MATRIX MiSTing

(A few days later...)

(RIKK and KATHERINE are talking by telephone. Rikk is outside a movie theater in Kentucky, Katherine is in a greasy-spoon diner in Oklahoma.)

(Rikk enters the theater. TIM and ALISIN, he notices ruefully, are the only two sitting together, with RUMY and WILL taking opposite ends of the row. He sits next to Tim and hopes for the best as the "evil-colored" Warner Brothers logo fades in.)

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 --

Cypher: Yeah.
Trinity: Is everything in place?
Cypher: You weren't supposed to relieve me.

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. Numbers begin to fall into place...

Trinity: I know, but I want to take your shift.
Cypher: You like him, don't you? You like watching him.

Trinity: Don't be ridiculous.
Cypher: We're going to kill him, do you understand that?

Trinity: Morpheus believes he is the one.
Cypher: Do you?
Trinity: It doesn't matter what I believe.

Cypher: You don't, do you?
Trinity: Did you hear that?
Cypher: Hear what?

Trinity: Are you sure this line is clean?

Cypher: Yeah, of course I'm sure.
Trinity: I better go.

We MOVE STILL CLOSER, the ELECTRIC HUM of the green numbers GROWING INTO an OMINOUS ROAR.

She hangs up as we PASS THROUGH the numbers, moving impossibly close to the computer screen. Fade to black...

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: Freeze! Police!

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.

Cop: Hands on your head. Do it. Do it now.

Trinity rises. 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: Hey, I'm just doing my job. You give me juris-my-diction crap, you can cram it up your ass.

Agent Smith: The orders were for your protection.

Lieutenant: I think we can handle one little girl.

Lieutenant: I sent two units. They're bringing her down now.

Agent Smith: No, Lieutenant, your men are dead.

INT. CHASE HOTEL

Quick, creepy fight scene which is already being imitated everywhere. Long story short: Trinity kills the four cops in about fifteen seconds.

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.

Trinity: Morpheus, the line was traced, I don't know how.
Morpheus: I know, they cut the hard line. There's no time, you're going to have to get to another exit.
Trinity: Are there any agents?

Morpheus: Yes.
Trinity: Goddammit.
Morpheus: You have to focus, Trinity. There's a phone at Wells and Lake. You can make it.

Trinity: All right.
Morpheus: Go.

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 movements 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 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: That's impossible!

They stare, slack-jawed, as Agent Brown duplicates the move exactly, landing, rolling over a shoulder, up onto one knee.

Trinity makes one more jump --

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.

Trinity tries to move. Everything hurts.

Trinity: Get up, Trinity. (in another voice) Just get up. (in a firmer voice) 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 and AGENT BROWN walk up behind him.

Agent Brown: She got out.
Agent Smith: It doesn't matter.
Agent Jones: The informant is real.
Agent Smith: Yes.

Agent Jones: We have the name of their next target.
Agent Brown: The name is Neo.
Agent Smith: We'll need a search running.

Agent Jones: It has 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 --

INT. NEO'S APARTMENT

It is a studio apartment 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 lies open like an autopsied corpse.

Sleeping in a bunk is... NEO, a younger man who knows more about living inside a computer than living outside one. His computer begins, spontaneously, to type a few words...

Wake up Neo...

The Matrix has you...

Neo slowly wakes.

Neo: What? What the hell?...

Follow the white rabbit...

Neo: Follow the white rabbit?...

Knock, knock.

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.

Neo: Who is it?
Choi: It's Choi.

Neo opens the door a crack, keeping the chain lock in place. CHOI is on the other side, with his girlfriend DUJOUR and two others.

Neo: Yeah. Yeah. You're two hours late.
Choi: I know; it's her fault.

Neo: Got the money?
Choi: Two grand.

He gives Neo the money. Neo closes the door, puts the money in a safebox, and takes out a disk. Opens the door and gives the disk to Choi.

Neo: Hold on.
Choi: Hallelujah. You're my savior, man. My own personal Jesus Christ.

Neo: You get caught using that...
Choi: Yeah, I know. This never happened. You don't exist.

Neo: Right.
Choi: Something wrong, man? You look a little whiter than usual.

Neo: My computer, it... You ever have that feeling where you're not sure if you're awake or still dreaming?
Choi: Mm, all the time. It's called Mescaline. It's the only way to fly. Hey, it just sounds to me like you need to unplug, man. You know, get some R and R.

Choi: What do you think, DuJour? Shall we take him with us?
DuJour: Definitely.
Neo: I can't, I have work tomorrow.
DuJour: Come on, It'll be fun. I promise.

He looks up at her and suddenly notices, tattooed on her shoulder--

A small white rabbit.

Neo: 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.

Trinity: Hello, Neo.
Neo: How do you know that name?

Trinity: I know a lot about you.
Neo: Who are you?
Trinity: My name is Trinity.

Neo: Trinity. The Trinity? That cracked the IRS database?
Trinity: That was a long time ago.
Neo: Jesus.

Trinity: What?
Neo: I just thought, um...you were a guy.

Trinity: Most guys do.
Neo: That was you on my computer. How did you do that?

The MUSIC is so loud they must stand very close, talking directly into each other's ear.

Trinity: Right now all I can tell you is that you're in danger. I brought you here to warn you.
Neo: Of what?

Trinity: They're watching you, Neo.
Neo: Who is?

Her body is against his; her lips very close to his ear.

Trinity: Please just listen. I know why you're here, Neo. I know what you've been doing. I know why you hardly sleep, why you live alone, and why night after night you sit at your computer.

Trinity: You're looking for him.

Trinity: I know, because I was once looking for the same thing. And when he found me, he told me I wasn't really looking for him. I was looking for an answer. It's the question that drives us mad.

Trinity: It's the question that brought you here. You know the question just as I did.
Neo: What is the Matrix?

Trinity: The answer is out there, Neo. It's looking for you. And it will find you, if you want it 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: Oh shit. Oh shit shit.

EXT. SKYSCRAPER

The downtown office of METACORTEX, a software development

company.

INT. METACORTEX OFFICE

The main offices are along each wall, the windows overlooking downtown Chicago.

RHINEHEART, the ultimate company man, lectures Neo without looking at him.

Neo stares at two window cleaners on a scaffolding outside, dragging their rubber squeegees down across the surface of the glass.

Mr. Rhineheart: You have a problem with authority, Mr. Anderson. You believe that you are special, that somehow the rules do not apply to you. Obviously you are mistaken.

Mr. Rhineheart: This company is one of the top software companies in the world because every single employee understands that they are part of a whole. Thus if an employee has a problem, the company has a problem.

Mr. Rhineheart: The time has come to make a choice, Mr. Anderson. Either you choose to be at your desk on time from this day forward 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 turns and finds a FEDERAL EXPRESS MAN at his cubicle door.

FedEx man: Thomas Anderson?
Neo: Yeah, that's me.

Neo signs the electronic pad and the Fedex guy hands him the softpak.

FedEx man: Ok, great. 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: Hello, Neo. Do you know who this is?

Neo (whispering): Morpheus.

Morpheus: Yes. I've been looking for you, Neo. I don't know if you're ready to see what I want to show you, but unfortunately you and I have run out of time. They're coming for you, Neo, and I don't know what they're going to do.

Neo: Who's coming for me?
Morpheus: Stand up and see for yourself.
Neo: What, right now?

Morpheus: Yes, now.

Neo starts to stand.

Morpheus: Do it slowly. The elevator.

His head slowly peeks up over the partition. At the elevator, he sees Agent Brown and Agent Jones. A female employee turns and points out Neo's cubicle. Neo ducks.

Neo: Oh shit.

Morpheus: Yes.

The agents are moving quickly towards the cubicle.

Neo: What the hell do they want from me?

Morpheus: I don't know, but if you don't want to find out I suggest you get out of there.
Neo: How?
Morpheus: I can guide you but you must do exactly as I say.

Neo: Ok.
Morpheus: The cubicle across from you is empty.

Neo: What if they...
Morpheus: 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: Stay here for just a moment. When I tell you, go to the end of the row, to the office at the end of the hall. Stay as low as you can.

Morpheus: Go, 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: Good. Now, outside there is a scaffold.
Neo: How do you know all this?

Morpheus: We don't have time, Neo. To your left there's a window. Go to it. Open it. You can use the scaffold to get to the roof.

