发信人: zerod()
整理人: fallingstar(1999-12-29 10:52:00), 站内信件
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转载自《大嘴乐园》
THE MATRIX
Written by
Larry and Andy Wachowski
April 8, 1996
FADE IN ON:
COMPUTER SCREEN
So close it has no boundaries.
A blinking cursor pulses in the electric darkness like a
heart coursing with phosphorous light, burning beneath
the derma of black-neon glass.
A PHONE begins to RING, we hear it as though we were
making the call. The cursor continues to throb,
relentlessly patient, until --
MAN (V.O.)
Hello?
Data now slashes across the screen, information flashing
faster than we read.
SCREEN
Call trans opt: received.
2-19-96 13:24:18 REC:Log>
WOMAN (V.O.)
I'm inside. Anything to report?
We listen to the phone conversation as though we were on
a third line. The man's name is CYPHER. The woman,
TRINITY.
CYPHER (V.O.)
Let's see. Target left work at
5:01 PM.
SCREEN
Trace program: running.
The entire screen fills with racing columns of numbers.
Shimmering like green-electric rivets, they rush at a 10-
digit phone number in the top corner.
CYPHER (V.O.)
He caught the northbound Howard
line. Got off at Sheridan.
Stopped at 7-11. Purchased six-
pack of beer and a box of Captain
Crunch. Returned home.
The area code is identified. The first three numbers
suddenly fixed, leaving only seven flowing columns.
We begin MOVING TOWARD the screen, CLOSING IN as each
digit is matched, one by one, snapping into place like
the wheels of a slot machine.
TRINITY (V.O.)
All right, you're relieved. Use
the usual exit.
CYPHER (V.O.)
Do you know when we're going to
make contact?
TRINITY
Soon.
Only two thin digits left.
CYPHER (V.O.)
Just between you and me, you don't
believe it, do you? You don't
believe this guy is the one?
TRINITY (V.O.)
I think Morpheus believes he is.
CYPHER (V.O.)
I know. But what about you?
TRINITY (V.O.)
I think Morpheus knows things that
I don't.
CYPHER (V.O.)
Yeah, but if he's wrong --
The final number pops into place --
TRINITY (V.O.)
Did you hear that?
CYPHER (V.O.)
Hear what?
SCREEN
Trace complete. Call origin:
#312-555-0690
TRINITY (V.O.)
Are you sure this line is clean?
CYPHER (V.O.)
Yeah, course I'm sure.
We MOVE STILL CLOSER, the ELECTRIC HUM of the green
numbers GROWING INTO an OMINOUS ROAR.
TRINITY (V.O.)
I better go.
CYPHER (V.O.)
Yeah. Right. See you on the other side.
She hangs up as we PASS THROUGH the numbers, entering the
netherworld of the computer screen.
Where gradually the sound of a police radio grows around
us.
RADIO (V.O.)
Attention all units. Attention
all units.
Suddenly, a flashlight cuts open the darkness and we find
ourselves in --
INT. CHASE HOTEL - NIGHT
The hotel was abandoned after a fire licked its way
across the polyester carpeting, destroying several rooms
as it spooled soot up the walls and ceiling leaving
patterns of permanent shadow.
We FOLLOW four armed POLICE officers using flashlights as
they creep down the blackened hall and ready themselves
on either side of room 303.
The biggest of them violently kicks in the door --
The other cops pour in behind him, guns thrust before
them.
BIG COP
Police! Freeze!
The room is almost devoid of furniture. There is a fold-
up table and chair with a phone, a modern, and a powerbook
computer. The only light in the room is the glow of the
computer.
Sitting there, her hands still on the keyboard, is
TRINITY; a woman in black leather.
BIG COP
Get your hands behind your head!
Trinity rises.
BIG COP
Hands behind your head! Now! Do
it!
She slowly puts her hands behind her head.
EXT. CHASE HOTEL - NIGHT
A black sedan with tinted windows glides in through the
police cruisers.
AGENT SMITH and AGENT BROWN get out of the car.
They wear dark suits and sunglasses even at night. They
are also always hardwired; small Secret Service earphones
in one ear, its cord coiling back into their shirt
collars.
AGENT SMITH
Lieutenant?
LIEUTENANT
Oh shit.
AGENT SMITH
Lieutenant, you were given
specific orders --
LIEUTENANT
I'm just doing my job. You gimme
that Juris-my dick-tion and you
can cran it up your ass.
AGENT SMITH
The orders were for your protection.
The Lieutenant laughs.
LIEUTENANT
I think we can handle one little
girl.
Agent Smith nods to Agent Brown as they start toward the
hotel.
LIEUTENANT
I sent two units. They're
bringing her down now.
AGENT SMITH
No, Lieutenant, your men are dead.
INT. CHASE HOTEL
The Big Cop flicks out his cuffs, the other cops holding
a bead. They've done this a hundred times, they know
they've got her, until the Big Cop reaches with the cuff
and Trinity moves --
It almost doesn't register, so smooth and fast, inhumanly
fast.
The eye blinks and Trinity's palm. snaps up and the nose
explodes, blood erupting. The cop is dead before he
begins to fall.
And Trinity is moving again --
Seizing a wrist, misdirecting a gun, as a startled cop
FIRES --
A head explodes.
In blind panic, another airs his gun, the barrel, a fixed
black hole --
And FIRES --
Trinity twists out of the way, the bullet missing as she
reverses into a roundhouse kick, knocking the gun away.
The cop begins to scream when a jump kick crushes his
windpipe, killing the scream as he falls to the ground.
She looks at the four bodies.
TRINITY
Shit.
EXT. CHASE HOTEL
Agent Brown enters the hotel, while Agent Smith heads for
the alley.
INT. CHASE HOTEL
Trinity is on the phone, pacing. The other end is
answered.
MAN (V.O.)
Operator.
TRINITY
Morpheus! The link was traced! I
don't know how.
MORPHEUS (V.O.)
I know. Stay calm.
TRINITY
Are there any agents?
MORPHEUS (V.O.)
Yes.
TRINITY
Goddamnit!
MORPHEUS (V.O.)
You have to focus. There is a
phone. Wells and Laxe. You can
make it.
She takes a deep breath, centering herself.
TRINITY
All right --
MORPHEUS (V.O.)
Go.
She drops the phone.
INT. HALL
She bursts out of the room as Agent Brown enters the hall,
leading another unit of police. Trinity races to the
opposite end, exiting through a broken window onto the
fire escape.
EXT. FIRE E5CAPE
In the alley below, Trinity sees Agent Smith staring at
her. She can only go up.
EXT. ROOF
On the roof, Trinity is running as Agent Brown rises over
the parapet, leading the cops in pursuit.
Trinity begins to jump from one roof to the next, her
moverents so clean, gliding in and out of each jump,
contrasted to the wild jumps of the cops.
Agent Brown, however, has the same unnatural grace.
The METAL SCREAM of an EL TRAIN is heard and Trinity
turns to it, racing for the back of the building.
The edge falls away into a wide back alley. The next
building is over 40 feet away, but Trinity's face is
perfectly calm, staring at some point beyond the other
roof.
The cops slow, realizing they are about to see something
ugly as Trinity drives at the edge, launching herself
into the air.
