CUT TO. EXT-STREET, EVENING: people are flooding the sidewalks during rush hour. People on phones, walking with their kids, flagging down cabs etc... The orange sunlight is extreamly contrasting to the drab, grey/greenish tones of the city. Sarah steps on to the sidewalk. Sarah heads for a subway station.

CUT TO. INT-SUBWAY STATION: The place is crowded. People are behaving like misers while trying to get on a train. Sarah spends a little while in a line up to deposit her tokens. She passes through the gate. She heads down some stairs on to the platform. Many people wait for the train. They all stare down the tunnel as though they were looking for their ticket out of hell. The train finally arrives. Sarah is caught in the exodus of people leaving the train and entering the train. She makes it on right before the doors shut. She takes a standing position and hangs on to a pole. She looks at the blank expessions of those on board. Her eyes take her to a very tall man sitting. His hair is long, grey and dirty. His clothes reflect a hard life on the street. he looks up at Sarah, almost with an expression of reckoning. The train stops. Sarah leaves. She now stands on the platform, looking in at the man. He is standing now, looking back at her as the train leaves.

CUT TO. EXT-APARMENT COMPLEX, NIGHT: A taxi pulls up. Sarah pays the fare and gets out. She walks up the steps to her apartment. An older, African American woman walks by. The woman stops and looks at Sarah. Sarah does not see the woman. She enters the building.

The old woman smiles.

WOMAN

It's about time.

CUT TO. INT-APARTMENT, NIGHT: Sarah enters the place. The lights are out. Sarah gets a feeling of unease. She goes to turn on the lights. A young woman's hand flies out fom the dark and latched on to Sarah. A man comes up behind her and covers her mouth. The woman steps out from the shadows. This is HELENA. She wears a dark brown, leather pant suit and matching coloured sunglasses. The man holding Sarah is none other than Woo. Helena pulls out a strange looking helmet. She puts the helmet on Sarah. She activates a small green button. Two electric bolts fire out of the helmet into Sarah's ears. Sarah screams in pain. A small trickle of blood comes out of her ear followed by the robotic probe the Agents put in her. The probe falls to the floor and Helena takes the helmet off Sarah.

HELENA

Sorry about that. We couldn't say anything or they'd hear us.

WOO

We'd better get on our way.

SARAH

FUCK YOU!!!

HELENA

Listen to us, if you want to know what we know about the world, you'll come with us.

SARAH

And what the fuck do you know about the world?!

WOO

A lot more than you. Come on.

INT-APARTMENT: Woo and Helena leave. Sarah is hesitent to follow. Helena motions Sarah to come. She eventually does.

CUT TO. EXT-ALLYWAY, NIGHT: The Agents enter the ally through a black door that leads to a white hallway. The Agents are slightly different. Their glasses are more articulated and their tie clips are now gold rather than silver.

JONES

Upgrades compleated.

JOHNSON

Directive acknowedged?

BROWN

Yes.

JONES

The probe has been disabled.

BROWN

Contact has been lost?

JOHNSON

Yes.

JONES

Not for long. They will try to get her out. The nearest exit to her place of residence it not far.

EXT-ALLYWAY: The Agents walk to a nearby car and get in. The engine revves up and they drive off.

CUT TO. EXT-BUILDING, NIGHT: The snow has just begun to fall as a car pulls up in front of the building.

Sarah, Helena and Woo get out.

CUT TO. INT-HALLWAY, NIGHT: Sarah, Helena and Woo walk up to a door. The door has a large, burly man in a black suit coupled with a red shirt and black tie. He also bares a pair of dark sunglasses. This is NASH.

NASH

So, this is Antigone.

SARAH

How did you know that?

WOO

There is very little we don't know about you.

NASH

Come on in, he's waiting.

SARAH

Who is?

NASH

The answer to your questions.

INT-HALLWAY: Nash opens the doors. Sarah, Helena and Woo enter.

The doors close. Seated in a large, red, leather chair is Hemmington. He has in his hand a small glass of Scotch Whiskey.

HEMMINGTON

Care for?

SARAH

Actually yes. At this point I could go for a keg.

HEMMINGTON

We've all been there Antigone.

INT-APARTMENT: Hemmington pours Sarah a glass. He hands it to her.

HEMMINGTON

Alright. First things first. I need to hear from your lips your reasons for being here tonight.

INT-APARTMENT: Sarah swallows hard. She ponders her resopnse.

SARAH

Well, I uh...

