Ex Machina (2 page)
EXT. GARDEN – DAY
Caleb exits the dining area to an area of neat garden, looking over the river, and surrounded by the mountain ranges.
The punchbag is suspended by a chain on an exterior flanking wall of the house.
The man working it is wearing shorts, and is shirtless. Bathed in sweat.
His hands are not protected by gloves. Only wraps. Spots of blood seep through the pale material around his knuckles.
This is Nathan Bateman. He’s thirty.
After a flurry of punches, Nathan breaks off.
Breathing hard, he wipes at his eyebrows with the back of his wrist. Sweat droplets cascade down his face.
Then –
– Nathan senses the other presence.
He turns to see Caleb. Standing by the open glass wall.
NATHAN
Caleb.
Nathan beams.
Caleb Smith.
CALEB
… Hi.
Nathan starts unravelling his wraps.
NATHAN
Dude. I’ve been so looking forward to this.
INT. HOUSE ⁄ DINING AREA – DAY
Nathan walks past Caleb and goes to a bar area, where there is a jug of non-specific vegetable juice waiting, and a glass.
NATHAN
Come in, come in.
Caleb puts his bag down.
You want something to eat or drink after your journey?
CALEB
No. Thank you. I’m fine.
NATHAN
You sure?
Nathan pours himself a glass of the vegetable juice.
I’d been thinking we’d have breakfast together, but to be honest, I can’t eat anything right now. I gotta tell you – I woke up this morning with the mother of all fucking hangovers.
CALEB
Yeah?
Nathan laughs.
NATHAN
Like you wouldn’t believe. And if I have a heavy night, I always try to compensate the next morning. Exercise. Juice. Anti-oxidants. You know?
CALEB
Sure.
Silence, as Nathan drinks.
Caleb feels he needs to say something.
Looking around, he sees a collection of empty beer bottles on the kitchen counter.
CALEB
… Was it a good party?
Nathan doesn’t answer.
He’s still drinking.
The silence extends a little. Verges on odd.
CALEB
Because, uh …
Caleb hesitates. Wondering whether to be honest.
Decides to be.
CALEB
Actually there was a glass. On the carpet. One of your guests, maybe, left it, and –
Nathan puts his empty glass down.
NATHAN
Guests.
CALEB
I broke it.
NATHAN
Broke what?
CALEB
The glass.
Beat.
But I cleaned it all up.
Nathan looks at Caleb. His expression is unreadable.
NATHAN
Caleb. I’m going to put this out there so it’s said.
Caleb waits.
You’re freaked out.
CALEB
… I am?
NATHAN
Yeah. You’re freaked out by the house, and the mountains, because it’s all so super-cool. And you’re freaked out by me. To be
meeting
me. In this room, having this conversation, at this moment. Right?
Caleb doesn’t have time to answer.
And I get that. The moment you’re having.
Nathan smiles.
But dude, can we get it behind us? Can we just be two guys? Nathan and Caleb. Not the whole employer–employee thing.
CALEB
Okay.
Beat.
It’s good to meet you, Nathan.
Caleb holds out his hand.
Nathan beams.
NATHAN
It’s good to meet you too, Caleb.
They shake.
When Caleb takes his hand back, there is a little smear of blood on his fingers.
He discreetly wipes it on his trousers.
EXT. HOUSE ⁄ ELEVATOR – DAY
Nathan and Caleb enter an elevator.
It has no buttons. Only a keycard plate.
Nathan swipes his card.
NATHAN
Down.
The elevator starts to move.
INT. GARDEN – DAY
Water flows over rocks.
INT. HOUSE ⁄ GLASS CORRIDOR – DAY
Caleb and Nathan exit the elevator into a glass corridor.
The floor is polished concrete. The walls and ceiling are glass, behind which diffused light glows.
At regular intervals glass doors are set, glowing with the same light, flush with the walls.
Beside the closed doors are keycard plates and soft red LEDs.
Caleb carries his bag, looking slightly encumbered next to Nathan.
NATHAN
So I guess the first thing I should do is explain your pass. It’s simple enough. It opens some doors, but it doesn’t open others. And that just makes everything easy for you, right?
CALEB
… Uh, yes.
NATHAN
Because you’re like: oh fuck, I’m in someone else’s house, can I do this, can I do that? And this card takes all that worry away. If you try to open a door and it stays shut: okay, it’s off limits. If you try another door, and it opens: it’s for you.
Nathan stops by a door.
Let’s try this one.
Caleb hunts around in his pockets for his keycard.
Then swipes the card on the plate.
The LED turns blue.
NATHAN
Guess it’s for you, Caleb.
INT. HOUSE ⁄ CALEB’S BEDROOM – DAY
Nathan follows Caleb into a bedroom.
NATHAN
You like?
It has the vibe of a mid-level business hotel. Bed, table, TV.
Except it has no windows.
It’s your room. You got yourself a bed, cupboards, a little desk, and a bathroom through there. A little fridge.
Nathan opens the fridge. Inside it is full of bottled water.
Cosy, right?
Caleb puts his bags down.
CALEB
You bet. This is great.
NATHAN
What?
CALEB
… Sorry?