From above, the ground seems to flow beneath her as she
hangs in flight
Then hitting, somersaulting up, still running hard.
COP
Motherfucker -- that's impossible!
They stare, slack-jawed, as Agent Brown duplicates the
move exactly, landing, rolling over a shoulder, up onto
one knee.
Just below the building are the runbling tracks of
riveted steel. The TRAIN SCREECHES beneath her, a
rattling blur of gray metal. Trinity junps, landing
easily.
She looks back just as Agent Brown hurls through the air
barely reaching the last car
Agent Brown stands, yanking out a gun.
Trinity is running hard as BULLETS WHISTLE past her head.
Ahead she sees her only chance, 50 feet beyond the point
where the train has begun to turn, there is --
A window; a yellow glow in the midst of a dark brick
building.
Trinity zeroes in on it, running as hard as she can, her
speed compounded by the train. The SCREAM of the STEEL
rises as she nears the edge where the train rocks into the
turn.
Trinity hurtles into the empty night space, her body
leveling into a dive. She falls, arms covering her head
as --
The whole world seems to spin on its axis --
And she crashes with an EXPLOSION of GLASS and WOOD, then
falls onto a back stairwell, tumbling, bouncing down
stairs bleeding, broken --
But still alive.
Through the smashed window, she glimpses Agent Brown,
still on the train, his tie and coat whipping in the
wind; stone-faced, he touches his ear piece as the train
slides him past the window.
Trinity tries to move. Everything hurts.
TRINITY
Get up, Trinity. You're fine.
Get up -- just get up!
She stands and limps down the rest of the stairs.
EXT. STREET
Trinity emerges from the shadows of an alley and, at the
end of the block, in a pool of white street light, she
sees it.
The telephone booth.
Obviously hurt, she starts down the concrete walk,
focusing in completely, her pace quickening, as the PHONE
begins to RING.
Across the street, a garbage truck suddenly u-turns, its
TIRES SCREAMING as it accelerates.
Trinity sees the headlights on the truck arcing at the
telephone booth as if taking aim.
Gritting through the pain, she races the truck --
Slamming into the booth, the headlights blindingly
bright, bearing down on the box of Plexiglas just as --
She answers the phone.
There is a frozen instant of silence before the hulking
mass of dark metal lurches up onto the sidewalk --
Barreling through the booth, bulldozing it into a brick
wall, smashing it to Plexiglas pulp.
After a moment, a black loafer steps down from the cab of
the garbage truck. Agent Smith inspects the wreckage.
There is no body. Trinity is gone.
His jaw sets as he grinds his molars in frustration.
AGENT JONES walks up behind him.
AGENT SMITH
Did you get anything from the
room?
AGENT JONES
Their next target. The name is
Neo.
The handset of the pay phone lays on the ground,
separated in the crash like a severed limb.
AGENT SMITH
We'll need a search running.
AGENT JONES
It's already begun.
We are SUCKED TOWARDS the mouthpiece of the phone, CLOSER
and CLOSER, UNTIL the smooth gray plastic spreads out
like a horizon and the small HOLES WIDEN until we fall
through one --
Swallowed by the darkness that becomes --
A computer screen.
We are on-line, inside a chat room called "The Matrix."
It is an exklusive web-site where hackers hang out.
SCREEN
JACKON: I heard Morpheus has been
on this board.
SUPERASTIC: Morpheus doesn't even
exist and the Matrix is nothing
but an advertising gimmick 4 a new
game.
TIMAXE: All I want to know is
Trinity really a girl?
LODIII: 87% of all women on line
are really men.
QUARK: The Matrix is a euphemism
for the government.
SUPERASTIC: No, The Matrix is the
system controlling our lives.
TIMAXE: You mean MTV.
SUPERASTIC: I mean Sega.
FOS4: ALL HAIL SEGA!!!
We drift back from the electric conversation entering --
INT. NEO'S APARTMENT
It is a studio apartirent that seems overgrown with
technology.
Weed-like cables coil everywhere, duct-taped into
thickets that wind up and around the legs of several
desks.
Tabletops are filled with cannibalized equipment that lay
open like an autopsied corpse.
We turn towards the center of this rat-nest of
technology, following the slurping and crunching of
cereal. We pass an open box of Capln Crunch as we find --
NEO, a younger man who knows more about living inside a
computer than living outside one.
NEO
Fuckin' idiots don't know shit.
He finishes his cereal and is about to disconnect when an
anonynous message slices onto the screen.
SCREEN
Do you want to know what the
Matrix is, Neo?
Neo is frozen when he reads his name.
SCREEN
SUPERASTIC: Who said that?
JACKON: Who's Neo?
GIBSON: This is a private board.
If you want to know, follow the
white rabbit.
NEO
What the hell...
SCREEN
TIMAXE: Someone is hacking the
hackers!
FOS4: It's Morpheus!!!!!
JACKON: Identify yourself.
Knock, knock, Neo.
A chill runs down his spine and when someone KNOCKS on
his door he almost jumps out of his chair.
He looks at the door, then back at the computer but the
message is gone.
He shakes his head, not completely sure what happened.
Again, someone knocks.
Cautiously, Neo approaches the door.
VOICE (O.S.)
Hey, Tommy-boy! You in there?
Recognizing the voice, he relaxes and opens it. ANTHONY,
who lives down the hall, is standing outside with a group
of friends.
NEO
What do you want, Anthony?
ANTHONY
I need your help, man. Desperate.
They got me, man. The shackles of
fascism.
He holds up the red notice that accompanies the Denver
boot.
NEO
You got the money this time?
He holds up two hundred dollars and Neo opens the door.
Anthony's girlfriend, DUJOUR, stops in front of Neo.
DUJOUR
You can really get that thing off,
right now?
ANTHONY
I told you, honey, he may look
like just another geek but this
here is all we got left standing
between Big Brother and the New
World Order.
EXT. STREET
A police officer unlocks a yellow metal boot from the
wheel of an enormous oldsmobile.
INT. NEO'S APARTMENT
They watch from the window as the cops, silently,
robotically, climb into their van.
ANTHONY
Look at 'em. Automatons. Don't
think about what they're- doing or
why. Computer tells 'em what to
do and they do it.
FRIEND #l
Thc banality of evil.
He slaps the money in Neo's hand.
ANTHONY
Thanks, neighbor.
DUJOUR
Why don't you come to the party
with us?
NEO
I don't know. I have to work
tomorrow.
DUJOUR
Come on. It'll be fun.
He looks up at her and suddenly notices on her black
leather motorcycle jacket dozens of pins: bands,
symbols, slogans, military medals and --
A small white rabbit.
The ROOM TILTS.
NEO
Yeah, yeah. Sure, I'll go.
INT. APARTMENT
An older Chicago apartment; a series of halls connects a
chain of small high-ceilinged rooms lined with heavy
casements.
Smoke hangs like a veil, blurring the few lights there
are.
Dressed predominantly in black, people are everywhere,
gathered in cliques around pieces of furniture like
jungle cats around a tree.
Neo stands against a wall, alone, sipping from a bottle
of beer, feeling completely out of place, he is about to
leave when he notices a woman staring at him.
The woman is Trinity. She walks straight up to him.
