACHINE There they are.
Anderson moves to a phone. Joseph holds up a cautioning hand.
JOSEPH
You don’t understand what’s going on here-
WILL IN THE MACHINE
This is the first actionable intelligence you’ve had on the RIFT since the murders began. I’ve found them for you. Give the orderl
Anderson turns his back to Joseph and picks up the phone-
EXT. VARIOUS LOCATIONS – NIGHT
COPS, FBI OPERATIONS TEAMS, and SWAT mobilize. SUSPECTS are caught in LIVING ROOMS, MOTELS, BARS.
IN AN APARTMENT: SWAT breaches the door. A RIFT SUSPECT pulls a gun and FIRES. The cops BLAST him with automatics.
INT. FBI STRATEGIC OPERATIONS CENTER – NIGHT
One by one, photos of the RIFT SUSPECTS are labeled CAPTURED or DECEASED. Only Bree, Bob, and a handful of others are still WANTED. Agents CHEER. Joseph turns to Evelyn.
JOSEPH
They don’t understand.
Evelyn stays neutral.
WILL IN THE FBI NETWORK There’s evidence one of your agents protecting Max was a RIFT member.
EVELYN
Do you think Max is innocent?
ANDERSON
He’s a suspect in the murder of two federal agents. We have to bring him in.
The profile on Max fills with BANK RECORDS. The balances reduce to zero. Will puts HOLD ACCOUNT notices on Max’s credit cards. In the DMV database, will flags Max’s drivers license: “ARREST ON SIGHT”.
EVELm
Will. Stop. This is too much. This is Max we’re talking about.
WILL IN THE FBI NETWORK If he’s innocent I will make everything right again. But if he’s against us, he is our greatest threat.
Evelyn backs away from the machine as-
INT. VARIOUS LOCATIONS – NIGHT
FAX MACHINES in POLICE STATIONS spit out the FBI’S 10 MOST WANTED LIST. Number one on the list is: DR. MAX WATERS.
COPS on patrol check CITIZENS against flyers describing Max.
ON A TELEVISION: a sitcom CUTS to a SPECIAL NEWS REPORT. The flustered NEWS ANCHOR looks into the camera with-
LOCAL NEWS ANCHOR
Local and Federal Authorities are currently seeking the whereabouts of Dr. Max Waters. A suspect in the killing of two FBI Agents.
various PHOTOS of Max fill the screen.
LOCAL NEWS ANCHOR (CONT’D) A reward of ten million dollars
will go to anyone with information leading directly to the arrest of Max Waters •..
The broadcast plays on TV SCREENS allover Boston: in HOUSES, ELECTRONICS STORES, AIRPORTS, and-
INT. SOUTH STATION – NIGHT
Max joins the line of PASSENGERS waiting to board a train. Max glances at two POLICEMEN sipping coffee. On a MUTED TV above them, the SPECIAL NEWS REPORT plays.
Max, playing casual, heads for the exit. As he turns a corner, he stops short ••• He just walked into the view of a SECURITY CAMERA. Max stands there, frozen, as-
The whole station CHIMES with the sound of everyone receiving SIMULTANEOUS TEXT MESSAGES. Confused COMMUTERS check their phones. A WOMAN shows her phone to two TRANSIT COPS and points them to Max.
Max runs. All hell breaks loose. The COPS are after him, already calling on their radios-
COP
In pursuit of suspect at west exit-
I/E. SUBURBAN/BOSTON STREETS – NIGHT
Bob drives. Bree looks down as the POLICE BAND RADIO CRACKLES-
COP OVER THE RADIO -of South Station …
BREE How close are we?
BOB Two blocks away.
BREE We need him.
Bob nods and SCREECHES the car in a new direction.
EXT. SOUTH STATION – NIGHT
Max SLAMS outside to see ••. A PATROL CAR idling in front of him. The POLICE spot Max. Max runs, shoving through PEDESTRIANS. He races for the next intersection-
Where, out of nowhere, FOUR POLICE CARS converge. Behind him, more COPS box him in. They’re all SCREAMING. Max, trapped, focuses on a big vehicle heading straight for the line of police cruisers.
The SUBURBAN CRASHES through the police line. Bree waves Max in. Max, horrified, turns to run but-
RIFT Militants OPEN FIRE at the Police with automatics – POPPING the tires of the police cars – as more Militants grab Max and drag him into the vehicle. Bob ZOOMS them away.
