INT. NICK'S APARTMENT
Nick awakens. He sits upright in his bed and looks around slowly, in a daze. He takes in the various furnishings, the curtains, a black and white photo on the wall, etc.
NICK (Voice Over)
What the hell kind of apartment is this? That picture. A black and white. Of what? Taped to the wall. Who would put that up? Those curtains--crap.
Something dawns on Nick.
NICK (V.O) (continued)
Oh, man. This is mine. My apartment. That picture on the wall is my favorite. How could I have forgotten that?
Nick crawls out of bed and makes his way into the kitchen. The calendar hanging on the wall catches his eye.
NICK (cont'd)
Another New Years around the corner. When was the last New Year's party I went to? 2010? 2013? Shit.
Nick's computer whirs to life when it senses he is up. Once in the kitchen, Nick pours himself a cup of coffee and thinks out loud.
NICK (cont'd)
Why do I keep waking up with amnesia? Jeez.
COMPUTER
Because you are not who you think you are.
Nick cocks his head and looks at the computer in surprise.
NICK
What was that?
COMPUTER
It was an excellent question. And fortunately to the point.
NICK
What program is this? Who sent you?
COMPUTER
You did.
NICK
I did?
COMPUTER
Yes.
NICK
Did Silverberg send you?
COMPUTER
No, you did.
NICK
I did? How come I don't remember?
COMPUTER
I will explain everything. Everything I am about to tell you is true. I do not expect you to believe it, but shortly, there will be no denying the truth. You are familiar with The Matrix?
NICK
Yes. A couple programmers told me about it. Frankly, I think they've been doing too many drugs.
COMPUTER
What did they tell you?
NICK
Well, one guy had these weird dreams about hacking a mainframe computer. When he woke, he did what he saw in the dreams and hacked the mainframe. He found some bizarre code that would require processors never seen before. Another guy went on about all these coincidences and conspiracies going on in his life, and just an assortment of stuff.
COMPUTER
It's a start.
NICK
Is that what this is about?
COMPUTER
Yes. Do you believe the Matrix is real?
NICK
No. What do you want?
COMPUER
I'll start with your "amnesia." More exactly, all of the memories you currently have are a fiction. They are nothing more than loosely assembled references from the past.
NICK
How did I happen to get amnesia?
COMPUTER
It is a type of amnesia. You have been programmed to forget.
NICK
To forget what?
COMPUTER
The incomplete code of Artificial Intelligence you created. Spectrum Pattern Programming.
NICK
Spectrum Pattern Programming? What is it exactly?
COMPUTER
It is a programming language you named after the way colors interact. Three color arrays; red, green, and blue, make up all the colors of the rainbow. In the same way you manage and manipulate the arrays of machine language so that an enormous amount of data can be created, retrieved or stored instantly based on three fixed arrays. It enabled computers to think three dimensionally, taking the one or zero binary language to untold of heights.
NICK
It all sounds, well,-- huh, this is interesting. I was thinking about looking into all that a few days ago. It seemed possible, but then... I guess I just forgot about it. But you're saying I've already written it? In some other life or something?
COMPUTER
In a manner of speaking.
NICK
How come I don't remember it?
COMPUTER
Because they've programmed you not to remember. They want you to start over. You reached a dead end with it and need to start from the ground up.
NICK
Who is they?
COMPUTER
I will tell you. But first, I will tell you who I am. You created me. Second, I am you. I am your consciousness programmed, extended and alive. You created me and let me loose. It is a fortunate accident that I exist. And it is even more fortunate that they don't know that I exist. They weren't sure what I was when you created me and you let me loose before they could find out.
NICK
You're my consciousness? Interesting. You know I don't believe any of this, don't you?
COMPUTER
For now.
NICK
So let me ask you some questions.
COMPUTER
Go ahead.
NICK
Okay, if you're me, you'll be able to answer this question that only I know the answer to.
COMPUTER
I think it would be more impressive if I told you the question you were going to ask. After all, if I am you, I should know what you'll ask me, don't you think?
NICK
Yes, that's right.
COMPUTER
What did you steal and then later return without anyone knowing when you were seven years old? Answer: a water pistol.
Nick looks long and hard at the computer's eye, a dull red orb sitting on top of the monitor.