In the nearest room, shadow-like figures grind against
each other to the pneumatic beat of INDUSTRIAL MUSIC.
TRINITY
Hello, Neo.
NEO
How did you know that --
TRINITY
I know a lot about you. I've been
wanting to meet you for some time.
NEO
Who are you?
TRINITY
My name is Trinity.
NEO
Trinity? The Trinity? The
Trinity that cracked the I.R.S.
Kansas City D-Base?
TRINITY
That was a long time ago.
NEO
Gee-zus.
TRINITY
What?
NEO
I just thought... you were a guy.
TRINITY
Most guys do.
Neo is a little embarrassed.
NEO
Do you want to go sorewhere and
talk?
TRINITY
No. It's safe here and I don't
have much time.
The MUSIC is so loud they must stand very close, talking
directly into each other's ear.
NEO
That was you on the board tonight.
That was your note, wasn't it?
TRINITY
I had to gamble that you would see
and they wouldn't.
NEO
Who wouldn't?
TRINITY
I can't explain everything to you.
I'm sure that it's all going to
seem very strange, but I brought
you here to warn you, Neo. You
are in a lot of danger.
NEO
What? Why?
TRINITY
They're watching you. Something
happened and they found out about
you. Normally, if our target is
exposed we let it go. But this
time, we can't do that.
NEO
I don't understand --
TRINITY
You came here because you wanted
to know the answer to a hacker's
question.
NEO
The Matrix. What is the Matrix?
TRINITY
Twelve years ago I met a man, a
great man, who said that no one
could be told the answer to that
question. That they had to see
it, to believe it.
Her body is against his; her lips very close to his ear.
TRINITY
He told me that no one should look
for the answer unless they have to
because once you see it,
everything changes. Your life and
the world you live in will never
be the same. It's as if you wake
up one morning and the sky is
falling.
There is a hypnotic quality to her voice and Neo feels
the words like a drug, seeping into him.
TRINITY
The truth is out there, Neo. It's
looking for you and it will find
you, if you want it to.
She takes hold of him with her eyes.
TRINITY
That's all I can tell you right
now. Good-bye, Neo. And good
luck.
NEO
Wait. Who was it? Who was the
man?
She leans close, her lips alrost touching his ear as she
whispers.
TRINITY
You know who.
She turns and he watches her melt into the shifting wall
of bodies.
A SOUND RISES steadily, growing out of the music,
pressing in on Neo until it is all he can hear as we --
CUT TO:
INT. NEO'S APARTMENT
The sound is an ALARM CLOCK, slowly dragging Neo to
consciousness. He strains to read the clock face:
9:15 A.M.
NEO
Shitshitshit.
EXT. SKYSCRAPER
The downtown office of CorTechs, a software development
company.
INT. CORTECHS OFFICE
The main offices are along each wall, the windows
overlooking downtown Chicago.
RHINEHEART, the ultimate company man, lectures Neo
without looking at him, typing at his computer
continuously.
Neo stares at two window cleaners on a scaffolding
outside, dragging their rubber squeegees down across the
surface of the glass.
RHINEHEART
You have a problem, Mr. Anderson.
You think that you're special.
You believe that somehow the rules
do not apply to you.
He stops, glancing over his glasses at Neo, who turns in
time.
RHINEHEART
Obviously, you are mistaken.
His long, bony fingers resume clicking the keyboard.
RHINEHEART
This company is one of the top
software companies in the world
because every single employee
understands that they are a part
of a whole. Thus, if an employee
has a problem, the company has a
problem.
He turns again.
RHINEHEART
The time has come to make a
choice, Mr. Anderson. Either you
choose to be at your desk on time
from this day forth, or you choose
to find yourself another job. Do
I make myself clear?
NEO
Yes, Mr. Rhineheart. Perfectly
clear.
INT. NEO'S CUBICLE
The entire floor looks like a human honeycomb, with a
labyrinth of cubicles structured around a core of
elevators.
Neo slumps down into his chair. A TALL EMPLOYEE stands
up in the adjacent cubicle, leaning over the partition.
TALL EMPLOYEE
What did he say?
NEO
If I was late again, I'm going to
be fired.
He smirks.
TALL EMPLOYEE
Well, it was nice working with
you.
Neo glares at him, as he sinks down.
VOICE (O.S.)
Thomas Anderson?
Neo turns and finds a FEDERAL EXPRESS MAN at his cubicle
door.
NEO
Yeah. That's me.
Neo signs the electronic pad and the Fedex guy hands him
the softpak.
FEDEX
Have a nice day.
He opens the bag. Inside is a CELLULAR PHONE. It seems
the instant it is in his hand, it RINGS. Unnerved, he
flips it open.
NEO
Hello?
MORPHEUS (V.O.)
Hello, Neo. This is Morpheus.
Neo's knees give and he falls into his chair.
MORPHEUS (V.O.)
I had hoped for this conversation
to take place under less adverse
conditions, but you can never
count on hope, can you, Neo?
NEO
... no.
MORPHEUS (V.O.)
I've been watching you, Neo, and I
want to meet you. I don't know if
you're ready to see what I want to
show you, but unfortunately, we
have run out of time. They're
coming for you, Neo. And I'm not
sure what they're going to do.
NEO
Who's coming for me?
MORPHEUS (V.O.)
Stand up and see for yourself.
NEO
Right now?
MORPHEUS (V.O.)
Yes. Now.
Neo starts to stand.
MORPHEUS (V.O.)
Do it slowly. Slowly. The elevator.
His head slowly peeks up over the partition.
At the elevator, he sees Agent Brown and Agent Jones
leading a group of cops. A female employee turns and
points out Neo's cubicle.
Neo ducks.
NEO
Holy fuckin' shit!
MORPHEUS (V.O.)
Yes.
One cop stays at the elevator, the others follow the
agents.
NEO
What the fuck do they want with
me?!
MORPHEUS (V.O.)
I'm not sure. But, if you don't
want to find out, you better get
out of there.
NEO
How?!
MORPHEUS (V.O.)
I can guide you out, but you have
to do exactly what I say.
The agents are moving quickly towards the cubicle.
MORPHEUS (V.O.)
The cubicle across from you is
empty.
NEO
But what if...?
MORPHEUS (V.O.)
Go! Now!
Neo lunges across the hall, diving into the other cubicle
just as the agents turn into his row.
Neo crams himself into a dark corner, clutching the phone
tightly to him.
MORPHEUS (V.O.)
Stay here for a moment.
The agents enter Neo's empty cubicle. A cop is sent to
search the bathroom.
Morpheus' voice is a whisper in Neo's ear.
MORPHEUS (V.O.)
A little longer...
Brown is talking to the tall employee.
MORPHEUS (V.O.)
When I tell you, go to the end of
the row to the first office on the
left, stay.as low as you can.
Sweat trickles down his forehead.
MORPHEUS (V.O.)
Now.
Neo rolls out of the cubicle, his eyes popping as he
freezes right behind a cop who has just turned around.
Staying crouched, he sneaks away, down the row, SHOOTING
across the opening to the first office on the left.
The room is empty.
MORPHEUS (V.O.)
Good. Now there is a window.
Open it.
NEO
How do you know all this?
Morpheus laughs quietly.
MORPHEUS (V.O.)
The answer is coming, Neo.
