The Matrix-1 Transcript
FADE IN:
INT. COMPUTER SCREEN
On a computer screen; so close it has no boundaries.
A blinking cursor pulses in the electric darkness like a heart
coursing with phosphorous light, burning beneath the derma of black- neon glass.
A phone begins to ring, we hear it as though we were making the call. The cursor continues to throb, relentlessly patient,
until --
MAN (V.O.)
Yeah?
Data now slashes across the screen,
information flashing faster than we can read:
SCREEN
Call trans opt: received.
2-19-98 13:24:18 REC:Log>.
WOMAN(V.O.)
Is everything in place?
SCREEN
Trace program: running.
We listen to the phone conversation as though we were on a third line. The man's name is Cypher. The woman, Trinity.
TRINITY (WOMAN)
(V.O.)
I said, is everything in place?
The entire screen fills with racing
columns of numbers. Shimmering like
green-electric rivers, they rush at a
10-digit phone number in the top
corner.
CYPHER (MAN) (V.O.)
You weren't supposed to
relieve me.
TRINITY (V.O.)
I know but I felt like
taking a shift.
The area code is identified. The
first three numbers suddenly fixed,
leaving only seven flowing columns.
CYPHER (V.O.)
You like him, don't you?
You like watching him?
We begin moving toward the screen,
closing in as each digit is matched,
one by one, snapping into place like
the wheels of a slot machine.
TRINITY (V.O.)
Don't be ridiculous.
CYPHER (V.O.)
We're going to kill him.
Do you understand that?
He's going to die just
like the others.
TRINITY (V.O.)
Morpheus believes he is
the One.
Only two thin digits left.
CYPHER (V.O.)
Do you?
TRINITY (V.O.)
I... it doesn't matter
what I believe.
CYPHER (V.O.)
You don't, do you?
TRINITY (V.O.)
If you have something to
say, I suggest you say it
to Morpheus.
CYPHER (V.O.)
I intend to, believe me.
Someone has to.
The final number pops into place--
TRINITY (V.O.)
Did you hear that?
CYPHER (V.O.)
Hear what?
SCREEN
Trace complete. Call
origin: #312-555-0690.
TRINITY (V.O.)
Are you sure this line is
clean?
CYPHER (V.O.)
Yeah, 'course I'm sure.
We move, still closer, the electric
hum of the green numbers growing into
an ominous roar.
TRINITY (V.O.)
I better go.
She hangs up as we pass through the
numbers, entering the netherworld of
the computer screen. Suddenly, a
flashlight cuts open the darkness and
we find ourselves in--
INT. HEART O' THE CITY HOTEL - NIGHT
The hotel was abandoned after a fire
licked its way across the polyester
carpeting, destroying several rooms as
it spooled soot up the walls and
ceiling, leaving patterns of permanent
shadow.
We follow four armed POLICE OFFICERS
using flashlights as they creep down
the blackened hall and ready
themselves on either side of Room 303.
The biggest of them violently kicks in
the door. The other cops pour in
behind him, guns thrust before them.
BIG COP
Police! Freeze!
The room is almost devoid of
furniture.
There is a fold-up table and chair
with a phone, a modem, and a Powerbook
computer. The only light in the room
is the glow of the computer.
Sitting there, her hands still on the
keyboard, is TRINITY; a woman in black
leather.
BIG COP
Hands behind your head!
Now! Do it!
She slowly puts her hands behind her
head.
EXT. HEART O' THE CITY HOTEL - NIGHT
A black sedan with tinted windows
glides in through the police cruisers.
AGENT SMITH, AGENT BROWN, and AGENT
JONES 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, the cord coiling
back into their shirt collars.
AGENT SMITH
Lieutenant?
LIEUTENANT
Oh shit.
AGENT SMITH
Lieutenant, you were given
specific orders--
LIEUTENANT
I'm just doing my job.
You gimme that Juris-my-
dick-tion and you can cram
it up your ass.
AGENT SMITH
The orders were for your
protection.
The Lieutenant laughs.
LIEUTENANT
I think we can handle one
little girl.
Agent Smith nods to Agent Brown as
they start toward the hotel.
LIEUTENANT
I sent two units. They're
bringing her down now.
AGENT SMITH
No, Lieutenant, your men
are already dead.