HEMMINGTON

It's very normal to be confused. I myself was scared shitless at the thought of understanding the truth.

SARAH

Okay, there's a good place to start, the truth. What is "the truth"?

HEMMINGTON

You're asking me the wrong question.

SARAH

Fine. What is The Matrix?

HEMMINGTON

In a nutshell, The Matrix is the best told lie in the history of lies. You are drinking The Matrix, breathing it, smelling it, touching it.

SARAH

I'm not following you.

HEMMINGTON

That's okay. Until you see The Matrix for yourself, you'll never be able to comprehend any explaination I can provide.

SARAH

I have to see it then?

HEMMINGTON

Only if you belive you're stong enough to handle the truth.

SARAH

I think I am.

HEMMINGTON

You must be absolved of any doubt. You have to be 100% sure.

INT-APRATMENT: Sarah is close to having another drink. The glass touches her lips, but she does not drink. She puts the glass down.

SARAH

I am.

HEMMINGTON

Now comes the moment of choice. Your last chance.

INT-APARTMENT: Hemmington takes out a small metal case. He opens it and shows it to Sarah. In it are two small gel-cap pills, one red the other blue.

HEMMINGTON

Okay, this is when it gets scrary. The red pill; yes to the truth.

The blue pill; no.

INT-APARTMENT: Sarah considers her options. Then her hand moves to the red pill. She is close to taking it when,

HEMMINGTON

Remember, all I'm offering is the truth, nothing more.

INT-APARTMENT: Sarah takes the pill. She chases it with the rest of her Whiskey. She and Hemmington stand.

HEMMINGTON

Welcome to the first day of freedom.

INT-APARTMENT: Hemmington opens a pair of doors. There is a large wash of white light. The following speech is to be put with a series of images of Sarah waking from her pod, machines, the power plant, falling into water etc...

HEMMINGTON

Everyone has a reason to exist. It is, however, freedom which allows one the means through which one may live out that reason. Freedom. Freedom is all we wish for our people. Freedom is our only reason to exist, to do what we do. Freedom is what you, Antigone, will finally acheave for us. You are The One.

X-FADE TO. INT-INFERMARY, THE REAL WORLD: Sarah is lying on her back. She is totally hairless, eyebrows, eyelashes, head hair, everything. She is covered in a silver blanket. Her eyes slowly open. Around her are standing, Hemmington, Woo and Helena. There are also four more people, JACKIE, TURKISH, MICK and ANDREW. They all look different from what Sarah remembers. They are now dressed in old, unkemped clothing. They all look as though they may need a shower. However, Sarah feels no malice form any of them. She tries to speak, but her jaw muscles barely move.

SARAH

Where am I?

HEMMINGTON

The one place we should all be, the Real World.

SARAH

Wha...

HEMMINGTON

Take it easy, I'll explain everthing in due course.

INT-INFERMARY: Sarah falls asleep.

INT-VESSEL CABIN, FOUR DAYS LATER: Sarah is awoken with a jolt. She springs up. She has now grown eyebrows and some hair. She looks herself over. She is shocked to find herself covered in some form of electrical outlets. She feels the back of her head and finds a much larger outlet there also. She looks at the clothes she is wearing. They are much like the clothing of the crew, tattered, unkemped coveralls. She stands and moves to a small, circular window. Outside is a massive tunnel covered in old metal scraps, secondary pipes and steam vents.

CUT TO. INT-CORRIDOR: A door opens. Sarah enters the cramped hallway. She makes her way to a large room with three computer consoles. There is a man sitting at the computers. He turns slightly, the man is Turkish. He is a tall man, well built. He, however, bears a large scar on his left cheek and an artificial right hand. It seens to be robotic because it has the motions of any real hand. Turkish turns back to his work without seeing Sarah. She looks at the moniters. On them are long streams of green code, the same code she saw when she was young. Sarah stammers back a little. She trips over another chair. The noise gets Turkish's attention. He spins around and stands up. Sarah awkwardly gets to her feet. She begins to run very slowly. Yurkish needs only to walk quickly to catch up to her.

He grabs hold of her wrists. She tries to fight him off but is to tired to do anything. Turkish makes no attempt of be fearsome. He insted smiles, almost lovingly.

TURKISH

Good morning, sleepyhead.

INT-CONTROL ROOM: Sarah collapses in Turkish's arms.

