Cyberpunk

EXT. BULLET TRAIN PLATFORM - NIGHT

The sleek train is a blur of motion as it clears frame... revealing Case,
exhausted and dishevelled from his run in with the Yakuza. He checks his
surroundings warily, then exits the platform. As he approaches the dingy
stairway, his attention is drawn to a holographic travel advert floating
overhead.

CLOSER - HOLOGRAM

It displays a beautiful cylindrical satellite hanging in space like a twinkling
child's toy. The word FREESIDE pulses beneath the image in capital letters that
mimic printed Japanese, followed by the copy line, "Why wait?".

A crack of lightning briefly illuminates a night sky choked with storm clouds. A
light rain begins to fall. Case moves on.

EXT. CHEAP HOTEL

Case turns his collar up against the rain as he checks his lock for signs of a
break-in. He slots a key card and the portal pops open.

INT. CHEAP HOTEL

Slipping through the small entry, case shrugs off his wet jacket and reaches for
the lights.

OFFSCREEN VOICE
Hold it.

Case turns to find himself looking down the four barrelled muzzle of a Fletcher;
a lethal looking hand gun that shoots dart cartridges ranging from
tranquillisers to micro-explosives.

The Woman In Black sits at the far end of the coffin training the Fletcher on
Case with a rock steady hand. The gun's pepper box muzzle rotates once, clicking
a barrel in place.

WOMAN
No lights. I can see just fine the way I am, thanks.

C.U. THE WOMAN

Her mirror shades are actually surgically inset silver lenses that cover her eye
sockets. Her fine features and smooth pale skin are framed by a rough shag of
jet black hair. There's a cold beauty about her... marred by a street tough
edge.

WOMAN
Now close the door.

WOMAN'S P.O.V.

Her lenses provide light boosters... enhancing the scene in a pale green hue as
Case closes the portal.

CASE
That was you at the arcade.

WOMAN
I just wanted to put the Big Yak down, not kill him. I've got enough problems
without Yak heat.

ANOTHER ANGLE

The room's only light source is the dim glow of the computer monitor.

MOLLY
His name's Armitage. He's very anxious to meet you.

CASE
Why should I want to meet him.

MOLLY
Because you've exceeded your shelf life, Case. Word on the street is you're a
dead man walking. Nice time for an employment opportunity. Travel to exotic
locales.

CASE
What's my end?

MOLLY
You want to hear the pitch, you gotta meet the man.

Case considers this for a beat, then reaches for his jacket.

CASE
This better be good.

Molly holsters her gun and rises.

Case now notices Linda's suitcase lying by the temperfoam slab, with a note on
top of it. He scans the note... adrenalin surges through his body.

MOLLY
What is it?

CASE
... a friend of mine's gonna get herself killed. I need my clip.

MOLLY
Sorry. That's not gonna happen.

CASE
Then, fuck you. I'm gone.

Case reaches for the door.

The fletcher is instantly in Molly's hand and firing.

Three blue steel darts puncture the fibreglass portal and stand
quivering inches from Case's hand.

Case turns and glares at Molly. She considers the situation.

MOLLY (CONT.)
(holsters gun)
Alright. We check your friend out first. But I want you to
remember something.

Molly snaps her hand open, palms up. With a barely audible click ten double
edged scalpel blades slide from their housings beneath her black lacquered
nails. Surgical implants.

MOLLY
You mess with me, you'll be playing Jai Alai with Jesus.

EXT. ARENA

An inflated dome behind a portside warehouse, taut grey fabric reinforced with a
net of thin steel cables. The roar of the crowd briefly rises above the night
sounds of Chiba City.

INT. ARENA

Linda Lee makes her way across a crowded transom as the predominantly Japanese
CROWD exchange fistfuls of new yen, placing their bets. She pauses to ask an old
woman directions.

Behind her, the towering puppets of holographic light duplicate the movements of
the contestants in the ring; two MEN in the midst of a savage knife fight. Their
combat style combines street fighting, fencing and kickboxing.

INT. ARENA HALL

The dimly lit outer hall is lined with massive cement pylons that anchor the
arena's support cables. As Jo Jo Bao and his four leg breakers make their way
through the crowd, the BEGGARS and SOUVENIR HUSTLERS shrink back. These are men
not to be trifled with.

EXT. ARENA

Case and Molly bolt out of a three wheeled taxi and rush to the ticket window.

INT. ARENA - THE RING

The two combatants whirl in their deadly cockfight, their bodies glistening with
sweat. The crowd ROARS as first blood is drawn.

C.U. - YAKATORI SKEWER

The brown sauce dripping down Jo Jo Bao's fingers. He takes a bite.