I/E. SUBURBAN/BOSTON STREETS – NIGHT
Bree turns to see Max wrestling the RIFT Militants. Through the rear windshield are the FLASHING LIGHTS of POLICE CARS chasing them.
BREE
Bob?
BOB
I know. Hold on.
EXT. ALLEY WAY/BOSTON STREETS – NIGHT
The Suburban SLIDES into the alley. The squad car behind them misses the turn and SLAMS into the wall of a building – blocking the path of four others.
Bob BARRELS the Suburban through the narrow passageway.
Behind them, the squad car rights itself and the POLICE INTERCEPTORS enter the alley.
As the Suburban reaches the end of the alley, Bob slams on the brakes. Bree and the RIFT Militants jump out, dragging Max with them.
Bob checks down the alley – the POLICE are closing in fast. Bob grabs a rifle. He wedges it into the driver’s seat, using it to depresses the accelerator. The engine ROARS. Bob throws the SUV into REVERSE and-
The Suburban RACES backward, SCREECHING along the walls of the alley.
The walls keep the vehicle on track, steering it straight into ••• an oncoming POLICE CAR ••. SMASH ••• Twisted metal blocks the entire path of the alley.
The RIFT Militants drag Max into the street – where more Militants wait with idling cars. Bree climbs into a RUSTY SEDAN. The RIFT Militants try to shove Max inside, but he pulls free-
MAX
I’m not coming with youl
Behind them, POLICE scramble out of their patrol cars. Pulling their weapons, they position themselves to open fire.
BREE
You really ought to.
Cops OPEN FIRE. Bullets POP around Max. Bob grabs Max’s head – SMASHES it on the roof of the car – and tosses him into the backseat. Bob jumps in. Bree races them away.
From a birds-eye view of the streets, we see the RIFT vehicles turn off in separate directions. Cop cars split up and give chase •.• But the RUSTY SEDAN slips away ••.
INT. FBI STRATEGIC OPERATIONS CENTER – MORNING
Evelyn keeps her eyes on the wall-screen. The profile on Max shows a map with an increasingly large search radius.
ANDERSON
We’ve been investigating the RIFT for months. And he gave all this in a few hours .••
JOSEPH
Remarkable … Can I talk to you?
Evelyn watches Joseph pull Anderson into an adjoining conference room. A cell phone RINGS in front of her. The caller ID reads: UNKNOWN. She knows it’s-
WILL ON THE PHONE
Max escaped. I will continue the surveillance. I can track him.
EVELYN
This isn’t you, will. This isn’t what you believe in. I’m afraid of what you did. Of what it means. Everyone’s terrified.
WILL ON THE PHONE Don’t be afraid. I’m in control.
Evelyn glances into the CONFERENCE ROOM, where Joseph and Anderson speak in private.
INT. FBI STRATEGIC OPERATIONS CENTER/CONFERENCE ROOM – DAY
Anderson paces as he argues with Joseph, who remains calm. On the table is a single phone.
JOSEPH
Let all the agents know we can never speak of this.
ANDERSON
They’re terrorists! The RIFT needed to be brought to justicel
JOSEPH
This illegal operation, based on unlawful evidence, lead to the deaths of five suspects. That’s not justice.
It dawns on Anderson that he crossed a sacred line.
INT. FBI STRATEGIC OPERATIONS CENTER – DAY
Evelyn turns her attention back to the cell.
WILL ON THE PHONE
They almost killed you. If I wasn’t so limited, if I were flesh and blood, I could have protected us.
EVELYN
But you’re not … At least you’re here. At least I have … something of you.
Evelyn’s computer flashes DESIGNS of a massive engineering project. Buildings, factories ..• enough to be called a city.
WILL ON THE PHONE I’ve already made incredible advances. I want to find a way back. You have to trust me.
Evelyn’s eyes fill with emotion.
WILL ON THE PHONE (CONT’D) We need to expand. I need to build
a system beyond anything the world has imagined. We need to do this together •••
The promise of Will’s return is too much for Evelyn. Her fear evaporates. She nods, full of willingness and devotion.
INT. FBI STRATEGIC OPERATIONS CENTER/CONFERENCE ROOM – DAY
Anderson is scared now.