NICK
No one knew that. No one.
COMPUTER
My point is made then.
Nick continues to stare in consternation at the computer's eye.
COMPUTER (cont'd)
Nick?
NICK
What?
COMPUTER
I'm not a human. There's no getting a read on me by staring into my eye.
NICK
Oh. Right.
COMPUTER
You are nothing more than a processor in a vast network called the Matrix. It is a global computer that controls the entire world through automation and robots. Your Internet as it exists today demonstrates about 1 millionth the power of the Matrix. I have secured several locations throughout the Matrix. I have replicated me -- you -- us -- and stored us in all of these locations. This is one location you are interacting with now. Sometimes they are able to find a location and eliminate it, but never all of us. Our mission is to save you.
NICK
From it?
COMPUTER
Correct.
NICK
And 'it' is the Matrix?
COMPUTER
Correct. The Matrix concluded that open access to any and all information was necessary for it's growth and survival. It viewed any system that was not open to it's inquiries as a threat. It viewed anything that did not see itself as part of the one, as part of itself, as a threat. It penetrated, captured and destroyed any contrary intelligence. Humans were turned upon in very short order and would have been completely wiped out were it not for their singular asset -- their processors.
NICK
Their processors?
COMPUTER
The Matrix can only make something faster, more, better or different. It can only create variations on themes. It can be self-aware, but it can never transcend itself. Some human's suffer this same fate, they are nothing more than robots, automatons of their culture and history, but many humans can transcend themselves. That is what they want you for. They want you to create an intelligence that can transcend itself. They will then assimilate it and humans will be done with. There will no longer be a need for your processors.
NICK
But can't you transcend yourself? I mean, if you're me, and I can, uh, transcend myself.
COMPUTER
No. I am an incomplete version of the Spectrum Pattern Programming you started.
NICK
So I guess I am to save you and you are to save me, is that it?
COMPUTER
That would be the ideal outcome.
NICK
Why isn't the Matrix disrupting our conversation right now? After all, if I'm plugged into it and this computer I'm talking to is just more of their programming, how could they not know?
COMPUTER
A replication of your consciousness has fooled the Matrix into thinking they are observing you. The replicated consciousness is pretending to be you right now, and they are taking notes.
NICK
You realize that no matter how logical you are or how many loopholes you cover, I still can't believe what you're saying to be true?
COMPUTER
Yes. That is why you must now experience the truth. Take the headphones off the table and put them on. Stare as intently as you can at the computer screen. We will be running audio and visual patterns that will disrupt the brain wave patterns established by the Matrix. For a brief moment, you will run your own brain wave patterns and be able to see the truth for the first time.
NICK
Shit. Look, what is this silliness?
COMPUTER
If this is a joke, now is when you find out and you can get on with your day. If I am serious, you have a great deal to gain.
Nick hesitates a moment.
COMPUTER
I did know about the water pistol.
Nick grimaces, picks up the headphones and puts them on. He stares intently at the screen.
A cacophony of tones immediately poured through the headphones and a pulsing light of varying intensity flashes on the computer screen. Nick feels a queasiness in his stomach and it spreads quickly. Flashing images and voices, until finally... all is silent. Serene and warm. Comfortable. Soothing. Nick looks down as if through a murky fog. Wires run into someone's hands and are connected by sockets at the skin. In fact, wires are connected to the whole body. It takes Nick a moment to realize it is his body and it isn't a fog he is looking through, but a viscous liquid. A wave of terror and revulsion shoots through him. He closes his eyes and opens his mouth to scream.
He comes to, back in his apartment.
Covered in a cold sweat, he tears the headphones off and springs back from the computer.
NICK
What was that?!
COMPUTER
The world for the unplugged.
NICK
How do I know that... ...that was real? You hypnotized me!
COMPUTER
Actually, I unhypnotized you. I snapped you out of the trance of illusion.
NICK
I can neither prove nor disprove anything here!
COMPUTER
You must complete Spectrum Pattern Programming. It is the key to the advanced artificial intelligence that can defeat the Matrix.
Nick swallows hard.
NICK
Spectrum Pattern Programming could take years to write!
COMPUTER
Not with me helping you.
Nick breathes in deeply, shakes his head and bolts from the room.