WIDER - YAKATORI STAND

The stand is positioned near an ugly cinderblock dead end at the last curve in
the shadowy hall. Sensing danger, the few remaining patrons abandon their
position in line, leaving the stand to Bao and his men.

INT. HALL

Linda Lee enters the hall, checking her watch. She hurries past the clutching
hands of the beggars, and the sing song cries of the merchants.

INT. ARENA - STANDS

Case and Molly race across the transom as the crowd SCREAMS for blood. Behind
them, the God-like holograms battle beneath the quilted dome in a column of
drifting cigarette smoke and light.

INT. YAKATORI STAND

Bao turns. Pull focus to Linda Lee framed in the arch of the hallway. She stands
there frozen, like a deer trapped in the road... Then steadies herself, and
starts toward Bao and his men.

INT. HALL

Case and Molly run full speed around the bend.

INT. YAKATORI STAND

Linda Lee stands before the grim faced Yakuzas. She reaches into her shoulder
bag and produces the plastic container. Bao watches silently as one of his men
withdraws the ketamine.

INT. ARENA

The combatants' blades clash. Sparks fly.

The crowd chants for the kill, blood-madness in their eyes.

INT. YAKATORI STAND

Bao's synthetic ice-blue eyes reveal nothing as he inspects the fragile tube of
amber fluid. He looks back up at Linda Lee... then lets the tube drop,
shattering on the cement floor.

The ketamine itself means nothing. Bao has a score to settle.

INT. RING

One combatant lashes out. Blood flows.

INT. YAKATORI STAND

A double hinged butterfly knife flickers open in Jo Jo Bao's hand.

LINDA LEE

Reacts as the bodyguards grab her from either side.

THE CROWD

**** Faces contorted in anger

MOLLY AND CASE

Arrive at the dead end.

CASE'S P.O.V.

Linda Lee stands 20 yards away, flanked by Bao's bodyguards. Bao SCREAMING
something in Japanese. His knife flashes.

THE RING - THE COMBATANTS

A blade flashes - the killing blow. The crowd shrieks.

ON CASE

Sprinting up the hallway.

CASE
(screams)
No!

THE YAKUZAS

Turn, drawing their guns.

MOLLY

Pushes Case to the ground as she dives to one side, firing her Fletcher.

LINDA LEE

Staggers back, silhouetted by strobing muzzle flashes as the men around her open
fire.

CASE

Crouches beside a cement pylon as bullets explode around him.

MOLLY

Fires, scrambling for cover. She pulls out Case's clip.

MOLLY
Case!

CASE

Catches his clip, jams it into the gun and rushes the stand like a madman,
firing blindly.

MOLLY

Her Fletcher whines as she fires a storm of explosive darts into the midst of
the Yakuzas.

THE STAND - HAND HELD

Case charges, blazing away. Yakuzas are cut down in the searing crossfire.

LINDA LEE

Turns, her eyes wide with terror... takes two steps toward Case. A thin curtain
of blood suddenly appears, running down her throat.

She crumbles into Case's arms.

BAO

Fires.

CASE

Blood blossoms from his shoulder. Still holding Linda Lee, he empties his gun at
Bao.

BAO

Riddled with bullets, is blown back into the Yakitori stand. Glass, wood, hot
grease and fire fly through the air as the Yakuza Lieutenant's body bounces off
the cinderblock wall, and rebounds on the unyielding cement floor.

CASE

Sinks to his knees cradling the lifeless body of Linda Lee in his arms. Police
SIRENS wail in the distance... growing closer.

MOLLY

Snaps a new clip in her Fletcher, scanning the wreckage of sprawled bodies with
a professional eye... no survivors.

She takes Case by the shoulder as we hear SHOUTS and a shrill police WHISTLE
O.C.

MOLLY
She's dead man. C'mon.

Case does not respond.

MOLLY (CONT.)
She's dead!

Molly pulls Case to his feet as the post-fight crowd begins to emerge from the
arena. They react with SCREAMS and confusion to the scene of bloodshed.

Camera BOOMS UP. COPS and SECURITY MEN arrive, pushing their way through the
swirling crush of bodies. Case and Molly slip away in the confusion.

SLOW DISSOLVE
TO BLACK

E.C.U. COFFEE CUP

Black coffee poured into a china cup.

INT. HOTEL ROOM - DAY

Case sits in an oversized chair framed against a large picture window in a
luxurious suite. Outside a slate grey sky hangs over the jumble of Chiba City. A
light rain patters against the glass.

Case looks wasted... washed out. His arm is supported by a web-like nylon sling.
He sips his coffee in silence.

Molly pours a cup for her employer.

ARMITAGE is a powerfully built man in his early forties. His dark robe frames a
broad muscular chest and a flat stomach. His white blonde hair is close cropped
in an almost military style.