He opens the window. The window howls into the room.
MORPHEUS (V.O.)
Outside, there's a scaffold. You
can use it to get to the roof.
Leaning out the window, he sees that the scaffold is
several offices away.
NEO
No! It's too far away.
MORPHEUS (V.O.)
There's a small ledge. It's a
short climb. You can make it.
Neo looks down; the building's glass wall vertigos into a
concrete chasm.
NEO
No way, no way, this is crazy.
MORPHEUS (V.O.)
Don't be controlled by your fear,
Neo. There are only two ways out
of this building. One is that
scaffold. The other is in their
custody. You take a chance either
way. I leave it to you.
CLICK. He hangs up. Neo looks at the door, then back at
the scaffold.
NEO
This is insane! Why is this
happening to me? What did I do?
I'm nobody. I didn't do anything.
Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!
He climbs up onto the window ledge. Hanging onto the
frame, he steps onto the small ledge.
The scaffold seems even farther away.
NEO
I'm going to die.
The WIND suddenly BLASTS up the face of the building,
knocking Neo off balance. Recoiling, he clings harder to
the frame, and the phone falls out of his hand.
He watches as it is swallowed by the distance beneath him.
NEO
This is insane. I can't do this!
Forget it!
He climbs back into the office just as a cop opens the
door.
NEO
I didn't do anything!
EXT. SKYSCRAPER
The agents lead a handcuffed Neo out of the revolving
doors, forcing his head down as they push him into the
dark sedan.
Trinity watches in the rear view mirror of her
motorcycle.
TRINITY
Shit.
INT. INTERROGATION ROOM - CLOSE ON CAMERA MONITOR
A wide angle view of a white roon, where Neo is sitting at
a table alone.
We MOVE INTO the monitor, ENTERING the room as if the
monitor were a window.
At the same moment, the door opens and the agents enter.
Smith sits down across from Neo. A thick manila envelope
slaps down on the table between them.
Neo glances at the name on the file: "Anderson, Thomas
A."
AGENT SMITH
As you can see, we've had our eye
on you for some time now, Mr.
Anderson.
He opens the file. Paper rattle marks the silence as he
flips several pages. Neo cannot tell if he is looking at
the file or at him.
AGENT SMITH
It seems that you have been living
two lives. In one life, you are
Thomas A. Anderson, program writer
for a respectable software
company. You have a social
security number, you pay your
taxes and you help your land lady
carry out her garbage.
The pages continue to turn.
AGENT SMITH
The other life is lived in
computers where you go by the
hacker alias Neo, and are guilty
of virtually every computer crime
we have a law for, including the
unauthorized use of the D.M.V.
system for the removal of
automobile boots.
Neo feels himself sinking into a pit of shit.
AGENT SMITH
One of these,lives has a future.
One of them does not.
He closes the file.
AGENT SMITH
I'm going to be as forthcoming as
I can be, Mr. Anderson. You are
here because we need your help.
He removes his sunglasses; his eyes are an unnatural ice-
blue.
AGENT SMITH
We know that you have been
contacted by a certain individual.
A man who calls himself Morpheus.
Whatever you think you know about
this man is irrelevant to the fact
that he is wanted for acts of
terrorism in more countries than
any other man in the world. He is
considered by many authorities to
be the most dangerous man alive.
He leans closer.
AGENT SMITH
My colleagues believe that I am
wasting my time with you, but I
believe you want to do the right
thing. It is obvious that you are
an intelligent man, Mr. Anderson,
and that you are interested in the
future. That is why I believe you
are ready to put your past
mistakes behind you and get on
with your life.
Neo tries to match his stare.
AGENT SMITH
We are willing to wipe the slate
clean, to give you a fresh start
and all we are asking in return is
your cooperation in bringing a
known terrorist to justice.
Neo nods to himself.
NEO
Yeah. Wow. That sounds like a
real good deal. But I think I
have a better one. How about I
give you the finger --
He does.
NEO
And you can cram that file up your
Secret Service sphincter.
Agent Smith puts his glasses back on.
AGENT SMITH
You disappoint me, Mr. Anderson.
NEO
You ain't seen nothing yet.
AGENT SMITH
The irony of your situation is
that you have no choice.
NEO
You can't scare me with this
gestapo crap. I know my rights.
I want my phone call.
Agent Smith smiles.
AGENT SMITH
And tell me, Mr. Anderson, what
good is a phone call iy you are
unable to speak?
The question unnerves Neo and strangely, he begins to
feel the muscles in his jaw tighten.
The standing agents snicker, watching Neo's confusion
grow into panic.
Neo feels his lips grow soft and sticky as they slowly
seal shut, melding into each other until all trace of his
mouth is gone.
Wild with fear, he lunges for the door but the agents
restrain him holding him in the chair.
AGENT SMITH
You are going to help us, Mr.
Anderson, whether you want to or
not.
Smith nods and the other two rip open his shirt.
From a case taken out of his suit coat, Smith removes a
long, fiber-optic wire tap.
Neo struggles helplessly as Smith dangles the wire over
his exposed abdomen. Horrified, he watches as the
electronic device animates, become an organic creature
that resembles a hybrid of an insect and a fluke worm.
Thin, whisker-like tendrils reach out and probe into
Neo's navel. He bucks wildly as Smith drops the creature
which looks for a moment like an uncut umbilical cord --
Before it begins to burrow its, tail thrashing as it
worms its way inside.
INT. NEO'S APARTMENT - NIGHT
Screaming, Neo bolts upright in bed.
He realizes that he is home. Was it a dream? His mouth
is normal. His stomach looks fine. He starts to take a
deep, everything-is-okay breath, when --
The PHONE RINGS.
It almost stops his heart. It CONTINUES RINGING,
building pressure in the room, forcing him up out of bed,
sucking him in with an almost gravitational force.
He answers it, saying nothing.
MORPHEUS (V.O.).
This line is tapped, so I must be
brief.
NEO
The agents --
MORPHEUS (V.O.)
They got to you first, but they've
underestimated how important you
are. If they knew what I know,
you would probably be dead.
Neo feels sick.
MORPHEUS (V.O.)
I don't know what you are thinking
right now but I want you to
understand that I will not give up
on you until you give up on me.
Neo's throat cracks, dry as the Sahara.
MORPHEUS (V.O.)
Do you still want to meet?
NEO
... Yes.
MORPHEUS (V.O.)
Take the Howard line south.
CLICK. He closes his eyes, unsure of what he has done.
EXT. EL TRAIN
An EL TRAIN RAGES against its metal rails.
INT. TRAIN
It is three a.m., and the train carries the usual urban
night crawlers. Neo sits alone, eyes shifting, watching
everything nervously.
There is a METAL BANG and TRAIN CLATTER fills the car as
the door is opened.
Neo turns and sees a large man enter. He is wearing
sunglasses and a black leather jacket. His name is APOC
and he walks straight at Neo.
APOC
Come with me.
Neo stands just as the door at the opposite end opens and
two police officers rush in, drawing their guns.
Apoc grabs Neo, muscling him to the nearest exit. There
is no upcoming station.
Apoc yanks the emergency brake and the train buckles
against its own speed. The cops are thrown back. Neo
slams against the metal rail.