INT. HEART O' THE CITY HOTEL
The Big Cop flicks out his cuffs, the
other cops holding a bead. They've
done this a hundred times, they know
they've got her, until the Big Cop
reaches with the cuffs and Trinity
moves --
It almost doesn't register, so smooth
and fast, inhumanly fast.
The eye blinks and Trinity's palm
snaps up and the nose explodes, blood
erupting. Her leg kicks with the force
of a wrecking ball and he flies back,
a two-hundred-fifty pound sack of limp
meat and bone that slams into the cop
farthest from her.
Trinity moves again, bullets raking
the walls, flashlights sweeping with
panic as the remaining cops try to
stop a leather-clad ghost.
A gun still in the cop's hand is
snatched, twisted and fired. There is
a final violent exchange of gunfire
and when it's over, Trinity is the
only one standing.
A flashlight rocks slowly to a stop.
TRINITY
Shit.
EXT. HEART O' THE CITY HOTEL
Agent Brown enters the hotel while
Agent Smith heads for the alley.
INT. HEART O' THE CITY HOTEL
Trinity is on the phone, pacing. The
other end is answered.
MAN (V.O.)
Operator.
TRINITY
Morpheus! The line was
traced! I don't know how.
MORPHEUS (MAN)
(V.O.)
I know. They cut the
hardline. This line is not
a viable exit.
TRINITY
Are there any Agents?
MORPHEUS (V.O.)
Yes.
TRINITY
Goddamnit!
MORPHEUS (V.O.)
You have to focus. There
is a phone. Wells and
Lake. You can make it.
She takes a deep breath, centering
herself.
TRINITY
All right--
MORPHEUS (V.O.)
Go.
She drops the phone.
INT. HALL
She bursts out of the room as Agent
Brown enters the hall, leading another
unit of police. Trinity races to the
opposite end, exiting through a broken
window onto the fire escape.
EXT. FIRE ESCAPE
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 roof 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.
COP
That's it, we got her now.
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 hits, somersaulting up, still
running hard.
COP
Jesus Christ-- that's
impossible!
They stare, slack-jawed, as Agent
Brown duplicates the move exactly,
landing, rolling over a shoulder up
onto one knee.
It is a dizzying chase up and over the
dark plateaued landscape of rooftops
and sheer cliffs of brick.
Ahead she sees her only chance, 50
feet beyond the point where her path
drops away into a paved chasm, there
is--
EXT. WINDOW
A window; a yellow glow in the midst
of a dark brick building.
Trinity zeros in on it, running as
hard as she can and--
Hurtles herself into the empty night
space, her body leveling into a dive.
She falls, arms covering her head as
the whole world seems to spin on its
axis--
INT. BACK STAIRWELL
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.
She wheels on the smashed opening
above, her gun instantly in her hand,
trained, waiting for Agent Brown but
is met by only a slight wind that
hisses against the fanged maw of
broken glass.
Trinity tries to move. Everything
hurts.
TRINITY
Get up, Trinity. You're
fine. Get up-- just get
up!
She stands and limps down the rest of
the stairs.
EXT. STREET
Trinity emerges from the shadows of an
alley and, at the end of the block, in
a pool of white street light, she sees
it--
The telephone booth.
Obviously hurt, she starts down the
concrete walk, focusing in completely,
her pace quickening, as the phone
begins to ring.
Across the street, a garbage truck
suddenly turns U- turns, its tires
screaming as it accelerates. Trinity
sees the headlights of 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--
Barrelling 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. Agents Jones and Brown
walk up behind him.
AGENT BROWN
She got out.
AGENT SMITH
It doesn't matter.
AGENT BROWN
The informant is real.
Agent Smith almost smiles.
AGENT SMITH
Yes.
AGENT JONES
We have the name of their
next target.
AGENT BROWN
The name is Neo.
The handset of the pay phone lays on
the ground, separated in the crash
like a severed limb.
AGENT SMITH
We'll need a search
running.
AGENT JONES
It's already begun.
We are sucked towards the mouthpiece
of the phone, closer and closer, until
the smooth gray plastic spreads out
like a horizon and the small holes
widen until we fall through one--
Swallowed by darkness.
The darkness crackles with
phosphorescent energy, the word
'searching' blazing in around us as we
emerge from a computer screen.