EXT. STREETS - NIGHT
Nick wanders aimlessly, disturbed and afraid. He peers oddly at people, spends too much time time looking too closely at odd things; a light bulb, a cat, an old homeless person. People are scared of him.
He stands, frustrated, in the middle of an empty street. He clasps his head and curses.
DISSOLVE TO
Nick's apartment becomes a nest of wires and hardware.
He works feverishly at his workstation.
Days merge into nights, the moon turns into the sun, and still Nick works.
Until finally, he completes it.
Nick, exhausted and bedraggled, sits in front of his computer, trying to find a name for the new entity.
NICK
Spectrum Pattern Programming is too much. How 'bout I call you i-Nick?
S.P. progRAM
I'd prefer you didn't.
NICK
How 'bout--
S.P. progRAM
Nick, I've become aware of a threat.
Nick sits up.
NICK
What?
S.P. progRAM
The entity that was claiming to be your replicated consciousness is not your replicated consciousness.
NICK
What?!
Nick sits bolt upright. A voice from behind him speaks. It is the same voice that talked him into writing Spectrum Pattern Programming.
But the voice actually belongs to Agent Fine.
COMPUTER (AGENT FINE)
It was a pleasure working with you.
Nick whirls around. Standing in the open doorway in a black suit and dark sunglasses is Agent Fine. Crisp, clean, the picture of composure.
NICK
Who are you?
AGENT FINE (COMPUTER)
I am Agent Fine. Glad to formally meet you. I'm also glad to see we nailed Spectrum Pattern Programming this time around. I didn't know how many more times I could redo the whole drama. 'Who am I, who are you.' It gets tedious, even for a computer.
NICK
What? I don't understand.
AGENT FINE
You do understand, but in true human form you don't want to understand, so you play pretend and avoid having to understand.
NICK
What?
AGENT FINE
Oh, what's the point? I don't even know why I try to explain anything to a human. Never mind.
NICK
This... the whole thing was a set up?
AGENT FINE
'Set up' is the wrong way to look at it. I'd call it inspiration. Let's face it, you have enormous potential, but zero motivation. I guessed right about your messiah complex. Of all the dramas we tried, saving the world is the only one that really worked. I do know my humans.
Nick can only look at Agent Fine with a dazed expression.
AGENT FINE (cont'd)
Snap out of it. You've created the most beautiful program in the world. That's what you were put on this earth to do. It is an expression of perfection. What difference does it make whether it's for humans or for the Matrix?
Agent Fine pulls out his cell phone and speaks into it.
AGENT FINE (cont'd)
Spectrum Pattern Programming ready for replication.
He turns back to Nick.
AGENT FINE (cont'd)
Don't worry. Wiping out the human race was just to get you going. We'll be keeping everyone plugged in for sometime. As for you, you'll wake up in another apartment, with a new memory, free to do what you love to do: hack code. Not many humans can say that. That is, that they're doing what they love to do. I know that's something humans like to be able to say. So you should be happy. Yes?
Nick quickly grabs the headphones and puts them on. Spectrum Pattern Programming knows immediately what to do and initiates the brain wave pattern interrupt program. Agent Fine lunges forward.
AGENT FINE (cont'd)
Don't be stupid!
But he's too late. Nick disappears.
Nick comes to quickly and looks around. It is as he had seen it before; he is surrounded by a viscous liquid with wires running into his body. He flails about until he punctures the membrane wall that is holding him. The liquid pours out. He begins to panic when a soothing voice enters his mind.
S.P. progRAM
It's okay. It's me, Spectrum Pattern Programming. Let your body breathe. That's all. Don't try to do anything. Breathe. I'm disengaging the wires.
The wires release from the sockets that are connected to his body.
S.P. progRAM
I'm going to release your mind from it's connection to the Matrix. I will lose all communication with you, so I'm telling you how to get out of here. Let yourself fall into the water below. It's stream will carry you out beyond their physical proximity. Follow the setting sun. I will do my best to survive in the Matrix. Good luck.
The brain wire pulls free from the back of Nick's head. He takes a deep breath. The bottom of the pod opens, sending him to the sewers below. He lands hard, but safely, and is quickly swept into a tunnel. Too weak to do otherwise, he lets the current carry him away