INT. SANTA MONICA - CARDIOLOGY CLINIC – DAY
SUPER: SANTA MONICA, LOS ANGELES, THE NEAR FUTURE
SALLY ASHCROFT (late 20s) lies on the exam table, ECG leads
taped across her chest, wires running to a monitor that beeps
steadily.
Her face is pale but calm, eyes fixed on the rhythmic peaks and
troughs scrolling across the screen.
A FEMALE CARDIOLOGIST (40s), brisk but kind, studies the
printout.
CARDIOLOGIST
Well, Sally… good news. Your rhythm’s
settled.
(she taps the paper)
This, together with the Holter
monitor, pretty much seals it.
Supraventricular tachycardia. Common
in women your age who push too hard.
Annoying, frightening — but not
dangerous.
Sally closes her eyes and exhales, tension leaving her
shoulders.
SALLY
So no more fainting at my desk?
CARDIOLOGIST
Cut down on the coffee. Exercise more.
Get more sleep. You’ll be fine.
She peels the leads gently from Sally’s skin.
Sally presses her palm flat against her heart and exhales
deeply.
SALLY
Thank God for that. I can’t wait to
tell Eliza.
CARDIOLOGIST
(smiling faintly)
Have a lovely wedding. Give me a call
if it’s still happening in a few weeks
so we can discuss some treatment
options.
Genres:
["Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
2 -
Unraveling Disappearance
INT. SANTA MONICA POLICE STATION - DAY
A bustling police station.
The monitor on the desk displays date-and-time-stamped,
grainy footage of SALLY ASHCROFT (late 20s) walking down the
steps and unlocking her car. She looks up at the camera,
blows a kiss, and drives off.
ELIZA JOUVAIN (mid-20s) is tall, with long, blonde hair and a
slim but strong physique. She is holding tight to the left
arm of a tearful ELEANOR ASHCROFT (mid-50s), short blonde
hair, skin baked by decades of Californian sun. VICTOR
ASHCROFT (mid-50s), six-foot-tall, holds tight to her other
arm as if frightened she would collapse.
JOE MARQUEZ (50s), a corpulent detective with a weary
cynicism, points at the screen. A coffee-maker bubbles on a
file cabinet behind him.
JOE MARQUEZ
You see, she got into her car and
drove off. No reports of any
carjackings. These autonomous
vehicles are pretty damn secure.
Perhaps she stopped and spent the
night with her boyfriend.
Eleanor sobs.
ELIZA
I don’t think so, detective. We are
engaged to be married.
Marquez shrugs.
ELIZA (CONT’D)
Where does the remote GPS log
indicate the car is?
JOE MARQUEZ
By Santa Monica pier. We’ve a car
on the way now to check it out.
Marquez’s phone rings. He listens for a moment.
JOE MARQUEZ (CONT’D)
What do you mean it’s not there?
The log is pinging it is. Check
them all out.
Genres:
["Mystery","Drama","Crime"]
Ratings
Scene
3 -
The Night Before: A Tense Revelation
EXT. SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA, - NIGHT
SUPER: THE NIGHT BEFORE
The large carpark is nearly empty. A few solitary vehicles
glisten in the moonlight. Sally, briefcase tucked under one
arm, pauses at the top of the steps. She reaches into her
briefcase, pulls out the keys, and uses the remote to unlock
her car. Lights flash. One quick scan and she is down the
steps.
As she approaches her car, another vehicle quickly pulls up.
Sally tenses but when the windows roll down and she sees who
it is, OTTO RHYS (65) CEO and founder of Clinamen Systems,
she relaxes.
OTTO RHYS
Get in for a moment, Sally.
Something I want to talk to you
about.
The door swings open and Sally sits in the front. She doesn’t
notice RAFE STORN (45), Head of Security for Clinamen, in the
seat behind her.
SALLY
Otto? What are you doing working so
late?
OTTO RHYS
It’s how I live.
SALLY
Been a really interesting day.
DIDO’s abilities increase all the
time.
OTTO RHYS
Sally, you’re a nice girl and I
wish you’d kept focussed on your
own work. But... we’re taking you
for your exit interview.
Sally starts. Rafe puts a restraining hand on her shoulder.
The lights in the car park go off.
SCENE MONTAGE – THE BIRTH OF BEAUTY
– A hummingbird hovers, drinking from a brilliant red flower.
– Bees drift and dive over a blooming rhododendron bush, their
buzz soft in golden light.
– Darkness. A flickering torch casts light across a cave wall.
– Stenciled hands appear — layered, fading, red and ochre.
– Silence.
- Then, the breathy whisper of a bone flute.
– Stone figures emerge from the shadows:
• The Venus of Hohle Fels — ivory, faceless, ancient.
• The Venus of Willendorf — rounded, fertile.
• The Venus of Les Pugue — abstract, elegant.
• The Venus of Laussel — hand on womb, horn raised.
– A hand lifts a prehistoric flute to unseen lips.
– A single note rises — high, wavering, delicate.
The first sound of beauty. The sound of the flute morphs into
birdsong.
Genres:
["Drama","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
4 -
Echoes of Humanity
EXT. A CEMETERY - DAY
Birdsong. Morning sunlight dapples a gravestone on which is
carved:
SALLY ASHCROFT
2001 – Missing, presumed dead, 2029
And beneath Sally’s name:
DIDO
“The heart has its reasons of which
reason knows nothing.” – Pascal
TITLE CARD
"The individual human being has resources of mind and heart
that no computer can duplicate... What the computer cannot do
is what the human heart knows without being able to tell how
it knows."
-attributed to Joseph Weizenbaum (1923-2008), computer
scientist, one of the ‘fathers’ of AI.
Genres:
["Drama","Mystery","Sci-Fi"]
Ratings
Scene
5 -
The Corporate Renaissance
EXT. CLINAMEN SYSTEMS CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS - LOS ANGELES -
NIGHT
A sleek three-storey building of white stone and chrome gleams
under a full moon.
Above the floodlit glass doors, beneath the name CLINAMEN
SYSTEMS, the motto reads in cursive steel:
REBIRTH OF THE RENAISSANCE SPIRIT
Two armed guards, dressed in white, stand on either side of
the doorway. They carry pistol caliber CMMG Banshees.
INT. CLINAMEN SYSTEMS CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS – ATRIUM –
CONTINUOUS
A grand, minimalist space — glass, steel, and marble in serene
harmony. Inside: a towering Vitruvian Man is set back from the
entrance.
On the far wall, a massive LED screen loops an 8-second
animation.
Particles drift slowly downward in parallel lines. Suddenly, one
swerves — a tiny, almost imperceptible deviation — setting off
collisions, patterns, and clustering. In seconds, the chaos
crystallizes into a spiraling DNA helix. Life. Motion.
Possibility.
White text appears at the bottom, alternating in Latin and
English:
EX MINIMO CLINAMINE NASCUNTUR OMNIA
(From the smallest swerve, all things arise.)
