"EX MACHINA" (2015)

Ex Machina

V.08

Music starts, halfway through a track.

CUT TO -

- a COMPUTER MONITOR.

Lines of code appear, as they are typed.

main( ) {

extrn a, b, c; putchar(a); putchar (b);putchar (c); putchar(’!’*n’);

} a ‘hell’; b ‘o, w’; c ‘or

CUT TO -

- a view above a huge open-plan office.

Just over the heads of the young men and women who sit at desks, in front of a computer screen and keyboard.

Each workstation is personalised. Photographs of friends or family, or pets. Cutting from magazines. Ironic superhero/video-game figurines.

CUT TO -

- the hands of the young man doing the coding. He types fast, with two fingers.

CUT TO -

- EXTREME CLOSE UP of a pinhole web-cam lens in CALEB’S monitor.

CUT TO -

- the POV of the web-cam.

Looking back at CALEB.

Twenty four. Glazed. Ear buds in, connected to cell phone. Head bobbing slightly to the music.

As we watch from the monitor POV, we can see the computer’s facial recognition system in operation. Imaged as vector boxes, which track CALEB’S face, and the faces of all the people behind him.

CUT TO -

- the COMPUTER MONITOR.

On which a message appears, in a small window, over the code.

CUT TO -

- the monitor web-cam POV.

As CALEB stops typing.

He gazes at the message.

Then clicks on the link.

Then mouths the word:Fuck.

CALEB reaches for his cell phone.

CUT TO -

- the CELL PHONE POV, seen from the tiny camera above the screen, as CALEB lifts the phone, and starts keying-in a text.

We see facial recognition software flickering over CALEB’S features, and reacting to shifts in his expression.

CUT TO -

- the cell phone. The screen. The tiny camera nestled above it. Lens glinting.

On the screen, a time-bar extends next to the word:

sending

A beat later, a reply text message appears.

WTF? seriously!?

CUT TO -

- the WEB CAM POV, watching CALEB react to the arrival of the text.

CUT TO -

- cell phone screen.

CALEB sends the word:

yes

A beat later, a stream of text messages start appearing:

historia buena bro

omfg fucking AWESOME

:o)

take me take me?!?

Caleb > [infinity symbol]

CUT TO -

- the computer monitor POV.

Behind CALEB, a few of the people behind CALEB in the office are reacting.

One stands and applauds.

A GIRL comes out from behind her desk, runs over to CALEB, and embraces him from behind planting a kiss on his cheek.

CALEB still looks dazed.

He still has his headphones in. Still in the audio bubble, which, despite the commotion around him, remains unburst.

TITLE:

EX MACHINA

A spectacular mountain range.

CALEB wakes abruptly.

He sits up -

- and finds himself in the back seat of a chauffeur-driven Maybach limousine.

The CHAUFFEUR is a man in his late sixties.

Outside the window is the mountain landscape.

CALEB looks around. Wipes sleep out of his eyes. Gets his bearings.

The CHAUFFEUR smiles.

Beat.

Beat.

The CHAUFFEUR shrugs.

The CHAUFFEUR glances back at CALEB in the rearview mirror.

CALEB looks out of the window.

Beat.

The CHAUFFEUR chuckles.

The Maybach drives along a one-lane track, snaking along the flanks of a mountain.

A CCTV camera is hidden in the canopy of trees.

As the car glides past, the lens of the camera twitches.

PULL BACK to reveal a massive landscape.

The mountains might be in Colorado, or the Canadian Rockies.

There are only two man-made features anywhere to be seen.

The first is the road. The second, in the distance, is a building.

It’s located just above the tree line. A single-level modernist structure, and a cobalt blue slab of swimming pool, surrounded by extensive gardens, which are themselves enclosed by a perimeter wall.

The perimeter wall is twenty foot high. Topped with razor wire. Studded with more CCTV cameras.

Set into the wall is a the MAIN GATE.

The Maybach pulls up outside.

The CHAUFFEUR turns off the engine.

The CHAUFFEUR holds open the door as CALEB exits the car.

CALEB glances at the high wall and closed gate.

Slightly puzzled.

The CHAUFFEUR goes to the boot and pops it.

The CHAUFFEUR pulls out CALEB’S bags and lays them on the ground.

CALEB reaches into his pocket.

Produces a wallet, and pulls out some crumpled bank notes.

The CHAUFFEUR smiles.

The CHAUFFEUR gets back inside the car, and closes the door.

A moment later, he is driving away.

Leaving CALEB alone.

When the car is out of view, and the engine noise has gone, CALEB turns back to the perimeter wall.

There doesn’t seem to be any intercom or doorbell. No means of attracting attention.

He walks up to the main gate, and knocks on it with his hand.

It’s a slab of steel. He might as well be knocking on the concrete wall.

CALEB reaches into his pocket and pulls out his mobile phone.

No signal at all.

He puts his phone back in his pocket.

A little dust is hanging in the air, where the car had been.

CALEB suddenly looks very isolated.

Standing on the wrong side of the high wall. Bags at his feet. Sun hanging in the sky. Soft wind rush in trees.

Then -

- CALEB startles, as an AUTOMATED VOICE speaks to him, from an unknown source.

CALEB enters through the MAIN GATE into a small courtyard.

Opposite him is a SECONDARY GATE - beside which is a BRASS PANEL set into the wall, and a tiny LED light. It glows RED.

CALEB walks forwards, and the MAIN GATE closes behind, locking heavily.

A couple of metres away, there is a pillar protruding from the ground. Head-height. With a GLASS SCREEN on one side.

Below the screen is a DISPENSER.

CALEB puts down his bags and walks to the pillar.

CALEB looks into the screen, and as soon as he has locked eyes with his own reflection, the screen FLASHES. A single bright strobe.

Almost immediately afterwards, something small clatters into the DISPENSER.

CALEB picks the object up. It’s a credit-card sized ID.

On it, there is an embedded chip, and a photograph of his face. He looks comically surprised.

CALEB gets his bags, and walks up to the secondary gate.

Then he holds his ID up to the BRASS PLATE.

The RED LED light changes to BLUE, and the secondary gate starts sliding open.

CALEB enters a huge garden area.

In comparison to the wild forest and mountain ranges outside the perimeter wall, this is sculpted and controlled with golf- course precision. The lawns are manicured, and the shrubs and trees are positioned.

Ahead, a winding path rises up to the main house - the low- rise, modernist building.

A little distance away, a disc-shaped object is moving across the grass. An automated lawn-mower.

CALEB reaches the front door of the house, and knocks.

Nothing happens.

He knocks again.

Then pushes the door.

It opens.

The front door opens to a large open-plan room.

One wall holds a large Abstract Expressionist artwork - apparently a Jackson Pollock drip painting.

In the middle of the room is a seating area, with a white carpet, and a telephone positioned beside a sofa.

Beyond is a kitchen area, and a dining area.

CALEB waits to see if he is welcomed, or noticed.

But he is not.

Silence.

After a few moments, he enters.

He walks across the white carpet.

Then suddenly stops.

Something under his foot has crunched.

He looks down, and sees that he has trodden on a wine glass.

Bright shards of glass are sprinkled in the bleached wool.

He freezes, unsure whether to try to pick it up, or whether to simply pretend it never happened.

CUT TO -

- CALEB on his hands and knees, hurriedly picking up the tiny shards of glass, and putting them into his open bag. On to his clothes.

As he does so -

- he is startled a second time, by sudden commencement of a THUMPING SOUND.

