TITLES EXPLODE TO WHITE

SLOW FADE TO:

EXTREME CLOSE-UP of MAXIMILIAN COHEN'S eyes popping open.

INT. MAX'S APARTMENT -CHINATOWN FLAT – NEW YORK CITY - NIGHT

Max jolts his head from his desk and tries to orient him-self

in the darkness. He has intelligent eyes set in an exhausted,

good-looking face.

Then he notices the blood dripping from his nose. Max wipes

it.

Max's voiceover begins:

MAX (V.O.)

Monday, September first.

Six-fifteen.

INT. BATHROOM - DAWN

A pull-string light flips on. Max examines his bloody nose in

the mirror.

MAX (V.O.)

The alchemist awakes.

(Imitating)

"Turn lead into gold, Max,

lead into gold." Today, I find it.

TIGHT ON:

Max's hand as three unmarked, circular pills hit his palm.

Then, he slams the pills into the back of his mouth.

Max replaces the cap on a plastic bottle of unmarked

prescription drugs. He drinks from the sink and splashes a

generous amount of water onto his head and face, cleaning his

nose.

He wipes his nose and examines the last remnants of blood on

his fingertip. Then, he dips his finger under the tap.

INT. MAX'S APARTMENT - MAIN ROOM - DAY

Max's room is constantly dark because the windows are blacked

out. He flips on his desk lamp.

A tiny ANT crawls across his desk. He looks at it for a moment

before getting angry and squashing it.

Sitting on the desk are three computer monitors, which Max

flips on.

Then he pops on more lights and more switches. We pull back

revealing that Max's apartment looks more like the inside of a

computer than a human's home.

The room is knee-high in computer parts of all shapes and

sizes. The walls are covered with circuit boards. Cables hang

from the ceiling like vines in a Brazilian rain forest. They

all seem to be wired together forming a monstrous homemade

computer.

This is EUCLID, Max's creation. The computer is alive with

sounds and lights.

Max works on Euclid with his solder and drill. He cares for

the machine as if it were his dream car

MAX (V.O.)

Heat's been getting

to Euclid. Feel it most in

the afternoon when I run the

set. Have to keep the fans on

all night from now on.

Otherwise, everything is

running topnotch. The stack

of 286's is now faster than

Columbia's computer science

department. I spent a couple

hundred dollars. Columbia's

cost? Half a million?

(Small snicker)

Ha...

Max checks the peephole on His front door. No one is there. He

unbolts the five lock and slides into the hall.

INT. APARTMENJ HALLWAY - DAY

As he secures his apartment, a Young girl named JENNA runs up

to him. Her MOM, down the hall, looks apologetic.

Jenna's eyes light up and she pulls out her Fisher Price

calculator.

JENNA:

Max, Max! Can we do one?

MOM:

(Over and over again)

Jenna! Jenna!

MAX:

Oh, no.

JENNA:

What's three hundred

and twenty-two times four

hundred and ninety-one.

Jenna types it into her calculator. Max finishes locking his

door.

MAX:

(instantly)

One hundred fifty-eight thousand,

a hundred two. Right?

JENNA:

(Eyes light up)

Right.

Max heads down the staircase.

MOM:

Jenna...

Jenna screams after him.

JENNA:

Okay, seventy-three

divided by twenty-two.

MAX:

(instantly again)

Three point three one eight one

eight one eight...

EXT. CHINATOWN - DAY

Max watches people bustle through the busy intersections of

Chinatown. The streets are clogged with people.

MAX (V.O.)

Somewhere in there.

Somewhere. I know it's right

in front of me. The pattern.

They say it's chaos, it can't

be understood, too much

complexity.

EXT. ELECTRONIC MEGADUMP - DAY

Max scavenges electronic parts as he carefully navigates an

endless dump for old and rotting computers.

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