Trancendence
Evelyn finds Will’s hair is falling out in large patches.
EVELYN
Max.
She shows them the symptom. Max goes pale.
MAX
No, God. Please no.
INT. HOSPITAL ROOM – DAY
A TECH examines will with a RADIATION SURVEY METER. It CRACKLES. will closes his eyes against the death sentence.
INT. HOSPITAL ROOM/HOSPITAL HALLWAY – DAY
Max, with somber simplicity, shares the results with will.
MAX
The bullet delivered a large dose of polonium. It entered your blood stream and •.• It dispersed through your entire body .•.
Max’s professionalism breaks. He tries to recover it.
MAX (CONT’D)
You have severe radiation
poisoning … It’s, um, it’s really bad ..• I mean, we’ll try everything but this is a lethal dose ..•
This is not a patient. This is his best friend.
MAX (CONT’D)
You have four, maybe five weeks ••.
will looks through a glass partition into the hallway, where he makes eye-contact with-
Evelyn, just back with will’s coat and other personal items, is frozen in the window. Her hands cover her mouth. The expressions on will and Max says it all.
INT. WILL AND EVELYN’S TOWNHOUSE – DAY
We move slowly down the hallway of the townhouse’s interior, eventually rounding a corner into the living room, where will and Evelyn hold each other on the couch. Evelyn sobs quietly.
INT. WILL AND EVELYN’S TOWNHOUSE – LATER
Evelyn opens the refrigerator. Other than a few condiments and a random can of Sprite, the fridge is bare. She stares into it. She’s woefully unprepared for this.
Will, on the couch, takes in their home. Motherboards and computer hardware cover the table. A mess. will summons the strength to stand. Woozy, he corrects his balance. He inches across the room, finally lunging to the table for support.
Evelyn searches the kitchen like it’s alien terrain. She looks surprised to find the pots and pans and .•. a can of tomato soup. She takes it.
She finds will sorting the mess of hardware.
EVELYN What are you doing?
WILL
Cleaning. We’ve been working so hard. I forgot … my chores …
will looks dizzy. His legs give out. He CRASHES onto the floor. Evelyn jumps to help him up, but his dead weight is too much for her. She slips and falls next to him.
There’s no place they’d rather be. They stay there. Holding each other. Trying to treasure every detail.
INT. MAX’S APARTMENT – DAY
Max steps into the foyer of his well-appointed home. It looks terribly empty. He stares at it and, perhaps realizing he couldn’t bear to be alone right now, leaves.
liE. EVELYN’S SEDAN/BOURNE BRIDGE, CAPE COD – DAY
An aerial view of a lone car passing over the bridge ••• Evelyn drives will in silence ..•
EXT. NEW ENGLAND BEACH – DAY
Will and Evelyn sit among the dunes. She pours soup from a Thermos and offers him a sip. Will, blanketed against the autumn day, shakes his head.
WILL
My dad was an engineer. He spent his life lost in complicated problems.
Evelyn offers him saltines. He shakes his head.
WILL (CONT’D)
When he was dying he told me something I never knew. He always wished he had spent more time in his garden ..• That it was important. I couldn’t figure out what the hell he was talking about.
She cracks open the Sprite. Offers it. He shakes his head.
EVELYN
Will. Please drink this.
will gives in. She helps him take a sip.
EVELYN (CONT’D)
We need to keep your strength up.
He feigns strength. She smiles. He vomits up the soda. She soothes him ..• he stills ••• she wraps her arms around him ••• they watch the sea.
INT. BOXING GYM – NIGHT
Max unloads on a HEAVY BAG. POUNDING it, again and again. He gives it a final SLAM. All his pain and fury. Panting, he watches it swing right back at him.
INT. WILL AND EVELYN’S LIVING ROOM – NIGHT
Evelyn works on her laptop with a thousand-yard stare. She discovers her hands trembling with rage. She makes fists.
She focuses on the screen. A few clicks. Something arrests her attention. She leans in.
From the bedroom, will MOANS in weak agony. She turns her head. As the silence lengthens, she starts reading again.
INT. WILL AND EVELYN’S BEDROOM – DAY
will flips through thick binders of RESEARCH. Evelyn paces.
EVELYN
We’ve talked for years about the inevitability of this technology. Mike did it. Not fifty years from now. He did it six months ago.
Will closes the research. Ambivalent. Evelyn holds up a piece of hardware. A fragile-looking IMPLANT.
EVELYN (CONT’D)
This could be the key to everything we’ve been working for. All of your noble ambitions.
WILL
I’m not afraid to die. You have to be sure. Is this really what you want?
EVELYN
I already have a place. And equipment. Please let me do this.
He masks his sad doubt with a nod. She kisses him.
EVELYN (CONT’D) We’re gonna need Max.
INT. WILL AND EVELYN’S LIVING ROOM – NIGHT
Max examines an IMPLANT, thinner than a strand of hair. will struggles through his fatigue to say-
WILL
That, right there, is why they killed Mike Lacy. He implanted it in a rhesus monkey. That pushed The RIFT off the deep end ..•
will cannot continue. It motivates Evelyn.
EVELYN
He recorded its brain activity. He duplicated it digitally. He uploaded the animal’s consciousness into a computer. Just like it was a song or a movie.
Max puts down the implant, perhaps frightened by it.
MAX
Where did you get this?
EVELYN
I lied to one of Lacy’s grad students. Told him I worked with the project’s financier.
MAX This is insane.
Max unpacks grocery bags. Medications and jars of baby food.
EVELYN
His body is dying. But Will is not his body. His being is a pattern of electrical signals in his mind. We can upload it all into PINN.
MAX
No. Absolutely not. If we’d made progress with nanotechnology, we could use the synthetic blood cells to purify his system-
EVELYN Nanotechnology is decades away!
(She grabs the implant)