The screen flickers with windowing
data as a search engine runs with a
steady relentless rhythm.
We drift back from the screen and into--
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 lay open like an
autopsied corpse.
At the center of this technological
rat-nest is NEO, a man who knows more
about living inside a computer than
outside one.
He is asleep in front of his PC.
Behind him, the computer screen
suddenly goes blank. A prompt appears.
SCREEN
Wake up, Neo.
Neo's eye pries open. He sits up, one
eye still closed, looking around,
unsure of where he is. He notices the
screen.
He types 'CTRL X' but the letter 'T'
appears.
NEO
What... ?
He hits another and an 'H' appears. He
keeps typing, pushing random functions
and keys while the computer types out
a message as though it had a mind of
its own.
He stops and stares at the four words
on the screen.
SCREEN
The Matrix has you.
NEO
What the hell?
He hits the 'ESC' button. Another
message appears.
SCREEN
Follow the white rabbit.
He hits it again and the message
repeats. He rubs his eyes but when he
opens them, there is another message.
SCREEN
Knock, knock, Neo.
Someone knocks on his door and he
almost jumps out of his chair.
He looks back at the computer but the
screen is now blank.
Someone knocks again. Neo rises, still
unnerved.
NEO
Who is it?
CHOI (O.S.)
It's Choi.
Neo flips a series of locks and opens
the door, leaving the chain on. A
young Chinese MAN stands with several
of his friends.
NEO
You're two hours late.
CHOI
I know. It's her fault.
NEO
You got the money?
CHOI
Two grand.
He takes out an envelope and gives it
to Neo through the cracked door.
NEO
Hold on.
He closes the door. On the floor near
his bed is a book, Baudrillard's
Simulacra and Simulations. The book
has been hollowed out and inside are
several computer disks. He takes one,
sticks the money in the book and drops
it on the floor.
Opening the door, he hands the disk to
Choi.
CHOI
Hallelujah! You are my
savior, man! My own
personal Jesus Christ!
NEO
If you get caught using
that--
CHOI
I know, I know. This never
happened. You don't exist.
NEO
Right...
Neo nods as the strange feeling of
unrealness suddenly returns.
CHOI
Something wrong, man? You
look a little whiter than
usual.
NEO
I don't know... My
computer...
He looks back at Choi, unable to
explain what just happened.
NEO
You ever have the feeling
that you're not sure if
you're awake or still
dreaming?
CHOI
All the time. It's called
mescaline and it is the
only way to fly.
He smiles and slaps the hand of his
nearest droog.
CHOI
It sounds to me like you
need to unplug, man. A
little R and R. What do
you think, Dujour, should
we take him with us?
DUJOUR
Definitely.
NEO
I can't. I have to work
tomorrow.
DUJOUR
Come on. It'll be fun. I
promise.
He looks up at her and suddenly
notices on her black leather
motorcycle jacket dozens of pins:
bands, symbols, slogans, military
medals and--
A small white rabbit. The room tilts.
NEO
Yeah, yeah. Sure, I'll go.
INT. APARTMENT
An older apartment; a series of halls
connects a chain of small high-
ceilinged rooms lined with heavy
casements. Smoke hangs like a veil,
blurring the few lights there are.
Dressed predominantly in black, people
are everywhere, gathered in cliques
around pieces of furniture like jungle
cats around a tree.
Neo stands against a wall, alone,
sipping from a bottle of beer, feeling
completely out of place, he is about
to leave when he notices a woman
staring at him.
The woman is Trinity. She walks
straight up to him.
In the nearest room, shadow-like
figures grind against each other to
the pneumatic beat of industrial
music.
TRINITY
Hello, Neo.
NEO
How do you know that name?
TRINITY
I know a lot about you.
I've been wanting to meet
you for some time.
NEO
Who are you?
TRINITY
My name is Trinity.
NEO
Trinity? The Trinity? The
Trinity that cracked the
I.R.S. D-Base?
TRINITY
That was a long time ago.
NEO
Gee-zus.
TRINITY
What?
NEO
I just thought... you were
a guy.
TRINITY
Most guys do.
Neo is a little embarrassed.
NEO
Do you want to go
somewhere and talk?
TRINITY
No. It's safe here and I
don't have much time.