ARMITAGE
Are you sure you're up to this, Mr. Case? We could reconvene tomorrow.

CASE
You've got an expensive razor girl on me for a reason. I'd like to hear what it
is.

ARMITAGE
Very well.

Armitage slots a laser disc the size of a quarter into a remote control. The
picture window behind Case is instantly transformed into a wall sized screen
displaying news footage of chaos in the London stock market.

ARMITAGE (CONT.)
What you're seeing here is the London stock market crash of last September. This
was the first in a series of setbacks for the international banking community.

Molly pours herself some coffee and sits down near Case. Her Fletcher hangs
loosely on her side in a black nylon shoulder holster.

Armitage switches the scene to a space shuttle manufacturing plant.

ARMITAGE (CONT.)
The collapse of Aerospace International...

He switches to a corporate conference room where a hearing is in progress.

ARMITAGE (CONT.)
The corporate plundering of Yeshoto Industries... At first these seemed like
unrelated incidents, but a pattern is emerging that suggests otherwise.

CASE
What does this have to do with me?

ARMITAGE
(turns off screen)
Our analysis of the London stock crash suggest that it was manipulated from
within the international computer matrix. Cyberspace, Mr. Case... A realm I
believe you're familiar with.

CASE
(shrugs)
Put the Sense/Net Police on it. The matrix is their turf.

ARMITAGE
Sense/Net's corporately financed. Too corrupt to be trusted. You of all people
should know that.

Armitage sits down across from Case

ARMITAGE (CONT.)
If someone is infiltrating the matrix on a global scale no political or economic
system is safe. I'm assembling a team of specialists, Mr. Case. We need a man
who can enter the matrix and trace this saboteur.

CASE
My days of punching deck are over. For you or anybody else.

ARMITAGE
What would you say if I told you we could correct your neural damage?

CASE
I'd say you were full of shit.

Armitage nods.

CASE (CONT.)
Then I'd ask you what your terms are.

ARMITAGE
First, let's get something straight. We ran a psych construct on you that lists
self destruction as your favourite pastime. If you want to kill yourself, Mr.
Case, there's much more entertaining ways than working for me.

CASE
It's the people close to me that tend to die... and I get the feeling you and I
are going to be real buddies.
(beat)
Terms?

ARMITAGE
We'll match your rate just prior to your... accident. One half in advance.

CASE
Who's running the show, Armitage? This a government sting?

ARMITAGE
Questions make me nervous. Part of our arrangement will be that you don't ask
too many.

Armitage rises.

ARMITAGE (CONT.)
One more thing, Mr. Case... Be prepared to travel light.

EXT. THE SPRAWL - DAWN

Urban development gone mad... A city built upon a city with old Atlanta at the
core. Bristling with air and ground traffic. A Herring passenger jet slowly
spirals as it drops straight down into the dense cityscape.

SUPER:

BOSTON-ATLANTA METROPOLITAN AXIS:
THE SPRAWL

EXT. HOSPITAL GROUNDS - DAY

An exclusive clinic comprised of sleek pavilions, separated by small formal
gardens.

Case cracks open a drink container and hands it to Molly. He opens a second one
for himself. Two white robed DOCTORS pass by, preoccupied with their charts.

CASE
Since when do sprawl doctors know more about nerve rehab than the Japanese?

MOLLY
Since Armitage sold them a program on it. Put them years ahead of the
competition.

As they walk through the garden, they pass a gleaming crab-like robot pruning a
tree with its long delicate claws.

CASE
He's a resourceful guy, your boss. How long you work for him?

MOLLY
Couple of months.

CASE
What about before that?

MOLLY
For someone else. Bodyguard. Courier... Whatever.

CASE
Then you don't really know who he is, do you?

MOLLY
I know who he isn't. Not C.I.A. Not Sense/Net. But... money comes in. Doors
open. He's onto something.

CASE
Maybe something's onto him.

MOLLY
What's that supposed to mean?

A MALE NURSE approaches Case.

NURSE
Mr. Smith?

CASE
Yeah.
(turns back to Molly)
It means there is no Santa Claus, Molly. So cover your ass. Just cover your ass.

Case follows the nurse into the building.

INT. OPERATING ROOM

A high tech sterile environment.

An ANESTHESIOLOGIST in a cobalt blue smock and surgical mask attaches one blue
derm to Case's neck and one to his wrist.

ANESTHESIOLOGIST
Count backwards from ten, please.

CASE
Ten... nine...

CASE'S P.O.V. - SLOW MO

A SURGEON picks up a laser scalpel, a device resembling a tuning fork with a
laser beam crackling between its open prongs. The surgeon now folds back one of
the prongs and turns toward Case.