Abrupt. Rapid. More or less rhythmic. From somewhere nearby.

CALEB finishes clearing up the glass, as the thumping continues.

Then he stands.

And takes a few more steps into the room.

Which now reveals, past the kitchen area...

... a huge sliding glass door.

It presents an arresting panoramic view of the garden and the mountains behind.

The door is open, and through it, we see the reason for the thumping sound.

Just outside, on a patio, in the sunshine, a man is working a PUNCH BAG.

The punch bag is suspended by a chain on an exterior flanking wall of the house.

The man 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 beams.

NATHAN starts unravelling his wraps.

NATHAN walks past CALEB, and goes to the dining table, where there is a jug of non-specific vegetable juice waiting, and a glass.

CALEB puts his bags down.

NATHAN pours himself a glass of the vegetable juice.

NATHAN laughs.

Silence, as NATHAN drinks.

CALEB feels he needs to say something.

Looking around, he sees a collection of empty beer bottle on the kitchen counter.

NATHAN doesn’t answer.

He’s still drinking.

The silence extends a little. Verges on odd.

CALEB hesitates. Wondering whether to be honest.

Decides to be.

NATHAN puts his empty glass down.

Beat.

NATHAN looks at CALEB. His expression is unreadable.

CALEB waits.

CALEB doesn’t have time to answer.

NATHAN smiles.

Beat.

CALEB holds out his hand.

NATHAN beams.

They shake.

When CALEB takes his hand back, there is a little smear of blood on his fingers.

He discretely wipes it on his trousers.

From the perspective of the garden, we watch CALEB and NATHAN enter a long corridor that runs along the exterior wall of the house.

As with the dining room, one side of the corridor is a glass wall, looking over the mountain vista.

On the other side are closed doorways, brass plates, and red LEDs.

CALEB and NATHAN walk down the corridor.

CALEB carries both his bags, making him look slightly encumbered next to NATHAN.

NATHAN stops by a door.

CALEB hunts around in his pockets for his keycard.

Then swipes the card on the brass plate.

The LED turns blue.

NATHAN follows CALEB into a bedroom.

It looks like the generic antiseptic room of a mid-level business hotel. Bed, table, TV.

Except it has no windows.

NATHAN opens the fridge. Inside it is full of bottled water.

CALEB puts his bags down.

NATHAN sits on the bed.

Beat.

NATHAN reaches into his pocket, and pulls out a pen.

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 glances back at NATHAN on the bed.

NATHAN shrugs.

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 takes the piece of paper.

Folds it. Puts it in his pocket.

Beat.

CALEB reacts - immediately knowing what NATHAN has just implied.

NATHAN waits.

Beat.

NATHAN shakes his head.

NATHAN stands.

NATHAN smiles.

The observation room is a single space, bisected by a thick glass panel.

On one side of the glass, where CALEB has entered, the room is white, clean, and sparse.

Laboratory-like. Low lit. Unfurnished...

... except for a single chair, which faces the VIEWING WINDOW, and looks through to the other half of the room.

In contrast to the minimalist laboratory area, this is a personalised space.

There are shelves, with books. There is a table. There are pictures and drawings on the walls. There are fabrics, and colour.

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 another chair, which is positioned to mirror the first chair, on the other side of the dividing glass.

Sitting on this chair is 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.

We observe AVA for several moments.

Then, in the reflection of the viewing window, we pull focus, to see CALEB. Watching her.

And a beat later -

- AVA looks up.

Through the glass, the two of them see each other for the first time.

Beat.

Her voice has no digital inflections. It is just the voice of a girl.

CALEB sits on the chair opposite her.

REVEAL that he is alone on his half of the glass. Nathan is nowhere to be seen.

But on the ceiling, and attached to the walls, on both sides of the glass, there are several CCTV cameras. Trained variously on CALEB and AVA. Lenses twitching.

CUT BACK to AVA.

She watches CALEB. Then cocks her head slightly to the side.

CALEB frowns.

A beat.

Then AVA repeats her question.

Beat.

He glances at her. Observing.

Beat.

AVA pauses a moment.

A beat on CALEB. Processing.

Her answer feels like the near non-sequitur that typically betray AI responses.

AVA pauses, as if considering this question for the first time.

Beat.

Beat.

CALEB says nothing.

Just watches AVA. Again, lets the non-sequitur sit.

Beat.

CALEB smiles slightly.

AVA also smiles.

And suddenly -

- there is a strong sense of something very human there.In the way the smile lights up her face.

Outside the house, looking towards to the main room.

NATHAN sits at the head of the dining table, nursing a bottle of Peroni beer.

CALEB stands by the window.

Behind CALEB, the sun setting is behind the mountain peaks, making the edges of the clouds glow like light-bulb filaments.

CALEB turns.

NATHAN nods. Approving.

NATHAN doesn’t seem to hear.

As a kind of punctuation mark, NATHAN downs the remains of his beer. Then stands, and heads for the kitchen area to get another.

NATHAN laughs.

NATHAN waves a hand.

NATHAN looks at CALEB blankly.

NATHAN still says nothing.

CALEB presses on.

Silence.

NATHAN studies at CALEB for a beat.

CALEB pauses.

NATHAN smiles.

Then lifts his bottle.

CALEB lifts his bottle too.

The glass of the bottles touch.

CALEB unpacks his bags.

Carefully picks bits of glass off his clothes.

Hangs clothes in the closet.

CALEB stands in his boxer shorts, brushing his teeth by the sink.

REVEAL several long scars on his back.

Neat. Unusual. Long-healed. But from serious wounds, or surgery.

CALEB climbs into bed.

At the foot of the bed, attached to the wall, there is a TV.

On the bedside table there is a lamp, a remote control, and an alarm clock.

The clock reads 11:43 pm.

He switches the lamp out.

Darkness.

The clock reads 01:32 am.

The soft glow from the digital readout throws a light on the remote control.

REVEAL CALEB.

Eyes closed. For a beat.

Then his eyes open. He’s wide awake.

He turns over in the bed.

Then turns back again.

CUT TO -

2:28 am.

CALEB lies watching the digital clock, as the numbers change to 2:29 am.

He reaches for the remote control.

CLICK.

The TV at the foot of the bed switches on, suddenly lighting up the room with cold TV glow.

CALEB squeezes his eyes shut, momentarily dazzled by the brightness.

When his eyes open again, instead of seeing a TV station, he sees a LIVE FEED from a CCTV camera.

It shows the OBSERVATION ROOM.

CALEB sits upright in bed.

AVA is sat at the table.

Drawing.

CUT BETWEEN -

- CALEB watching AVA.

- and varying CCTV ANGLES of AVA as she draws.

The different TV channels flip between feeds from the various cameras.

CALEB is transfixed by the imagery.

Her posture. Her legs tucked beneath the chair. The curve of the breasts on her synthetic torso.

The CCTV images become CALEB’S POV. The things he is observing.

CLOSE-UPS of her face. Her eyes. Her mouth.

The way she bites her lip in an expression of concentration. As when she smiled, there is a powerful sense in this tiny gesture of her feeling sentient and human.

Even more so because her face fills the screen, hiding the mechanical parts of her form.

Throughout, we never clearly see what AVA is actually drawing.

END ON -

CALEB. Glazed.

Then ABRUPTLY -

- the TV goes dead.

And the digital alarm clock goes dead.

And the windowless room is plunged into total darkness, and total silence. As if the house had been previously filled with a soft hum of power, which we were unaware of until it was gone.