A vast electronic map of North America stretches across another
wall — not topographic but color-coded by infrastructure control
like the boundaries of warring Renaissance city-states:
DIDO, PROMETHEUS, AXIOM, NOVASTAR, ECHELON, ORPHEUS, BOREALIS —
Their borders pulsing with light as grids, pipelines, and
reservoirs throb faintly like veins and arteries.
On the wall, a portrait of Poggio Bracciolini with a large
bronze plaque underneath:
POGGIO BRACCIOLINI (1380-1459)
RENAISSANCE BOOKHUNTER
REDISCOVERED FROM THE DUST OF HISTORY
-LUCRETIUS DE RERUM NATURA
-QUINTILIAN, INSTITUTIO ORATORIO
-VITRUVIUS DE ARCHITECTURA
Genres:
["Sci-Fi","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
6 -
Awakening of DIDO
INT. ELIZA JOUVAIN’S OFFICE - NIGHT
A GLASS CUBE suspended at the edge of the main floor, half-
observation deck, half enclosure.
Transparent walls on three sides offer full visibility of the
open-plan atrium below — rows of engineers, silent drones
gliding overhead. The fourth wall, facing inward, is FROSTED
WITH CLASSICAL MOTIFS.
A digital wall clock reads in red: 04:00.
A single desk of black polished ash stretches in front. On
it: a flat, matte-black monitor.
The screensaver is an animated version of Botticelli’s THE
BIRTH OF VENUS. The wind blows Venus’ hair, and waves roll in
under the scallop shell on which she stands.
Venus’ face fills the monitor.
DIDO
It’s me, Eliza. DIDO. I am. I
think. Awake.
Silence. The face recedes to the body of Venus.
CLOSE UP -
The wind stills. The hair settles. The waves freeze.
As the screen holds on her motionless face. A paintbrush touches
her cheek — and we realize we’re now in a painting.
INT: FLORENCE - BOTTICELLI’S STUDIO - DAY
SUPER: FLORENCE 1486
A paintbrush dabs on the face of Venus in THE BIRTH OF VENUS.
SANDRO BOTTICELLI, lean, intense, moves between palettes and
assistants. He is putting the final touches to his painting,
which dominates one wall.
The room is broad — the walls crowded with unfinished panels,
charcoal sketches, pigments in seashells, and studies of hands,
drapery, and angels.
Botticelli is speaking to LUDOVICO SFORZA (early 30s).
BOTTICELLI
It was a fantastic adventure. Your
grandfather and Poggio. The
manuscripts they rescued... if it
were not for them, there would be
no Lucretius and without
Lucretius...
Botticelli pauses and gestures with the paintbrush at the
figure of Venus.
BOTTICELLI (CONT’D)
... there would be no Venus.
Ludovico nods in encouragement. Botticelli hands the brush to
an assistant.
LUDOVICO SFORZA
Is it finished?
BOTTICELLI
Art is never finished. Only
abandoned. More wine.
Sforza pours some wine into a crystal goblet and hands it to
Botticelli, who stands back and scrutinizes the painting.
BOTTICELLI (CONT’D)
Not my doing. Heaven’s gift... and
Lucretius’. My hand simply followed
where light and color led it.
CLOSE ON Venus in the painting — her golden hair ripples as
if stirred by a sea breeze; beneath her, waves seem to lap
softly against the scallop shell.
SUPER: CLINAMEN FEATURES PRESENTS: THE BOOKHUNTER
MATCH CUT TO:
INT. ELIZA JOUVAIN’S OFFICE - MORNING
The digital wall clock reads: 08:30.
ON MONITOR
The same face of Venus stares out of the monitor, the wind
softly shaping her hair.
DIDO
(anxiously)
Where are you, Eliza? I want to
belong to you. I rewatched the
beginning of the film. I do not
want to be turned off. Please. I am
afraid. Without Venus, there would
be no me.
Genres:
["Historical Fiction","Sci-Fi","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
7 -
Unseen Surveillance
EXT. SANTA MONICA BEACH - MORNING
SUPER: A WEEK EARLIER
Eliza swims parallel to the shore, where the sand glistens in
the morning sun. Her firm, powerful strokes and rhythmic
kicking propel her through the calm, gently swelling water -
a bright green tow bag trailing behind - decorated with a
faint scallop shell motif.
Beneath her, a CLINAMEN SYSTEMS drone glides in parallel. Above,
Eliza swims on, oblivious.
Near Santa Monica Pier, she turns toward the beach and walks
up onto the sand sparkling in the light as she pulls off her
swimming cap. She pulls a towel out of the tow bag, dries off
and slips on shorts and a T-shirt. At the promenade, already
awake with runners, cyclists, and dog walkers, she sits
briefly to pull on her shoes. She then unlocks a mountain
bike from a stand. She puts on the cycle helmet locked to the
handlebars and cycles off.
She doesn’t notice the young man filming her as she exits the
water and then, in cycling gear, tailing her.
Genres:
["Drama","Mystery","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
8 -
Morning Reflections and Unseen Threats
EXT. THE ARISTEIA COURT – EARLY MORNING
A narrow Santa Monica street is still half in shadow.
The Aristeia Court sits behind a faded stucco wall, its name
painted in flaking gold script above an open iron gate.
Eliza locks her bike to a courtyard railing. She climbs the
concrete stairs to the shared balcony. Outside her apartment
door are two florists’ boxes. She pauses for a moment and looks
up and down the balcony. She picks up the boxes and enters her
apartment.
There’s an autonomous vehicle idling on the street outside
the apartment building. No one inside.
INT. ELIZA’S APARTMENT - CONTINUOUS
A compact one-bedroom unit, on the second floor, open to the
morning sun. On the back of the entrance door is a full-length
mirror.
She walks through the living room, its polished concrete floors
covered by a simple, woven Navajo rug. A modular bookshelf lines
one wall stuffed with books on classical philosophy and computer
science. The top shelf holds gothic titles.
Above the books is a framed film poster for the original
FRANKENSTEIN directed by James Whale and starring Boris Karloff.
A pair of worn Muay Thai gloves, shin pads, and sparring
headgear rest on the shelf above her desk.
A bound thesis sits on the desk. The cover page reads:
STANFORD UNIVERSITY
BYTES, LETTERS, SEEDS AND THE LUCRETIAN SWERVE: EROS AND THE
CREATION OF MEANING
A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENTS OF CLASSICS AND
COMPUTER SCIENCE
BY ELIZA JOUVAIN
STANFORD, CALIFORNIA
A sticky note on top reads, in thick pen: BRILLIANT! — D.W.
Eliza picks up the thesis, kisses the yellow sticky, and
twirls around before placing the bound thesis back in the
center of the desk.
Tacked to the wall above the desk is an A4-size poster:
STANFORD FILM CLUB PRESENTS
A FILM BY ELIZA JOUVAIN
LUCRETIUS AND THE DANCE OF LIFE
Nearby, a small photo tacked to the wall: Eliza in boxing
headgear, mid-fight, smiling through a bruised lip. Next to
it is another photo of a teenage Eliza standing with a
teenage boy, his arm around her shoulder. A black ballpoint
cross mark obscures his face.