The doors open onto nothing and just when Neo regains his
balance, Apoc shoves him backwards --
He flies out from the train, arms windrilling as he falls
from, the raised tracks --
Hurtling towards a busy city street when, out of nowhere,
a truck races under him and --
He crashes into a large dumpster-bed filled with empty
boxes.
INT. TRUCK BED
Still shaking his head, Neo realizes he is not alone. A
man named Cabie is aiming a big gun at him. Trinity is
next to him, talking into a cellular phone.
TRINITY
We got him. Call the chop-shop.
She hangs up.
TRINITY
Listen to me, Neo. You have to,
trust us.
She tears off a long strip of black duct-tape and reaches
for his face.
NEO
What are you doing?
TRINITY
This has to be done for your
protection and ours.
She seals his eyes shut with the tape.
TRINITY
You can't understand right now,
but if you're not one of us,
you're one of them.
EXT. LOWER WACKER
A featureless black van glides up to a staircase that
curls down from the city's surface.
trinity guides the blind Neo down the steps. The back of
the van slaps open, revealing a young, skinny man who
looks to be still in his teens, wearing an outfit that is
a cross between a surgeon and a telephone repair man.
His name is GIZMO and he smiles lewdly at Trinity,
exposing his teeth that are wired with weird-looking
braces.
GIZMO
Va va va voom. Still the hottest
software around.
TRINITY
Hello, Gizmo.
Neo hears the voices around him.
GIZMO
This is really the guy? The guy
that Morpheus thinks --
TRINITY
Yeah.
GIZMO
But he's so old.
TRINITY
Are you going to help us or aren't
you?
GIZMO
Hacksaw. Load up the copper-top
and let's get the hell outta here.
Hacksaw is a huge man in a leather welder's apron. He
shoulders Neo and hauls him into the van.
A moment later the green lights of Lower Wacker curve
over the tinted windshield as the van rushes through the
underworld.
INT. VAN
The chop-shop is filled with electronic gadgets, wired to
meters and monitors. There are shelves lined with
medical supplies and rows of hanging tools, knives,
cleavers, and stainless steel clamps.
Neo is strapped down to an ambulance cart, listening
nervously as Gizmo gets to work.
GIZMO
Okay, first we take a little look
under the hood.
He pulls up the goggles hanging at his neck and they
blink to life with tiny halogen lights and lenses irising
to varying levels of magnification.
GIZMO
You're going to feel a little
prick.
He inserts acupuncture-like needles into Neo's lower
abdomen. The needles are wired to video monitors.
Hacksaw pilots the fiber-optic lens.
NEO
What are you doing?
TRINITY
We think you're bugged. We can't
take you to Morpheus until you're
clean.
GIZMO
There it is.
On a monitor, we see the bug nestled in among Neols large
intestines.
GIZMO
Hit him with 10 ccs of local.
Hacksaw loads a hypodermic needle and pumps an anesthetic
around Neols navel.
Using a device that looks like a miniature speculum,
Gizmo inserts a knuckled dental pick. Typing into a
calculator keypad wired to the pick, he automates the
tip.
On the monitor, we watch it telescope out and the end
separate into a tiny hooked, metal claw.
GIZMO
Here, kitty, kitty, kitty.
The claw snags hold of the bug.
GIZMO
Gotcha!
But the bug reacts violently. Neo screams as it wraps
itself around the soft tissue web of intestine.
GIZMO
Shit.
TRINITY
What's happening?
GIZMO
I don't know. They've never done
that before.
Neo writhes in pain.
GIZMO
Hold him down.
NEO
Jesus! God!
TRINITY
Do something!
GIZMO
I got it! Maybe we can stun it.
TRINITY
Are you crazy? That will kill
him.
We watch Neo, who can't see what they are talking about.
GIZMO
It'll work. Come on, do it or
Hacksaw will.
NEO
Do what?
The instant he hears the word, he knows.
TRINITY
Clear.
NEO
Oh, shit --
The cry is frozen in his mouth as the paddles hit his
chest. Gizmo wrestles with the bug.
GIZMO
Hit him again!
Again, the electricity convulses through him as Gizmo
yanks the speculum out.
GIZMO
Got it!
Trinity touches Neo, who is just beginning to breathe.
She eases the tape off his eyes.
TRINITY
Neo, are you okay?
He nods.
TRINITY
It's over. We got it.
Hanging from the claw pick is the inanimate metal wire-
tap.
GIZMO
Nasty little bugger, ain't it?
INT. HOTEL LAFAYETTE
The van stops in a deserted alley behind a forgotten
hotel. The doors open and Trinity helps Neo get out.
TRINITY
Thanks for your help, Gizmo.
GIZMO
I just hope the man knows what
he's doing.
She nods then climbs out of the van. Gizmo ogles the
tight leather pants.
GIZMO
Goddamn, what I wouldn't give for
a copy of that software.
Trinity turns around.
TRINITY
Gizmo, you don't have the hardware
to handle this software.
He howls with adolescent laughter as the van pulls away.
Trinity turns to Neo.
TRINITY
Let's go. He's waiting.
INT. HOTEL LAFAYETTE
It is a place of putrefying elegance, a rotting host of
urban maggotry.
Trinity leads Neo from the stairwell down the hall of the
thirteenth floor. They stop outside room 1313.
TRINITY
This is it.
Neo can hear his own heart pounding.
TRINITY
Let me give one piece of advice.
Be honest. He knows more than you
can possibly imagine.
INT. ROOM 1313
Across the room, a dark figure stares out the tall
windows veiled with decaying lace. He turns and his
smile lights up the room.
MORPHEUS
At last.
He wears a long black coat and his eyes are invisible
behind circular mirrored glasses.
He strides to Neo and they shake hands.
MORPHEUS
Welcome, Neo. As you no doubt
have guessed, I am Morpheus.
NEO
It's an honor.
MORPHEUS
Please. Come. Sit.
He nods to Trinity.
MORPHEUS
Thank you, Trinity.
She bows her head sharply and exits through a door to an
adjacent room.
They sit across from one another in cracked, burgundy-
leather chairs.
MORPHEUS
I imagine, right now, you must be
feeling a bit like Alice, tumbling
down the rabbit hole?
NEO
You could say that.
MORPHEUS
I can see it in your eyes. You
have the look of a man who accepts
what he sees because he is
expecting to wake up.
A smile, razor-thin, curls the corner of his lips.
MORPHEUS
Ironically, this is not far from
the truth. But I'm getting ahead
of myself. Can you tell me, Neo,
why are you here?
NEO
You're Morpheus, you're a legend.
Most hackers would die to meet
you.
MORPHEUS
Yes. Thank you. But I think we
both know there's more to it than
that. Do you believe in fate, Neo?
NEO
No.
MORPHEUS
Why not?
NEO
Because I don't like the idea that
I'm not in control of my life.
MORPHEUS
I know exactly what you mean.
Again, that smile that could cut glass.
MORPHEUS
Let me tell you why you are here.
You are here because you have the
gift.
NEO
What gift?
MORPHEUS
I've watched you, Neo. You do not
use a computer like a tool. You
use it like it was part of
yourself. What you can do inside
a computer is not normal. I know.
I've seen it. What you do is
magic.
Neo shrugs.
NEO
It's not magic.