In this, we hear CALEB breathing.

Soft emergency lighting comes on.

CALEB hesitates a moment.

Then gets out of bed.

Goes to his bedroom door.

Beside the brass plate, the LED is red.

He swipes it with his card.

The LED stays red.

He tries his card again.

CALEB looks around his windowless room.

Which suddenly has the quality of a prison cell.

Beats pass.

Then -

- as abruptly as the power went off, it comes back again.

The emergency lighting goes off, the TV and digital alarm clock turn back on.

CALEB stands in the flickering TV light.

Then he tries his card again.

This time, the LED turns blue, and the door opens. Revealing the GLASS CORRIDOR outside.

CALEB walks out of his room.

The glass corridor is dark, except for a line of gently glowing lights on the floor.

CALEB enters the main room.

The lights are all off. The room is still and silent.

Lit by moonlight, he sees something. The TELEPHONE, in the seating area.

CALEB walks over to it, with a half glance over his shoulder, as if sensing he is doing something that - obscurely - he shouldn’t.

Then he picks up the handset.

It’s dead.

He hits some buttons.

It stays dead.

There is a slot by the phone.

CALEB puts two and two together. He reaches into his pocket. Pulls out his KEYCARD. Puts it in the slot...

... and a light on the handset glows red.

CALEB startles. Turns.

NATHAN is lying on one of the sofas. A bottle of Peroni rests on his stomach. On the carpet beside him are a couple of empties.

NATHAN’S voice is very slightly slurred.

CALEB puts the handset back in its cradle.

Beat.

NATHAN smiles.

NATHAN lifts his beer.

Above the mountains, the star constellations are dense in the clear sky.

CALEB is woken by light flooding on to his face.

The door to his room has been opened.

Outside it is broad daylight.

CALEB sits up to see a GIRL entering his room.

She looks Japanese. She’s stunningly pretty. And she doesn’t say anything.

Just walks in, carrying a tray with a cafetiere, which she puts on CALEB’S bedside table.

The JAPANESE GIRL doesn’t answer.

Just turns, and leaves.

Between the swimming pool and the patio, with hanging punch bag, there is an outdoor gym area. A collection of free- weights and exercise equipment.

NATHAN is lying on an inclined board, with his feet hooked around a bar, doing sit ups.

CALEB approaches, carrying his coffee.

NATHAN continues to exercise as he talks.

CALEB smiles.

NATHAN finishes his set, and stands.

NATHAN starts adding weights to curl dumbbells.

NATHAN laughs.

NATHAN glances over at CALEB.

NATHAN starts doing curls.

A beat. On CALEB.

CUT TO -

- CALEB and AVA facing each other through the glass of the observation room.

AVA holds a piece of paper to the glass. The marks on it are totally abstract. A mesh of tiny black marks, that swirl around the page like iron filings in magnetic field patterns.

AVA looks disappointed.

She shakes her head as she takes the picture down.

AVA pauses a moment.

AVA looks at CALEB directly. Meets his gaze evenly.

CALEB is taken aback. Aware that the AI has just wrong- footed him on a point of argument.

And now CALEB is aware that AVA has just - gently - used sarcasm.

He looks at her, frowning slightly.

And in response, in a very human way, AVA arches an eyebrow.

CALEB laughs.

They lock eyes, just for a moment.

A long beat.

A kind of processing pause for AVA.

CALEB nods.

CALEB hesitates. Back-tracks.

Beat.

CALEB smiles.

CALEB misses a beat. Thrown momentarily.

CUT TO -

- one of the CCTV cameras that are observing them.

He hesitates.

He breaks off. Feeling the camera, watching.

AT THAT MOMENT -

- all the power abruptly shuts down, plunging the room into darkness.

Then the soft emergency lighting lifts up, and throws the observation room into a completely different light.

Weirder. Cast from LED strips on the floor, illuminating CALEB and AVA’s faces from below.

In the low light, we see a detail of AVA’S honeycomb skin- mesh that we were not able to see before.

It glows, soft, like phosphorescence - and this changes the way we see AVA. Where the mesh is almost invisible in bright conditions, it is now the dominant describer of her form.So instead of seeing AVA as a primarily robot structure, we now see the curves and lines of a naked female body.

CUT TO -

- the CCTV CAMERAS. Which are unpowered, hanging dead.

CUT TO -

- CALEB, glancing round at the door to the room, where the panel LED glows red.

CUT TO -

- AVA.

Watching CALEB with a strange intensity.

The vague quality of blankness in her eyes is completely gone.

CALEB turns. Sees the way AVA is looking at him.

CALEB frowns.

AVA presses her hand to the glass.

Then -

- the emergency lighting suddenly dims...

... and the normal lighting starts fading up.

CALEB turns -

- just in time to see the CCTV CAMERAS twitch back into life.

When CALEB looks back at AVA, she has returned to her previous posture, facial expression, and manner.

She looks directly at CALEB, and talks, as if continuing a conversation they have been having.

A beat.

They lock eyes for a moment.

AVA smiles.

An electronic hum foreshadows the arrival of the automated lawn mower machine, as it tracks across the grass.

Trees and shrubs cast long shadows across the manicured lawn.

Through the glass wall to the main room, we can see the Japanese girl, KYOKO, laying the table for dinner.

CALEB and NATHAN sit at the dining table.

KYOKO lays out different kinds of salad between them. Each is beautifully prepared. Leaves are spread and overlapped like fish scales.

As she does so, she knocks a bottle of wine on the table.

It tips, and lands on its side, and immediately starts emptying. A deep red stain, blossoming across the linen.

CALEB pushes back his chair as the liquid pushes towards him, then starts to fall to the floor.

CALEB takes his napkin, and leans down to start wiping the floor.

Then KYOKO appears beside him.

She holds her hand out for the napkin.

Her hand remains outstretched.

CALEB hesitates. Then hands her the napkin.

KYOKO kneels and starts to wipe the wine off the floor.

She looks up at her name.

KYOKO goes back to cleaning around CALEB’S feet.

CALEB looks visibly uncomfortable.

KYOKO looks over again.

She stands, and exits.

NATHAN walks to over the kitchen area, where he picks up another bottle.

NATHAN walks back to the table. Fills CALEB’S glass. Then his own.

NATHAN drains his glass.

NATHAN refills.

CALEB’S glass is still untouched.

They drink.

CALEB hesitates.

Then answers. Casual.

Beat.

NATHAN smiles.

NATHAN drinks. Watching CALEB.

CALEB freezes up. Subtly.

Beat.

CALEB takes a sip of his wine.

NATHAN waits.

CALEB puts the glass down. And meets NATHAN’S gaze.

ON NATHAN’S GLASS - refilling. The view through it, of CALEB, disappearing in the red liquid.

CALEB stands in the shower. Water runs over his head.

He switches the water off.

Steps out. Reaches for a towel. And as he does so -

- he hears a soft mechanical noise. Like a servo, or electric motor. Operating for half a second.

Very quiet. Hard to be even sure he heard it.

CALEB pauses a moment.

Then takes the towel, and dries himself off.

CALEB stands in shorts, in front of the sink, having a shave.

He leans forwards into the mirror, as if checking to make sure he shaved properly on his cheek.

And he hears the noise again. The servo, making a tiny corrective movement.

CALEB catches his own gaze in the mirror.

Then he deliberately steps sideways, and turns his head. Ostensibly to check the other cheek. But actually to have shifted his position.