Leaning out the window, he sees that the scaffold is

several offices away.

Neo: No way. No way. This is crazy.

Morpheus: There are 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.
Neo: This is insane. Why is this happening to me? What did I do? I'm nobody....

He climbs up onto the window ledge. Hanging onto the frame, he steps onto the small ledge.

The scaffold seems even farther away.

Neo: Shit...

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: I can't do this.

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.

A wide angle view of a white room, 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.

Agent Smith: It seems that you've been living two lives. In one life, you're Thomas A. Anderson, program writer for a respectable software company; you have a social security number, you pay your taxes, and you help your landlady carry out her garbage. 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. One of these lives has a future, and one of them does not.

Agent Smith: I'm going to be as forthcoming as I can be, Mr. Anderson. You're here because we need your help.

He removes his sunglasses; his eyes are an unnatural ice-blue.

Agent Smith: We know that you've been contacted by a certain individual, a man who calls himself Morpheus. Now whatever you think you know about this man is irrelevant. 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 that you wish to do the right thing. We're willing to wipe the slate clean, give you a fresh start, and all that we're asking in return is your cooperation in bringing a known terrorist to justice.
Neo: Yeah. Wow, that sounds like a really good deal. But I think I got a better one. How about I give you the finger...

He does.

Neo: ...and you give me my phone call.

Agent Smith puts his glasses back on.

Agent Smith: Um, Mr. Anderson. You disappoint me.

Neo: You can't scare me with this Gestapo crap. I know my rights. I want my phone call.
Agent Smith: Tell me, Mr. Anderson, what good is a phone call if you're 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're 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 way in, 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: This line is tapped, so I must be brief. They got to you first, but they've underestimated how important you are. If they knew what I know, you'd probably be dead.

Neo: What are you talking about. What...what is happening to me?
Morpheus: You are the one, Neo. You see you may have spent the last few years looking for me, but I've spent my entire life looking for you. Now do you still want to meet?

Neo: Yes.
Morpheus: Then go to the Adam Street Bridge.

INT. ADAM STREET BRIDGE

A limousine pulls up near Neo. The back door opens: one seat is empty, the other is occupied by Trinity.

Trinity: Get in.

Neo does. As soon as he gets in, SWITCH, in the front passenger seat, puts a gun to his head.

Neo: What the hell is this?

Trinity: From you. Take off your shirt.
Neo: What?
Switch: Stop the car. Listen to me, Copper-top. We don't have time for twenty questions. Right now there's only one rule, our way or the highway.

Neo: Fine.

Neo begins to get out.

Trinity: Please, Neo. You have to trust me.
Neo: Why?

Trinity: Because you have been down there, Neo. You know that road. You know exactly where it ends. And I know that's not where you want to be.

Neo makes his decision and shuts the door.

Trinity: Apoc, lights. Lie back, lift up your shirt.

Trinity pulls out an extremely diabolical-looking device and puts it to Neo's chest. Something begins to move in there.

Neo: What is that thing?
Trinity: We think you're bugged.... Try and relax.... Come on. Come on.
Switch: It's on the move.
Trinity: Shit.

Switch: You're going to lose it.
Trinity: No I'm not. Clear.

The device shoots electricity through him and the insect-worm leaps out of his navel and into containment. Neo screams.

Neo: Jesus Christ, that thing's real?

They throw it out the car window. Deprived of its host, it quickly loses power.

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. Let me give you one piece of advice. Be honest. He knows more than you can 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.

He wears a long black coat and his eyes are invisible

behind circular mirrored glasses.

He strides to Neo and they shake hands.

Morpheus: At last. Welcome, Neo. As you no doubt have guessed, I am Morpheus.
Neo: It's an honor to meet you.
Morpheus: No, the honor is mine. Please, come. Sit down.

They sit in two facing chairs in front of a fireplace.

Morpheus: I imagine that right now you're feeling a bit like Alice, tumbling down the rabbit hole? Hm?

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. Ironically, this is not far from the truth. 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. Let me tell you why you're here. You're here because you know something. What you know you can't explain. But you feel it. You've felt it your entire life. That there's something wrong with the world.

Morpheus: You don't know what it is but it's there, like a splinter in your mind driving you mad. It is this feeling that has brought you to me. Do you know what I'm talking about?

Neo locks at his eyes but only sees a reflection of

himself.

Neo: The Matrix?
Morpheus: Do you want to know what it is?

Neo nods.

Morpheus: The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us, even now in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work, when you go to church, when you 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. Like everyone else you were born into bondage, born into a prison that you cannot smell or taste or touch. A prison for your mind...

Morpheus: Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself.

Morpheus holds out his hands. In each hand is a pill, one blue, one red.

Morpheus: This is your last chance. After this there is no turning back. You take the blue pill, the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.

Neo reaches for the red pill.

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

Neo takes it.

Morpheus: Follow me.

He leads Neo into the other room, which is cramped with

high-tech equipment, glowing ash-blue and electric green

from the racks of monitors.

Trinity, APOC and Cypher look up as they enter.

Morpheus: Apoc, are we online?
Apoc: Almost.

He and Cypher are working quickly, hardwiring a complex

system of monitors, modules and drives.

Morpheus: Time is always against us. Please, 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. Neo sits

and looks up to Trinity for reassurance.

Neo: You did all this?

Trinity: Uh-huh.
Morpheus: The pill you took is part of a trace program. It's designed to disrupt your input/output carrier signal so we can pinpoint your location.
Neo: What does that mean?

Cypher: It means buckle your seat belt, Dorothy, because Kansas is going bye-bye.

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: Did you...

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.

Morpheus: Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream? How would you know the difference between the dream world and the real world?

Neo pulls his hand free, but the mirror effect remains. It spreads, slowly at first...

Neo: This can't be...
Morpheus: Be what? Be real?

The mirror starts spreading over his entire skin, reaching up to cover his face...

Trinity: It's going into replication.

Morpheus: Apoc?
Apoc: Still nothing.
Neo: It's cold. It's cold.
Morpheus: Tank, we're going to need a signal soon.

Trinity: We've got fibrillation.
Morpheus: Apoc, location.

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.

Apoc: Targeting, almost there.
Trinity: He's going into arrest.

Apoc: Lock. I've got him.
Morpheus: Now, Tank. Now.

His eyes tear with mirror, rolling up and closing as a

high-pitched ELECTRIC SCREAM ERUPTS --

It is a piercing SHRIEK like a computer calling to

another computer -- then 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 cocoon.

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.

From above, a machine drops directly in front of Neo.

He swallows his scream as it seems to stare at him.

It grabs him by the neck, snaps away the cable from his

brain. 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 clumps 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 machine, 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.

Fade to black.

We have no sense of time. We hear VOICES whispering.

Morpheus: We've done it, Trinity. We've found him.
Trinity: I hope you're right.
Morpheus: I don't have to hope. I know it.
Neo: Am I dead?

Morpheus: Far from it.

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

and Morpheus are working on him.

Dozer: He still needs a lot of work.

Neo: What are you doing?
Morpheus: Your muscles have atrophied, we're rebuilding them.

Neo: Why do my eyes hurt?
Morpheus: You've never used them before. 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 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 it's the year 1999 when in fact it's closer to 2199. I can't tell you exactly what year it is because we honestly don't know. There's nothing I can say that will explain it for you, Neo. Come with me. See for yourself.

Morpheus leads him out into a tour of the ship.

Morpheus: This is my ship, the Nebuchadnezzar. It's a hovercraft. This is the main deck. This is the core where we broadcast our pirate signal and hack into the Matrix. Most of my crew you already know. This is Apoc, Switch, and Cypher.
Cypher: Hi.

Morpheus: The ones you don't know, Tank and his big brother, Dozer. The little one behind you is Mouse.

The names and faces wash meaninglessly over Neo.

Morpheus: You wanted to know what the Matrix is, Neo? Trinity.

Neo allows himself to be helped into one of the chairs.

Morpheus: Try to relax. This will feel a little weird.

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's our loading program. We can load anything from clothing, to equipment, weapons, 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.

Neo: Right now we're inside a computer program?
Morpheus: Is it really so hard to believe? Your clothes are different. The plugs in your arms and head are gone. Your hair is changed. Your appearance now is what we call residual self image. It is the mental projection of your digital self.