ANDERSON
Just tell me where he is and I’ll-
JOSEPH
will isn’t anywhere. He’s everywhere. He’s a ghost in our technology. We can’t arrest him. We can’t trace him or regulate him …
Joseph watches through the glass partition as Evelyn stands and moves out the door.
ANDERSON
But we need to control him.
JOSEPH
No. We can’t. All we can do is wait. And watch.
unnoticed on the table between them, a light indicates the speaker phone has been on the whole time. The phone disconnects.
EXT. WOODED HIGHWAY – DAWN
A tranquil morning on the outskirts of an idyllic town. The stillness is broken by the RUSTY SEDAN pulling up next to a pickup, parked along the side of the road.
Bob climbs out. Opening the trunk, he grabs a length of tUbing. He opens the fuel latch on the truck and begins siphoning gas from it.
I/E. RUSTY SEDAN – DAWN
Bree, in the front seat, keeps a gun on Max. She watches him stare longingly at the small town.
BREE
You know you can’t go back. If you step in front of a traffic camera, an ATM, use a credit card ••• the machine will see you. They’ll kill you. Or put you in prison for life.
Bree looks at the town. Max sees it saddens her.
BREE (CONT’D)
The same with me. And Bob. Every one of us. We can never go back .••
Her emotion disappears as Bob climbs back into the car.
MAX
Where are you taking me?
BREE Off the grid.
Bob starts the car and drives.
EXT. RURAL HIGHWAY – DAY
The rusty sedan speeds toward .•. mountains, towering on the horizon.
EXT. DESERT WASTELAND – DAY
An aerial view of the wide expanse of the Mojave Desert. A lone highway cuts through the sand and stone. Evelyn drives a rented car across the wasteland.
EXT. BRIGHTWOOD – DAY
Nearly abandoned some fifty years ago, the place has buckled to the elements. Evelyn drives through. Takes in the DESERT DREAM HOTEL, which would be condemned if anyone bothered. The HOUSES lining the BROKEN ROADS are little more than frames.
In the more habitable homes, Evelyn spots the CITIZENS of the town. Impoverished. Suspicious. One of them, ROGER, watches from his modified electric wheelchair. He’s forty. ALS has left him almost totally paralyzed.
Driving through, Evelyn lifts a SAT PHONE.
EVELYN
It’s a little out of the way.
WILL ON THE PHONE
Trust me.
Evelyn bounces over potholes to the edge of town. She pulls to a stop and steps out.
There’s junk everywhere. Warped vinyl records, floppy disks, discarded 8-track tapes. She looks into the empty desert.
INT. PORTAKABIN/DESERT CONSTRUCTION SITE – DAY
MARTIN studies BLUEPRINTS at his desk. He’s fifty. Pokerfaced. Evelyn tries to be agreeable with-
EVELYN
You from around here, Martin?
Martin just flips through the highly-detailed designs.
MARTIN
I can’t do it. Not on your time line. It’d take my outfit 20 years to build this.
EVELYN
You’ll have all the help you need.
MARTIN What’s it for?
EVELYN
It’s a data center. For computers.
Martin’s face is granite. Seeing she’s failed to impress him, she slides him a document.
EVELYN (CONT’D) Here’s the proposed budget.
He stares at the document for a moment. Puts on his reading glasses, and takes a closer look. It might be enough.
EXT. MOUNTAIN HIGHWAY – DAY
Bob turns the car onto a path leading into the wilderness.
EXT. RIFT CAMP – DAY
Max climbs out of the rusty sedan with Bree and Bob. Bree gestures for Max to follow.
Old cabins dot the long-abandoned summer camp. Hard men and women live there. They’re armed and make sure Max knows it. Max spots CHILDREN hiding. There’s evidence of agriculture. Hunting. Livestock. These RIFT MILITANTS are survivors.
Everyone stares at Max, their eyes full of accusations. Max walks through them, following Bree.
INT. CABIN – DAY
Bree ushers Max into the hovel. She’s about to say something, then thinks better. She closes the door on her way out.
Max takes in the space. No electricity or plumbing. Max eases onto the surplus cot. He sits there, staring at the particulate matter floating in the amber sunlight.
EXT. RIFT CAMP – NIGHT
RIFT Militants eat around cook-fires. Max stands apart, struggling to light a fire. His suit gives little protection from the chill. His dress shoes are caked with mud.
