Part 4
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 --
Home
Part 4
