Trancendence
WILL
Promise me. When it happens, you’ll take care of her.
MAX
Just count back from ten.
WILL Promise me.
MAX
I promise.
The drugs take Will. Darkness.
EXT. BOSTON – DAY
The early morning sun creeps across the waking city. A COMMUTER TRAIN slides by a station platform.
PEDESTRIANS walk the streets, texting, talking on cell phones. A lone CREW BOAT glides along the Charles River.
INT. ABANDONED BUILDING – DAY
Will finds himself on a bed. A living space has been set up. He sees Max and Evelyn studying the cascade of information streaming over an array of screens. Evelyn moves to him.
Wires run out of his skull from twenty insertion points. The cables, tied into a tether, connect to PINN’S stolen cores.
EVELYN
Don’t worry. It worked.
will nods and, groggy from the drugs, falls back asleep. Evelyn joins Max at PINN, displaying an intimidating amount of information.
MAX
It took Mike Lacy a year to do this.
EVELYN We have a month.
They process what lays before them. Evelyn, committing, sits at the terminal. Max follows. They get to work.
INT. ABANDONED BUILDING – VARIOUS
Max helps will take one of a collection of pills as Evelyn sits at the monitors, writing code.
Evelyn takes a digital recording of Will’s voice as Max takes a shift at the terminal.
Max performs a lidar scan on Will as Evelyn types at the machine.
Evelyn gives Will a sponge bath as Max codes at the machine.
Evelyn works as Max plays chess with Will. Will, too weak to even move the chess pieces, topples them.
will sleeps. Max and Evelyn work in the dim light of the data stream. She watches him wiping sweat away. Stress.
Evelyn works at PINN. Behind her, Max reads to will. will’s skin is grey. The radiation is killing his system.
Evelyn tries to comfort will as he WRITHES in pain. Max, sitting at PINN, tries to control his grief.
Late at night. Evelyn and Max sleep. Will lays awake in the dim light, staring at the machine …
The machine might be staring back at him.
INT. ABANDONED BUILDING – NIGHT
Evelyn holds will. At the edge of death, he comforts her with-
WILL
We’re made of matter. The same elements ..• make everything in nature. We come from it. We live in it. We return to it.
EVELYN
Just rest. We’ll get there. Max and me. Don’t worry.
WILL
No. It’s not working. There wasn’t any time. Don’t lose yourself to this. Everything I am .•• will be in the world around you … Let me go.
She kisses him, gently.
EVELYN
Never.
Her conviction pains will.
INT. ABANDONED BUILDING – DAY
Evelyn, sleeping in an armchair, wakes to find-
Max, drained by hours of weeping, stares at will. Evelyn jumps to her feet to see •.• will is dead.
EVELYN
No •.. No. We’re not ready. We need more time! Why are you just sitting there?! Do something!
Max doesn’t have the strength to respond. Evelyn, irrational and despairing, starts changing out Will’s IV. As she does, a low, mournful MOAN comes out of her ••.
It turns into a SCREAM. She SHATTERS the lamp next to Will. As she continues destroying the living space, she yells-
EVELYN (CONT’D) Bastards! Those fucking bastards!
She kicks over a tray of meds, which CLATTER to the floor. Looking for something else to destroy, she turns to the hardware and ••• slows to a stop ••.
The flat screens of the PINN system are filled with vast fields of text. Endless rows of well-ordered numbers, letters and symbols. They make no sense at all.
They disappear for a moment, but are quickly replaced by a new field of the inscrutable code.
Evelyn stands there, staring at the anomalous text .••
EXT. CEMETERY – DAY
MOURNERS surround will’s grave. Max struggles against his grief. Evelyn is calm and neutral. Joseph watches her.
INT. WILL AND EVELYN’S TOWNHOUSE – DAY
The reception. Max sits with Joseph. Anderson watches Max. Suspicious. Joseph gives Anderson a look: ease off. Anderson, resigned, moves to the buffet. Joseph focuses on Evelyn.
JOSEPH
It hasn’t hit her yet, has it?
Max looks to see MOURNERS paying respects to Evelyn. She’s gracious, quiet, and unmoved. She even glances at her watch.
INT. WILL AND EVELYN’S HOUSE – NIGHT
Evelyn cleans up after the reception. Max stands at the sink, staring at nothing as water runs over the dishes.
EVELYN He isn’t gone.
Max turns to her, utterly confused.
EVELYN (CONT’D)
He isn’t dead. We saved him. The upload. It worked.
Max takes her in. She’s certain. Not a trace of doubt.
INT. ABANDONED BUILDING – NIGHT
Max stands with Evelyn in front of the machine. Covering the flat-screens are the endless fields of text. Max inspects the random letters, numbers and symbols in well-ordered lines. It’s incomprehensible.
MAX
What is this, Evelyn?
EVELYN
It’s will. Ask him something.
Max faces the machine.
MAX
will? Can you hear me?
Nothing.
EVELYN
Type it.
Max types “WILL, CAN YOU HEAR ME?” Presses ENTER. The screens go black for a heartbeat. The indecipherable code re-appears. Max looks at Evelyn, confused.
EVELYN (CONT’D) Try it again.
Max types “I CAN’T UNDERSTAND YOU.” ENTER. The screens fill with new fields of gobbledygook.
MAX
I’m not sure what we’re looking for.
EVELYN Wait. Just watch.
Evelyn keeps her focus on the screens, where a new field of meaningless text appears.
EVELYN (CONT’D)