Neo: This...this isn't real?
Morpheus: What is real? How do you define real? If you’re talking about what you can feel, what you can smell, what you can taste and see, then real is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain.

He picks up a remote control and clicks ON the

TELEVISION. We drift through the Windy City circa 1999.

Morpheus: This is the world that you know. The world as it was at the end of the twentieth century. It exists now only as part of a neural-interactive simulation that we call the Matrix. You've been living in a dream world, Neo. This is the world as it exists today.

We GLIDE AT the television as he changes the channel.

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.

In the distance, we see the ruins of a future Chicago

protruding from the wasteland like the blackened ribs of

a long-dead corpse.

Still MOVING, we TURN and find Neo and Morpheus; the

chairs now sitting in the middle of the black desert.

Morpheus: Welcome to the Desert of the Real. We have only bits and pieces of information, but what we know for certain is that at some point in the early twenty-first century all of mankind was united in celebration. We marveled at our own magnificence as we gave birth to AI.

Neo: AI? You mean artificial intelligence?

Morpheus: A singular consciousness that spawned an entire race of machines. We don't know who struck first, us or them. But we know that it was us that scorched the sky. At the time they were dependent on solar power and it was believed that they would be unable to survive without an energy source as abundant as the sun. Throughout human history, we have been dependent on machines to survive. Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony.

Morpheus: The human body generates more bio-electricity than a 120-volt battery and over 25,000 BTU's of body heat. Combined with a form of fusion the machines have found all the energy they would ever need. There are fields, endless fields, where human beings are no longer born, we are grown.

We can see one of the fields, clearly one of the same that Neo escaped from.

Huge farm-like reapers are harvesting the crop.

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: For the longest time I wouldn't believe it, and then I saw the fields with my own eyes. Watch them liquefy the dead so they could be fed intravenously to the living. And standing there, facing the pure horrifying precision, I came to realize the obviousness of the truth.

We PULL BACK to find the image is now on the television

and we are again inside the white space of the Construct.

Morpheus: What is the Matrix? Control. The Matrix is a computer generated dream world built to keep us under control in order to change a human being into this.

Morpheus holds up an AA battery.

Neo: No. I don't believe it. It's not possible.

Morpheus: I didn't say it would be easy, Neo. I just said it would be the truth.
Neo: Stop. Let me out. Let me out. I want out.

His eyes snap open and he thrashes against the chair,

trying to rip the cable from the back of his neck.

Trinity: Easy, Neo. Easy.

Neo: Take this thing off me. Take this thing...

Dozer holds him while Trinity unlocks it. Once it's out,

he tears away from them, falling as he trips free of the

harness.

Morpheus: Listen to me...

Neo: Don't touch me. Stay away from me. I don't want it. I don't believe it. I don't believe it.

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 brain had been put into a centrifuge.

Cypher: He's gonna pop.

Morpheus: Breathe, Neo. Just breathe.

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: No. But if you could, would you really want to?

Morpheus sitting like a shadow on a chair in the far

corner.

Morpheus: I feel I owe you an apology. We have a rule. We never free a mind once it's reached a certain age. It's dangerous, the mind has trouble letting go. I've seen it before and I'm sorry. I did what I did because... I had to.

Morpheus: When the Matrix was first built, there was a man born inside who had the ability to change whatever he wanted, to remake the Matrix as he saw fit. It was he who freed the first of us, taught us the truth.

Morpheus: As long as the Matrix exists the human race will never be free. After he died, the Oracle prophesied his return and that his coming would hail the destruction of the Matrix and the war, bring freedom to our people. That is why there are those of us who have spent our entire lives searching the Matrix looking for him. I did what I did because I believe that search is over...

Morpheus: Get some rest, you're going to need it.
Neo: For what?
Morpheus: Your training.

INT. NEO'S ROOM

Neo is awake in his bed, staring up at the lights. The

door opens and TANK steps inside.

Tank: Morning, did you sleep? 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... you don't have any...
Tank: Holes? Nope. Me and my brother, Dozer, we're both one hundred percent pure, old fashioned, home grown human, born free right here in the real world. A genuine child of Zion.

Neo: Zion?
Tank: If the war was over tomorrow, Zion is where the party would be.

Neo: It's a city?
Tank: The last human city. The only place we have left.
Neo: Where is it?
Tank: Deep underground, near the earth's core, where it's still warm.

Tank: We got a lot to do. We got to get to it.

INT. MAIN DECK

Neo is plugged in, hanging in one of the suspension

chairs.

Tank smiles as he plops into his operator's chair. He

begins flipping through a tall carousel loaded with micro

discs.

Tank: Now, we're supposed to start with these operation programs first, that's a major boring shit...

Tank: Let's do something more fun. How about combat training?
Neo: Jujitsu? I'm going to learn Jujitsu?

Tank slides the disk into Neo's supplement drive.

Neo's eyes close like he's got an ice cream

headache. An instant later, they open--

Neo: Holy shit.

Tank: Hey Mikey, I think he likes it. How about some more?

Neo: Hell yes. Hell yeah.

INT. MAIN DECK - CLOSE ON COMPUTER MONITOR - LATER

as grey pixels slowly fill a small, half-empty box. It

is a meter displaying how much download time is left.

The title bar reads: "Combat Series 10 of 12," file

categories flashing beneath it: Savate, Jujitsu, Ken Po,

Drunken Boxing...

Morpheus walks in.

Morpheus: How is he?
Tank: Ten hours straight. He's a machine.

Neo wakes.

Neo: I know Kung Fu.

Morpheus stands over him, ready to teach.

Morpheus: Show me.

INT. DOJO

They are standing in a very sparse Japanese-style dojo.

Morpheus: This is a sparring program, similar to the programmed reality of the Matrix. It has the same basic rules, rules like gravity. What you must learn is that these rules are no different that the rules of a computer system. Some of them can be bent. Others can be broken. Understand?

Morpheus: Then hit me if you can.

He assumes a fighting stance.

Neo assumes a similar stance, cautiously circling until

he gives a short cry and launches a furious attack.

It is like a Jackie Chan movie at high speed, fists and

feet striking from every angle as Neo presses his attack

--

But each and every blow is blocked with effortless speed.

Morpheus: Good. Adaptation, improvisation. But your weakness is not your technique.

INT. MESS HALL

Dinner is up. Everyone is eating bowls of single-cell

protein. It has a cottage cheese consistency.

MOUSE bursts in the room.

Mouse: Morpheus is fighting Neo.

All at once they bolt for the door.

INT. DOJO

Morpheus finishes beating Neo handily.

Morpheus: How did I beat you?

Neo: You're too fast.

Morpheus: Do you believe that my being stronger or faster has anything to do with my muscles in this place?

Morpheus: You think that's air you're breathing now?

Morpheus turns around, showing Neo his back.

Morpheus: Again.

INT. MAIN DECK

Everyone is gathered behind Tank, watching the fight,

like watching a game of Mortal Combat.

Mouse: Jesus Christ, he's fast. Take a look at his neural-kinetics, they're way above normal.

INT. DOJO

The speed of the blows rises like a drum solo that seems

impossible to sustain.

Morpheus: What are you waiting for? You're faster than this. Don't think you are, know you are!

Morpheus: Come on. Stop trying to hit me and hit me.

Finally, Neo gets a blow past Morpheus, stopping it just in front of his face.

INT. MAIN DECK

Mouse: I don't believe it.

INT. DOJO

Neo is angry.

Neo: I know what you're trying to do.

Morpheus: I'm trying to free your mind, Neo.

Morpheus: But I can only show you the door; you're the one that has to walk through it. Tank, load the jump program.

Neo straightens as the dojo DISSOLVES away like a curtain

lifting, leaving the two men now standing on a building

rooftop in a city skyline.

A WIND HOWLS, whipping Morpheus' long coat to the side.

Morpheus: You have to let it all go, Neo, fear, doubt, and disbelief. Free your mind.

Morpheus spins, running hard at the edge of the rooftop.

And jumps. He sails through the air, his coat billowing

out behind him like a cape --

Somersaults once and lands on the rooftop across the

street.

Neo: Whoa. Okie dokie. Free my mind.

INT. MAIN DECK

They are transfixed.

Mouse: So what if he makes it?

Apoc: No one's ever made the first jump.

Mouse: I know, I know. But what if he does?