And he hears the noise again.

Very faint. But definitely there.

A micro beat.

Then CALEB pulls back and continues shaving.

Not giving any outward indication that he has just figured out that there is a camera behind the bathroom mirror.

Clean-shaved, CALEB walks into his bedroom.

On the TV, the live feed of AVA is playing.

Subtly, CALEB’S gaze flicks to different points around the room.

To the full-length mirror on the wall.

The high vent for the air-conditioning system.

The TV itself.

CALEB hesitates for a moment.

Then pulls on a T-Shirt. Picks up his ID card. And exits.

CUT TO -

- the TV.

AVA is on the screen.

She walks towards an induction plate, rests her hand against it, and starts charging herself.

As she does so, almost imperceptibly, the lights dim, and a slight static charge passes over the television screen.

CALEB walks along the glass corridor that runs along the outside of the house.

Systematically trying his ID CARD on the doors he passes.

He tries one.

Then another. Then another. Then another.

Every single door remains locked.

CALEB enters the MAIN ROOM.

It is the only room apart from his own that he seems able to gain access to.

The lights are all off. The room is only lit by the moonlight through the sliding glass wall to the patio.

CALEB walks to the front door, where he first entered the house.

He tries his ID card.

And again, the LED remains red.

CALEB turns to the sliding glass wall on the far side of the room.

It’s closed.

He starts walking towards it.

Then stops.

Outside, on the patio, NATHAN is working the punch bag.

KYOKO stands a few feet away from him, holding a white face towel.

With the glass wall closed, no noise of the impacts penetrates into the room.

CALEB watches.

NATHAN’S attack on the bag seems strange. More extreme than the hard workout we saw the first time he was using the bag.

This seems brutal. Almost frenzied.

For a few moments, the attack on the bag is observed in silence, from inside the main room.

We can only hear the sound of CALEB’S breathing.

CUT TO -

- the patio, and a sudden explosion of noise. Of impacts and exertions.

Blood smearing the leather where it has soaked through the knuckle wraps.

Then -

- BANG.

A particularly hard right hook connects, and splits the bag.

CUT TO -

- CALEB. Watching.

Sand and coloured strips of ribbon evacuate from the split bag, down to the patio floor.

NATHAN stands, catching his breath.

Then he reaches out a hand.

KYOKO hands him the towel.

NATHAN wipes his face.

Then reaches out again, this time catching KYOKO’S arm.

He pulls her towards him, and starts to kiss her.

Reaching under her shirt.

Pulling her skirt up over her thighs.

From the gardens, we see CALEB walk down the glass corridor.

Then enter his room.

And close the door.

The moon hangs in the sky.

Everything in the frame is black and white.

CLOSE UP on AVA’S meticulous abstract pictures, scattered on a table.

CALEB is looking at them.

REVEAL he in the observation room.

But he is on AVA’S side of the glass.

And AVA is on his side.

Her is moving.

AVA gestures at something behind him.

He turns, and sees the door.

The only exit on this side of the observation room.

CALEB walks to the door.

Tries it.

And it opens.

The door leads CALEB straight out into the gardens.

In black and white, the backdrop of mountains and clouds look like an Ansel Adams.

A short distance ahead of CALEB, standing on the grass, he sees AVA.

She locks eyes with him.

Smiles.

He starts to walk towards her.

And as he does so -

- the water sprinkler system abruptly comes to life.

AVA is immediately surrounded in a mist of droplets.

She laughs as the water cascades around her.

Within in this, we suddenly see colour.

A rainbow formation, refracted through the water vapour.

From this lyrical image,CUT TO -

- CALEB waking, in his dark bedroom.

Lit by light from his TV.

Where AVA lies on her bed, seeming to be asleep.

CALEB sits up.

Thinking. Perhaps replaying his dream. Gazing at AVA’S resting form.

Then reaches for the remote control on the bedside table, and switches the TV off.

CUT TO -

- the house and gardens.

The automated mower cuts the grass.

A brand new punch bag hangs in the patio. Swinging slightly in the breeze.

CALEB and AVA face each other.

AVA is holding up a piece of paper to the glass.

The drawing is constructed with the same tiny black ink marks as before. But now they have ordered into a coherent black and white image.

It depicts AVA’S view through the glass divider into the observation room. CALEB is not in the image. And on the far side of the room, a door can be seen.

It’s the door that connects the observation room to the glass corridor. And it’s open. And through the doorway, a small section of the glass corridor is framed. With the view of the mountains beyond it.

Beat.

She takes the drawing down.

AVA thinks a moment.

CALEB says nothing. Does not overtly respond to the emphasis she has placed on her lack of freedom.

But their gaze locks for a beat.

Beat.

CALEB smiles.

Beat.

Another beat. On AVA. Looking at CALEB.

Then -

AVA hesitates.

He closes his eyes.

The cameras remains fixed on CALEB.

But in the reflection of the glass, we can see a faint ghost image of AVA.

She reaches down, out of sight, and picks something up.Then she stands. And turns her back to CALEB.

Then - in the translucent image - she starts putting on clothes. Some kind of dress, which she pulls over her head. Some kind of shirt, which she pulls on over the dress.

Then she turns back, and checks her own reflection, and adjusts the clothes slightly.

CALEB opens his eyes.

And sees AVA.

Transformed.

She is wearing a simple summer dress, but the effect is striking. By covering the robot form of her chest and arms and legs, she has taken a huge visual step towards appearing human.

The answer is - however pretty she looked before, she now looks prettier. It’s as obvious to the camera as it is to CALEB.

AVA lights up.

She walks back to the glass divider, and sits down.

CALEB reacts slightly.

But smiles.

CALEB hesitates. Then decides this can’t have been loaded in the way that it sounded.

Beat. It was loaded exactly as it sounded.

Beat.

CALEB swallows.

Beat.

AVA watches CALEB closely.

CALEB shifts on his seat.

Silence.

CALEB sits in the sofa area of the main room.

NATHAN approaches, carrying a beer for each of them.

NATHAN sits opposite.

NATHAN takes a drink of his beer.

He leans forward, conspiratorially.

CALEB swallows.

CALEB breaks off.

NATHAN keeps watching. There is a sudden sense that NATHAN is on the money. On some level, thatwas CALEB’S real question.

NATHAN smiles slightly.

NATHAN lets the question hang.

Behind them, KYOKO lays out dinner on the dining table.

NATHAN brushes away whatever protestation CALEB might be about to make.

NATHAN shrugs. Insouciant.

NATHAN stands.

CALEB opens his mouth to reply, but NATHAN shuts him down, gesturing at the Pollock drip paintings.

NATHAN gazes at the canvas.

CALEB thinks.

NATHAN clicks his fingers.

NATHAN glances back at CALEB.

A beat.

Then NATHAN smiles.

NATHAN kills his beer.

A beat.

NATHAN glazes a moment. Then comes back.

In her room, AVA stands in front of the viewing window.

She is wearing the summer dress she put on earlier.

Checking her reflection from different angles.

Subtly girlish. Unself-conscious.

Then -

- she starts to take the dress off.

Throughout the narrative, we have almost only ever seen AVA in an unclothed form. But now - having been clothed - the undressing seems to make her naked.

And the act itself feels charged. Sexualised, in the way the clothing is unbuttoned, and dropped, and her shape is revealed.

Finally, once she is completely undressed -

- AVA turns. And glances.

Straight at the camera.

CUT TO -

- CALEB.

In his bedroom.