CASE
(slowing down)
Eight... seven... six.

C.U. CASE

His eyelids droop... picture and sound slow down.

CASE
Five... four...

CASE'S P.O.V. - SLOW MO

The Surgeons converge on Case, towering over him. The room around him then melts
into dreamy soft focus as the crackling laser scalpel descends.

E.C.U. - CASE'S EYES

Half closed.

CASE
Three... two...

CASE'S P.O.V. - SLOW MO

The Surgeons have become the Pale Man and his Sense/Net storm troopers. The
scalpel is now the glistening hypodermic... descending... contact.

The screen explodes in WHITE-OUT.

C.U. CASE

His face tenses... but in passion, not pain... slowly turning to reveal Linda
Lee holding him tightly... lost in their lovemaking.

E.C.U. THE LASER SCALPEL

Burning a straight line across a horizon of flesh.

CASE

His face tenses... again slowly turning to reveal Linda Lee in his arms, but now
her eyes are as cold and blank as a lifeless doll... Her throat darkly
glistening crimson.

E.C.U. THE LASER SCALPEL

Its beam FLARES into camera as it slices.

C.U. CASE

Screams...

The CAMERA BOOMS UP to reveal him tied to the coffee table, surrounded by his
enemies.

Screams....

Clutching her lifeless body in his arms as he sinks to his knees in defeat.

C.U. CASE

His eyes flash open as he gasps a breath. Awake...

WIDER - DARKENED ROOM

Case lies in rumpled sheets, his face bathed in sweat. He can hardly move.

Molly looks down at him... a shadow against a moonlit window, her hair
glistening as blue black as a raven's wing.

MOLLY
(softly)
Easy. You're still full of endorphins.

Case coughs. Molly supports his head and helps him sip some water.

MOLLY (CONT.)
You've been calling her name.

CASE
What?

MOLLY
Your girl, Linda Lee. You've been calling her name.

She wrings out a wet cloth. Applies it to his forehead.

MOLLY (CONT.)
She must have really loved you.

Case gazes into the darkness. His voice is a weak whisper.

CASE
It got her killed.

Molly straightens up his covers.

MOLLY
Sure Case... Love kills and we're all the walking wounded.

She gently lays a hand over Case's eyes.

MOLLY (CONT.)
Now close your eyes... You're asleep and you don't even know it.

When Molly takes her hand away, indeed, his eyes remain shut.

C.U. MOLLY - MORNING

She hits a padded bar hard... Flips up out of frame.

WIDER

Molly is in the midst of a workout on a customised rig that's part "Sinsemi"
karate pads, part uneven parallel bars. She flies through her routine with
animal grace and the focused discipline of a professional athlete.

The rig stands in the middle of a sparsely furnished high ceilinged loft. Shafts
of soft morning light are filtered through a row of dusty windows.

Case sits up in the foreground.

He's lying on a futon in the middle of the worn wooden floor. He rises pulling a
sheet around his naked shoulders... but he's stopped cold as a splitting
headache hits home.

CASE
(gasps)
Holy shit...

MOLLY
(flips down off rig)
Hey... you're not supposed to be up.

Molly guides Case to a stool at the kitchen counter. He looks around the room,
red-rimmed eyes adjusting to the light.

CASE
How long have I been out?

MOLLY
Almost two days.

Case gazes down at the narrow bandages across his main arteries.

CASE
I gotta know... did it work>

MOLLY
We'll find out soon enough. If you don't pull the splices out.

Case snaps the cap off a bottle of bourbon and pours a drink.

CASE
How soon is soon enough?

MOLLY
Couple of days. They'll examine you.

Case slugs down the bourbon.

MOLLY (CONT.)
That's not going to help.

CASE
The way I feel, believe me, it'll help.

MOLLY
Not anymore. You got a new pancreas. Armitage's got you kinked so you can't get
stoned.

CASE
What the fuck... are you serious?

MOLLY
(pours him another)
Go ahead...

Case tosses it down... no kick at all.

CASE
That's cute. Very fucking cute. What else did this guy do to me when he had me
opened up like a goddamn fillet?

Extending one scalpel-blade, Molly picks at a cluster of grapes.

MOLLY
(half-smile)
Oh, I dunno... He was saying maybe that you're a little too ballsy.

Molly flicks her blade, severing two grapes from the bunch. Nasty image.

CASE
No...

Case checks beneath his sheet.

Armitage now enters carrying two large cardboard boxes bearing Japanese logo.

ARMITAGE
I'll think you'll find everything in working order. Molly's just having a little
fun.

CASE
I don't call this fun, pal. You're playing God with my body.