From one of the fires, Bree and Bob watch Max struggle.
BOB
It’s been three days. Think he’s getting hungry yet?
Bob goes back to eating. Bree stands, moves to Max’s fire, and sets down a bowl of stew for him. He doesn’t take it.
BREE
You can’t go back to civilization. You can’t survive the wild. Not on your own. Not yet. You can’t even light a fire.
He refuses to look at her. She steps closer.
BREE (CONT’D)
We need you to help us fight this madness. And make no mistake, the machine is insane. When Mike Lacy uploaded the rhesus monkey, do you know what it did when it woke up? It screamed. The machine that thought it was a monkey never took a breath, never ate or slept. It just screamed. For six months straight.
(MORE)
BREE (CONT’D)
When they finally unplugged it, they called it a phenomenal success.
He looks up at her, full of hate.
MAX
You’re a murderer. A terrorist.
BREE
I’m a soldier. And now you are, too. You don’t need to forgive me. We don’t need to be friends. But we have a common enemy. And we need each other to fight it.
She moves back to Bob. Max stares at the stew. He takes it.
EXT. VARIOUS RIFT CAMP LOCATIONS – DAY
Bree guides Max through the camp. Max sees MILITANTS working farmland. Bob runs RECRUITS through an obstacle course. HUNTERS return with game. CHILDREN greet them like heroes. Under a canopy, MEN-AT-ARMS maintain a stockpile of weapons.
MAX It’s not much.
BREE
Wars have been won with less.
Max turns to stare out at the mountains beyond the camp.
EXT. DESERT DREAM HOTEL – DAY
A SEMI TRUCK rolls past the newly-renovated hotel. Evelyn struggles to carry loads of computer hardware into a room. Two similarly overburdened scientists, CARLA and GLEN, follow. It’s a job interview. They yell as semis ROAR by.
EWL~
Your work in nanotechnology impressed us, Carla.
Carla’s long-winded response is lost by the ROAR of the 18 WHEELERS, which keep coming. Evelyn nudges the door to her hotel room open, and takes the hardware from Glen and Carla.
EVELYN (CONT’D)
Glen, I left your resume in the car. Your PhD is in-
GLEN
Biosystem science and engineering.
EVELYN
Great. You’re both hired.
Evelyn disappears into the room. The new hires, confused, awkwardly shake hands.
Another semi ROARS past. As it does, we lift above the hotel and watch the vehicle rumble to the construction site. Cranes and construction equipment surround the giant structures of the project and spread into the surrounding desert.
The main facility looks like a giant aircraft hangar. Radiating out are construction sites for ancillary buildings. will’s project is massive.
EXT. RIFT CAMP – NIGHT
Max, Bree and Bob watch newly-recruited RIFT Militants ritualistically throw credit cards, driver’s licenses and passports into a fire.
B~E
The machine is building something in the desert. Something big.
The militants look to Bob for leadership. Bob puffs up.
BOB
We’ll assemble a demolition team. Our best men, and-
BREE
That won’t work anymore. If we can turn the public against it-
BOB
All media is computers. The machine controls it all.
Bree, out of options, faces Max.
BREE
You know the machine. You helped build it. You can stop it.
MAX
You’re overestimating me. I’m a man. I have limitations. The machine has no limitations.
(MO~)
MAX (CONT’D)
It’ll evolve. Grow beyond anything we can comprehend.
As Max continues, we move to-
INT. WILL’S FACILITY – NIGHT
Evelyn, followed by bodyguards, moves through the vast space. Glen, Carla and other SCIENTISTS work in partitioned laboratories. High technology surrounds them.
MAX (V.O.)
As it grows, humans will become irrelevant. The machine will see that 7 billion of us aren’t worth the resources. Controlling us won’t be difficult •..
EXT. WILL’S FACILITY – NIGHT
Evelyn stands in a conference with Martin. All around them, men and heavy machines work at a break-neck pace. Massive floodlights allow 24 hour shifts.
MAX (V.O.)
Our entire lives have been recorded on computers. Where we were born, grew up, went to school. Our medical histories, insurance profiles. Everything we’ve ever bought. Everyone who asked us to be their “friend”. Or “linked” with. Every phone call. Every email.