Apoc: He won't.

Mouse: Come on.

Trinity: Come on.

EXT. ROOFTOP

Neo's still building courage.

Neo: All right, no problem. Free my mind. Free my mind. All right.

Summoning every ounce of strength in his legs, Neo

launches himself into the air in a superhuman effort --

But comes up drastically short.

His eyes widen as he plummets. Stories fly by, the

ground rushing up at him, but as he hits --

The ground gives way, stretching like a trapeze net.

He bounces, falls.

INT. MAIN DECK

They break up.

Mouse: Wha...what does that mean?

Switch: It doesn't mean anything.

Cypher: Everybody falls the first time. Right, Trin?

But Trinity has left.

While Tank helps Morpheus, Neo spits blood into his hand.

Neo: I thought it wasn't real.

Morpheus: Your mind makes it real.

Neo stares at the blood.

Neo: If you're killed in the Matrix, you die here?

Morpheus: The body cannot live without the mind.

INT. NEO'S ROOM

Trinity enters from the hall, carrying a tray of food.

She sees him passed out on the bed. She sets the tray

down and pulls the blanket over him.

She pauses, her face close to his, then inhales lightly,

breathing in the scent of him, before slowly pulling away.

Cypher is by the door, waiting for her.

Cypher: I don't remember you bringing me dinner. There is something about him, isn't there?

Trinity: Don't tell me you're a believer now?

Cypher: I just keep wondering, if Morpheus is so sure, why doesn't he take him to see the Oracle?

Trinity: Morpheus will take him when he's ready.

Trinity leaves, cold-shouldering Cypher.

EXT. CONSTRUCT

Morpheus and Neo walk through a Chicago cityscape, full of ordinary-looking people. There is one extremely distracting blonde in a red dress.

Morpheus: The Matrix is a system, Neo. That system is our enemy. But when you're inside, you look around. What do you see? Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system, and that makes them our enemy.

Morpheus: You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inert, so hopelessly dependent on the system that they will fight to protect it. Were you listening to me Neo, or were you looking at the woman in the red dress?

Neo: I was...

Morpheus: Look again.

Neo looks and discovers the woman is now an agent, raising his gun. Neo barely has time to cower before Morpheus says...

Morpheus: Freeze it.

Neo: This... this isn't the Matrix?

Morpheus: No. It's another training program designed to teach you one thing. If you are not one of us, you are one of them.

Neo: What are they?

Morpheus: Sentient programs. They can move in and out of any software still hard wired to their system. That means that anyone we haven't unplugged is potentially an agent. Inside the Matrix, they are everyone and they are no one. We are survived by hiding from them, by running from them. But they are the gatekeepers.

Morpheus: They are guarding all the doors. They are holding all the keys, which means that sooner or later, someone is going to have to fight them.

Neo: Someone?

Morpheus: I won't lie to you, Neo. Every single man or woman who has stood their ground, everyone who has fought an agent, has died. But where they have failed, you will succeed.

Neo: Why?

Morpheus: I've seen an agent punch through a concrete wall. Men have emptied entire clips at them and hit nothing but air. Yet their strength and their speed are still based in a world that is built on rules. Because of that, they will never be as strong or as fast as you can be.

Neo: What are you trying to tell me, that I can dodge bullets?

Morpheus: No, Neo. I'm trying to tell you that when you're ready, you won't have to.

INT. NEBUCHADNEZZAR

Tank: We've got trouble.

Morpheus and Neo join the rest of the crew. The mood is tense as the Nebuchadnezzar finds itself being hunted by some squidlike machine.

Morpheus: Did Zion send word?

Dozer: No, another ship. Shit.

ALL (joined by some people in nearby seats): Aaaaggh!!!

Dozer: Squiddies. We've been in crick.

Neo: Squiddies?

Trinity: A sentinel. A killing machine designed for one thing.

Dozer: Search and destroy.

Morpheus: Set her down right over there. How're we doing, Tank?

Tank: Power off line. EMP armed and ready.

Neo: EMP?

Trinity: Electromagnetic pulse. Disables any electrical system in the blast radius. It's the only weapon we have against the machines.

Neo: Where are we?

Trinity: Their old service and waste systems.

Neo: Sewers?

Trinity: There used to be cities that spanned hundreds of miles. These sewers are all that's left of them.

Morpheus: Quiet.

Everyone is. One of the Squiddies comes quite close, seems to inspect the ship cautiously, then leaves.

INT. MAIN DECK

Later. The core glows with monitor light. Cypher is in the

operator's chair as Neo comes up behind him.

Cypher: Whoa, Neo! You scared the bejeezus out of me!

Neo: Sorry.

Cypher: It's okay.

Neo's eyes light up as he steps closer to the screens

that seem alive with a constant flow of data.

Neo: Is that...

Cypher: The Matrix? Yeah.

Neo: Do you always look at it encoded?

Cypher: Well, you have to. The image translators work for the construct program. But there's way too much information to decode the Matrix. You get used to it. I... I don't even see the code. All I see is blonde, brunette, redhead.

Cypher: Hey, you want a drink?

Neo: Sure.

He pours Neo a drink from a large plastic jug.

Cypher: You know, I know what you're thinking, because right now I'm thinking the same thing.

Cypher: Actually, I've been thinking it ever since I got here. Why, oh why didn't I take the blue pill?

Neo takes a sip and it almost kills him.

Cypher: Good shit...

ALL (joined by even more people): Aaaaggh!!!

Cypher: ...huh? Dozer makes it. It's good for two things, degreasing engines and killing brain cells. So, can I ask you something? Did he tell you why he did it, why you're here?

Neo nods.

Cypher: Jesus.

Cypher: What a mind job. So you're here to save the world. What do you say to something like that? A little piece of advice. You see an agent, you do what we do. Run. Run your ass off.

Neo: Thanks for the drink.

Neo leaves.

Cypher: Sweet dreams.

INT. RESTAURANT (MATRIX) - NIGHT

The restaurant is located on the top floor of a Chicago

skyscraper where the view is breathtaking and the menu

has no prices.

CHAMBER MUSIC and the ambiance of wealth soak the room as

we watch a serrated knife saw through a thick, gorgeous

steak.

Cypher is eating the steak with two agents.

Agent Smith: Do we have a deal, Mr. Reagan?

Cypher: You know, I know this steak doesn't exist. I know that when I put it in my mouth, the Matrix is telling my brain that it is juicy and delicious. After nine years, you know what I realize?

Pausing, he examines the meat skewered on his fork. He

pops it in, eyes rolling up, savoring the tender beef

melting in his mouth.

Cypher: Ignorance is bliss.

Agent Smith: Then we have a deal?

Cypher: I don't want to remember nothing. Nothing. You understand? And I want to be rich. You know, someone important, like an actor.

Agent Smith: Whatever you want, Mr. Reagan.

Cypher: Okay. I get my body back into a power plant, you insert me into the Matrix, I'll get you what you want.

Agent Smith: Access codes to the Zion mainframe.

Cypher: No, I told you, I don't know them. I can get you the man who does.

Agent Smith: Morpheus.

INT. MESS ROOM.

Neo, Tank, Mouse, Apoc, Switch, Trinity, and Dozer are eating together. Tank offers Neo another bowl of proteins.

Tank: Here you go, buddy. Breakfast of champions.

Mouse: If you close your eyes it almost feels like you're eating runny eggs.

Apoc: Yeah, or a bowl of snot.

Mouse: Do you know what it really reminds me of? Tasty Wheat. Did you ever eat Tasty Wheat?

Switch: No, but technically, neither did you.

Mouse: That's exactly my point. Exactly. Because you have to wonder now. How did the machines know what Tasty Wheat tasted like, huh? Maybe they got it wrong. Maybe what I think Tasty Wheat tasted like actually tasted like oatmeal or tuna fish. That makes you wonder about a lot of things. You take chicken for example, maybe they couldn't figure out what to make chicken taste like, which is why chicken tastes like everything. Maybe they couldn't figure out...

Apoc: Shut up, Mouse.

Dozer: It's a single cell protein combined with synthetic aminos, vitamins, and minerals. Everything the body needs.

Mouse: It doesn't have everything the body needs. So I understand that you've run through the agent training program. You know, I wrote that program.

Apoc: Here it comes.

Mouse: So what did you think of her?