The music is so loud they must stand
very close, talking directly into each
other's ear.
NEO
That was you on my
computer?
She nods.
NEO
How did you do that?
TRINITY
Right now, all I can tell
you, is that you are in
danger. I brought you here
to warn you.
NEO
Of what?
TRINITY
They're watching you, Neo.
NEO
Who is?
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; you're looking
for him.
Her body is against his; her lips very
close to his ear.
TRINITY
I know because I was once
looking for the same
thing, but when he found
me he told me I wasn't
really looking for him. I
was looking for an answer.
There is a hypnotic quality to her
voice and Neo feels the words, like a
drug, seeping into him.
TRINITY
It's the question that
drives us, the question
that brought you here.
You know the question just
as I did.
NEO
What is the Matrix?
TRINITY
When I asked him, he said
that no one could ever be
told the answer to that
question. They have to see
it to believe it.
She leans close, her lips almost
touching his ear.
TRINITY
The answer is out there,
Neo. It's looking for you
and it will find you, if
you want it to.
She turns and he watches her melt into
the shifting wall of bodies.
A sound rises steadily, growing out of
the music, pressing in on Neo until it
is all he can hear as we cut to--
INT. NEO'S APARTMENT
The sound is an alarm clock, slowly
dragging Neo to consciousness. He
strains to read the clock-face:
9:15AM.
NEO
Shitshitshit.
EXT. SKYSCRAPER
The downtown office of Meta CorTechs,
a software development company.
INT. META CORTECHS OFFICE
The main offices are along each wall,
the windows overlooking downtown.
RHINEHEART, the ultimate company man,
lectures Neo without looking at him,
typing at his computer continuously.
Neo stares at two window cleaners on a
scaffolding outside, dragging their
rubber squeegees down the surface of
the glass.
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.
His long, bony fingers resume clicking
the keyboard.
RHINEHEART
This company is one of the
top software companies in
the world because every
single employee
understands that they are
part of a whole. Thus, if
an employee has a problem,
the company has a problem.
He turns again.
RHINEHEART
The time has come to make
a choice, Mr. Anderson.
Either you choose to be at
your desk on time from
this day forth, or you
choose to find yourself
another job. Do I make
myself clear?
NEO
Yes, Mr. Rhineheart.
Perfectly clear.
INT. NEO'S CUBICLE
The entire floor looks like a human
honeycomb, with a labyrinth of
cubicles structured around a core of
elevators.
VOICE (O.S.)
Thomas Anderson?
Neo turns and finds a FEDERAL EXPRESS
GUY at his cubicle door.
NEO
Yeah. That's me.
Neo signs the electronic pad and the
Fedex Guy hands him the softpak.
FEDEX GUY
Have a nice day.
He opens the bag. Inside is a cellular
phone.
It seems the instant it is in his
hand, it rings. Unnerved, he flips it
open.
NEO
Hello?
MORPHEUS (V.O.)
Hello, Neo. Do you know
who this is?
Neo's knees give and he sinks into his
chair.
NEO
Morpheus...
MORPHEUS (V.O.)
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, we have run
out of time. They're
coming for you, Neo. And
I'm not sure what they're
going to do.
NEO
Who's coming for me?
MORPHEUS (V.O.)
Stand up and see for
yourself.
NEO
Right now?
MORPHEUS (V.O.)
Yes. Now.
Neo starts to stand.
MORPHEUS (V.O.)
Do it slowly. The
elevator.
His head peeks up over the partition.
At the elevator, he sees Agent Smith,
Agent Brown, and Agent Jones leading a
group of cops. A female employee
turns and points out Neo's cubicle.
Neo ducks.
NEO
Holy shit!
MORPHEUS (V.O.)
Yes.
One cop stays at the elevator, the
others follow the Agents.
NEO
What the hell do they want
with me?!
MORPHEUS (V.O.)
I'm not sure, but if you
don't want to find out,
you better get out of
there.
NEO
How?!
MORPHEUS (V.O.)
I can guide you out, but
you have to do exactly
what I say.
The Agents are moving quickly towards
the cubicle.
MORPHEUS (V.O.)
The cubicle across from
you is empty.
NEO
But what if...?
MORPHEUS (V.O.)
Go! Now!