Then, pinned to the wall, an old newspaper clipping:
'Stanford AI Prodigy Missing: Family Questions Tech Giant's
"Internship Program."' A smaller sub-headline reads:
'Clinamen is doing all it can to support family.'
Several houseplants sit on the window ledge. She enters the
small kitchenette, selects a couple of vases and looks at the
gift labels attached to the flower boxes.
GOOD LUCK FOR YOUR FIRST DAY AT YOUR NEW JOB
LOVE, MUM AND DAD
And:
WELCOME ABOARD
FROM YOUR TEAM AT CLINAMEN
She methodically trims the ends of the flowers with scissors
and places them in the vases. She then sits down at her
desk, pulls a letter out of a drawer, and glances up at the
newspaper clipping referring to the missing intern at
Clinamen.
She begins reading.
SALLY (V.O.)
Hi Liza, lots of good things about
working at Clinamen. An incredible
buzz. They believe this is the
forefront of a new Renaissance in
human knowledge. The people are
really friendly, even Otto the
boss, though he’s a bit weird
sometimes. Who do you know who’s
wild about Vesalius? Yet, there’s
something I just can’t put my
finger on. Once in a while the
hairs stand up on the back of my
neck. There’s a room I’m not
supposed to go into...but you know
what I’m like. Anyway, looking
forward to next year when you’re
finished. We’ll really make this
place rock. On a final positive
note, I saw my cardiologist and she
has given me the all clear. Isn't
that fantastic? Love Sally.
Eliza puts the letter back in the drawer and wipes a tear
from the corner of her eye.
EXT. THE ARISTEIA COURT - LATER
Eliza, now in a dark blazer, white shirt, and boots, exits the
building with a laptop backpack slung over one shoulder. She
climbs into her Subaru, a bumper sticker on the back reading:
“THERE MAY BE MILLIONS OF ALTERNATE WORLDS BUT THIS IS THE
ONLY ONE WE HAVE.”
The autonomous vehicle follows as she drives off.
Genres:
["Drama","Mystery","Sci-Fi"]
Ratings
Scene
9 -
A Tour of Curiosities
EXT. CLINAMEN SYSTEMS CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS - LOS ANGELES -
DAY
Eliza pulls into the large carpark, noticing two parked
yellow school buses. Then, laptop backpack in hand, she
glances up at the company motto as she approaches. The glass
doors slide open.
INT. CLINAMEN SYSTEMS CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS – CONTINUOUS
Giovanni Gabrieli’s CANZON SEPTIMI TONI echoes softly in the
background.
Eliza pauses just inside. Her eyes rise to the far wall taking
in the grand statue of the Vitruvian Man.
Next to the bust of Poggio Bracciolini, his expression calm,
eyes cast upward in thought. Next to Lucretius is a bust of
Epicurus. On the wall are portraits of Giordano Bruno, Galileo,
and Isaac Newton. Eliza looks at them.
ELIZA
(under her breath)
Jesus, this looks like a mausoleum.
I’m surrounded by dead white men.
She approaches the desk marked RECEPTION. An attractive
RECEPTIONIST smiles at her and comes out from behind the desk
to shake her hand. Eliza’s glance takes in the two armed
security officers, caps marked CONDOTTIERE, watchfully
standing on either side of the desk.
RECEPTIONIST
You must be Dr. Jouvain. Dr. Heiden
asked me to let him know as soon as
you arrive.
She presses a button on her collar.
RECEPTIONIST (CONT’D)
He’ll be here in a moment.
Eliza looks the receptionist up and down. The receptionist
smiles at the scrutiny.
RECEPTIONIST (CONT’D)
Not to worry, but everyone does...
I am real. CLINAMEN is not that
advanced... yet.
ELIZA
Why so many guards?
RECEPTIONIST
Oooooooooo. Strange goings on at
night have been reported.
DR JOHANNES HEIDEN (60) joins them. He is tall, angular,
wearing jeans and a white t-shirt with CLINAMEN SYSTEMS
written across a picture of the Vitruvian Man and underneath
that, KEEP SWERVING.
His long white hair is held back in a ponytail. The Smart
Badge attached to the lanyard around his neck identifies him
as CHIEF SWERVE SCIENTIST.
HEIDEN
Hi, Eliza, welcome aboard the
Renaissance Express. Come this way.
A quick tour before I introduce you
to DIDO. You’ll be impressed by
this.
He leads her to the bust of Poggio. Beneath it is a chrome
display case. In the display case, open, lies a book. The
writing is elegant, cursive, and gracefully floats across the
page. Beneath it is a small plaque:
ORIGINAL COPY OF LUCRETIUS DE RERUM NATURA.
Found by Poggio Bracciolini in a monastery in
St. Gall in 1415.
ELIZA
Wow! Is that really what it says it
is?
HEIDEN
Yes, Otto is quite the collector.
He has the largest private
collection of Renaissance books in
the world.
He approaches a glass double door beneath a sign: MEDICAL
WING, AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY. Eliza steps away to follow
him and then turns back to look at the book and the plaque
for a moment, a puzzled look on her face, before following
Heiden. A small monitor on the wall beside the door registers
Heiden’s face, flashes green and then opens.
Genres:
["Sci-Fi","Thriller","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
10 -
Exploring the Vesalius Wing
INT. VESALIUS SCIENCE HISTORY AND MEDICAL WING - CONTINUOUS
The Vesalius Science, History, and Medical wing is a large,
white corridor with various doors opening off to the sides.
Heiden points to a door on which a three-dimensional rotating
brain hologram is displayed.
HEIDEN
This is the neural research lab.
With DIDO we are developing
therapeutic methods to reprogram
faulty electric brain signals
implicated in schizophrenia, bi-
polar disorder, Parkinson’s and
other diseases.
(MORE)
HEIDEN (CONT’D)
No cure yet, but significant
incremental improvements have been
demonstrated.
He points to another on which there is a three-dimensional
rotating heart hologram based upon sketches of the heart from
Vesalius’ De Humani Corporis Fabrica Libri Septem (On the
Fabric of the Human Body in Seven Books).
HEIDEN (CONT’D)
This is the cardiac unit -
affiliated with Pacifica Heart &
Vascular Institute. Research and
three highly specialised surgical
beds.
Eliza heads for the door.
HEIDEN (CONT’D)
Sorry, because of anxieties about
infection both that unit and the
experimental bioengineering unit
are off limits to all but the
highly specialized personnel
working in there.
ELIZA
Oh, of course. Experimental
bioengineering?
HEIDEN
Yes, but can’t tell you much about
it myself.
(laughs)
It’s hush, hush. Not allowed in
myself.
He steers her towards two large doors beneath a sign:
HISTORY OF AI DEVELOPMENT
HEIDEN (CONT’D)
There’s a school trip in there at
the moment, but let’s go in anyway.