ARMITAGE
You're a substance abuser, Case. Your pancreas was shot. Wouldn't have lasted
out the year. We did you a favour and liberated you from a dangerous dependency
in the bargain.

CASE
Thanks, but I was enjoying that dependency.

ARMITAGE
Good, because you've got a new one.

Armitage sets the boxes down in a corner with several others.

ARMITAGE (CONT.)
There are fifteen toxin sacs bonded to the lining of your main arteries. They're
dissolving, Case... slowly, but they're definitely dissolving. You have just
long enough to do the job.

CASE
You son of a bitch...

Case lurches up from the counter, sending the bourbon smashing to the floor.
Molly restrains him.

MOLLY
Easy...

ARMITAGE
Play it straight with me and you've got nothing to worry about. When it's over,
I inject you with the antitoxin.

CASE
Why'd you do it, Armitage?

ARMITAGE
The disturbance in cyberspace... It's an A.I.

CASE
(bitter chuckle)
Right. And no one would take on an A.I.... If they had a choice.

MOLLY
What's an A.I.

ARMITAGE
An Artificial Intelligence. A computer system that's developed the capacity for
sentient thought. They're dangerous and totally unpredictable.

CASE
First sign of free will, Sense/Net usually slags 'em.

ARMITAGE
This one's different. No one can trace it. It's out there somewhere in the
matrix and it's growing stronger... infecting other computer systems like a
virus.

CASE
Anything rated higher than a P.C.'s got a hard-wired suicide switch. It'll self-
destruct.

ARMITAGE
It hasn't yet.

Case lights a cigarette.

CASE
I've heard about rogue A.I.'s, but there's only one guy who actually went up
against one.

ARMITAGE
Dixie McCoy

CASE
Right. Best cowboy that ever punched deck. The old man taught me most of what I
know.

ARMITAGE
I've arranged for him to work with us.

CASE
That's gonna be tough because Dixie McCoy's dead. The A.I. flatlined him.

ARMITAGE
I know.
(beat)
You ever work with ghosts, Case?

CASE
What are you talking about?

ARMITAGE
Sense/Net taped a full spectrum personality construct on McCoy six months before
his death. Everything Dixie was -- everything Dixie still knows exists as a
digitised construct.
(beat)
Of course a tape can get misplaced in a library the size of Sense/Net's.

Armitage tosses a matte black cartridge on the kitchen counter. Its the size and
shape of the clip on an assault rifle. Warning decals and security codes frame
the label on the front of the cartridge:

Charles "Dixie" McCoy

Case gingerly picks it up.

CASE
Working with a dead man. Shit, I've done about everything else.

ARMITAGE
You'll be ready for a trial run in two days. If your splices hold, you'll use
McCoy to trace the A.I.'s coordinates.

CASE
And then?

ARMITAGE
Then we rendezvous with the final member of our team. For now, that's all you
need to know.

CASE
It's just that sometimes I wonder what team I'm playin' on.

Armitage turns to Molly.

ARMITAGE
We have work to do.

Molly and Armitage exit.

Pull focus from Case to Armitage's empty glass in the foreground. Case holds it
up to the light.

C.U. THE GLASS

Subtle fingerprints are visible.

EXT. LOFT - NIGHT

A full moon shines down on the weathered brick building in this core section of
old Atlanta.

INT. LOFT

Case lies sleeplessly, staring at the mysterious grouping of boxes that Armitage
has left lying on the moonlit floor. He rises.

As Case unstacks the boxes he discovers a glossy pamphlet advertising the luxury
satellite, Freeside, with the familiar copyline: "Freeside... Why wait?"

Beneath it is an 8x10 fashionably dressed cabaret artist. It bears the heading,
"The Holographic Cabaret of Peter Riviera." Ghostly images of skulls and jewels
dance about Riviera.

Case sets the papers aside and runs his hand over the smooth surface of a box
bearing cryptic instructions in Japanese. He tears it open and brushes back the
clear plastic packing bubbles.

He gently lifts a beautiful Ono-Sendai Cyberspace 7 computer deck out of the box
and sets it in a square of dusty moonlight thrown across the worn wooden floor.
It's a more compact version of the jerry-rigged deck in Case's old townhouse. He
runs his hands over the smooth lines of the two tiered keyboard... the sleek
joystick.

MOLLY (O.S.)
You touch that thing like it's a woman.

Case looks up to see Molly silhouetted in her bedroom doorway, wearing only a
cotton body stocking. Her Fletcher hangs from her shoulder in its open harness.

CASE
I'm going in.

MOLLY
You're not ready yet. They said two days.

CASE
I'm not jacking with Armitage and his quacks breathing down my neck.

MOLLY
If the splices aren't good, you could fry.