Neo: Of who?

Mouse: The woman in the red dress? I designed her. She, um...well she doesn't talk very much, but...but if you'd like to meet her, I can arrange a much more personalized meeting.

Switch: Digital pimp, hard at work.

Mouse: Pay no attention to these hypocrites, Neo. To deny our own impulses is to deny the very thing that makes us human.

Morpheus enters, all business.

Morpheus: Dozer, when you're done, bring the ship up to broadcast depth. We're going in. Taking Neo to see her.

Neo: See who?

Tank: The Oracle.

Tank prepares to load everyone else into the Matrix.

Tank: Everyone please observe the fasten seat belt and no smoking signs have been turned on. Sit back and enjoy your ride.

The group returns to the Lafayette Hotel. Daylight.

Morpheus: We're in.

Morpheus, Neo, and Trinity get into a car. The others guard the exit.

Morpheus: We'll be back in an hour.

INT. CAR

Morpheus: Unbelievable, isn't it?

Neo: God.

Trinity: What?

Neo: I used to eat there. Really good noodles. I have these memories from my life. None of them happened. What does that mean?

Trinity: That the Matrix cannot tell you who you are.

Neo: And the Oracle can?

Trinity: That's different.

Neo: Did you go to her?

Trinity: Yes.

Neo: What did she tell you?

Trinity: She told me...

She trails off.

Neo: What?

Morpheus: We're here. Neo, come with me.

INT. CONDOMONIUM -- ELEVATOR

Neo: So is this the same Oracle that made the prophecy?

Morpheus: Yes. She's very old. She's been with us since the beginning.

Neo: The beginning...?

Morpheus: Of the resistance.

Neo: And she knows what, everything?

Morpheus: She would say she knows enough.

Neo: And she's never wrong.

Morpheus: Try not to think of it in terms of right and wrong. She is a guide. She can help you to find the path.

Neo: She helped you?

Morpheus: Yes.

Neo: What did she tell you?

Morpheus: That I would find the One.

The elevator opens. Morpheus goes to one of the condo rooms, indicates the door.

Morpheus: I told you I can only show you the door. You have to walk through it.

Neo knocks. The priestess welcomes them, looking like an old lady.

Priestess: Hello, Neo. You're right on time.

Priestess: Make yourself at home, Morpheus. Neo, come with me.

The priestess leads Neo into a group of young children who are playing weird telekinetic games.

Priestess: These are the other potentials, you can wait here.

One has been playing with a spoon. Neo picks it up.

Spoon boy: Do not try and bend the spoon. That's impossible. Instead only try to realize the truth.

Neo: What truth?

Spoon boy: There is no spoon.

Neo: There is no spoon?

Spoon boy: Then you'll see that it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself.

The priestess re-enters.

Priestess: The Oracle will see you now.

INT. KITCHEN

The Oracle is baking cookies. She is an older woman, wearing big oven mitts,

comfortable slacks and a print blouse. She looks like someone's grandma.

Oracle: I know, you're Neo. Be right with you.

Neo: You're the Oracle?

Oracle: Bingo. Not quite what you were expecting, right?

Oracle: Almost done. Smell good, don't they?

Neo: Yeah.

Oracle: I'd ask you to sit down, but you're not going to anyway. And don't worry about the vase.

Neo: What vase?

He turns to look around and his elbow knocks a VASE from

the table. It BREAKS against the linoleum floor.

Oracle: That vase.

Neo: I'm sorry.

Oracle: I said don't worry about it.

Neo: How did you know?

Oracle: What's really going to bake your noodle later on is, would you still have broken it if I hadn't said anything? You're cuter than I expected. No wonder she likes you.

Neo: Who?

Oracle: Not too bright, though.

Oracle: You know why Morpheus brought you to see me?

Neo: I think so.

Oracle: So, what do you think? You think you're the One?

Neo: I don't know.

She gestures to a wooden plaque, the kind every grandma

has, except that the words are in Latin.

Oracle: You know what that means? It's Latin. Means `Know thyself'. I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Being the one is just like being in love. No one can tell you you're in love, you just know it. Through and through. Balls to bones.

Oracle: Well, I better have a look at you. Open your mouth, say ahhh.

Neo: Ahhh.

Oracle: Okay. Now I'm supposed to say, `Umm, that's interesting, but...' Then you say...

Neo: But what?

Oracle: But you already know what I'm going to tell you.

Neo: I'm not the One.

Oracle: Sorry, kiddo. You got the gift, but it looks like you're waiting for something.

Neo: What?

Oracle: Your next life maybe, who knows? That's the way these things go. What's funny?

Neo is laughing grimly.

Neo: Morpheus. He...he almost had me convinced.

Oracle: I know. Poor Morpheus. Without him we're lost.

Neo: What do you mean, without him?

Oracle: Are you sure you want to hear this? Morpheus believes in you, Neo. And no one, not you, not even me, can convince him otherwise. He believes it so blindly that he's going to sacrifice his life to save yours.

Neo: What?

Oracle: You're going to have to make a choice. In the one hand you'll have Morpheus' life and in the other hand you'll have your own. One of you is going to die. Which one will be up to you. I'm sorry, kiddo, I really am. You have a good soul, and I hate giving good people bad news.

Oracle: Oh, don't worry about it. As soon as you step outside that door, you'll start feeling better. You'll remember you don't believe in any of this fate crap. You're in control of your own life, remember? Here, take a cookie. I promise, by the time you're done eating it, you'll feel right as rain.

Neo takes the cookie and leaves.

He meets Morpheus at the door and starts to speak.

Morpheus: What was said was for you and for you alone.

Morpheus walks away. Neo follows, eating the cookie.

INT. ROOM 1313 (MATRIX) - DAY

Mouse is looking at more girlie pictures when his CELLULAR RINGS.

Tank: They're on their way.

INT. NEBUCHADNEZZAR

Tank notices something "off."

Tank: What is that?

INT. HOTEL LAFAYETTE (MATRIX) - DAY

Light filters down the throat of the building through a

caged skylight at the top of the open elevator shaft.

Four figures glide up the dark stairs that wind around

the antique elevator.

Neo notices a black cat, a yellow-green-eyed shadow that

slinks past them and pads quickly down the stairs.

A moment later, Neo sees another black cat that looks and

moves identically to the first one.

Neo: Whoa, deja vu.

Those words stop the others dead in their tracks.

Trinity: What did you just say?

Neo: Nothing, I just had a little deja vu.

Trinity: What did you see?

Cypher: What happened?

Neo: A black cat went past us, and then another that looked just like it.

Trinity: How much like it? Was it the same cat?

Neo: Might have been, I'm not sure.

Everyone but Neo is now on full alert.

Morpheus: Switch, Apoc.

Neo: What is it?

Trinity: Deja vu is usually a glitch in the Matrix. It happens when they change something.

INT. NEBUCHADNEZZAR

Tank (greatly alarmed): Oh my God.

INT. BASEMENT (MATRIX) - DAY

Heavy bolt-cutters snap through the main phone cable.

INT. ROOM 1313 (MATRIX) - DAY

Mouse answers the phone.

INT. NEBUCHADNEZZAR

Tank: They cut the hard line, it's a trap. Get out.

INT. ROOM 1313 (MATRIX) - DAY

Mouse tries to get out and finds a brick wall blocking his path.

Mouse: Oh no. Oh no.

Policemen storm into the room. Mouse meets them with twin tommy-guns, but their guns are too many and too fast. He dies in the Matrix and in the ship, spitting blood.

INT. STAIRWELL (MATRIX) - DAY

Flying downstairs, Morpheus stops, hearing the police

swarming below. He turns and rushes down the hall of the

eighth floor. At the end of it, he finds the bricked-up

windows.

Cypher: That's what they changed. We're trapped. There's no way out.

Morpheus: Be calm. Give me your phone.

Trinity: They'll be able to track it.

Morpheus: We have no choice.

INT. MAIN DECK

Tank answers the call.

Tank: Operator.

Morpheus: Tank. Find a structural drawing of this building. Find it fast.

His fingers pound the keyboard.

INT. LAFAYETTE (MATRIX) - DAY

Flashlights probe the rotting darkness as the police

search every floor.

INT. MAIN DECK

The diagram windows onto the screen.

Tank: Got it.

Morpheus: I need the main wet wall.