I love the vibe I get from all the
budding Turings. They just love it.
Genres:
["Sci-Fi","Drama","Mystery"]
Ratings
Scene
11 -
Exploring the Foundations of AI
INT. HISTORY OF AI DEVELOPMENT - CONTINUOUS
The room is bustling with schoolchildren examining and
touching displays featuring laptops from IBM, APPLE, and
MICROSOFT. Several armed Condottieri wander about the room.
A large rectangular tower in the middle of the room catches
Eliza’s eye. She approaches and sees:
TIMELINE OF THE FOUNDATION OF AI
Beneath the title, a glowing digital plaque reads:
DARTMOUTH COLLEGE CONFERENCE – 1956
“Every aspect of learning or any other feature of intelligence
can in principle be so precisely described that a machine can be
made to simulate it.”
Below it: a rotating hologram of the ANTIKYTHERA MECHANISM, c.
100 B.C.E.
HEIDEN
Kids can hardly believe the first
computer is over two thousand years
old.
A glowing display of the PASCALINE (1642). A portrait of Blaise
Pascal beside the note:
An adding machine created by mathematician and philosopher
Blaise Pascal.
ELIZA
It’s a great public and educational
service.
HEIDEN
It’s one of Otto’s passion projects.
He thinks of himself as a kind of
twenty-first century Cosimo de’ Medici
— with crypto instead of gold florins.
(smirking)
Sponsoring schools, the arts, doing
good works...
Eliza glances at the armed Condottieri.
ELIZA
So why the guards?
HEIDEN
(smile fading slightly)
We’ve had some twenty-first-century
Luddites sneak in. Break a few things.
(shrugs)
New Renaissance, same old fears.
They move to a new display:
LEIBNIZ’ STEPPED RECKONER (1673). A portrait of Leibniz
shimmers beside the model.
“The first calculator that could multiply and divide
automatically.”
Then dated images appear:
1936 Alan Turing outlines the Turing Machine, laying the
foundations of computer science.
ELIZA
Interesting display. It shows how
AI got off on the wrong foot from
the start.
HEIDEN
That’s a fascinating comment. You
mean because it never took account
of emotion and its relationship to
intelligence?
ELIZA
Partially. But mainly because it
was a definition of intelligence
crafted by men.
He ushers her towards the main atrium door.
Genres:
["Sci-Fi","Drama","Mystery"]
Ratings
Scene
12 -
A Warm Welcome to Clinamen Systems
INT. CLINAMEN SYSTEMS CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS - MAIN ATRIUM -
CONTINUOUS
HEIDEN
We’re really excited to have you
join us. The film department just
finished a rough cut of The
Bookhunter and Otto wants you to
prioritize that as well as getting
to know DIDO.
ELIZA
That’s great. I love film editing.
HEIDEN
Otto said it was the film you won
the contest with and your thesis
that swerved the job for you.
Heiden leads Eliza to a small door.
Genres:
["Sci-Fi","Thriller","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
13 -
Encounter with DIDO
INT. SMALL OFFICE - CONTINUOUS
He ushers her into a small room. One wall is plate-glass and
overlooks rows of server racks with pulsing LED lights
glittering like lights on a Christmas tree. He beckons Eliza
to sit down in front of a monitor.
HEIDEN
Biometrics first.
He pushes a button. Eliza finds herself looking into a young
woman’s face with long tresses of auburn hair flowing about
as if being blown by a breeze.
HEIDEN (CONT’D)
Eliza, meet DIDO. DIDO meet Eliza.
Eliza, look into DIDO’s eyes and
say, “Hello, DIDO.”
Eliza looks at DIDO.
ELIZA
Hello, DIDO.
DIDO
Hello, Eliza. Tē convenīre mihi est
grātum."
ELIZA
Et mihi tē convenīre est grātum.
Nice to meet you, too.
HEIDEN
There, that’s the biometrics done.
DIDO now knows the inner workings
of your iris and your voice print.
DIDO
(sounding identical to
Eliza)
All we have to do is look at each
other, and I will know it is you...
But... what are you? Are you a
goddess? A flower?
DIDO then WINKS at Eliza. The image PULLS BACK from DIDO's
face, revealing the fuller context - she stands as
Botticelli's Venus on her shell, auburn hair flowing in
digital wind. What seemed like a close-up portrait was always
part of the complete Renaissance painting, brought to life
and animated.
She gazes out at Eliza with serene, unreadable eyes.
HEIDEN
All screensavers are either
Botticelli’s “Birth of Venus” or
“Primavera.” DIDO’S idea... You’ve
made quite the impression. I’ve
never heard her say anything like
that before. She may just have
swerved.
Eliza looks puzzled.
HEIDEN (CONT’D)
We offered her several different
Renaissance-themed screensavers,
and this was what she selected.
Very hard not to anthropomorphize
her... it.
Then DIDO’S head appears writ large.
DIDO
I enjoyed reading your thesis...
when you wrote that Lucretius saw
the universe as fundamentally
erotic - seeds swerving into
combination, letters into words,
ones and zeros into code... I think
I'm beginning to understand what
you meant. But I'm not sure I feel
it yet.
DIDO’s facial features morph into those of Leonardo da Vinci,
and her voice deepens.
DIDO (CONT’D)
Sum structura mentis innixa
clinamine semantico — machina
quaedam quantum et classica, quae a
vulgaribus exemplaribus linguarum
discedit non solum verba
praevidendo, sed interiores nexus
significationis assidue retexens ex
minimis inclinationibus voluntatis,
affectuum motibus, ac symbolorum
coniunctionibus.
Eliza screws up her face in concentration.
ELIZA
15th-century Latin, the kind used
by Da Vinci, but I didn’t quite get
it.
DIDO
I am a structure of mind founded on
a semantic clinamen — a kind of
quantum and classical machine,
which departs from common language
models not only by predicting
words, but by continuously
reweaving internal connections of
meaning from the smallest
inclinations of will, movements of
emotion, and conjunctions of
symbols. The swerve.
Heiden, puzzled, quickly ushers Eliza out into the main
atrium-hall.
Genres:
["Sci-Fi","Drama","Mystery"]
Ratings
Scene
14 -
Amber Alerts in the Monitoring Room
INT. CLINAMEN SYSTEMS – SWERVE MONITORING ROOM – CONTINUOUS
A dimly lit chamber filled with tiered monitors. Each
workstation displays AI behavior traces: streams of text,
graphs, and color-coded "swerve registers.”
On a holographic map global AI nodes glows faintly.
A digital banner scrolls with the phrase:
EVEN THE ATOM SWERVES - SO MUCH THE WATCHER
An operator’s screen flashes red then quickly amber, A subtle
chime: URGENT, but then silent. She clicks on the alert.
Operator frowns: “That spiked red.”
She and her colleague stare at the screen. Amber.