CUT TO. INT-INFERMARY: Sarah wakes on the table. She is once again surrounded by everyone, Helena, Woo, Turkish, Mick, Andrew, Jackie and Hemmington. Sarah slowly sits up.

HEMMINGTON

Hi there.

SARAH

What's happened to me.

HEMMINGTON

You wanted to know the truth. This is where one comes to understand it.

SARAH

So, where is this place.

HEMMINGTON

I think I might be better off showing you.

CUT TO. INT-CONTROL ROOM: There are about ten reclining "dentist chairs" all in a circle. Each of which has a number of bio-readouts attached. They also have these dangerous looking plugs with long metal spears, about ten centimetres in length. Hemmington motions Sarah to sit. She takes a deep breath and does.

Turkish places her feet on a pair of foot rests then locks them in.

Hemmington takes the plug in his hand. He gives a reassuring smile.

HEMMINGTON

Its okay. Its actually kind of a rush.

INT-CONTROL ROOM: Hemmington shoves the plug into the outlet in Sarah's head. She gasps in shock. Turkish presses a few buttons.

CUT TO. EXT-CITY, DAY: Sarah is standing in the middle of the street. She is now dressed in a black pants suit. Her hair has fully regrown and is tied in a long ponytail. The streets are totally empty. No cars, people, sounds, nothing.

HEMMINGTON

Seems real doesn't it?

EXT-CITY: Hemmington is now standing about 100 feet away from Sarah down the street. They begin to walk towards eachother.

SARAH

It isn't?

HEMMINGTON

I don't know. Maybe, maybe not. How would one describe what reality is anyway?

SARAH

Good question.

HEMMINGTON

Well, leaving the nature of reality aside, this is not "real". I'll explain.

EXT-CITY: They meet and walk towards a television store.



HEMMINGTON

Like your clothes?

SARAH

Not bad.

HEMMINGTON

And your hair?

SARAH

What are you getting at?

HEMMINGTON

That you are not Sarah Burns. You are a digital representation of someone once called Sarah Burns. I am a digital representation of someone called Aaron Hemmington. You, however, have a choice, to remain calling yourself by that name, or use the name you have given yourself, Antigone.

SARAH

I'm not real?

HEMMINGTON

You, and everything around you right now is only as real as you

wish it to be.

CUT TO. INT-TELEVISION STORE, DAY: The store has a long line of big screen televisions, all of which show the same thing, the long streams of green code. In front of the televisions are big red easy chairs. Hemmington sits in one. Sarah looks at the code.

HEMMINGTON

Familiar?

SARAH

Scary.

HEMMINGTON

You were young when you first saw it. I didn't see it until I saw the computer screens on the ship. Have a seat.

INT-STORE: Sarah sits. Hemmington begins flipping through the channels, each one showing various images of daily life. City scapes, people walking, cars driving, homes being built etc...

HEMMINGTON

You wanted to know what The Matrix is?

SARAH

Oh yes.

HEMMINGTON

Then I have a story to tell.

CUT TO. INT-CONTROL ROOM: Sarah is back in the dentist chair. She wakes with a start.

SARAH

HOLY FUCKN' SHIT!!! NO WAY! NO FUCKN' WAY!!!

HEMMINGTON

Take it easy. Its okay, everyone goes through this.

INT-CONTROL ROOM: Sarah flails about wildly. She spins around and hits her head. Knocked unconsious. She falls into Turkish's arms again.

X-FADE TO. INT-CABIN, HOURS LATER: Sarah wakes up. Hemmington is sitting on a stool.

SARAH

Its funny. We made them. They've always needed us to survive. I guess we have only ourselves to blame.

HEMMINGTON

There's more.

INT-CABIN: Sarah sits up.

HEMMINGTON

About a century ago, a man was created within The Matrix. He had the ability to change it to his will. His name was Neo. We also leared that he was not the only one. The Matrix has gone through six revoultions. But the five times before Neo, we weren't aware of the previous versions. Now we know that this version of The Matrix is the seventh. With each Matrix comes a being known as The One. Long story short, I have come to belive that you are that being.

SARAH

Me? But, you said all the other Ones were men.As you can see, I'm not.

HEMMINGTON

I know. Something changed in the revoulution from the sixth to the seventh version. But you must come to understand this yourself. I, nor anyone can tell you what you should or should not be. That's a choice we must all make for ourselves. Rest up now, you've got a busy day tomorrow.

SARAH

Why?

INT-CABIN: Hemmington stands and smiles.

HEMMINGTON

A little give you might find some use for.