INT. HALL (MATRIX) - DAY

Agent Smith hears the LINE CLICK dead.

Agent Smith: Eighth floor.

Agent Brown: Eighth floor.

INT. LAFAYETTE HOTEL

The group mobilizes.

Morpheus: Switch, straight ahead.

Apoc: Neo.

Apoc gives Neo his gun.

Apoc: I hope the Oracle gave you some good news.

The group proceeds…

Tank: Another left, that's it.

Morpheus: Good.

INT. HALL (MATRIX) - DAY

Brown turns to Smith.

Agent Brown: Where are they?

INT. WALL (MATRIX) - DAY

They are inside the main plumbing wall, slowly worming

their way down the greasy, black stack pipes.

Above them, light fills the hole they made to get inside.

INT. ROOM 608 (MATRIX) - DAY

The cops search in silence, straining for a clue, when

one hears SOMETHING STRANGE near the bathroom.

INT. WALL (MATRIX) - DAY

Some dust falls on Cypher. He tries to suppress his cough, and fails.

INT. ROOM 608 (MATRIX) - DAY

Police: They're in the walls. They're in the walls.

INT. WALL (MATRIX) - DAY

The Cop OPENS FIRE --

BULLETS PUNCHING shafts of light like swords into the box

of soot-black space… and then the cop screams and changes…

Into Agent Smith.

Smith’s hands reach through the wall, seize Neo.

Cypher: It's an agent.

Morpheus summons all his strength and will and crashes through the wall, knocking the agent to the ground and throttling him.

Trinity: Morpheus!

Morpheus: You must get Neo out! He's all that matters!

Neo: No! No, Morpheus! Don't!

Morpheus: Trinity, go!

Trinity: Go!

Neo: We can't leave him!

Trinity: We have to!

Trinity gets down to the ground floor, opens a gate to the sewers.

Trinity: Cypher, come on!

But Cypher drops to the floor, and finally Trinity has to leave him behind.

INT. ROOM 608

Agent Smith: The great Morpheus. We meet at last.

Morpheus: And you are?

Agent Smith: Smith. Agent Smith.

Morpheus: You all look the same to me.

What follows is an action sequence whose outcome, fast and strong as Morpheus is, is never in doubt. When Morpheus is defeated, Smith turns him over to the cops, who administer a second beating.

Agent Smith: Take him.

INT. MAIN DECK

Tank reaches out to the screen as if reaching for Morpheus.

Tank: No.

Phone signal.

Tank: Operator.

Cypher: Yeah, I need an exit fast.

Tank: Cypher?

EXT. STREET (MATRIX) - DAY

Cypher is standing at a public phone. Across the street

is a burning paddy wagon that appears to have collided

with an oncoming car.

Cypher: Yeah, there was an accident. God-damn car accident. All of a sudden, boom. Somebody up there still likes me.

Tank: Gotcha.

Cypher: Get me out of here fast.

Tank: Intersection of Franklin and Erie, an old TV repair shop.

Cypher: Right.

INT. MAIN DECK

The PHONE RINGS. Tank answers.

Trinity: Tank, it's me.

Neo: Is Morpheus alive?

EXT. STREET (MATRIX) - DAY

They are outside a pawn shop. Trinity has a new cellular.

Cypher: Is Morpheus alive, Tank?

Tank: They're moving him. I don't know where to yet.

Trinity: He's alive. We need an exit.

Tank: You're not far from Cypher.

Trinity: Cypher?

Tank: I know. He's at Franklin and Erie.

Trinity: Got it.

EXT. STREET (MATRIX) - DAY

Running, Cypher turns onto Erie.

INT. APPLIANCE STORE (MATRIX) - DAY

Dead machines, eviscerated and shrouded with dust, lay on

metal shelves like bodies in a morgue.

Plywood covering a small window is ripped off and Cypher

crawls inside.

Deep in the back room, a PHONE that has not rung in years

begins to RING.

INT. MAIN DECK

Tank punches the exit command.

Tank: Got him.

Cypher: Where are they?

Tank: Making the call.

Cypher: Good.

Cypher pulls back a heavy

blanket exposing a plasma rifle.

INT. APPLIANCE STORE (MATRIX) - DAY

The others approach the phone.

INT. MAIN DECK

Tank finishes loading the exit programs as Cypher rises

behind him, swinging the weapon at his back.

Meanwhile, Trinity hands the ringing phone to Neo.

Trinity: You first, Neo.

Tank spins as red hot wads of PLASMA EXPLODE through his

chair and into his back.

Cypher: Shoot.

Tank is diving, but a second BURST tears up

his side --

Dozer: No!

Dozer charges, screaming, and the PLASMA RIFLE SCREAMS

back.

Neo answers the phone when there is a CLICK. There is no

signal. Nothing but silence.

Neo: I don't know, it just went dead.

Trinity listens to the dead line and takes out the

cellular.

INT. MAIN DECK

The operator PHONE begins to RING- Cypher steps over the

body of Tank and looks at the monitor.

INT. APPLIANCE STORE (MATRIX) - DAY

Trinity can almost feel him watching them. Every

unanswered RING wrings her gut a little tighter, until --

Cypher: Hello, Trinity.

Trinity: Cypher? Where's Tank?

INT. MAIN DECK

He walks over to Trinity's body, staring down at it

hanging in its coma-like stillness.

Cypher: You know, for a long time, I thought I was in love with you. I used to dream about you. You're a beautiful woman, Trinity. Too bad things had to turn out this way.

We INTERCUT BETWEEN the appliance store and the main

deck.

Trinity: You killed them.

Apoc: What?

Switch: Oh God.

Cypher: I'm tired, Trinity. I tired of this war. I'm tired of fighting. I'm tired of this ship, being cold, and eating the same God-damn goop everyday. But most of all, I'm tired of that jack-off and all of his bullshit.

He stands over the body of Morpheus, as his anger boils

up out of him.

Cypher: Surprise, asshole. I bet you never saw this coming, did you? God, I wish I could be there, when they break you. I wish I could walk in just when it happens. So right then, you'd know it was me.

Trinity: You gave him Morpheus.

Cypher: He lied to us, Trinity. He tricked us. If you'da told us the truth, we woulda told you to shove that red pill right up your ass.

Trinity: That's not true, Cypher, he set us free.

Cypher: Free? You call this free? All I do is what he tells me to do. If I had to choose between that and the Matrix, I choose the Matrix.

Trinity: The Matrix isn't real.

Cypher walks away from Morpheus and bends down next to

Apoc's body.

Cypher: I disagree, Trinity. I think the Matrix can be more real than this world. All I do is pull the plug here. But there, you have to watch Apoc die.

Apoc: Trinity.

Switch: No.

He grabs hold of the cable in Apoc's neck, twists it and

yanks it out. Apoc dies instantly.

Cypher: Welcome to the real world, huh, baby?

Trinity: But you're out, Cypher. You can't go back.

Cypher: Oh no. That's what you think. They're going to reinsert my body. I go back to sleep, and when I wake up, I won't remember a God-damn thing. By the way, if you have anything terribly important to say to Switch, I suggest you say it now.

Trinity: No, please don't.

Switch: Not like this. Not like this.

His hand slides around the neck of Switch as he takes

hold of her plug.

She suddenly feels her body severed from her mind as she

is murdered.

Cypher: Too late.

Trinity: God damn you, Cypher.

He stands over Neo.

Cypher: Don't hate me, Trinity. I'm just the messenger, and right now I'm going to prove it to you. If Morpheus was right, then there's no way I can pull this plug. I mean if Neo's the One, then there'd have to be some kind of a miracle to stop me. Right? I mean how can he be the One if he's dead?

Cypher: You never did answer me before. If you bought into Morpheus' bullshit --

Cypher: -- come on -- all I want is a little yes or no. Look into his eyes, those big pretty eyes. Tell me. Yes or no.

Trinity: Yes.

Cypher: No.

Cypher is facing Tank… who’s staggering, badly wounded, but clearly not dead.

Cypher: I don't believe it.

Tank: Believe it or not, you piece of shit. You're still gonna burn.

ENTIRE THEATER: Aaaaghhh!!!

His plasma rifle fires, killing Cypher. Tank spits at him.

INT. APPLIANCE STORE (MATRIX) - DAY

They're both listening, trying to figure out what is

happening when the store PHONE starts to RING.