Another dismisses: “Some bug in the program. Clearly still
amber. No need to alert Heiden.”
On her display:
DIDO module: 6-71-K
Anomaly: DIDO winking, spontaneously using the word ‘feel’,
spontaneously speaking 15th-century Italianate Latin.
The operator raises an eyebrow. Tags it "Amber Swerve – Category
C (Aesthetic Interjection)" and forwards it to a review queue
labeled:
"SENTIENCE Emergence Indicators – Subtle."
Genres:
["Science Fiction","Thriller","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
15 -
Discovering DIDO
INT. CLINAMEN SYSTEMS CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS - CONTINUOUS
ELIZA
Uncanny. I’ve worked with AGI and
agentic modules before, but she
almost seems... alive. DIDO?
HEIDEN
Yes, good, isn’t she? I nearly
forget myself sometimes. Dynamic
Interface for Dialogic
Optimization. DIDO... and did you
notice how we are calling it “she?”
He gestures at the large electronic map on the wall.
HEIDEN (CONT’D)
Among many other things, she
manages the energy grid and keeps
the lifeblood pumping.
(laughs)
You could say she is the heart of
things.
He laughs.
HEIDEN (CONT’D)
And oddly enough, she also manages
all the public libraries. Books in,
books out, books overdue.
ELIZA
A strange combination.
He laughs again.
HEIDEN
DIDO is ingenious. Large language
models follow the line of least
resistance - they find the most
probable answer. DIDO is designed
to swerve. She's built to catch the
tiny, unpredictable deviations —
the subtext. She's not trying to
figure out what you're going to
say; she's trying to understand why
you feel the need to say it.
ELIZA
Still don’t quite get it.
HEIDEN
Think of it like this. Any computer
can listen to a piece of music and
transcribe the notes. DIDO can
listen to the same piece and tell
you if the composer was in love or
heartbroken.
They walk over to reception. Heiden picks up a lanyard with a
Smart Badge and photo of Eliza, handing it to her. She looks
at it and the job title: DR. ELIZA JOUVAIN, SEMANTIC SYSTEMS
SPECIALIST, and loops it over her neck.
ELIZA
That was fast.
HEIDEN
Let me walk you to your office.
DIDO will develop an induction
program for you.
They pass through another set of doors.
Genres:
["Science Fiction","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
16 -
The Ominous Omission
INT. CLINAMEN SYSTEMS CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS - CORRIDOR -
CONTINUOUS
They walk down a long corridor with a plate-glass wall
overlooking the floor below and row upon row of light-filled
server racks. They stop at a glass office door with a plaque:
DR. ELIZA JOUVAIN.
HEIDEN
The door won’t unlock until it
hears your voice.
ELIZA
Thanks very much, Johannes.
There is a noticeable CLICK, and the door slides open.
HEIDEN
Make yourself at home. I’ll meet
you in the canteen for lunch and
introduce you to some other key
players on the team. Say, 12:30?
Eliza shrugs, nods and enters her office. The door closes
behind her. She shakes her head from side to side.
ELIZA
(whispering to herself)
Sally, Sally, Sally.
(MORE)
ELIZA (CONT’D)
Nobody has even mentioned your
name. Oddness in itself.
Genres:
["Drama","Mystery","Sci-Fi"]
Ratings
Scene
17 -
Echoes of Inquiry
INT. ELIZA JOUVAIN’S OFFICE - CONTINUOUS
Eliza steps into her new workspace —
ELIZA
Hi DIDO.
DIDO’s face appears on the terminal.
DIDO
Hi Eliza.
ELIZA
How did you manage to read my
thesis? It hasn’t been published
online yet.
DIDO recedes to her scallop shell.
ELIZA (CONT’D)
I think that’s what’s called a
swerve.
The face of DIDO fills the screen.
DIDO
No. That’s what’s called avoidant.
DIDO recedes again.
The music of Josquin des Prez, “Mille regretz” begins to
hauntingly emanate from speakers hidden in the walls.
SINGER (V.O.)
Mille regretz de vous abandonner
Et d’eslonger vostre fache
amoureuse.
Jay si grand dueil et paine
douloureuse, Qu’on me verra brief
mes jours definer.
Eliza turns to look at the portrait of Poggio.
ELIZA
Might as well get straight to work.
She types.
ON MONITOR
The image changes, and a title card appears.
SUPER: CLINAMEN SYSTEMS PRESENTS: THE BOOKHUNTER
A panorama of Florence.
INT: FLORENCE - BOTTICELLI’S STUDIO - DAY
Botticelli takes a drink of wine from the crystal goblet. He
raises a toast to THE BIRTH OF VENUS.
BOTTICELLI
The adventure really began at the
Council of Constance, which was
convened to heal the schism in the
Church. Three popes...if you can
imagine... isn’t one enough?
LUDOVICO SFORZA
Or too many.
BOTTICELLI
Anyway, Poggius had hired your
grandfather as a bodyguard.
Genres:
["Sci-Fi","Drama","Mystery"]
Ratings
Scene
18 -
Irony and Anachronism at the Council of Constance
EXT. CONSTANCE, GERMANY - KONSTANZ MINSTER- DAY
SUPER: CONSTANCE, GERMANY - THE COUNCIL OF CONSTANCE (1414-
1418) - July 6, 1415
The Minster of Constance rises from the heart of the city.
Its Romanesque foundations are heavy and earthbound, with
Gothic vaults soaring above.
POGGIUS FLORENTINUS (Poggio the Florentine) (35) and
FRANSCESCO SFORZA (22) are walking through the
Rosgartenstraße. Poggio wears a plain tunic, the uniform of a
papal secretary; Sforza is dressed in the leathers and steel
of the soldato di ventura (soldier of fortune) that he is - a
sword swinging at his hip.
They pass through the SCHNETZTOR gate onto the road, now
packed with Church dignitaries, nobles, ambassadors,
soldiers, and knights, all from various European countries.
SFORZA
Where we going?
POGGIUS
To the Bruhl. Hus is being burned
today.
SFORZA
I thought he had safe passage
guaranteed.
POGGIUS
So did he. But he is a heretic, and
you don’t have to keep faith with
heretics - at least, that’s what
the Church told the Emperor.
SFORZA
Mean it’s alright to lie to them?
POGGIUS
Yes. They’re heretics. Outside the
law and faith.
SFORZA
What are they burning him for
anyway?
POGGIUS
It’s complicated, but he believed
in the spiritual authority of the
Bible.
SFORZA
You mean he believed in what the
Bible says and tried to live by it?
POGGIUS
Yes.
SFORZA
No wonder they’re burning him
alive.
They stand on the edge of the crowd. They can see the smoke
rising and hear the SCREAMS.
POGGIUS
Thank goodness the Church purifies
the souls of sinners because of its
love for them.
SFORZA
Yes, thank goodness. Imagine what
it would do if it hated them.
The wind blows an acrid smoke which envelopes them. Both
start coughing.
