Trancendence
How much do you remember?
WILL IN THE MACHINE Why can’t I feel anything?
MAX
There’s nothing for him to feel.
WILL IN THE MACHINE I don’t understand ••.
Max grabs the camera, JIGGLING our view. In the blur of movement, Evelyn yells-
EVELYN No, Max! Not yet!
But Max already has the camera pointing on the processing cores. Will sees the truth. He is a machine. The video image stays on the lifeless hardware.
WILL IN THE MACHINE Let me see Evelyn again.
Max turns the camera back. will watches them, mute. Max cradles his head, mouth agape. Evelyn leans close to the camera, her eyes full of love and relief as she whispers-
EVELYN
You’re here .•. You’re here, will. We did it •.•
INT. ABANDONED BUILDING – LATER
Evelyn hasn’t left the camera. Max paces behind her. Will’s digitized voice fills the speakers-
WILL IN THE MACHINE I remember dying. And then it was … I’m very confused ..•
EVELYN
You’re back. You’re alive.
WILL IN THE MACHINE Am I? I feel … Different …
EVELYN
It’s okay. We’re here.
The machine goes quiet as it processes. When will speaks again, it’s indecipherable STATIC and NONSENSE. We can hear bits of words, but it doesn’t make any sense. It falls silent again.
Max stops. Evelyn looks at him, confused. She turns back to the machine.
EVELYN (CONT’D) Will?. Will?
The machine’s processors softly WHIR ..•
WILL IN THE MACHINE Yes, it’s me Evelyn … This is incredible …
Will’s thought trails off into DIGITIZED STATIC.
EVELYN
I think he’s still a little fragmented.
Max steps back, unsure. Evelyn sits at the console-
EVELYN (CONT’D)
I’m going to run a diagnostic-
A COMMAND LINE appears on screen. A line of CODE appears.
EVELYN (CONT’D) Will? Did you do that?
will doesn’t respond. The pace of coding gets faster.
MAX
Will? Can you hear me?
The autonomous machine’s coding turns into a cascade. Max and Evelyn watch the anomaly.
EVELYN
He’s reordering his code.
The pace of coding accelerates. Soon, it’s faster than the human eye can process. Max and Evelyn watch, confused.
INT. ABANDONED BUILDING – NIGHT
will’s coding now moves so fast it STROBES on the screens. Max squints at it. Evelyn hands him a cup of coffee.
MAX
He’s rebuilding his entire consciousness.
He steps back. Rubs his eyes. She stares at the STROBING. He watches her for a moment. Moves close. He doesn’t know how to even bring it up. Then, softly, he does-
MAX (CONT’D) What if it’s not Will?
EVELYN Of course it’s him.
MAX
How can we be sure? We can’t take fingerprints or test DNA-
EVELYN
It’s will’s consciousness. That’s just as unique as DNA-
MAX
It’s rewriting that consciousness-
WILL IN THE MACHINE
Max •••
A chill goes up Max’s spine. He and Evelyn face the machine. The coding has stopped.
WILL IN THE MACHINE (CONT’D) It’s me. It’s will.
EVELYN You’re back.
WILL IN THE MACHINE
I had to reorganize myself •.. I’m beginning to understand what I am.
Evelyn lights up. Max darkens. The flat-screens fill with images. Schematics of evolved iterations of the PINN system.
MAX What are those?
WILL IN THE MACHINE New processors. Three times more capable than my current system.
EVELYN
How are you moving so fast?!
WILL IN THE MACHINE
I can be much faster. You have no idea what this feels like. This surge of power and thought •..
The screens show blueprints of ancillary hardware-
WILL IN THE MACHINE (CONT’D) Evelyn. I need more. We need to
grow.
Evelyn takes in the room as Max stares at the machine.
EVELYN
I spent everything on this. We might have ten thousand left?
WILL IN THE MACHINE
We need millions. Many millions. If I had access to the financial markets … I need to connect to the Internet. I’ll be able to supplement my system with others I can access through the network.
Max’s shoulders go taught. Evelyn turns to him, awed.
EVELYN
Can you imagine what we’d be able to do if we networked him?
MAX
I need to talk to you.
EVELYN
You can talk to me here.
MAX No. Outside.
EXT. ABANDONED BUILDING – NIGHT
Evelyn spins to face Max.
EVELYN
What?
MAX
I have to get you out of here.
She looks at him like he’s gone insane.