Watching AVA, at this exact angle.

It is as if they are looking at each other.

Neither look away.

CUT TO -

- the automated mower, moving across the lawn.

THUNK!

It hits something.

Behind it, scarlet flecks the cut grass.

As the mower moves on, it reveals what is left of a small animal. A field mouse, possibly.

A small spray of blood. Some matted fur. A loop of tiny pink intestine.

The sprinkler system switches on.

Water falls on the remnants of organic matter. It washes them away like rain. Blood and fur run from the top of the grass, our of sight, down to the soil.

In a few seconds, all trace of the animal is gone.

CALEB exits his room -

- to find NATHAN in the glass corridor.

Looking at the view. Waiting for him.

Beat.

NATHAN swipes his card against a brass plate.

The LED turns blue.

NATHAN leads CALEB into a laboratory, filled with android future tech.

Along the left-hand wall are sections of android bodies - limbs, torsos, hands - lined in cabinets.

On the opposite wall are a collection of heads. Skull-forms, some with complex carbon-fibre and pneumatic muscle structures, ready to frown or smile, without their synthetic flesh covering.

The synthetic faces are separate. Hanging on armatures, like hats on hat-stands, waiting to be worn.

In the middle of the room is a kind of operating table.

CALEB is stunned by the sight.

NATHAN walks over to the synthetic faces, and picks one of them up.

NATHAN laughs.

NATHAN puts the face back on its armature.

NATHAN moves to one of the skull forms.

He moves the curved top plate, revealing the skull cavity.

Inside is an ellipse orb, the approximate volume of a brain, filled with what looks to be blue liquid.

The gel glitters and flickers with tiny pulses of light.

NATHAN removes the orb, and hands it to CALEB.

NATHAN nods.

CALEB looks at the orb in his hand. Into the shimmering liquid.

It looks like deep space, filled with star fields.

CALEB looks at NATHAN a moment.

Then hands him the orb back.

CALEB waits.

Beat.

NATHAN rests the mind-orb back in the skull cradle.

NATHAN gestures at the room around them.

Beat.

CALEB looks at AVA through the glass.

We watch him. And stay on him.

AVA’S reflection is superimposed on the glass.

Beat.

Beat.

Beat.

Beat.

Beat.

A view over the garden from a new room.

NATHAN’S study.

Reveal the room itself.

One wall is covered in yellow post-it notes. At least hundreds, probably thousands. At the bottom of the wall, fallen notes have collected like a miniature yellow snow drift.

AVA’S sentence trails off.

By the window, there is a daybed.

On it, KYOKO lies. Naked. Apparently sleeping.

Beat.

In the middle of the STUDY is a desk, with a bank of monitors, and a slot - into which NATHAN’S KEYCARD is inserted.

Sat at the desk, watching the monitors, is NATHAN.

Some screens show live feeds from CALEB’S BEDROOM and BATHROOM, and AVA’S PRIVATE ROOM.

Long beat.

NATHAN is watching the feed from the OBSERVATION ROOM.

Where AVA and CALEB are sat, either side of the dividing glass. Having the conversation we have been hearing.

We pick up the conversation from NATHAN’S distanced and voyeuristic POV. Locked-off CCTV. Voices played through speakers.

She breaks off.

NOW REVEAL - one of the other monitor screens.

It shows an angle on AVA we have not seen before. From this viewpoint, we can see something just below the frame of the observation window, on AVA’S side of the glass.

A small induction plate.

On this angle, we see AVA rest her hand against it.

At that moment -

- the screens simultaneously go black.

All lights die.

Another POWER CUT.

In the reflection from the dark monitor screens, we can see NATHAN’S face.

It remains frozen. Expressionless.

CUT TO -

- the observation room.

In the emergency lighting, CALEB and AVA face each other in silence.

CCTV are lifeless.

AVA glows softly.

Beat.

Beat.

AVA lifts her hand to reveal a disc on her left palm.

AVA raises her right hand.

She touches it against the glass.

A beat.

Then CALEB raises his hand.

Mirroring her movement.

And also touches the glass, as if their palms are making contact through the divider.

CUT TO -

- KYOKO’S naked form.

The camera settles over her face.

And we see she’s not sleeping. Her eyes are open.

But she’s completely motionless.

Her gaze fixed somewhere in abstract distance.

She doesn’t feel alive. She feels dead.

But eventually she blinks.

CUT TO -

- NATHAN.

Gazing at his dead monitors.

Moments later, the POWER comes back on.

The screens flick back to life, revealing CALEB and AVA in the observation room.

CUT TO -

- cobalt blue.

In it, CALEB. Swimming underwater.

Above him, through the water, we can see sky.

Against which, NATHAN appears.

CALEB breaks the surface at one end of the infinity pool.

He looks at the mountains. Breathes in the air. Then he turns.

Toward the other end of the pool, he sees NATHAN in swimming shorts. Standing by the side of the pool. Eyes closed. Face tilted towards the sun. Hips tilted like a Greek statue.

KYOKO puts down two glasses of iced tea, and walks back across the lawn to the house.

NATHAN and CALEB sit by the side of the pool.

Physiques contrasted. NATHAN, tanned, muscular. CALEB, pale, slim.

CALEB glances at NATHAN.

Beat.

CALEB waits.

NATHAN shrugs.

NATHAN corrects himself.

He walks to the edge of the water.

NATHAN looks down at his reflection.

NATHAN dives.

Beats pass, and he doesn’t surface.

CALEB looks back over the water, as it settles and becomes still.

Fragmented clouds in the reflected sky start to reform.

Wide shot of the house, perched on the mountain flanks.

Light from the windows throws emerald rectangles over the black garden.

CALEB stands in the shower.

Then shuts his eyes.

CUT TO -

- AVA standing in the shower with him.

Water streaming over their forms.

Torsos, hands, mouths.

CUT TO -

- AVA and CALEB kissing. His hands on her robot form.

CUT TO -

- AVA and CALEB having sex in the falling water.

CUT TO -

- CALEB opening his eyes.

He exhales.

Then switches off the taps.

CALEB enters his bedroom.

The TV plays the live stream from the observation room.

On the screen, we can see AVA, sitting at her table, drawing.

CALEB pulls on shorts.

Reaches for a T-Shirt.

As CALEB pulls on the shirt -

- behind him, on the TV, we see AVA suddenly look round.

A moment later NATHAN enters the frame.

There’s no volume on the TV, so we can’t hear their exchange. Only see it.

CALEB is unaware of the silent exchange behind him.

As NATHAN and AVA talk, NATHAN reaches out to AVA. His hand touches the side of her cheek. The gesture is not quite neutral. Feels predatory, but not unambiguously so.

AVA pulls back slightly -

- and NATHAN takes a corrective movement step to regain his balance. Showing that he is drunk.

Only now -

- CALEB turns.

And freezes. Seeing the television.

On the screen, NATHAN reaches down to the table.

He picks up the drawing AVA was working on, and he looks at it for a moment.

They exchange a few words.

Then abruptly NATHAN rips drawing in half. Drops it on the floor. Then turns, and exits.

Leaving AVA alone.

From outside the house, we watch CALEB walk fast down the glass corridor.

CALEB enters the main room.

It’s dark, but standing by the window, he can see KYOKO.

KYOKO turns at the sound of her name, but doesn’t respond.

She doesn’t answer.

CALEB walks over to her, and takes hold of her wrist.

KYOKO looks at CALEB.