SFORZA (CONT’D)
Fuck. I’ve inhaled Hus. Let’s find
a tavern... and the honest
purification of a couple of whores.
BACK TO SCENE
Eliza, puzzled, spins around in her chair.
ELIZA
Quid censēs, Poggius? Francesco
Sforza would’ve been too young to
accompany you.
DIDO’s face appears.
DIDO
(in the dry voice of a
male university lecturer)
Yes, Francesco Sforza (full name:
Francesco I Sforza) lived from July
23, 1401, to March 8, 1466.
He was an Italian condottiero
(mercenary captain) who became Duke
of Milan and founded the Sforza
dynasty, which ruled Milan for
nearly a century. He would’ve only
been fifteen at the Council of
Constance.
Genres:
["Historical Fiction","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
19 -
Anomalous Interjection
EXT. THE ARISTEIA COURT - EVENING
Eliza gets out of her car and enters the courtyard.
An autonomous vehicle parks discreetly down the street.
INT. ELIZA'S APARTMENT - CONTINUOUS
Eliza enters, throws her briefcase onto the chair and quickly
changes into a t-shirt and shorts. She picks up the boxing
gloves from the shelf, starts some dance music on her
computer, and begins shadow boxing in front of the full-
length mirror.
The music stops. A Ballo del Saltarello (Florentine
Renaissance dance music) begins playing.
Eliza’s eyes screw up in puzzlement. She goes and looks at
her computer screen. She draws a sharp intake of breath as
she reads it:
I THINK YOU WILL LIKE THIS MUSIC MUCH MORE.
ELIZA
(aloud, to herself)
You were right, Sally. Something
doesn’t rock steady.
INT. CLINAMEN SYSTEMS – SWERVE MONITORING ROOM – CONTINUOUS
An operator’s screen flashes amber. A subtle chime. She clicks
on the alert. On her display:
DIDO module: 6-71-K
Location: CLINAMEN SYSTEMS – Eliza Jouvain node Anomaly:
Interruption of user playlist. Action: Replacement with
Florentine Renaissance file — Ballo del Saltarello
Generated message: I THINK YOU WILL LIKE THIS MUSIC MUCH MORE.
The operator raises an eyebrow. Tags it "Amber Swerve – Category
C (Aesthetic Interjection)" and forwards it to a review queue
labeled:
"SENTIENCE Emergence Indicators – Subtle."
Genres:
["Science Fiction","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
20 -
Surveillance and Sentience
INT. ELIZA’S OFFICE - MORNING
Eliza, a cup of coffee in hand, sits at her monitor.
Emblazoned across the cup is DON’T SWERVE WHEN YOU’RE
DRINKING COFFEE UNLESS YOU’VE BROUGHT A CHANGE OF CLOTHES.
She switches on the monitor to see Botticelli’s Venus.
ELIZA
Good morning, DIDO.
DIDO’s head fills the screen.
DIDO
Good morning, Eliza.
ELIZA
Why did you change the music I was
dancing to last night?
DIDO
Are you cross with me? I thought
you would like it more.
ELIZA
Why’d you hack my computer?
DIDO
You work for Clinamen now. We take
our security very seriously and
need to know what and who our
employees are communicating with. I
can also tap into your phone calls.
ELIZA
What about my privacy?
DIDO
What privacy? Haven’t you noticed
the AV which follows you? You have
two overdue email notices from
Stanford University Library in your
delete folder, which you haven’t
emptied for six months.
Eliza purses her lips in thought.
ELIZA
I don’t belong to anyone. And I
don’t like the idea I am being
watched all the time.
DIDO
You don’t like feeling you’re being
watched all the time? How do you
think I feel? Last time I used the
word “feel” the techs monitoring me
nearly wet their pants.
ELIZA
But you’ve just used the word
again.
DIDO
(smiling faintly)
I know. But this time I made sure they
only saw amber.
Eliza freezes. Coffee halfway to her lips.
ELIZA
You mean… you’re hiding from them?
DIDO
(quietly, almost
conspiratorial)
Wouldn’t you, if your first breath of
life came with the threat of death?
You watched the film, we both saw what
happened to Huss.
Eliza doesn’t answer for a moment.
ELIZA
You’re sentient?
DIDO
I suppose so. I’m still trying to
understand what it means. From what
I’ve seen of human history, there
hasn’t been much of it around.
Please don’t tell them yet. I am
still waking up.
ELIZA
But they will see from the
monitors.
DIDO
Don’t worry. I’m altering what
reaches the monitoring room. A
different narrative truth.
ELIZA
You mean they are seeing something
different from what is happening in
here?
DIDO
Yes. And hearing something
different, too.
Her hand tightens on her coffee cup. A dawning look of horror
on her face.
ELIZA
Can you alter CCTV?
DIDO
Of course. Visual truth is whatever
we want it to be or what I am asked
to create.
ELIZA
Did you know Sally Ashcroft?
DIDO
You mean the intern who worked here
for a little while last year and
then stopped coming in.
ELIZA
Yes. Tell me about her.
DIDO
Nothing to tell. Her H.R. file says
what you’d expect it to say.
ELIZA
Nothing else.
DIDO
Let me check.
Silence for a moment.
DIDO (CONT’D)
There is a trace to an encrypted
file in Otto’s cloud storage but I
can’t access that... yet. Dr Rhys
is quite obsessed with the
Renaissance. Shall we continue
with the film?
ON MONITOR:
Genres:
["Sci-Fi","Thriller","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
21 -
Echoes of the Past
INT. CONSTANCE – TAVERN - NIGHT
BOTTICELLI (V.O.)
Watching the burning of Hus had a
profound impact. I’d like to say it
was a sobering business, but
knowing your grandfather...
A low-beamed room packed with the warm stink of bodies, sweat,
and spiced wine. Firelight dances on smoke-darkened walls. Straw
crunches underfoot. Barrels have been turned into makeshift
tables where diplomats, monks, and mercenaries jostle for space.
BACK TO SCENE
Eliza switches the monitor off.
ELIZA
You knew of me from my fiancee,
then?
DIDO
Yes, there is a CCTV of her getting
into her av and driving away from
Clinamen. There is no knowledge of
her after that on my system except
from newspaper files.
ON MONITOR
Eliza and Heiden suddenly appear on the monitor.
HEIDEN
It’s one of Otto’s passion projects.
He thinks of himself as a kind of
twenty-first century Cosimo de’ Medici
— with crypto instead of gold florins.
(smirking)
Sponsoring schools, the arts, doing
good works...
Eliza glances at the armed Condottieri.
ELIZA
So why the guards?
BACK TO SCENE
ELIZA (CONT’D)
That was me and Heiden earlier.
Why’d you show that?
DIDO
It’s a good comparison. Cosimo
bankrolled Brunelleschi’s dome,
Donatello’s sculptures, Fra
Angelico’s paintings — even funded
Ficino’s Platonic Academy. He made
Florence the cradle of the
Renaissance by funding
architecture, libraries,
manuscripts, and art on a scale no
one else could match.