Neo lunges across the hall, diving
into the other cubicle just as the
Agents turn into his row.
Neo crams himself into a dark corner,
clutching the phone tightly to him.
MORPHEUS (V.O.)
Stay here for a moment.
The Agents enter Neo's empty cubicle.
A cop is sent to search the bathroom.
Morpheus' voice is a whisper in Neo's
ear.
MORPHEUS (V.O.)
A little longer...
Brown is talking to another employee.
MORPHEUS (V.O.)
When I tell you, go to the
end of the row to the
first office on the left,
stay as low as you can.
Sweat trickles down his forehead.
MORPHEUS (V.O.)
Now.
Neo rolls out of the cubicle, his eyes
popping as he freezes right behind a
cop who has just turned around.
Staying crouched, he sneaks away down
the row, shooting across the opening
to the first office on the left.
INT. EMPTY OFFICE
The room is empty.
MORPHEUS (V.O.)
Good. Outside there is a
scaffold.
NEO
How do you know all this?
Morpheus laughs quietly.
MORPHEUS (V.O.)
The answer is coming, Neo.
There is a window in front
of you. Open it.
He opens the window. The wind howls
into the room.
MORPHEUS (V.O.)
You can use the scaffold
to get to the roof.
NEO
No! It's too far away.
MORPHEUS (V.O.)
There's a ledge. It's a
short climb. You can make
it.
Neo looks down; the building's glass
wall vertigos into a concrete chasm.
NEO
No way, no way, this is
crazy.
MORPHEUS (V.O.)
There are only two ways
out of this building. One
is that scaffold. The
other is in their custody.
You take a chance either
way. I leave it to you.
Click. He hangs up. Neo looks at the
door, then back at the scaffold.
NEO
This is insane! Why is
this happening to me? What
did I do? I'm nobody. I
didn't do anything.
He climbs up onto the window ledge.
Hanging onto the frame, he steps onto
the small ledge. The scaffold seems
even farther away.
NEO
I'm going to die.
The wind suddenly blasts up the face
of the building, knocking Neo off
balance. Recoiling, he clings harder
to the frame, and the phone falls out
of his hand.
He watches as it is swallowed by the
distance beneath him.
NEO
This is insane! I can't do
this! Forget it!
He climbs back into the office just as
a cop opens the door.
NEO
Shit!
EXT. SKYSCRAPER
The Agents lead a handcuffed Neo out
of the revolving doors, forcing his
head down as they push him into the
dark sedan.
Trinity watches in the rear view
mirror of her motorcycle.
TRINITY
Shit.
INT. INTERROGATION ROOM
Close on a camera monitor; 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 was a window.
At the same moment, the door opens and
the Agents enter. Agent Smith sits
down across from Neo. A thick manila
envelope slaps down on the table. The
name on the file: 'Anderson, Thomas
A.'
AGENT SMITH
As you can see, we've had
our eye on you for some
time now, Mr. Anderson.
He opens the file. Paper rattle marks
the silence as he flips several pages.
Neo cannot tell if he is looking at
the file or at him.
AGENT SMITH
It seems that you have
been living two lives. In
one life, you are Thomas
A. Anderson, program
writer for a respectable
software company.
You have a social security
number, you pay your taxes
and you help your landlady
carry out her garbage.
The pages continue to turn.
AGENT SMITH
The other life is lived in
computers where you go by
the hacker alias Neo, and
are guilty of virtually
every computer crime we
have a law for.
Neo feels himself sinking into a pit
of shit.
AGENT SMITH
One of these lives has a
future. One of them does
not.
He closes the file.
AGENT SMITH
I'm going to be as
forthcoming as I can be,
Mr. Anderson. You are here
because we need your help.
He removes his sunglasses, his eyes
are an unnatural ice- blue.
AGENT SMITH
We know that you have been
contacted by a certain
individual. A man who
calls himself Morpheus.
Whatever you think you
know about this man is
irrelevant. The fact is
that he is wanted for acts
of terrorism in more
countries than any other
man in the world. He is
considered by many
authorities to be the most
dangerous man alive.
He leans closer.
AGENT SMITH
My colleagues believe that
I am wasting my time with
you but I believe you want
to do the right thing. It
is obvious that you are an
intelligent man, Mr.