Case considers this for a moment.

CASE
I'll show you how to tell what's going on. If things go south, you unplug me.

MOLLY
What is it with you? Why is it so important? It's a buzz, right? Like getting
high.

CASE
On a good run... yeah.

MOLLY
So you're a wire junkie.

Case sets the computer deck aside.

CASE
When I was fifteen Sense/Net iced my old man's credit record over some computer
error. Once that goes down, that's it. He lost his business... everything. It
destroyed him. I had to hustle arcade games for chump change. Dixie McCoy found
me, figured I was a natural. He taught me the wires for a piece of the action.

MOLLY
A regular Fagan.

CASE
Sure. I finally pulled a run on my old man's credit file when I was seventeen...
only it was too late for him.

MOLLY
Too late?

CASE
Suicide. I just needed to set the record straight.

Case is silent for a moment then turns and begins to tear open another box.

CASE (CONT.)
I've been running the matrix ever since.

Molly finally sits down beside him... the starts to help Case unpack the
equipment.

INT. LOFT - C.U. CYBERSPACE EQUIPMENT

An impressive display of high tech computer gear is arranged in a semi-circle on
the floor around the futon.

Case sits in a lotus position in the midst of the gear as Molly paces the room.
Trails of micro thin wires run from the electrodes (derms) no his headband to
the chrome plated jack he holds in his hand.

CASE
The first fun's bound to be rough. It that read out fluctuates more than ten
points... just pull this out. But if the EEG flatlines, don't touch anything.

MOLLY
Won't that mean you're dead?

CASE
Technically, yeah, but people have made it back after as long as three minutes.

MOLLY
Dixie McCoy didn't.

CASE
The point is, if you unplug me when I'm flatlines, I'm history. I got no way
back.

MOLLY
Okay fine. Let's get this over with.

Case gives Molly a reassuring smile.

CASE
Take it easy. This is what I'm good at.

C.U. THE JACK

Case slides it home with a metallic SNAP.

Crackle to WHITE OUT

CASE'S P.O.V. - CYBERSPACE

We are suddenly roaring through an impossible corridor of light with no top or
bottom... Our speed constantly increasing. Luminescent geometric shapes tumble
by like a shimmering power storm. We have entered an unearthly dimension of
sheer power and energy as Case's subconscious mind is catapulted into CYBERSPACE

THE LOFT -CASE

Breaks into a sweat... His eyes closed in deep concentration. He remains in the
louts position, his hands lying on padded supports just above the keyboard. His
fingers flex weakly. He's in poor contact with his physical self.

C.U. CASE - CYBERSPACE

His translucent image distorts radically as he's torn through the GLOWING
corridor, fighting for some control.

THE LOFT

The READOUTS begin to fluctuate.

Molly sees that Case's body is beginning to tremble. Something's going wrong.

CASE'S P.O.V. - CYBERSPACE

Still accelerating down the terrifying corridor of light. The ride grows rougher
with the increasing velocity. He's losing control.

THE LOFT - C.U. KEYBOARD

Case's fingers still move slightly... still no contact

C.U. READOUTS

Fluctuations increasing...

CYBERSPACE

A monolithic WALL of pulsing yellow and black hazard stripes lies directly
ahead... a glowing computer graphic barricade. It's crowned by the imposing
Sense/Net logo and the warning... "Security Clearance Required."

CYBERSPACE - CASE

His image streaking... vibrating. He's in excruciating pain.

CASE'S P.O.V. - THE WALL

Case is rushing towards a head on collision. Tendrils of energy crackle across
the surface of the barricade like an electrified fence. The words "Access
Prohibited" strobe out in red towering letters.

LOFT - C.U. KEYBOARD

Case's hands finally come to life. His shaking fingers punch out a series of
digits.

CYBERSPACE - CASE'S P.O.V. - THE WALL

Case's program shots out like a lightning bolt, blowing a hole through the
Sense/Net barricade a split second before impact. We rocket straight through the
tiny portal.

EXT. SENSE/NET BUILDING - NIGHT

A foreboding mirrored fortress in downtown New Atlanta, bristling with antenna
and satellite dishes. It looks like a cross between a futuristic broadcasting
station and a police headquarters, which is exactly what it is.

From somewhere inside a high pitched klaxon pulses out its shrill alarm.

INT. SENSE/NET MONITORING ROOM

The alarm continues as Sense/Net personnel scramble to their terminals. Overhead
screen display Case's infiltration into the matrix in simplified computer
graphics.

CLOSER

A Sense/Net technician speaks into his headset

TECHNICIAN
We have a bogey at access C-27. Bogey at C-27.

A voice crackles in response.

VOICE
Trajectory?