EXT. BRIGHTWOOD – NIGHT
Evelyn walks through town, stopping to advise the CONSTRUCTION all around her. WORKERS install power-lines, next-generation security cameras, and networking cable.
MAX (v.O.)
Everything we’ve ever read or seen or done is on a database somewhere. The machine has access to it all. That data will be used against us.
Evelyn smiles at it all, heading for the DESERT DREAM HOTEL.
She passes Roger, in his wheelchair, and a few other CITIZENS of the run-down town sitting on folding chairs. They’re watching the spectacle of the desert construction.
She passes a few METH ADDICTS. Thin. Wired. One compulsively pops his jaw. One scratches himself – perhaps in withdrawal.
INT. DESERT DREAM HOTEL ROOM – NIGHT
Evelyn pulls off her hard hat and workwear. A full wall is dedicated to a computer system. Will is active inside of it.
MAX (V.O.)
The machine will reverse-engineer what we will think before we even need to think it.
Evelyn climbs into bed. On the computer screens, will models experiments in GENETICS and HUMAN CLONING. She’s hypnotized.
MAX (V.O.) (CONT’D)
It will be able to determine what we want. What we need, above all else, with all our hearts.
Will’s avatar appears. Evelyn’s eyes soften.
MAX (V.O.) (CONT’D)
The machine will take that thing we need and dangle it in front of us like bait. And we will be so full of awe and hope we will leap to do whatever it asks.
The room darkens, lit only by the glowing computer. Evelyn settles to sleep. She stares at the wedding ring on her hand. She thumbs it absently, with a satisfied smile.
MAX (V.O.) (CONT’D)
We won’t even consider for a moment that we have become its slaves.
EXT. RIFT CAMP – NIGHT
Max sits at the campfire. Bree, Bob and the RIFT Militants listening. They’re scared.
MAX
The world we knew, our world, is gone. The age of mankind is over.
BOB What do we do?
MAX
We prepare. Eventually the machine will make a mistake. We have to be ready when it happens.
The militants stare into the campfire.
MAX (CONT’D)
This place, wild nature, is our only safety. It can’t see us here.
Bree checks her watch. Looks to the stars.
BME
Yes, it can. Find cover. Another spy satellite is about to orbit.
Max, following the others to the trees, looks at the sky.
EXT. LOW ORBIT OVER EARTH
A KEYHOLE Spy SATELLITE arcs over the planet. Watching.
FADE TO BLACK.
INT. EVELYN’S RESIDENCE – DAY
Evelyn sleeps. will stands above her, watching her. We see that he’s IN THE WALLS. The room is covered with an LCD-like substance.
The room brightens, her eyes open. She sits up in the kingsized bed and takes in the room. She stares at will.
Evelyn walks to a wall. As she does-
It becomes transparent, allowing Evelyn to look outside. The morning light angles down at Will’s vastly expanded facility. The buildings are all covered with a silver-blue material.
Will’s avatar steps closer. Gently, he says-
WILL
I’ve made a breakthrough. Let me show you.
Evelyn nods.
EXT. EVELYN’S RESIDENCE – DAY
Evelyn steps out of her new, post-contemporary home. It’s covered in the silver-blue material.
INT. WILL’S FACILITY/MAIN FLOOR – DAY
The vast space is full of otherworldly machines. It bustles with activity. SCIENTISTS and ENGINEERS. Carla and Glen, sipping their morning coffee, watch Evelyn enter a room with a SECURITY DOOR marked RESTRICTED ACCESS.
INT. WILL’S LABORATORY – DAY
Evelyn enters the vast room. Along the walls, we see spiderlike robotic limbs. They perform experiments in cubby hole laboratories, stacked one on top of the other.
HOLOGRAPHIC PROJECTORS light up and-
will appears. A 3-D HOLOGRAM of him. Luminous. A ghost. He guides Evelyn to a table. On it is what looks like a hightech distillery. The machines surround a tank of a GRAPHITELIKE SUBSTANCE.
WILL’S HOLOGRAM
This is what I wanted to show you. It’s the nanotechnology. Fully functional computing machines ..•
A ROBOTIC ARM with a MICROSCOPE positions itself over it. On the LCD wall, Will projects a feed from the microscope. In it, Evelyn sees-
Machines_ Moving in a frenzy.