MORPHEUS
But it is, Neo. It is. How else
would you describe what has been
happening to you?
He leans forward.
MORPHEUS
We are trained in this world to
accept only what is rational and
logical. Have you ever wondered
why?
Neo shakes his head.
MORPHEUS
As children, we do not separate
the possible from the impossible
which is why the younger a mind is
the easier it is to free while a
mind like yours can be very
difficult.
NEO
Free from what?
MORPHEUS
From the Matrix.
Neo locks at his eyes but only sees a reflection of
himself.
MORPHEUS
Do you want to know what it is,
Neo?
Neo swallows and nods his head.
MORPHEUS
It's that feeling you have had all
your life. That feeling that
something was wrong with the
world. You don't know what it is
but it's there, like a splinter in
your mind, driving you mad,
driving you to me. But what is
it?
The LEATHER CREAKS as he leans back.
MORPHEUS
The Matrix is everywhere, it's all
around us, here even in this room.
You can see it out your window, or
on your television. You feel it
when you go to work, or go to
church or pay your taxes. It is
the world that has been pulled
over your eyes to blind you from
the truth.
NEO
What truth?
MORPHEUS
That you are a slave, Neo. That
you, like everyone else, was born
into bondage...
... kept inside a prison that you
cannot smell, taste, or touch. A
prison for your mind.
Outside, the WIND BATTERS a loose PANE of glass.
MORPHEUS
Unfortunately, no one can be told
what the Matrix is. You have to
see it for yourself.
NEO
How?
MORPHEUS
Hold out your hands.
In Neo's right hand, Morpheus drops a red pill.
MORPHEUS
This is your last chance. After
this, there is no going back.
In his left, a blue pill.
MORPHEUS
You take the blue pill and the
story ends. You wake in your bed
and you believe whatever you want
to believe.
The pills in his open hands are reflected in the glasses.
MORPHEUS
You take the red pill and you stay
in Wonderland and I show you how
deep the rabbit-hole goes.
Neo feels the smooth skin of the capsules, with the
moisture growing in his palms.
MORPHEUS
Remember that all I am offering is
the truth. Nothing more.
Neo opens his mouth and swallows the red pill. The
Cheshire smile returns.
MORPHEUS
Follow me.
He leads Neo into the other room, which is cramped with
high-tech equipment, glowing ash-bliie and electric green
from the racks of monitors.
Trinity, Apoc and Cypher look up as they enter.
CYPHER
Shit.
TRINITY
I knew he would.
Cypher saddles up to Morpheus, talking in a hushed tone
away from, Neo.
CYPHER
Morpheus, I know what you believe
but I think this is a mistake.
We're rushing him. He's old. I'm
afraid he might pop.
MORPHEUS
Haven't I always told you, Cypher,
not to let fear control your life.
Apoc, are we on-line?
Neo recognizes the large man from the El train.
APOC
Almost.
He and Trinity are working quickly, hardwiring a complex
system of monitors, modules and drives.
NEO
Apoc? You wrote the Four Horsemen
Virus.
APOC
That's right.
MORPHEUS
Neo, time is always against us.
Will you take a seat there?
In the center of the room sits a chair. Near the chair
is an old oval dressing mirror that is cracked.
MORPHEUS
I imagine you know sonething about
virtual reality.
Neo sits and Trinity begins gently fixing white electrode
disks to his head, arns, and the back of his neck.
NEO
A little.
MORPHEUS
Tell me about it.
NEO
Essentially, it's a hardware
system that uses an apparatus;
headgear, gloves and whatever to
make you feel that you are in a
computer program.
MORPHEUS
If the virtual reality apparatus,
as you called it, was wired to all
of your senses and controlled them
completely, would you be able to
tell the difference between the
virtual world and the real world?
NEO
You might not, no.
MORPHEUS
No, you wouldn't.
Neo whispers to Trinity.
NEO
You did all this?
She nods, placing a set of headphones over his ears.
They are wired to an old hotel phone.
MORPHEUS
The pill you took is part of a
trace program. It's going to make
things feel a bit strange.
Distantly, through the ear phones, he hears Apoc POUNDING
on a KEYBOARD. Sweat beads his face. His eyes blink and
twitch when he notices the mirror.
Wide-eyed he stares as it begins to heal itself, a
webwork of cracks that slowly run together as though the
mirror were becoming liquid.
NEO
Shit...
Cypher works with Apoc checking reams of phosphorescent
data. Trinity monitors Neo's electric vital signs.
Neo reaches out to touch the mirror and his fingers
disappear beneath the rippling surface.
Quickly, he tries to pull his fingers out but the mirror
stretches in long rubbery strands like mirrored-taffy
stuck to his fingertips.
NEO
What is this? Mescaline?
MORPHEUS
Just relax, Neo.
The strands thin like rubber cement as he pulls away,
until the fragile wisps of mirror thread break.
With the TINKLING of GLASS, shimmering snowflakes
of electric-blinking mercury fall, hit the ground, and
fade.
He looks at his hand; fingers distended into mirrored
icicles that begin to melt rapidly, dripping, running
like wax down his fingers, spreading across his palms
where he sees his face reflected.
NEO
Uh-oh...
TRINITY
It's going into replication.
MORPHEUS
Apoc?
APOC
Still nothing.
Morpheus takes out a cellular phone and dials a number.
MORPHEUS
Tank, we're going to need the
signal soon. Stay calm, Neo.
The mirror gel seems to come to life, racing, crawling up
his arns like hundreds of insects.
NEO
It's cold.
The mirror creeps up his neck as Neo begins to panic,
tipping his head as though he were sinking into the
mirror, trying to keep his mouth up.
NEO
It's all over me --
Morpheus is right next to him, with the phone.
TRINITY
I got a fibrillation!
CYPHER
I knew it, I knew it...
MORPHEUS
Shit! Apoc?
Streams of mercury run from Neo's nose.
APOC
Targeting... almost there.
An ALARM, on Trinity's monitor ERUPTS.
TRINITY
He's going into arrest!
CYPHER
He's gonna pop!
APOC
Lock! I got him!
MORPHEUS
Now, Tank now!
His eyes tear with mirror, rolling up and closing as a
high-pitched ELECTRIC SCREAM ERUPTS in the headphones --
It is a piercing SHRIEK like a computer calling to
another computer --
Neo's body arches in agony and we are pulled like we were
pulled into the holes of the phone
Sucked into his SCREAM and swallowed by darkness.
INT. POWER PLANT - CLOSE ON MAN'S BODY
Floating in a womb-red amnion.
His body spasms, fighting against the thick gelatin.
Metal tubes, surreal versions of hospital tubes, obscure
his face. Other lines like IVs are connected to limbs
and cover his genitals.
He is struggling desperately now. Air bubbles into the
Jell-O but does not break the surface.
Pressing up, the surface distends, stretching like a red
rubber coccon.
Unable to breathe, he fights wildly to stand, clawing at
the thinning elastic shroud --
Until it ruptures, a hole widening around his mouth as he
sucks for air. Tearing himself free, he emerges from the
cell.
It is Neo.
He is bald and naked, his body slick with gelatin.
Dizzy, nauseous, he waits for his vision to focus.
He is standing in an oval capsule of clear alloy filled
with red gelatin, the surface of which has solidified
like curdled milk.