Neo: You first.

INT. MAIN DECK

Trinity's eyes open, a sense of relief surging through

her at the sight of the ship. As Tank unplugs her, she

sees his charred wounds.

Trinity: You're hurt.

Tank: I'll be all right.

Trinity: Dozer?

Tank's face tightens. They embrce.

INT. OFFICE - SKYSCRAPER

Morpheus is handcuffed to a chair, stripped to the waist.

He is bleeding from numerous wounds and is pumped full of

serum, alternately shivering and sweating. He is hooked

up to various monitors with white disk electrodes.

Agent Smith: Have you ever stood and stared at it, marveled at its beauty, its genius? Billions of people just living out their lives, oblivious.

Agent Smith: Did you know that the first Matrix was designed to be a perfect human world. Where none suffered. Where everyone would be happy. It was a disaster. No one would accept the program. Entire crops were lost.

Agent Smith: Some believed that we lacked the programming language to describe your perfect world. But I believe that as a species, human beings define their reality through misery and suffering. Which is why the Matrix was redesigned to this, the peak of your civilization. I say your civilization because as soon as we started thinking for you it really became our civilization which is of course what this is all about.

Agent Smith: Evolution, Morpheus, evolution, like the dinosaur. Look out that window. You had your time. The future is our world, Morpheus. The future is our time.

Morpheus is trying hard not to show pain, and mostly succeeding… for now.

Agent Brown enters.

Agent Brown: There could be a problem.

INT. MAIN DECK

Neo looks at Morpheus, whose body is covered with a cold

sweat.

Neo: What are they doing to him?

Tank: Breaking into his mind. It's like hacking into a computer, all it takes is time.

Neo: How much time?

Tank: Depends on the mind. Eventually it will crack and his alpha patterns will change from this to this.

Tank punches several commands on Morpheus' personal unit.

The monitor waves change from a chaotic pattern to an

orderly symmetrical one.

Tank: When it does, Morpheus will tell them anything they want to know.

Neo: Well, what do they want?

Tank: The leader of every ship is given codes to Zion's mainframe computer. If an agent got the codes and got into Zion's mainframe, they could destroy us. We can't let that happen.

Neo: Trinity.

Tank: Zion's more important than me or you or even Morpheus.

Neo: Well there has to be something that we can do.

Tank: There is. We pull the plug.

Trinity: You're going to kill him? Kill Morpheus?

Tank: We don't have any other choice.

INT. ELEVATOR

The three agents confer.

Agent Smith: Never send a human to do a machine's job.

Agent Brown: If indeed the insider has failed, they'll sever the connection as soon as possible, unless...

Agent Jones: They're dead, in either case...

Agent Smith: We have no choice but to continue as planned. Deploy the sentinels immediately.

INT. MAIN DECK

Tank is doing his best to say goodbye. Trinity is in shock. Neo…

Tank: Morpheus, you're more than a leader to us. You're our father. We'll miss you always.

Tank nearly has pulled the plug…

Neo: Stop. I don't believe this is happening.

Tank: Neo, this has to be done.

Neo: Does it? I don't know, I... this can't be just coincidence. It can't be.

Tank: What are you talking about?

Neo: The Oracle. She told me this would happen. She told me that I would have to make a choice.

Trinity: What choice?

Neo starts running for his chair.

Trinity: What are you doing?

Neo: I'm going in.

Trinity: No, you're not.

Neo: I have to.

Trinity: Neo, Morpheus sacrificed himself so that he could get you out. There's no way that you're going back in.

Neo: Morpheus did what he did because he believed I'm something I'm not.

Trinity: What?

Neo: I'm not the One, Trinity. The Oracle hit me with that too.

Trinity: No. You have to be.

Neo: Sorry, I'm not. I'm just another guy.

Trinity: No, Neo. That's not true. It can't be true.

Neo: Why?

Trinity can’t answer.

Tank: Neo, this is loco. They've got Morpheus in a military controlled building. Even if you somehow got inside, those are agents holding him. Three of them. I want Morpheus back too, but what you're talking about is suicide.

Neo: I know that's what it looks like, but it's not. I can't explain to you why it's not. Morpheus believed something and he was ready to give his life for what he believed. I understand that now. But that's why I have to go.

Tank: Why?

Neo: Because I believe in something.

Trinity: What?

Neo: I believe I can bring him back.

Neo proceeds to the chair. Trinity hesitates, then joins him.

Neo: What are you doing?

Trinity: I'm going with you.

Neo: No, you're not.

Trinity: No? Let me tell you what I believe. I believe Morpheus means more to me than he does to you. I believe if you were really serious about saving him you are going to need my help. And since I am the ranking officer on this ship, if you don't like, I believe you can go to hell. Because you aren't going anywhere else. Tank, load us up.

INT. PRESIDENTIAL SUITE (MATRIX) - DAY

Smith continues to talk Morpheus down, Brown waits at the door.

Agent Smith: I'd like to share a revelation during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species. I realized that you're not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment but you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply and multiply until every natural resource is consumed. The only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet. You are a plague, and we are the cure.

INT. MAIN DECK

Trinity and Neo hang motionless in the suspension unit.

Tank is at the operations station.

Tank: Okay. What do you need, besides a miracle?

Neo: Guns. Lots of guns.

INT. CONSTRUCT

Racks of weapons appear and Neo and Trinity arm

themselves.

Trinity: Neo, no one has ever done anything like this.

Neo: That's why it's going to work.

INT. PRESIDENTIAL SUITE (MATRIX) - DAY

Agent Smith is again at the window.

Agent Smith: Why isn't this serum working?

Agent Brown: Perhaps we're asking the wrong questions.

Agent Smith: Leave me with him. Now.

Brown exits.

Morpheus is near collapse.

INT. MAIN DECK

Tank watches.

Tank: Hold on, Morpheus. They're coming for you. They're coming.

INT. PRESIDENTIAL SUITE (MATRIX) - DAY

Agent Smith takes off his glasses, reveals his raging ice-blue eyes.

Agent Smith: Can you hear me, Morpheus? I'm going to be honest with you. I hate this place, this zoo, this prison, this reality, whatever you want to call it. I can't stand it any longer. It's the smell, if there is such a thing. I feel saturated by it. I can taste your stink.

Agent Smith: And every time I do I feel I have somehow been infected by it. It's repulsive, isn't it? I must get out of here. I must get free and in this mind is the key, my key. Once Zion is destroyed there is no need for me to be here, don't you understand?

Agent Smith: I need the codes. I have to get inside Zion, and you have to tell me how. You're going to tell me or you're going to die.

Agent Smith squeezes Morpheus, provoking gurgles…

INT. NIKO HOTEL (MATRIX) - DAY

In long, black coats, Trinity and Neo push through the

revolving doors.

Neo is carrying a duffel bag. Trinity has a large metal

suitcase. They cut across the lobby, drawing nervous

glances.

Dark glasses, game faces.

Neo goes through a metal detector, which flashes red.

Guard 1: Please remove any metallic items you're carrying, keys, loose change.

Neo opens his coat and reveals he is carrying so many guns on his person they might double as body armor.

Guard 1: Holy shit.

ENTIRE THEATER: Aaaaggh!!!

Big action sequence wherein Trinity and Neo cut through dozens of cops like butter.

Guard 2: Backup. Send backup.

INT. PRESIDENTIAL SUITE (MATRIX) - DAY

Agent Jones looks at Morpheus. Brown reenters.

Agent Brown: What were you doing?

Agent Jones: He doesn't know.

Agent Smith: Know what?

Crosscut: Trinity and Neo make more progress..

Agent Brown: I think they're trying to save him.

INT. ELEVATOR SHAFT (MATRIX) - DAY

Neo ratchets down a clamp onto the elevator cable. Both

of them lock on. He looks up the long, dark throat of

the building and takes a deep breath.

Neo: There is no spoon.

Neo whips out his gun and presses it to the cable, lower

than where they attached themselves.

BOOM! The CABLE SNAPS.

The counter-weights plummet, yanking Trinity and Neo up

through the shaft as --

The elevator falls away beneath them, distending space,

filling it with the sound of WHISTLING METAL as they soar

to the top.

INT. LOBBY (MATRIX) - DAY

The ELEVATOR hits the bottom. BA-BOOM!