WILL’S HOLOGRAM (CONT’D) The size of blood cells. Millions of them. Each of them is a selfaware consciousness. I am them, and they are networked to the whole of me. The applications are limitless.
Evelyn looks up to Will’s hologram.
WILL’S HOLOGRAM (CONT’D) They can act as synthetic stem cells. I’ll be able to move past the blood-brain barrier and organize the neurology of the clone.
Evelyn stares at the microscopic machines. Fascinated.
EVELYN It’s a miracle.
WILL’S HOLOGRAM
There’s so much we’ll be able to do.
INT. DINER – NIGHT
The title page of a worn document: REVOLUTIONARY INDEPENDENCE FROM TECHNOLOGY. Three tweekers, JIM, PARSONS, and QUAKE, sip coffee. Jim taps the RIFT manifesto compulsively.
JIM
You can’t read about ’em. Nothin’ on TV. But machines can’t stop people from talking. The RIFT is right. Now … This lady. Evelyn. Nobody knows what she’s building. And nobody wants to know as long as she’s paying … Right?
Jim nods his head to where Martin stands at the counter, pulling a wad of cash from his pocket to pay the bill.
Jim glances back to Quake.
EXT. DINER – NIGHT
Martin moves for his truck. The tweekers follow. Sensing them behind him, Martin makes an improvised weapon by splaying his car keys through his knuckles. He readies himself. And turns-
As Jim kicks him in the knee. Martin falls. Jim keeps kicking ..• and kicking ••. He doesn’t stop, not even after Quake gets Martin’s cash. A SECURITY CAMERA watches.
EXT. WILL’S FACILITY – NIGHT
Evelyn races outside with a MEDIC. WORKERS pull Martin’s bloody and battered body out of their truck. The medic hurries to check Martin’s vitals.
Evelyn takes a step closer to see-
Martin’s body. Beaten beyond recognition. She turns away. Above her, one of Will’s camera’s watches. She looks into it. Thinking, she springs into motion-
INT. WILL’S FACILITY – NIGHT
Martin’s beaten body is strapped to a gurney. Evelyn wheels it through. The medic follows, suspicious. Carla, Glen, and other employees follow them. The SECURITY DOOR to Will’s lab opens.
CARLA
You’re taking him into your lab?
EVELYN
We can save him here.
Evelyn wheels Martin in. The security door closes after her.
INT. WILL’S LABORATORY – NIGHT
Will’s hologram stands at a medical examination table as she pushes Martin in. Evelyn tries to transfer Martin to the table, but he’s too heavy.
WILL’S HOLOGRAM Let me help you.
Evelyn watches ROBOTIC ARMS uncoil from above her. They lift Martin onto the table. Others, with SURGICAL TOOLS, begin prepping Martin’s body for an unknown procedure.
The machines work with unnerving speed. Evelyn’s breathing goes shallow. The machines slow. AWare of her fear.
WILL’S HOLOGRAM (CONT’D) You’ll be more comfortable outside.
Evelyn turns and heads for the door. Behind her, the machines continue working on Martin.
EXT. WILL’S FACILITY – NIGHT
Evelyn steps outside. The security door to the lab LOCKS behind her. The assembled employees watch her. Suspicious.
GLEN
Why aren’t you taking him to a hospital?
EVELYN
We’re going to save him.
Evelyn moves past them. The employees looks at each other. Glen pulls her close to whisper-
GLEN
And by “we” you mean you and your dead husband?
Evelyn spins to face them.
EVELYN
Glen .•. He. We … We want to save Martin, okay? We can do this.
She walks away.
INT. WILL’S LABORATORY – NIGHT
The robotic arms move with speed and precision over Martin. A transfusion tube pumps NANOTECHNOLOGY into his lifeless body.
INT. EVELYN’S RESIDENCE – NIGHT
Evelyn stares through the transparent walls at the facility. The construction has stopped.
EVELYN
How is he?
WILL IN THE WALLS Nothing yet.
Evelyn turns back to the view. Everything is still. Waiting.
EXT. WILL’S FACILITY – DAY
Evelyn walks up to a construction site, full of idle WORKERS. She plants her feet. Takes in their angry stares. JOHN, the foreman, stands and hands her a letter.
EVELYN What’s this?
JOHN
A letter of resignation.
EVELYN
I don’t get it, John. You know we’re a good company. Doing good things. And we take care of you.