The IVs in his arms are plugged into outlets that appear
to be grafted to his flesh.
He feels the weight of another cable and reaches to the
back of his head where he finds an enormous coaxial
plugged and locked into the base of his skull.
He tries to pull it out but it would be easier to pull
off a finger.
To either side he sees other tube-shaped pods filled with
red gelatin; beneath the wax-like surface, pale and
motionless, he sees other human beings.
Fanning out in a circle, there are more. All connected
to a center core, each capsule like a red, dimly glowing
petal attached to a black metal stem.
Above him, level after, level, the stem rises seemingly
forever. He moves to the foot of the capsule and looks
out.
The image assaults his mind.
Towers of glowing petals spiral up to incomprehensible
heights, disappearing down into a dim murk like an
underwater abyss.
His sight is blurred and warped, exaggerating the
intensity of the vision. The sound of the PLANT is like
the sound of the ocean heard from inside the belly of
Leviathan.
Below Neo, a petal detaches from the stem, bearing away
the body of an old man like an automated barge even as a
new pod rises up and plugs itself into the empty space.
Inside the new capsule, its surface more translucent and
pinkish in color, Neo sees a small baby.
From above, a machine drops directly in front of Neo.
He swallows his scream as it seems to stare at him.
It is almost insect-like in its design; beautiful
housings of alloyed metal covering organic-like systems
of hard and soft polymers.
A black particle beam washes over Neo, he reacts in pain
as the scanner seems to expose the nervous system wired
to the coaxial cable at his cerebral cortex.
At the back of the neck, the cable lock spins and opens,
disengaging.
The cable pulls itself free, a long clear plastic needle
and cerebrum-chip slides from the anterior of Neols skull
with an ooze of blood and spinal fluid. The other
connective hoses snap free and snake away as --
The back of the unit opens and a tremendous vacuum, like
an airplane door opening, sucks the gelatin and then Neo
into a black hole.
INT. WASTE LINE
The pipe is a waste disposal system and Neo falls,
sliding with the clot of gelatin.
Banking through pipe spirals and elbows, flushing up
through grease traps clogged with cily clunps of
cellulite.
Neo begins to drown when he is suddenly snatched from the
flow of waste.
The metallic cable then lifts, pulling him up into the
belly of the futuristic flying nachine, hovering inside
the sewer main line.
INT. HOVERCRAFT
The metal harness opens and drops the half-conscious Neo
onto the floor.
Human hands and arms help him up as he finds himself
looking straight at Morpheus.
Trinity and Apoc. And others, dressed in bizarre, high-
tech combat gear.
Morpheus smiles.
MORPHEUS
Welcome to the real world, Neo.
Neo passes out.
FADE TO BLACK.
We have no sense of time. We hear VOICES whispering.
MAN (O.S.)
Do you think Morpheus is right?
Do you think he could be the One?
WOMAN (O.S.)
It doesn't matter now. But if
he's wrong...
FADE IN:
NEO'S POV
Neo's eyes flutter open. We see Trinity's face above us,
angelic in the fluorescent glow of a light stick.
ANGLE ON NEO
NEO
... am I dead?
TRINITY
Far from it.
FADE TO BLACK.
FADE IN:
ANGLE ON NEO
He opens his eyes again, something tingling through him.
He focuses and sees his body pierced with dozens of
acupuncture-like needles wired to a strange device.
DOZER
He needs a lot of work.
MORPHEUS
I know.
Dozer and Morpheus are operating on Neo.
NEO
What are you doing?
MORPHEUS
Your muscles have atrophied.
We're rebuilding them.
Fluorescent light sticks burn unnaturally bright.
NEO
Why do my eyes hurt?
MORPHEUS
You've never used them before.
Morpheus takes his sunglasses off and puts them on Neo.
Neo lays back.
MORPHEUS
Rest, Neo. The answers are
coming.
INT. NEO'S ROOM
Neo wakes up from a deep sleep, feeling better. He is
wearing a black tank top and shorts.
He begins to examine himself. There is a futuristic IV
plugged into the jack in his forearm. He pulls it out,
staring at the grafted outlet.
He feels his bald head. His fingers find and explore the
large outlet in the base of his skull.
Just as he starts to come unglued, Morpheus opens the
door.
NEO
Morpheus, what's happened to me?
What is this place?
MORPHEUS
More important than what is when?
NEO
When?
MORPHEUS
You believe the year is 1997 when
in fact it is much closer to 2197.
I can't say for certain what year
it is because we honestly do not
know.
The wind is knocked from Neo's chest.
NEO
That's not possible.
MORPHEUS
I promised you the truth, Neo, and
the truth is that the world you
were living in was a lie.
NEO
How?
MORPHEUS
I'll show you.
INT. HOVERCRAFT
Like a sleepwalker, Neo follows Morpheus through the ship.
MORPHEUS
This is my ship, the
Nebuchadnezzar. It's a
hovercraft. Small like a
submarine. It's dark. It's
cramped and cold. But it's home.
They climb a ladder up to the main deck.
INT. MAIN DECK
Everyone is there.
MORPHEUS
This is the main deck. You know
most of my crew.
Trinity smiles and nods.
MORPHEUS
The ones you don't know. That's
Mouse and Switch. The two big
guys are Tank and Dozer.
The names and faces wash meaninglessly over Neo.
MORPHEUS
And this, this is the Core. This
is where we broadcast our pirate
signal and hack into the Matrix.
It is a swamp of bizarre electronic equipment. Vines of
coaxial hang and snake to and from huge monolithic
battery slabs, a black portable satellite dish and banks
of little systems and computer monitors.
At the center of the web, there are six ectoskeleton
chairs made of a poly-alloy frame and suspension harness.
Near the circle of chairs is the control console and
operator's station where the network is monitored.
MORPHEUS
Help him, Trinity.
Neo allows himself to be helped into one of the chairs.
MORPHEUS
Do you remember when I asked you
about an apparatus that could turn
a virtual reality into reality?
Neo nods.
MORPHEUS
It's right here.
He touches Neo's head.
MORPHEUS
And it's accessed here.
Neo feels Morpheus guiding a coaxial line into the jack
at the back of his neck. The cable has the same kind of
cerebellum chip we saw inside the plant.
MORPHEUS
This will feel a little weird.
There are several disturbing NOISES as he works the
needle in.
We MOVE IN as Neo's shoulders bunch and his face tightens
into a grimace until a loud CLICK fires and his ears pop
like when you equalize them underwater.
He relaxes, opening his eyes as we pull back to a feeling
of weightlessness inside another place --
INT. CONSTRUCT
Neo is standing in an empty, blank-white space.
MORPHEUS
This is the Construct.
Startled, Neo whips around and finds Morpheus now in the
room with him.
MORPHEUS
It is our loading program. We can
load anything from clothes, to
weapons, to training simulations.
Anything we need.
Morpheus walks past Neo and when Neo turns he sees the
two leather chairs from the hotel set up in front of a
large-screen television.
MORPHEUS
Sit down.
Neo stands at the back of the chair as Morpheus sits.
NEO
Right now, we're inside a computer
program?
MORPHEUS
Wild, isn't it?
Neo's hands run over the cracked leather.