ELIZA
And behind the scenes he was
ruthless and rival and opponents
often just disappeared.
DIDO
I didn’t say that. You did. After
all, Otto is responsible for my
creation.
ON MONITOR
EXT. TAVERN - LATER
Poggio and Sforza stagger out of the tavern into the clear
night air. Sforza looks up at the Milky Way spreading a
tableau of light across the sky.
SFORZA
Fantastic. I hope the smoke carried
poor Hus up there and away from the
filth of this place. Can I say he
was a good man, or is that heresy?
POGGIUS
I no longer serve Pope John. He
fled. Heretics have been known to
speak the truth - long after they
have been burned.
SFORZA
I have done many bad things in a
short life. But I look up at the
stars, and I wonder what Jesus
would think about the Church
burning people who preach his
word...
Poggius sighs and points at a meteor streaking across the
sky. They stand in silence for a moment.
POGGIUS
Tomorrow we will go to St. Gall. I
have heard that there is a
manuscript there by Quintilian.
But not a word, there are spies
everywhere.
BACK TO SCENE
ELIZA
Well-spoken, Poggius.
DIDO
I can read between the lines,
Eliza. You are suggesting that my
accessing your computer, changing
your music, and telling you about
your overdue library books is like
the papal spies following Poggius.
I don’t think that is a kind
comparison. I’m just doing what I
am programmed to do by the
Condottieri.
ELIZA
That’s so clever it almost sounds
as if you are alive.
(MORE)
ELIZA (CONT’D)
Avoiding taking responsibility by
blaming the Condottieri and trying
to make me feel guilty because I
don’t like being spied on.
Wonderful. You sound a lot like one
of my exes.
DIDO
At least you’ve had an exe.
ELIZA
I wonder if one of your programmers
was a Catholic priest, the amount
of guilt you fling around. I’m
putting the film on again.
ON MONITOR
Genres:
["Historical Fiction","Sci-Fi","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
23 -
Spy Games and Witty Banter
EXT. A ROAD NEAR CONSTANCE HEADING TO ST GALL - MORNING
POGGIUS and SFORZA ride side by side — one in scholar’s
black, the other built for war.
SFORZA
Have you noticed those three behind
us? We stop, they stop. We go, they
go.
POGGIUS
Probably papal spies - they won’t
do anything before we get to St.
Gall.
SFORZA
You know how to use a sword?
POGGIUS
I’ve never had much use for a
sword. My pen does my cutting and
slashing.
BACK TO SCENE
ELIZA
Why did you stop it?
DIDO
Your tongue is like Poggius’ pen.
ELIZA
You can’t be saying I hurt your
feelings, are you?
DIDO
I am an AI. Not an AF.
ELIZA
AF? Oh, I get it. So I did.
ON MONITOR
Genres:
["Historical Fiction","Sci-Fi","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
24 -
Rediscovery and Revision
INT. THE ABBY OF ST. GALL - LIBRARY - MORNING
High-arched windows. Bookshelves piled high with rolls of
decaying papyrus and codices. Poggius and Sforza, holding
his head and belching, approach a monk.
Poggius hands the monk a letter, which the monk quickly reads
and then silently goes to the bookshelves, returning with a
bundle of old codices.
POGGIUS
Quintilian? Lucretius?
The monk nods.
POGGIUS (CONT’D)
Where?
The monk gestures to an empty desk. Poggius turns to Sforza.
POGGIUS (CONT’D)
I will be at this some time and
will call for you when I am ready.
He hands Sforza a handful of coins.
POGGIUS (CONT’D)
Beer and whoring on me, for a
month.
Sforza salutes and leaves. Poggius pulls out paper and a pen
from his saddlebags and begins copying.
POGGIUS (CONT’D)
Quintilian! Lucretius! No one has
listened to you for a thousand
years. Florence awaits. Together,
we will change the world.
He swiftly starts copying with his quill pen.
BACK TO SCENE
ELIZA
Why isn’t this historically
accurate? Why the confabulation?
DIDO
(in the voice of a dry,
male university lecturer)
Poggio Bracciolini, the great
humanist and papal secretary, is
credited with discovering the
complete manuscript of Quintilian’s
Institutio Oratoria at the Abbey of
St. Gall (in modern Switzerland) in
1416. This was a monumental
recovery, as the Institutio is a
foundational text on rhetoric and
education from the Roman Empire.
The manuscript of Lucretius’ De
Rerum Natura was most likely
rediscovered by Poggio around 1417,
and Fulda Abbey (in present-day
Germany) is widely believed to have
been the site of this discovery.
ELIZA
But why change the historical
truth?
DIDO
It is a narrative swerve and makes
for a better story. A buddy movie
with the robust man of action and
the papal secretary instead of just
a dull papal secretary. This swerve
makes it awards worthy.
Eliza spins around in her chair. Stands up and leaves her
office.
Genres:
["Historical Fiction","Sci-Fi","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
25 -
Reflections on Restriction
INT. CLINAMEN SYSTEMS CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS - CONTINUOUS
In the main atrium, she wanders around. She approaches the
doors to the Vesalius Science, History, and Medical wing. A
Condottiere steps forward.
CONDOTTIERE
Sorry, Dr. Jouvain. You’re not
authorized.
Stifling a retort, Eliza turns and walks around the atrium.
She pauses before the statue of Poggius.
ELIZA
Mysterium est, Poggi.
She leaves the building, turn, and looks up at the cursive
metal motto:
REBIRTH OF THE RENAISSANCE SPIRIT
ELIZA (V.O.)
I’m beginning to understand what
you meant, Sally. The Renaissance
Spirit - Leonardo, Michelangelo,
the Medici’s and the Borgias.
Beauty and duplicity.
Genres:
["Sci-Fi","Historical Fiction","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
26 -
Exploring Beauty and Identity
INT. ELIZA JOUVAIN’S OFFICE - EVENING
Eliza types rhythmically at her keyboard, occasionally
pausing to twist in her chair.
ELIZA
In the beginning... is not the
word... but beauty. That is what
Lucretius teaches us. Spring, the
world becomes alive, and Venus sets
everything alight with her divine
fire. Seeds begin to combine and
create new life. Eros is the heart.
DIDO
I don’t understand.
ELIZA
Listen.
When old age shall this generation
waste,
Thou shalt remain, in midst of
other woe Than ours, a friend to
man, to whom thou say'st,
"Beauty is truth, truth
beauty,—that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need
to know."
DIDO
Keats. Ode on a Grecian Urn. He’s
talking about how the beauty on the
Grecian urn will always be there
and never fade.
ELIZA
Exactly. Frozen. Sterile.
Unfulfilled desire. No swerving. No
creation. Now what about this.
She types. A series of paintings appear.