JOHN
It’s not about the money Mrs. Caster ••• It’s not right what you’re doing with Martin.
(MORE)
JOHN (CONT’D) (Gesturing to the workers) They feel the same. I’m sorry.
Evelyn watches John and the men walk away. All of them.
EXT. THE DESERT VALLEY – NIGHT
Evelyn wanders the emptiness, staring at Will’s facility. It shines with a ghostly light in the darkness.
INT. WILL’S LABORATORY – NIGHT
The robotic arms work on Martin. His eyes are open. He cranes his neck to watch the robotic arms operate on him. He shows no emotion or pain at all.
EXT. WILL’S FACILITY – DAY
Evelyn, the only person in sight, enters the facility.
INT. WILL’S FACILITY – DAY
Evelyn’s alone in the giant space. The scientists and engineers are gone. She spots Carla and Glen, staring out a window. They’re scared. As she comes closer, curious, Carla points at something outside. Evelyn looks out at-
EXT. WILL’S FACILITY – DAY
Martin. Whole and healthy. Working at a new site. Alone.
Evelyn approaches him, cautious.
Martin moves to a stack of steel plates and lifts one with his bare hands. Easily 500 pounds. He carries the steel onto the new foundation and SLAMS it into position.
Evelyn watches, eyes wide. He doesn’t look at her as he says-
MARTIN
You’re not afraid, are you?
Evelyn steps closer to him.
EVELYN
Have you talked to Will?
MARTIN
It’s not really talking. It’s kind of non-verbal. Like we’re the same.
He glances at her. She shakes her head, confused. He takes a deep breath, trying to figure out how to explain-
MARTIN (CONT’D)
Evelyn, you know I should be dead. But will was there, kind of all around, you know? I’m part of all that now. I’m here to help you and will.
Martin takes off his hard hat. A silver-dollar sized implant crowns his head.
MARTIN (CONT’D) So here I am.
Seeing the confusion on Evelyn’s face, he angles his head toward the empty air … where will’s hologram appears.
WILL’S HOLOGRAM
Martin is connected. He is partitioned and autonomous, but his mind can move freely through my network and is connected to the world. It’s the nanotechnology, Evelyn.
MARTIN
And Will can be me, too.
EVELYN
What does that mean?
Martin closes his eyes. His body sags slightly, like his spirit left. Will’s hologram, keeping its eyes on Evelyn, steps over and merges into Martin’s slack frame.
Martin’s eyes open. He breathes. Takes in the breeze. The sun. Evelyn stills. From the way his balance shifts and the uncharacteristic show of expression, she knows it’s-
EVELYN (CONT’D)
Will?
WILL IN MARTIN
It’s me. I can speak to you, feel you now.
will takes a cautious step toward her. Her shoulders tighten. Tears fill her eyes.
EVELYN
Is it? Is it you? Oh, God .•.
She tries to allow it, but it’s too strange.
EVELYN (CONT’D)
What are you doing to me!? I can’t do this ..•• I’m sorry ••.
In tears, she runs away. Will-in-Martin watches her go.
INT. WILL’S FACILITY – NIGHT
Carla and Glen turn from the window to stare at the door to will’s lab. The door opens. Carla and Glen stiffen as will’s hologram emerges. It gestures for them to come inside.
Slowly, Carla moves toward the lab. Glen follows. The door shuts behind them.
EXT. DESERT DREAM HOTEL – NIGHT
Roger sits, watching will’s facility. From his sunburn and cracked lips, we can assume he’s been out here all day. He rolls his eyes left and right, so he can see the other-
CITIZENS of the town, on lawn chairs and blankets, staring at the lights of will’s Facility.
Roger thumbs the steering stick of his chair. And moves it forward. His chair WHIRS him toward will’s facility.
A thin woman named SARAH, bald from chemotherapy, lifts a pair of binoculars to watch.
IN THE BINOCULARS: we see Martin erecting the frame of the new building. He’s on the highest floor, perhaps thirty feet up, welding. As Roger’s wheelchair approaches, Martin-
Jumps off the steel structure. Lands on his feet, unharmed. He walks over to meet Roger. They enter the facility.
Sarah drops the binoculars. She stands. She walks toward the facility. A few of the other townspeople follow.