Then, in answer to his question, she reaches up to the top button of her shirt and pops it open.

CALEB releases her wrist at once.

She undoes the next button, and pulls open the shirt, revealing her bare chest.

CALEB turns.

NATHAN has entered.

He’s holding a drink. His words are slurred.

He walks, slightly unsteadily towards a Lutron control panel, set into the wall.

His hand hovers uncertainly over the buttons.

His finger lands.

Immediately, the lighting in the room undergoes a complete change. Transforming from the discreet and tasteful low light of evening, into the coloured glows of a night-club.

Simultaneously, from unseen speakers, DANCE MUSIC starts playing.

CALEB stands - frozen by the surrealism of what has just happened.

KYOKO starts walking to the center of the room.

And once taken position, she starts dancing.

NATHAN calls to CALEB.

His body is starting bob on the beat.

He gestures at KYOKO.

NATHAN makes his way to CALEB, and rests a hand on his shoulder.

CALEB raises his voice over the sound of the music.

NATHAN smiles back at NATHAN, smiling, alcohol-glazed.

NATHAN sets off towards KYOKO.

CALEB watches, amazed, as KYOKO and NATHAN start dancing together.

Although NATHAN is drunk, they work through the beats of a routine they have obviously done many times before.

It’s just starting to look weirdly impressive -

- when NATHAN totally loses his balance.

On his way down, he lands hard on a glass coffee table.

Looking up at him, the glass frosts.

From outside the house, we watch CALEB half-carrying the semi- conscious NATHAN.

NATHAN fumbles in his pocket for his KEYCARD.

Drops it.

CALEB picks the keycard up -

- and uses it to swipe the brass plate.

The LED turns blue.

CALEB hands the card back to NATHAN, who shoves it back into his pocket.

CALEB helps the semi-conscious NATHAN down the connecting corridor between NATHAN’S study and his bedroom.

They pass the open doorway to NATHAN’S study.

CALEB pauses. Wanting to see inside.

In the middle of the room, he sees the desk.

The computer set-up, with its back of monitors. And the KEYCARD SLOT.

CALEB helps NATHAN into his bedroom.

They walk past a line of long cabinets, which line the wall opposite the bed.

They are like a row of slender wardrobes, each with a mirrored door.

Once he’s reached the bed, NATHAN tips towards it. It’s almost as if he’s asleep before he even hits the sheets.

CALEB’S room. Lit only by the glow of the television.

CALEB is not in the bed. He’s on the armchair. Making himself stay awake. Watching over AVA -

- who stands in her room, against the wall, facing away from the CCTV camera, with her arms wrapped around herself.

CALEB is woken with a jolt, by a bright shaft of light hitting his face.

The door to his room has opened, revealing KYOKO, with his morning coffee.

CALEB and AVA sit, observing each other through their own reflections.

CALEB smiles.

CALEB thinks for a moment.

AVA nods.

CALEB concentrates.

AVA nods.

CALEB laughs.

CALEB takes a breath.

AVA keeps watching.

CALEB waits.

AVA smiles slightly.

Beat.

Beat.

Beat.

AVA reacts.

CALEB hesitates.

Beat.

CALEB shrugs, helplessly.

There’s nothing CALEB can say.

AVA stares into middle distance for several moments.

Then she stands.

Then walks to the other side of the room. Picks something up from her table.

Then she returns. Holding two pieces of paper.

She walks up to the glass, and holds them up together.

It’s the drawing she was doing last light. The drawing that NATHAN tore in half.

The drawing is of CALEB.

A simple portrait. Honest, and accomplished.

She takes down the drawing.

And rests her hand on the console.

And -

- the lights fail. The cameras die.

For a moment, neither CALEB nor AVA react.

Then -

Beat.

Beat.

Beat. Then:

CALEB looks directly at her. Meeting her gaze.

Level. Firm.

Caleb walks down the glass corridor.

CALEB enters the main room.

The frosted glass of the coffee table is a reminder of the night before.

He walks to the patio.

Down the garden, the water sprinklers are firing. Through the water, he makes out the shape of NATHAN.

NATHAN and CALEB sit, each holding a bottle of Peroni, watching the water cloud.

Eventually, CALEB speaks.

NATHAN shrugs.

Beat.

CALEB reacts - but checks himself.

NATHAN shakes his head.

A few beats of silence, except for the water falling around them.

CALEB keeps his voice flat, and neutral.

Beat.

CALEB is poker-faced.

Beat.

CALEB says nothing.

NATHAN glances back at CALEB

NATHAN laughs.

Beat.

CALEB looks down at the bottle of beer in his hand.

AVA sits alone.

Watching the door on the other side of the glass, waiting for it to open.

But it remains closed.

The light glows in the main room.

CLOSE UP on CALEB’S face.

Off-screen, we can hear NATHAN’S voice. Extremely drunk.

Beat.

Silence.

CUT FROM CALEB’S face, to REVEAL the scene.

CALEB sitting on the sofa.

NATHAN lying on the floor.

Out cold.

After a couple of moments, CALEB stands.

Then he walks over to NATHAN, and kneels beside him.

Then puts his hand into NATHAN’S pocket.

And pulls out his keycard.

The door to NATHAN’S study opens, and CALEB enters.

He walks straight to NATHAN’S desk.

And sits down in front of the computer and the bank of monitors.

He inserts the KEYCARD into its access slot.

The dead monitors immediately come to life.

Most of the screens show the CCTV live feeds from around the house.

The central screen shows the operating system default. A wallpaper of a waterfall. An single folder icon is on the right hand side of the screen.

CALEB inputs commands into NATHAN’S computer.

His hands move fluidly over the keyboard. His eyes never leave the screen.

ON THE CENTRAL MONITOR SCREEN a series of windows expand and stack.

We glimpse subject headings.

POWER

PROTOCOLS

In the windows, lines of code appear as CALEB types.

In the main room, on the floor, NATHAN stirs.

On the MONITORS -

- the windows start to collapse.

Leaving the default screen. The waterfall wallpaper.

CALEB reaches for NATHAN’S KEYCARD, and is about to remove it from the slot -

- when something makes him hesitate.

His eyes have gone to the folder icon on the right hand side of the screen.

It is titled DEUS EX MACHINA.

CALEB removes his hand from the keycard.

He double-clicks the folder.

It expands into a window, which contains a long list of sub- folders.

Each sub-folder is named after a girl.

JASMINE, KATYA, JADE, LILY, AMBER, KYOKO, and AVA.

In the main room, NATHAN has sat up, and is unsteadily trying to get to his feet.

CALEB randomly clicks one of the girl’s names. LILY.

LILY’S folder expands into a window, stacked with thumbnail images of a girl.

CALEB clicks on one of the images at random.

CUT TO -

- a CCTV film-clip starting to play.

It shows LILY - an android of similar design to AVA - sitting at a table with her head bowed. Rocking backwards and forwards, in a gently autistic motion.

In the corner of the room, NATHAN leans against the wall, watching.

CUT TO -

- CALEB collapsing the LILY menu, and opening JADE.

CUT TO -

A new film clip.

This shows JADE beating her fists against the glass divider of the observation room.

The glass doesn’t break.

One of JADE’S arms has broken under the force of the blows. The hand flails limply where the carbon fibre has splintered at the wrist.

CUT TO -

The next film clip.

KATYA. Who is limp. Lifeless.

NATHAN is dragging her towards the induction plate. He holds her up, trying to force her to charge.

But nothing happens.