The massive EXPLOSION blows open the doors, fire clouds

engulfing the elevator section of the lobby.

INT. PRESIDENTIAL SUITE (MATRIX) - DAY

Sprinklers go off.

Agent Smith: Find them and destroy them.

Trinity and Neo mow down countless more innocent human beings on the rooftop. Finally, though, an agent replaces one of their last opponents.

Neo empties his guns into the agent, but the agent dodges every bullet.

Neo: Trinity. Help.

The agent returns fire… Neo manages to dodge most, but not all the bullets.

Agent Brown: Only human.

Suddenly Agent Brown stops. Something is wrong. He

scans the roof. Trinity is gone.

Immediately, he whirls around and turns straight into the

muzzle of her .45 --

Jammed right into his head.

Trinity: Dodge this.

Trinity blows the agent away at point-blank range. When he lands, he becomes the pilot… dead.

Trinity: How did you do that?

Neo: Do what?

Trinity: You moved like they do.

Trinity: I've never seen anyone move that fast.

Neo: Wasn't fast enough.

Neo and Trinity look at the helicopter.

Neo: Can you fly that thing?

Trinity: Not yet.

INT. MAIN DECK

Tank sits around for a change.

Tank: Operator.

Trinity: Tank, I need a pilot program for a V-212 helicopter. Hurry.

His fingers flash over the gleaming laser disks, finding

one that he feeds into Trinity's supplement drive,

punching the "load" commands on her keyboard.

EXT. ROOF (MATRIX) - DAY

Trinity's eyes flutter as information surges into her

brain, all the essentials of flying a helicopter absorbed

at light-speed.

Trinity: Let's go.

INT. PRESIDENTIAL SUITE (MATRIX) - DAY

Agent Jones throws open the bedroom door and enters,

walking through the puddles pooling in the carpet.

Over the RUSHING WATER and the ALARMS, Agent Smith hears

a SOUND and understands the seriousness of the attack.

He turns to the wall of windows as the helicopter drops

INTO VIEW --

Neo is in the back bay, aiming the mounted .50 machine

gun.

Agent Smith: No.

The GUN jumps and BULLETS EXPLODE through the WINDOW in a

cacophony of CRASHING GLASS --

As the Agents go for their weapons.

But Neo is too close, the .50 CALIBER too fast and

BULLETS are everywhere, perforating the room.

Agent Smith is hit first, his body jack-knifing back,

blood arcing out with a sudden flash of light --

Then Agent Brown, his GUN still FIRING as his body falls.

And finally Agent Jones.

Neo stares at Morpheus, trying to will him into action.

Neo: Morpheus, get up. Get up, get up.

INT. PRESIDENTIAL SUITE (MATRIX) - DAY

Morpheus lifts his face into the room's rain. His eyes,

still white, begin to blink, twitch, then close.

And when he opens them, they are again dark and flashing

with fire.

The Agents knife into the room, FIRING even as Neo's

BULLET TRAILS chase them.

Morpheus strains at his handcuffs.

The Agents and the marines turn the tide, BLASTING LEAD,

RICOCHETING, POCK-MARKING the COPTER.

FIRING wildly, Neo turns to see Morpheus rising, snapping

the handcuffs, starting for the window.

Agent Smith stops and sees Morpheus run past the open

bedroom door.

He FIRES, sweeping across the sheetrocked wall in a

perfect line.

For an instant, we see the BULLETS SHRED, PUNCTURING the

WALL, searing through the wet air with jet trails of

chalk.

And as Morpheus starts to dive for the window, a bullet

buries itself in his leg --

Knocking him off balance.

Neo: He's not going to make it.

Morpheus lunges, out of control --

As Neo spins, every move a whip crack --

Snapping the other rope-end onto a bolted bar.

Morpheus begins to fall when Neo hurls himself into the

wide blue empty space --

Flying for a moment.

The rope snaking out behind him; an umbilical cord

attached to a machine.

As their two bodies, set in motion, rushing at each other

on a seemingly magnetic course until --

They collide.

Almost bouncing free of each other, arms, legs,

scrambling, hands searching in furious desperation,

finding hold and clinging.

Until the line ends, snapping taut, cracking their

fragile embrace. Morpheus tumbles, legs flipping over,

falling down --

The ground deliriously distant --

As Neo snatches hold of his mentor's still handcuffed

wrist.

Neo: Gotcha.

[Long sequence where Neo winds up saving Trinity too.]

EXT. ROOFTOP (MATRIX) - DAY

Morpheus: Do you believe it now, Trinity?

Neo: Morpheus. The Oracle, she told me I'm...

Morpheus: She told you exactly what you needed to hear, that's all. Neo, sooner or later you're going to realize, just as I did, there's a difference between knowing the path and walking the path.

INT. MAIN DECK

The PHONE RINGS.

Tank: Operator.

Morpheus: Tank.

Tank: God-damn. It's good to hear your voice, sir.

Morpheus: Need an exit.

Tank: Got one ready. Subway station, State and Balboa.

EXT. ROOFTOP (MATRIX) - DAY

The rope is all that remains. Agent Smith can barely

control his anger.

Agent Smith: Damn it.

Agent Brown: The trace was completed.

Agent Jones: We have their position.

Agent Brown: The sentinels are standing by.

Agent Jones: Order the strike.

Agent Smith can't stand listening to them. He moves to

the edge of the building, looking out at the surrounding

city.

Agent Smith: They're not out yet.

INT. SUBWAY STATION

The three walk past an old wino as a pay phone starts to ring.

Neo: You first, Morpheus.

Morpheus picks up the line and disappears.

Trinity: Neo, I want to tell you something, but I'm afraid of… what it could mean if I do. Everything the Oracle told me has come true. Everything but this.

Neo’s response is lost in the roar of the train… when it passes, the wino has become Agent Smith.

Trinity has just enough time to see him and disappear before he blows the phone to pieces.

INT. HOVERCRAFT

Trinity blinks, shivering as her conscious exits the

Matrix.

Trinity: Neo.

Tank: What just happened?

Trinity: An agent. You have to send me back.

Tank: I can't.

(Oh, hell, do we REALLY need to keep describing these interminable action sequences to you? This movie has another twenty minutes of pretty much pure special effects. Let’s just hit a few highlights…)

Agent Smith: You're empty.

Neo: So are you.

Agent Smith: I'm going to enjoy watching you die, Mr. Anderson.

Agent Smith: Do you hear that, Mr. Anderson? That is the sound of inevitability. That is the sound of your death. Goodbye, Mr. Anderson.

Neo: My name is Neo.

(Neo fights a lot more, runs some, then finally apparently dies in gunfire.)

Morpheus: Can't be.

Agent Smith: Check him.

Agent Brown does.

Agent Brown: He's gone.

Agent Smith: Goodbye, Mr. Anderson.

(There’s something going on with the ship and those Squiddies we saw before, and they want to use the EMP but they can’t because Neo’s still inside the Matrix, and they aren’t sure how many "lives" he has left.)

Trinity: Neo, I'm not afraid anymore. The Oracle told me that I would fall in love, and that man, the man who I loved would be the one. And so you see, you can't be dead. You can't be, because I love you.

Trinity: You hear me? I love you.

Trinity: Now get up.

(Then Neo miraculously revives, stops a bunch of bullets by waving at them, does a swan dive into Agent Jones and makes him explode, then looks at the other two agents and watches them run away. Yay.)

INT. HOVERCRAFT

(Lots of noisy action up here as the Squiddies attack the ship and then get EMP'd right in The Nick of Time. Or maybe they "miraculously" fall away, or something. We couldn't really follow it.)

Tank: How?

Morpheus: He is The One.

As Neo revives, Trinity is standing over him.

Trinity: Neo.

They kiss.

COMPUTER SCREEN – SYSTEM FAILURE

The One: I know you're out there. I can feel you now. I know that you're afraid. You're afraid of us. You're afraid of change. I don't know the future. I didn't come here to tell you how this is going to end. I came here to tell you how it's going to begin.

The One: I'm going to hang up this phone and then I'm going to show these people what you don't want them to see.

The One: I'm going to show them a world without you, a world without rules and controls, without borders or boundaries, a world where anything is possible.

The One: Where we go from there is a choice I leave to you.

EXT. CHICAGO

Neo hangs up a pay phone and flies up and out of the city.

FADE OUT.