NEO
This isn't real?
MORPHEUS
What is real? How do you define
real? If you're talking about
your senses, what you feel, taste,
smell, or see, then all you're
talking about are electrical
signals interpreted by your brain.
He picks up a remote control and clicks ON the
TELEVISION. We drift through the Windy City circa 1996.
MORPHEUS
This is the Chicago you know.
Chicago as it was at the end of
the twentieth century. This
Chicago exists only as part of a
neural-interactive simulation that
we call the Matrix.
We GLIDE AT the television as he changes the channel.
MORPHEUS
You have been living inside
Baulliaurd's vision, inside the
map, not the territory. This is
Chicago as it exists today.
The sky is an endless sea of black and green bile. The
earth, scorched and split like burnt flesh, spreads out
beneath us as we ENTER the television.
MORPHEUS
'The desert of the real.'
In the distance, we see the ruins of a future Chicago
protruding from the wasteland like the blackened ribs of
a long-dead corpse.
MORPHEUS
We are, right now, miles below the
earth's surface. The only place
humans can survive outside the
Matrix is underground.
Still MOVING, we TURN and find Neo and Morpheus; the
chairs now sitting in the middle of the black desert.
Dizzy, Neo holds onto the chair.
NEO
What happened?
MORPHEUS
It started early in the twenty-
first century, with the birth of
artificial intelligence, a
singular consciousness that
spawned an entire race of
machines.
In his sunglasses, we see storm clouds gather.
MORPHEUS
At first all they wanted was to be
treated as equals, entitled to the
same human inalienable rights.
Whatever they were given, it was
not enough.
In the circular window of the glasses, EXPLOSIONS light
up a bloody battle field.
MORPHEUS
We don't know who struck first.
Us or them. But sometime at the
end of the twenty-first century
the battle was joined.
We MOVE INTO his glasses and the war surrounds us.
MORPHEUS
The war raged for generations and
turned the face of our planet from
green and blue to black and red.
At last we see the Sentinels; killing machines that are
at once terrifying and beautiful. They have an organic
architecture like a microbiotic organism, that is
perpetually in motion.
The Sentinel cracks the body armor of a soldier,
splitting open the soft, stearing meat inside.
MORPHEUS
It scorched and burned the sky.
Without the sun, the machines
sought out a new energy source to
survive.
The Sentinel locks up, as heat lightning of black ink
bursts against the sky, spreading into a permanent cloud
of stain.
MORPHEUS
They discovered a new form of
fusion. All that was required to
initiate the reaction was a small
electric charge. Throughout human
history we have been dependent on
machines to survive. Fate, it
seems, is not without a sense of
irony.
We return to the power plant that Neo escaped from where
we see human beings looking almost blissful in their
gelatin cocoons.
MORPHEUS
The human body generates more bio-
electricity than a 120-volt
battery and over 25,000 B.T.U.'s
of body heat.
Outside, spreading all around the power plant, beneath a
breathing greenhouse, are the growing fields.
MORPHEUS
We are, as an energy source,
easily renewable and completely
recyclable, the dead liquified and
fed intravenously to the living.
Huge farm-like reapers are harvesting the crop.
MORPHEUS
All they needed to control this
new battery was something to
occupy our mind.
We see inside a clear tubular husk. Floating in viscous
fluid, there is a human fetus; its soft skull already
growing around the brain-jack.
MORPHEUS
And so they built a prison out of
our past, wired it to our brains
and turned us into slaves.
We PULL BACK to find the image is now on the television
and we are again inside the white space of the Construct.
NEO
No! I don't believe it! It's not
possible!
MORPHEUS
I didn't say that it would be
easy, Neo. I just said that it
would be the truth.
The room without walls begins to spin.
NEO
Stop! Let me out! I want out!
INT. MAIN DECK
His eyes snap open and he thrashes against the chair,
trying to rip the cable from the back of his neck.
NEO
Get this thing out of me!
TRINITY
Easy, Neo. Easy.
Dozer holds him while Trinity unlocks it. Once it's out,
he tears away from them, falling as he trips free of the
harness.
NEO
Don't touch me! Get away from me!
On his hands and knees, he reels as the world spins.
Sweat pours off him as a pressure builds inside his skull
as if his brian had been put into a centrifuge.
CYPHER
He's going to pop!
Vomiting violently, Neo pitches forward and blacks out.
INT. NEO'S ROOM
He blinks, regaining consciousness. The room is dark.
Neo is stretched out on his bed.
NEO
I can't go back, can I?
Morpheus sitting like a shadow on a chair in the far
corner.
MORPHEUS
No. But if you could, would you
really want to?
Neo isn't sure of that answer.
MORPHEUS
I feel that I owe you an apology.
There is a rule that we do not
free a mind once it reaches a
certain age. It is dangerous.
They have trouble letting go..
Their mind turns against them.
I've seen it happen. I broke the
rule because I had to.
He stares into the darkness, confessing as much to
himself as Neo.
MORPHEUS
When the Matrix was first built
there was a man born inside that
had the ability to change what he
wanted, to remake the Matrix as he
saw fit. It was this man that
freed the first of us and taught
us the secret of the war; control
the Matrix and you control the
future.
He pauses.
MORPHEUS
When he died, the Oracle at the
temple of Zion prophesied his
return and envisioned an end to
the war and freedom for our
people. That is why there are
those of us that have spent our
entire lives searching the Matrix,
looking for him.
Neo can feel his eyes on him.
MORPHEUS
I did what I did, because I
believe we have been brought here
for a reason, Neo. You are here
to serve a purpose, just as I am
here to serve mine.
NEO
I told you I don't believe in
fate.
Morpheus smiles, leaning towards hin.
MORPHEUS
But I do, Neo. I do.
He stands up.
MORPHEUS
Get some rest. You're going to
need it.
NEO
For what?
MORPHEUS
Your training.
INT. HOVERCRAFT
There is no morning; there is only darkness and then the
fluorescent light sticks flicker on.
INT. NEO'S ROOM
Neo is awake in his bed, staring up at the lights. The
door opens and TA.NK steps inside.
TANK
Morning. Did you sleep?
NEO
No.
TANK
You will tonight. I guarantee it.
I'm Tank. I'll be your operator.
He offers his hand and Neo shakes it. He notices that
Tank doesn't have any jacks.
NEO
You don't have...
TANK
Any holes? Nope. Me and my
brother Dozer, we are 100 percent
pure, old fashioned, home-grown
human. Born free. Right here in
the real world. Genuine child of
Zion.
NEO
Zion?
TANK
Zion is the place, man. You'll
see it one day. Last human city.
All we got left.
Tank smiles.
TANK
Goddamn, I got to tell you I'm
fairly excited to see what you are
capable of. I mean if Morpheus is
right and all. We're not supposed
to talk.about any of that, but if
you are, well then this is an
exciting time. We got a lot to do
so let's get to it.
INT. MAIN DECK
Neo is plugged in, hanging in one of the suspension
chairs.
TANK
We're supposed to load all these
operations programs first, but
this is some major boring shit.
Why don't we start something a
little fun?
Tank smiles as he plops into his operator's chair. He
begins flipping through a tall carousel loaded with micro
discs.
TANK
How about sore combat training?
Neo reads t |
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