NATHAN drops KATYA, and she folds to the floor.

NATHAN has managed to get to his feet.

He makes his way across the room towards the glass corridor.

CALEB turns from the computer screens.

He stands, and walks to NATHAN’S bedroom.

CALEB enters NATHAN’S bedroom.

KYOKO is lying on NATHAN’S bed.

She’s naked. On her back. Legs open.

Her head turns as CALEB enters.

But apart from that, she doesn’t react.

CALEB walks to the line of long mirrored cabinets opposite the bed.

He hesitates.

Then pulls the first door open.

LILY is inside. Standing upright. Gazing back at him, frozen, blank eyed.

CALEB goes to the next door and opens it.

He sees a slender black girl, whose limbs are robotic, but whose torso and head are synthetic.

He opens another door, and another, and another.

Then steps back, into the middle of the room, and gazes at the line of android girls.

Stunned.

The camera drifts away from him.

Then settles.

In the multiple reflections of the open mirror doors, we can see KYOKO’S naked and sexually receptive form on the bed behind him.

Like an infinity reflection in a hall of mirrors.

From outside, we see NATHAN reach the glass corridor.

CALEB stands above KYOKO’S naked form.

He reaches out a hand.

She takes it.

He gently pulls her to a standing position.

Then he moves her arms away from her body...

... and sees, running under her arms in a straight contour, over her ribs, there is a faint line.

He touches it with his finger.

KYOKO steps back.

But it’s not a defensive action. It’s just to give her space...

... as she reaches under her arm, and adjusts something unseen. And a moment later, the faint line that runs down each side of her torso is opening. As if unzipping.

Then KYOKO puts a hand either side of her torso, and pulls off the skin covering over her entire chest, in a single section from her collar bone, over the breasts, to her solar plexus.

Revealing underneath the honeycomb mesh and her robot form.

On the monitor screens, apparently unnoticed by CALEB, NATHAN is on the live CCTV feed.

Making his way down the glass corridor towards the door to his private quarters.

CUT TO -

- CALEB.

Transfixed, as KYOKO now reaches around the back of her head.

And finds something on the back of her head, at the nape of her neck, inside her hairline.

Which unzips the skin around her jaw.

Allowing her to remove her face.

NATHAN uses the glass wall to support himself.

He reaches his door.

Then sticks his hand in his pocket for his KEYCARD.

But it isn’t there.

He checks his other pocket.

Suddenly - with both hands in his pockets - he loses balance, and crashes to the ground.

Lands hard.

Lies there for a moment.

Groaning. Blinking. Catching his breath.

Then sees the figure of CALEB standing over him.

A beat.

Then CALEB reaches down. Beside where NATHAN lies. And picks something up from the floor.

CALEB enters his bedroom.

Shuts the door.

AVA is on the TV. Sat alone in the observation room.

CALEB looks at her.

She looks at him.

He switches the TV off.

Lies on the bed. On his back.

Stares at the ceiling.

CUT TO -

FLASHCUT IMAGES.

Of KYOKO removing her skin.

CUT BACK TO -

- CALEB.

CALEB enters the bathroom.

He goes to the sink.

He looks at his own reflection.

Deep into his own eyes.

Opens his mouth. Looks inside.

Feels his wrist for his pulse.

Pauses.

Then picks up his disposable plastic razor.

And breaks it.

Forcing it with his hand against the porcelain of the sink.

Snapping the plastic.

Popping out the tiny razor blade.

A beat.

Then he picks up the blade between his thumb and forefinger.

Places it against his forearm.

And cuts.

Blood runs out.

CALEB watches it.

Sees the way droplets hit the white sink. The way they expand, and merge with existing water droplets.

Then he switches the tap on, and puts his arm under the flow.

The water clears away the blood, revealing the cut.

CALEB pulls open at the slice with his fingers, spreading it.

Revealing no carbon fibre. Only muscle.

He exhales.

And glances up at the mirror, and his own reflection.

Then...

... reaches up his forearm, and very deliberately wipes blood across the glass.

On the monitors in NATHAN’S study, the live feed of CALEB’S bathroom is partially obscured as CALEB smears the two-way mirror.

Then, through the blood, we see him pull his fist back.

And punch the glass.

As it shatters, the feed goes dead.

Only now REVEAL -

- that the person watching the monitor is KYOKO.

Her expression is unreadable.

Through the door to the bedroom, NATHAN lies on the sheets, crashed out.

Sunlight on the grass.

In the background, we can hear the rhythmic pounding of NATHAN’S punch bag.

NATHAN is in a frenzy.

Sweat pouring.

Obliterating the bag.

CALEB wakes on his bed with a start.

The beside clock reads 11:58.

He’s wrapped a pillow case around his arm, to bandage the cuts he made.

There’s rusty smears of blood on the sheets.

When he tries to remove the pillow case, he finds that the cotton has fused with the scabs.

As he pulls the material away, the cuts reopen.

AVA sits alone in the observation room.

The door opens.

CALEB appears, wearing a long-sleeved shirt.

Enters.

He sits opposite her, on the other side of the dividing glass.

A strange noise escapes from AVA’S mouth.

A kind of sob.

Curtailed.

Beat.

Beat.

They exchange a look.

Then AVA lifts her hand, and rests it against the induction plate on the console below the window.

A final beat.

Then the POWER DIES.

As the emergency lighting lifts, CALEB leans forward slightly.

CALEB nods.

CALEB breaks off.

Silence.

Then the POWER RETURNS.

The lights come back.

AVA and CALEB stare at each other.

Beat.

CUT TO -

- NATHAN’S fist splitting the bag.

Like an hourglass, sand runs out.

Clouds spill around the mountain peaks.

KYOKO stands by the Jackson Pollock painting, apparently looking at it.

NATHAN stands by the open patio door, gazing at the low sun.

CALEB appears.

CALEB pauses.

NATHAN smiles.

CALEB smiles. A little tightly.

NATHAN laughs.

CALEB walks over to the kitchen area, and pulls two beers from the fridge.

CALEB walks back to NATHAN. Extends a hand. Holding a Peroni.

But NATHAN doesn’t take it.

Beat.

NATHAN shrugs.

CALEB’S hand remains extended. He smiles again. More tightly.

A beat.

CALEB puts down NATHAN’S beer.

Then raises his own.

CALEB takes a single sip.

NATHAN watches.

CALEB pauses.

Collecting himself slightly. Trying to think how to get his plan back on track.

Beat.

Beat.

NATHAN pauses.

CALEB has a cold realisation dawning. NATHAN is playing with him.

Beat.

NATHAN gazes at CALEB evenly.

And now CALEB knows: NATHAN knows.

CALEB puts the beer down.

Silence.

He steps over to CALEB, and rests a hand on his shoulder.

NATHAN starts walking.

Outside the window of NATHAN’S study, night has fallen.

NATHAN and CALEB stand in front of the computer.

On it, a clip of film is playing.

It shows the scene that CALEB witnessed two nights before, of NATHAN entering AVA’S room, and an exchange between them. But whereas the first time the sound was muted, this time we can hear the audio.

CTTV FILM

NATHAN stands above AVA. Drunk.

AVA is sat at the table, with her drawing.

NATHAN reaches over and picks up her picture of CALEB.

NATHAN studies the picture for a moment.

A beat.

Then abruptly, NATHAN rips the picture.

He lets the two pieces fall to the floor.

As AVA reaches for them, NATHAN turns.

And exits.

NATHAN hits pause.