NATHAN
There’s something wrong. What is it?
CALEB
There’s nothing wrong.
NATHAN
It’s the windows. You’re thinking: there’s no windows. And it’s not cosy. It’s claustrophobic.
CALEB
No. No way. I wasn’t thinking that. I was thinking: this is really cool.
NATHAN
Caleb. There’s a reason the room has no windows.
CALEB
… There is?
NATHAN
Uh-huh. In many ways, this building isn’t a house. It’s a research facility. Buried in these walls are enough fibre-optic cables to reach the Moon and lasso it.
He sits on the bed.
And I want to talk to you about what I’m researching. I want to share it with you. In fact, I want to share it with you so much, it’s eating me up inside.
Beat.
But there’s something I need you to do for me first.
CALEB
… What?
Nathan reaches into his pocket, and pulls out a pen.
INT. HOUSE ⁄ CALEB’S BEDROOM – DAY
Caleb sits at the desk in his room, holding Nathan’s pen.
In front of him is a sheet of paper, which reads, at the top:
NON DISCLOSURE AGREEMENT.
CALEB
‘The signee agrees to regular data audit with unlimited access, to confirm that no disclosure of information has taken place, in public or private forums, using any means of communication, including but not limited to that which is disclosed orally or in written or electronic form …’
Caleb glances back at Nathan on the bed.
I think I need a lawyer.
NATHAN
It’s standard.
CALEB
It doesn’t feel very standard.
NATHAN
Okay, it’s not standard.
He shrugs.
What can I tell you? You don’t have to sign. We could spend the next seven days shooting pool and getting drunk together. Bonding. And when you discover what you missed out on, in a year or so’s time, you’ll spend the rest of your life regretting it.
Caleb turns back to the desk.
Looks at the paper.
Then hesitates a final moment –
– and signs.
When he looks round, Nathan has moved from the bed, and is standing directly behind him.
NATHAN
Good call.
Nathan takes the piece of paper.
Folds it. Puts it in his pocket.
So.
Beat.
Do you know what the Turing Test is?
Caleb reacts – immediately knowing what Nathan has just implied.
CALEB
… Yeah. I know what the Turing Test is.
Nathan waits.
It’s where a human interacts with a computer. And if the human can’t tell they’re interacting with a computer, the test is passed.
NATHAN
And what does a pass tell us?
CALEB
That the computer has artificial intelligence.
Beat.
… Are you telling me you’re building an AI?
Nathan shakes his head.
NATHAN
I’ve already built one.
He stands.
And over the next few days, you’re going to be the human component in a Turing Test.
CALEB
… Holy shit.
NATHAN
That’s right, Caleb. You got it. Because if that test is passed, you are dead centre of the single greatest scientific event in the history of man.
CALEB
If you’ve created a conscious machine, it’s not the history of man. It’s the history of gods.
Nathan smiles.
NATHAN
I like you.
CUT TO
INT. HOUSE ⁄ OBSERVATION ROOM – DAY
What appears to be a neon-coloured jellyfish, tendrils like axons, hangs in a black-blue liquid space.
REVEAL
– the jellyfish is contained in a glass orb –
– which is held in an exposed cavity at the back of machined skull-shape –
– which is part of a robot girl.
Her name is Ava.
She’s an extraordinary piece of engineering.
Proportioned as a slender female in her twenties, her limbs and torso are a mixture of metal and plastic and carbon fibre.
The carbon fibre is charcoal-colour. The plastic is cream. The metal has the yellow warmth of nickel.
The shapes of her body approximate the form of muscle. There are biceps and breasts. Her hands have five delicate digits.
Her body structure is covered in a delicate skin. The skin is a mesh, in the pattern of a honeycomb. Like a spiderweb, it is almost invisible unless side-lit.
The one part of her that is not obviously an inorganic construct is her face – which is that of a strikingly beautiful girl. Created in a defined oval, from the top of the forehead to just below her chin. Indistinguishable from a real girl in its appearance and in the way it moves – except for one thing –
– there is a very slight, almost imperceptible blankness in her eyes.
As we observe Ava, she fits a section of skull-plate to the back of her head, which obscures the glass orb and jellyfish structure.
Then –
– she half turns. As if having become aware of another presence in the room.
REVEAL
– the room in which Ava stands.
Ava’s living area is made up of three primary spaces.
The main area is the observation room. A large area, arranged around a glass box, from which she can be viewed.
At the back of the observation room, behind a sheet of semi-opaque glass, is the private area. This contains a bed-like structure, a desk, a wardrobe, and a mirror.
And behind the private area is the garden area. This is a small decorative indoor garden, lit by lamps. The garden is sealed off from Ava by a thick wall of glass.
There are also several oval discs positioned around the room, made of some kind of dark non-reflective material. These are induction plates.
And there is a chair, which faces the glass observation box.
And facing that chair, inside the observation box, is another chair.
Beside which, Caleb stands.
A beat – as Caleb and Ava see each other for the first time.
Then –
– Ava starts walking. Revealing a secondary impact of her engineering: how she moves. The unconscious precision of her steps. The fluidity of her action.
Caleb is transfixed as she covers the length of the room to her chair.
Then she sits down.
And speaks.