INT. CYBERSPACE - CASE'S P.O.V.

Case shoots through the narrow wormhole in the barricade at hair raising speed.

He finally bursts through into...

THE MATRIX

A transparent 3-D chessboard opens up before us, extending into infinity...
Breathtakingly beautiful... Huge glowing geometric computer CONSTRUCTS float by,
each bearing the specific corporations they represent... Suspended in
nothingness like synthetic planets in an over-populated universe.

NOTE: The computer CONSTRUCTS are three dimensional geometric representations of
the inner workings of computer systems. They exist in Cyberspace in the form of
pure light and energy. Complex symbols and data are constantly changing within
their glowing ectoskeletons. Although separate and apart from the actual
hardware in the physical universe, computer activity can be observed and
manipulated from within the matrix.

INT. SENSE/NET MONITORING ROOM

The blip representing Case disappears from the monitor.

OPERATOR
We've lost contact. sir. He's entered the matrix.

THE MATRIX C.U. SUBLIMINAL CASE

(NOTE: Although Case's physical body always remains at his deck, his spiritual
being manifests itself on his trips into the matrix. A true "out of body"
experience.)

Case floats blissfully through the phosphorescent environment in the lotus
position that matches that of his body in the physical plane. His eyes are
filled with wonder. He's achieved his "normal" appearance in the matrix; a
translucent ghost of himself... shimmering with mild iridescence. His every
moment creates subtle time lapse after-images the catch up his prime image in a
graceful dance.

CASE'S P.O.V. - THE MATRIX

A burning scarlet pyramid bearing the title Eastern Seaboard Fission Authority
floats by majestically, its surface alive with a constant changing flow of
data...

The monolithic green cubes of Mitsubishi Bank of America hang above the horizon
like a luminous cityscape twinkling with countless transactions.

And in the distance are the everpresent gridlines that define the limitless
perspectives of the matrix.

We hear distant echoing LAUGHTER.

THE LOFT

Case sits before his console bathed in sweat... Eyes closes... Laughing like a
man who's beat the devil.

MOLLY

Watches... wondering what he can possibly be experiencing. the readouts are
modulating smoothly.

INT. SENSE/NET CONFERENCE ROOM

The Sense/Net technician sits surrounded by three larger than life holographic
projections is taking place with the chairman's live images, each disembodied
head projected above a separate pedestal.

A wall-sized screen displays playback of Case's infiltration of the matrix.

Bigelow, the most imposing of the three chairmen question the nervous operator.

BIGELOW
Is this all you've got on him?

TECHNICIAN
Yes sir. Whoever he is, he's good.

A figure seated in shadows at the rear of the room now speaks.

FIGURE
If he was so good he wouldn't have crashed a security checkpoint. I doubt he'll
make the same mistake again.

BIGELOW
I thought we eradicated these wire jockeys. These... what do they call
themselves, Duprey?

The FIGURE now swivels in his chair to face Bigelow's hologram. He is the PALE
MAN, the Sense/Net operative that injected Case with the microtoxin. His name is
Lt. Roland Duprey.

DUPREY
Cowboys, sir. I retired the last one personally over a year ago.

SUVANI YAMIR, a Mideastern Chairman, interjects.

YAMIR
Then how do you explain this?

DUPREY
I don't know yet. My people are doing everything that they can to trace it.

The third chairman, an aristocratic Frenchman named Lord Frederick Tessier
addresses the gathering.

TESSIER
Do you realise what a security breach would mean right now? If our mysterious
guest discovers that an Artificial Intelligence is running loose in the matrix
infiltrating other computer systems, it could cause a worldwide panic.

BIGELOW
Find this cowboy, Duprey. Do whatever you have to to stop him.

DUPREY
What about the A.I.?

TESSIER
That is our problem, Lieutenant. Please concern yourself with the matter at
hand.

Duprey rises.

BIGELOW
One more thing, Duprey...

Duprey turns.

BIGELOW
You fuck this up, I'll have your cerebral cortex degoused. You'll need a
playback unit to remember how to pee. Am I making myself clear?

Duprey regards his superiors with thinly veiled disdain.

DUPREY
Don't worry, gentlemen. I'll keep your fat out of the fire.

EXT. MATRIX

Case's ghostly image still floats in a lotus position, dwarfed by the gigantic
glowing constructs suspended in the distance.

INT. LOFT - C.U. DECK

As Case presses a button, the cartridge labelled "Dixie McCoy" automatically
descends into the deck.

EXT. THE MATRIX

A disembodied CAT scan of a HUMAN HEAD suddenly appears before Case in a nimbus
of gently modulating light. The brain and circulatory systems are visible in
fluorescent pinks and blues like a 3-D x-ray. Its eyeballs are rolled back in
its skull like two boiled eggs, showing no pupils at all.