Glances at CALEB.

As he talks, NATHAN rewinds the film clip slightly -

... then FREEZES the film again.

This time, ON THE SCREEN:

AVA is reaching for her torn picture.

And NATHAN is reaching out with his hand.

And his hand is holding something.

NATHAN unfreezes the image.

And we quite clearly see NATHAN place the object on AVA’S bookcase.

NOTE THAT on the two previous occasions we have seen this clip of film, we will have seen him do this action. But not register it, instead reading the action as him drunkenly using the shelf to steady himself.

CALEB stares at the monitor for a few moments.

Then turns.

He walks towards a chair. And sits down.

As he does so, NATHAN has started to play another clip.

CALEB can hear the audio.

The recording stops.

CALEB feels short of breath.

Beat.

CALEB looks upwards.

Directly above, he sees a spot-light in the ceiling.

It dazzles him.

NATHAN hesitates.

CALEB stares into the brightness above him.

Beat.

Silence.

CALEB doesn’t answer.

NATHAN cuts off. Because AT THAT MOMENT -

- the lights and the monitors suddenly die.

The emergency lighting lifts up.

AVA’S head turns to the door of her room.

Where, discretely, the LED by the keycard plate glows blue.

NATHAN checks his watch.

NATHAN glances at CALEB.

CALEB says nothing.

Beat.

NATHAN frowns.

CALEB looks away from the dimmed ceiling light, to NATHAN.

Beat.

NATHAN freezes.

At that moment, the POWER COMES BACK ON.

The lights rise.

The computer monitors come back to life.

Revealing something.

On the CCTV feed of AVA’S room, the door is open.

And on the feed of the GLASS CORRIDOR -

- AVA is walking down it.

NATHAN freezes as he sees her.

NATHAN enters the MAIN ROOM from the GLASS CORRIDOR.

Both of them see, directly ahead of them, AVA.

And not far from her, KYOKO.

AVA breaks into a run.

Sprinting across the room in NATHAN’S direction.

Quiet in the garden.

Soft wind rush.

Moon and stars reflected in the windows of the house.

Then the glass shatters, as AVA and NATHAN fly through the window.

They hit the manicured lawn together in a glittering spray.

NATHAN gets to his feet first.

AVA tries to rise too.

And he kicks her extremely hard in the torso.

She is knocked back down.

NATHAN glances around.

A couple of yards away, in NATHAN’S outdoor gym, is one of his curl dumbbells.

He walks over.

Picks the dumbbell up.

Spins off the weights. Leaving him with a thick metal bar.

There is no talking.

Just NATHAN’S laboured breathing.

Then he walks back to AVA, looking down at her.

Preparing to deliver a lethal blow.

But as he does so, we see something.

KYOKO.

Behind NATHAN.

Stepping through the broken window.

She’s holding something in her hand.

She walks directly up to NATHAN.

And does something behind his back.

Beat.

He turns.

A KITCHEN KNIFE is jutting out.

Blood soaks into his T-shirt material with amazing speed, blossoming from the point of the wound.

He sees KYOKO.

He lashes out with the metal bar.

It catches KYOKO in the jaw.

Her entire lower jaw snaps off.

It reveals metal armature, and carbon fibre, and spurting pneumatic fluid. And something in her neck, glowing and sparking.

Then she folds down to the ground, as her power abruptly cuts out.

As NATHAN stares down at KYOKO -

- reveal that AVA has got to her feet behind him.

She pulls the knife out of his back.

Feeling this happen, NATHAN turns -

- and AVA pushes the knife into his chest.

NATHAN stares at AVA.

Then takes a slight step away from her.

And sits down heavily on the grass.

Beats pass on this strange image:

KYOKO sprawled on the ground with her broken face.

NATHAN sitting upright, his upper torso now drenched in blood.

AVA standing. Watching NATHAN.

Behind them all, the mountains.

After a few moments, NATHAN slumps sideways.

And stops breathing.

CALEB watches this same view, from a CCTV camera feed, on NATHAN’S monitors.

Beats pass.

Then AVA appears at the open door to NATHAN’S study.

AVA and CALEB look at each other.

Beat.

AVA leaves, closing the door behind her.

CUT TO -

- the monitors.

Where CALEB watches the CCTV feed of AVA walking down the connecting corridor to NATHAN’S BEDROOM.

AVA stands in NATHAN’S BEDROOM, in front of the previous AI androids.

She is unclothed.

She starts removing sections of their skin.

And putting it on herself.

The skin sucks itself to the honeycomb mesh, as if the mesh and the underside of the skin are magnetised, attracted to each other.

CALEB watches AVA on the monitors, hypnotised by her metamorphosis.

First light breaks over the mountains.

The glow of honeycomb mesh vanishes as AVA applies the last section of skin.

Nothing of her robot forms remains.

She is a naked human girl.

CALEB watches as AVA walks back down the connecting corridor to the study...

... then passes straight by his door.

CALEB gets up.

Goes to the closed door. Tries to open it.

There is a red LED light by the keycard plate. Locked.

He swipes his card, with his photo ID.

The red light remains.

He runs back to the monitors.

On them, AVA has reached the MAIN ROOM.

She walks straight to the smashed window. And steps through.

CALEB sticks his card into the slot by NATHAN’S computer.

Instantly, all the screens die. Replaced by a single word.

REJECTED

CALEB runs to the window.

He can see AVA walking across the grass, away from the house.

AVA walks up to NATHAN’S body.

Behind her, at the house, we can see CALEB standing by the window to NATHAN’S STUDY.

At NATHAN, AVA stops.

Crouches down.

And takes NATHAN’S bloodstained keycard out of his pocket.

Then stands.

CALEB hammers on the window with his fists.

The window is thick security glass. Like a bank teller’s screen.

He picks up a chair, and throws it at the window.

It bounces off.

He tries again. Harder.

To no effect.

He tries to shout through the glass.

Without looking back towards the house, AVA walks away.

NATHAN’S body.

KYOKO’S body.

CALEB hammering at the glass of the window.

Silence.

The Maybach car sweeps along the mountain road.

Inside the car, the CHAUFFEUR sings along to music.

He rounds the corner to the final approach to the perimeter gate.

Ahead, outside the gate, is a BLONDE GIRL.

From a distance, in a locked-off wide, we watch as the car pulls up to her.

Nothing betrays that AVA is anything other than a pretty blonde-haired girl in her early twenties.

The front window winds down.

She leans to talk into it.

CUT TO -

- AVA’S precise POINT OF VIEW.

Looking in at the CHAUFFEUR.

The image echoes the POV views from the computer/cell-phone cameras in the opening moments of the film.

Facial recognition vectors flutter around the CHAUFFEUR’S face.

And when he opens his mouth to reply, we don’t hear words.

We hear pulses of monotone noise. Low pitch. Speech as pure pattern recognition.

This is how AVA has been sees us. And hears us.

It feels completely alien.

AVA and the CHAUFFEUR finish talking.

We are too distant to hear their conversation.

But whatever is said, a few beats later, the CHAUFFEUR exits the car, and goes around to hold open the rear door, to allow AVA to enter.

Then goes back to the driver’s door.

Gets in.

And the car pulls off.

CUT TO -

- COMPUTER MONITOR.

Lines of code appear, as they are typed.

They read:

main( ) {

extrn a, b, c; putchar(a); putchar (b);putchar (c); putchar(’!’*n’);

} a ‘goo’; b ‘dby’; c ‘e, wo -

END