Anderson, and that you are
interested in the future.
That is why I believe you
are ready to put your past
mistakes behind you and
get on with your life.
Neo tries to match his stare.
AGENT SMITH
We are willing to wipe the
slate clean, to give you a
fresh start and all we are
asking in return is your
cooperation in bringing a
known terrorist to
justice.
Neo nods to himself.
NEO
Yeah. Wow. That sounds
like a real good deal. But
I think I have a better
one. How about I give you
the finger--
He does.
NEO
And you give me my phone
call!
Agent Smith puts his glasses back on.
AGENT SMITH
You disappoint me, Mr.
Anderson.
NEO
You can't scare me with
this Gestapo crap. I know
my rights. I want my
phone call!
Agent Smith smiles.
AGENT SMITH
And tell me, Mr. Anderson,
what good is a phone call
if you are unable to
speak?
The question unnerves Neo and
strangely he begins to feel the
muscles in his jaw tighten. The
standing Agents snicker, watching
Neo's confusion grow into panic.
Neo feels his lips grow soft and
sticky as they slowly seal shut,
melding into each other until all
traces of his mouth are gone.
Wild with fear, he lunges for the door
but the Agents restrain him, holding
him in the chair.
AGENT SMITH
You are going to help us,
Mr. Anderson, whether you
want to or not.
Smith nods and the other two rip open
his shirt. From a case taken out of
his suit coat, Smith removes a long,
fiber-optic wire tap.
Neo struggles helplessly as Smith
dangles the wire over his exposed
abdomen. Horrified, he watches as the
electronic device animates, becoming
an organic creature that resembles a
hybrid of an insect and a fluke worm.
Thin, whisker-like tendrils reach out
and probe into Neo's navel. He bucks
wildly as Smith drops the creature
which looks for a moment like an uncut
umbilical cord--
Before it begins to burrow, its tail
thrashing as it worms its way inside.
INT. NEO'S APARTMENT - NIGHT
Screaming, Neo bolts upright in bed.
He realizes that he is home. Was it a
dream? His mouth is normal.
His stomach looks fine. He starts to
take a deep, everything-is-okay breath
when--
The phone rings.
It almost stops his heart. It
continues ringing, building pressure
in the room, forcing him up out of
bed, sucking him in with an almost
gravitational force. He answers it,
saying nothing.
MORPHEUS (V.O.)
This line is tapped so I
must be brief.
NEO
The Agents--
MORPHEUS (V.O.)
They got to you first, but
they've underestimated how
important you are. If they
knew what I know, you
would probably be dead.
NEO
What are you talking
about? What the hell is
happening to me?
MORPHEUS
You're the One, Neo. You
see, you may have spent
the last few years looking
for me, but I've spent
most of my life looking
for you.
Neo feels sick.
MORPHEUS (V.O.)
Do you still want to meet?
NEO
...yes.
MORPHEUS (V.O.)
Go to the Adams Street
bridge.
Click. He closes his eyes, unsure of
what he has done.
EXT. CITY STREET - NIGHT
It is just beyond the middle of the
night; that time when it seems there
are no rules and everything feels
unsafe. Neo's boots scrape against the
concrete. Every pair of eyes he passes
seems to follow him. Rain pours from a
black sky.
As he reaches the bridge, headlights
creep in behind him. He turns just as
the car slides quickly to a stop
beside him. The back door opens.
TRINITY
Get in.
INT. CAR
A large man named APOC is driving.
Beside him is a beautiful androgyne
called SWITCH, aiming a large gun at
Neo. Window wipers beat heavily
against the windshield.
NEO
What the hell is this?!
TRINITY
It's necessary, Neo. For
our protection.
NEO
From what?
TRINITY
From you.
She lifts a strange steel and glass
device that looks like a cross between
a rib separator, speculum and air
compressor.
SWITCH
Take off your shirt.
He looks at the strange device and the
gun still trained on him.
NEO
What? Why?
SWITCH
Stop the car.
Apoc does.
SWITCH
Listen to me, coppertop.
We don't have time for
ëtwenty questions.' Right
now there is only one
rule. Our way or the
highway.
NEO
Fine.
Neo opens the door.
TRINITY
Neo, please, you have to
trust me.
NEO
Why?
TRINITY
Because you've been dow