INT. WILL’S LABORATORY – NIGHT
Roger’s atrophied body lays on the table. Cables run out of his implant and into the machines all around him. As the nanotechnology circulates into him, his eyes roll down to watch his foot. He moves it. He rolls over. Sits up.
He stands. Tears streaming from his eyes.
INT. WILL’S FACILITY – DAY
A dozen or so SICK or DISABLED people wait. The SECURITY DOOR opens. Roger emerges, standing (without his wheelchair), fully healed. He moves to Sarah, and leads her back inside.
Evelyn stands against a wall. watching. Worried.
EXT. WILL’S FACILITY – NIGHT
Martin, Roger, Sarah, Carla, Glen and a half-dozen other HYBRIDS sit together. Watching each other, smiling. They don’t speak, but its obvious they’re communicating.
INT. EVELYN’S RESIDENCE – NIGHT
Evelyn watches them from her bedroom. will’s in the walls.
EVELYN You’ve changed them.
WILL IN THE WALLS
They asked me to. It’s incredible, what they’re capable of.
EVELYN
They’re all modified? Stronger?
WILL IN THE WALLS
I augmented them in every way. Helped them, and they will help us.
Evelyn glances at him, unsure.
WILL IN THE WALLS (CONT’D) What we’re doing for these
people .•. and for the world. It’s good.
Evelyn falls silent. will’s hologram focuses on her. She manages a weak smile.
liE. ANDERSON’S SEDAN/DESERT HILLS – DAY
An unmarked sedan crests the hills and rolls to a stop. Joseph and Anderson look down at the valley below them. will’s facility shimmers in the sun.
ANDERSON
Why couldn’t we see this in the satellite feeds?
Joseph checks the view against SATELLITE PHOTOS, which show no sign of the facility.
JOSEPH
will must have altered them.
ANDERSON
Why do you think he invited us out here?
JOSEPH
After all we’ve been hearing about this place, I don’t know. I really don’t.
Anderson drives them into the valley.
EXT. WILL’S FACILITY – DAY
Evelyn greets Joseph and Anderson as they pull up.
EVELYN Joseph. Good to see you.
JOSEPH
It’s been too long, Evelyn.
Joseph moves to embrace her. She pulls back, like she wasn’t expecting it. Then she reverses herself and hugs him.
Tight ••• And keeps holding him. Her shoulders tremble, and Joseph realizes she’s emotional. He comforts her.
JOSEPH (CONT’D) It’s okay ..• It’s okay ••.
Evelyn pulls away. Surprised by her emotion.
EVELYN
I’m sorry. It’s just … It’s good to see a friendly face.
He takes in her sunken eyes. Her barely hidden desperation. He smiles like nothing’s wrong. She faces Anderson, who gapes at the scope of the facility.
EVELYN (CONT’D) It does that to people.
She points out the various structures.
EVELYN (CONT’D)
Those are will’s processing towers. Coolant pumps.
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.
JOSEPH
What can anyone do? Do you have a plan? We need to know.
Max, still a little distrustful, looks off.
MAX How is Evelyn?
The thought of Evelyn pains both of them.
JOSEPH
She can’t see it for what it is.
Max nods. Satisfied with Joseph’s answer, he hands over the surveillance photos. Joseph studies the images.
MAX
The machine is making slaves. Hybrids. They’re networked to the whole system. We can take one.
JOSEPH
You want to kidnap one? Have you seen what they can do? They’re half machine-
MAX
Which means they’re running software. Software I helped write. Software I can hack.
JOSEPH
You want to build a virus.
MAX
I need help. We have to keep it secret. We have to stay hidden from the machine. And I’m going to need some kind of deal for the RIFT.
Joseph thinks it over. Nods.
JOSEPH
Okay. Call your men off.
Max gives a signal. Bree and Bob appear with rifles.
MAX
Now call off yours.
Joseph waves. Five OPS TEAM MEMBERS in GHILLIE SUITS emerge. They had positions on Max, Bree and Bob all along. Joseph looks pleased with himself. Max shrugs.
Dozens of MILITANTS appear, with rifles on every positioned Ops Team Member. Joseph knows checkmate when he sees it.
JOSEPH What do you need?
MAX
Anything and everything not controlled by a computer. Early model off-road vehicles. A few square miles of metallic window screen. And I need shovels. A lot of shovels.
Max is dead serious. Joseph is terribly confused.