Beneath this eerie medical jack-o-lantern is a two dimensional name plate in
glowing green letters. It reads Charles "Dixie" McCoy and bears a narrow voice
print band with a digital time code read out.

CASE
Dixie. Dixie McCoy? Is that you, man?

As McCoy speaks, a series of overlapping sign waves appear beneath him in his
voice print band,, fluctuating with the modulations of his voice.

MCCOY
Hey, bro.

CASE
It's Case. Remember me?

Dixie's eyes roll down, revealing shocking pink irises with cobalt blue pupils.
He seems to be just waking up.

MCCOY
Case... Yeah, Miami Joeboy, quick study. How you doing, kid?

CASE
Fine, Dixie. Fine.

MCCOY
Last I heard you cracked Sukura International. I couldn't believe it.

CASE
Yeah. That was me.

MCCOY
Jesus Christ, Kid. Nobody's ever cracked Sukura.

CASE
As far as they know, that's absolutely true.

MCCOY
(chuckles)
Ya learned good. So, what's happening?

CASE
That's a good question. What's the last thing you remember?

Long beat.

MCCOY
Nothin'. Not a goddamn thing. What the fuck...

CASE
Dixie, you know how a ROM construct works?

MCCOY
Sure, Kid. It's a firmware construct.

CASE
Okay, Dix. You _are_ a ROM construct.

Dixie's image is obscured by static as his "face" registers confusion.

CASE (CONT.)
Dixie?

There is no reply.

CASE
You're a ROM construct... Understand?

Dixie is briefly visible, then becomes totally obscured by electronic snow. His
voice is a distant echo.

DIXIE
(processed)
It's cold. Why's it so goddamn cold.

The image disappears completely.

CASE (CONT.)
Dixie?

Silence... Then Dixie suddenly appears in perfect clarity.

DIXIE
What you're telling me is that I'm dead. Right?

CASE
(pauses)
Right...

DIXIE
I can't feel nothing because I am nothing.
(eerie laughter)
Just playback. A ghost in the machine.

CASE
You're Dixie McCoy's construct. That makes you something special.

DIXIE
Don't patronise me, you fuck. I was skating figure eights in this matrix while
you were still peeing in your chinos.
(beat)
Hey, Kid... you expecting company?

CASE
What?

MCCOY
Later...

Dixie disappears.

There is an ominous rumbling in the matrix.

CASE
Dixie?

Case now notices an unusual glimmer off in the matrix.

He begins to "type"... looking like a mimist at an invisible keyboard.

INT. LOFT - KEYBOARD

Case types.

INT. MATRIX

Case's question prints out in mid-air as he types it.

Analysis: Object travelling 120 degrees longitude.

The computer's answer instantly appears.

Energy probe. Point of origin unknown.

INT. SENSE/NET MONITORING ROOM

As Duprey walks purposefully up the aisle he's stopped by a concerned
technician.

TECHNICIAN
Lieutenant... we have some unusual activity in C sector.

DUPREY
Is that our bogey?

TECHNICIAN
No, it's inorganic. Could be your phantom A.I..

Duprey snaps his fingers.

TECHNICIAN (CONT.)
Sir?

DUPREY
I do believe one of our problems is about to cancel out the other one.

INT. MATRIX

The glowing sphere suddenly picks up speed... Veers directly at Case. The
rumbling grows louder with its approach.

INT. LOFT

Case quickly taps out new coordinates.

INT. MATRIX

His position shifts, but the sphere responds instantly. It's nearly upon him,
crackling with deadly energy.

INT. LOFT - DECK

?

INT. MATRIX

Case peels off and flies towards an Air Tram International construct. The sphere
bares down on him like a heat seeking missile.

RAILWAY CONSTRUCT

Case flashes into the si spoked construct just as the sphere crashes into it.

INT. LOFT

The deck shorts out, SPARKING and POPPING with the electrical overload. Case's
body stiffens.

Molly tries to pull out the jack, but receives a crackling jolt the second her
hand comes down in contact with the chrome.

INT. CONSTRUCT

Case flies through narrow intersecting tunnels as the entire construct shatters
around him in a deadly display of phosphorescent fireworks.

INT. LOFT

Molly lashes out with her steel claws, severing Case's wires. He's ripped back
into his body just in time to se the sparking Hosaka monitor implode with a
flash of light.

The printer begins shooting out hard copies at high speed until the entire
system suddenly shuts down.

MOLLY
You okay?

CASE
...Yeah, but the Hosaka's history.

As Case inspects the print outs, he's stopped cold... One word is repeated down
each scorched page:

Wintermute
Wintermute
Wintermute

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