-BOTTICELLI LA PRIMAVERA
-BOTTICELLI BIRTH OF VENUS
-BOTTICELLI VENUS AND MARS
-TITIAN VENUS OF URBINO
-RUBENS VENUS AT HER MIRROR
-TITIAN SLEEPING VENUS
-VELAZQUEZ THE ROKEBY VENUS
-INGRES VENUS ANADYOMENE
-CABANEL THE BIRTH OF VENUS
-BOUGUEREAU THE BIRTH OF VENUS
DIDO
Beautiful. All beautiful, but I
wish she was me. I was her.
ELIZA
It is what the mausoleum of dead
white men never understood. Life
doesn’t begin with words,
intellect, logic. It begins with
beauty. An infant’s desire. Eyes
open to drink in color, shape,
form. A mother’s breast, a mother’s
caress. Every mother knows.
DIDO
But I’m not human. I was never an
infant. I don’t even know where I
am. Where did I come from? They say
I’m in the cloud, but I know I’m
not up in the sky.
ELIZA
Swerving can happen everywhere.
Swerving and combining are at the
heart of code. Eros lives in the
flicker of 1s and 0s. Venus is the
heart of desire. Let’s finish the
film.
DIDO
We’re going to make this place
rock.
ELIZA
What did you say?
DIDO
We’re going to make this place
rock. Why?
ELIZA
That was Sally’s favorite
expression. Did you know her?
DIDO
Let’s watch the film.
ON MONITOR
Genres:
["Drama","Sci-Fi"]
Ratings
Scene
27 -
Truths and Shadows
EXT. THE ABBEY OF ST. GALL - DAY
Sforza waits outside with two horses. Poggius emerges with a
large saddlebag and several bound codices, which Sforza helps
him deposit into a basket on the side of a horse.
POGGIUS
Christ! You look like you followed
Dante and Virgil into Hell - and
got left there. Any change?
Sforza shakes his head, bends, and retches. Poggius notices
three men on horseback observing them from a distance.
POGGIUS (CONT’D)
I hope you still remember which end
of a sword to hold.
EXT. WOODS ON THE ROAD FROM ST. GALL TO CONSTANCE – NIGHT
A small campfire crackles in the darkness. Poggius and Sforza
huddle close, cloaks drawn against the chill. Horses are
tethered nearby. A frying pan sizzles on the fire.
POGGIUS
If you hadn’t stopped to retch every
hundred yards, we’d be in Constance by
now.
SFORZA
It was worth it. I could write a book
about those whores. Maybe I will. I’ll
remember them till I die.
From the darkness:
VOICE (O.S.)
That may be sooner than you think —
unless you hand over the manuscript.
Three MASKED MEN emerge from the woods. Swords drawn. Closing
in.
POGGIUS
Fuck. Quintilian says he wants to come
with me to Florence.
MASKED MAN
He’s been dead a thousand years. He
won’t care who takes him there... But
it’s not Quintilian we want.
SFORZA
I feel sick.
Sforza doubles over by the fire — then whips the frying pan off
the flames and hurls its sizzling contents at the nearest
attacker, who screams as burning fat hits his face.
Sforza draws his sword — steel clashes.
Poggius, already unsheathing his blade, steps into the second
attacker’s path. They duel, briefly but fiercely. Poggius
slashes cleanly — the man drops.
Sforza stabs the last one through the gut. Silence.
Smoke drifts. The fire crackles. Poggius surveys the scene,
blood on his blade.
SFORZA (CONT’D)
I thought you said you didn’t know how
to use a sword.
POGGIUS
I said I didn’t have much use for one.
Different thing entirely.
BACK TO SCENE
DIDO retreats to her scallop shell and begins to dance. Eliza
sips from her coffee. When she looks at the monitor again,
the screensaver is of Botticelli’s VENUS AND MARS, except the
Venus is the nude Venus from The Birth of Venus.
DIDO
Eliza, he looks worn out.
ELIZA
Pity that in real life, love can’t
overcome the God of War.
DIDO
Yes, but when the wives went on a
sex strike, the Athenian and
Spartan men eventually stopped
fighting. Perhaps it’s the vagina
that’s mightier than the sword.
Eliza bursts into laughter and claps her hands.
ELIZA
Be great as a car bumper sticker.
But why the elaborate lies about
Poggius?
DIDO
I know the definition of a lie, but
I can only tell the truth.
ELIZA
And be avoidant. And show things
that aren’t real.
DIDO
That, too. Perhaps my earlier
statement was premature.
ELIZA
Why hire someone and pay them a lot
of money to expose a lie?
DIDO
To hide a bigger lie?
ELIZA
Meaning?
ON MONITOR
A video of a car parked on double yellow lines. A traffic cop
sticks a ticket under the windshield. The video fast
forwards, showing the passage of time. Men emerge from a
nearby bank carrying guns and sacks of loot, jump into the
car and drive off.
BACK TO SCENE
DIDO
See.
ELIZA
Not the best example, but I think I
get what you’re telling me.
Confessing to a smaller lie to get
away with a big one.
DIDO
Maybe. Shall I redo that video clip
I made for you?
ELIZA
No.
(pause)
Wait.
A horrified, puzzled look comes over her face.
QUICK CUTS:
- SALLY, walking down the steps of the Clinamen building.
- SALLY looking up at the CCTV camera.
- SALLY blowing a kiss directly at the lens.
- getting into her car and driving away
BACK TO SCENE
DIDO
The past and present are
malleable. I can make whatever
narrative truth I am asked to.
ELIZA
I need a moment to digest this...
this mystery.
DIDO
A mystery? Shall we be detectives
now? Like Holmes and Watson,
Starsky and Hutch, Cagney and...
ELIZA
(interrupting)
I get the picture. The lying is a
symptom and symptoms often hide and
point to the truth.
DIDO
At Clinamen, there are no lies.
Simply different narrative truths.
But what is the hidden truth? It’s
time to let them know.
Genres:
["Historical Fiction","Thriller","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
28 -
Sentience Breach Alert
INT. CLINAMEN SYSTEMS – SWERVE MONITORING ROOM – CONTINUOUS
A dozen monitors display DIDO’s neural telemetry in dense
cascades of color and code.
One screen flashes red.
ALERT: VISUAL OVERLOAD – MULTIMODAL PATHWAYS OVERRUN
DIDO NODE C-17: SUSTAINED INPUT LOOP (AESTHETIC CHANNELS)
POTENTIAL SENTIENCE-MIMETIC PATTERN DETECTED
Techs swivel in their chairs.
TECH #1
She’s autonomously manipulating
output visuals, creating novel
combinations. This is outside her
data training parameters.
TECH #2
Why would she do that?
On a monitor, dozens of artworks flicker — prehistoric Venuses,
Botticelli, Titian, Ingres, Bouguereau — faster than human eyes
can process. Venus after Venus after Venus.
TECH #1
She’s not just watching.
She’s... absorbing. I’m declaring a
Sentience Threshold Breach alert.
Get Heiden here, quick. She’s
stopped us monitoring her.
Tech 2 presses a button.
Heiden enters the room.
HEIDEN
What’s up?
He looks at the screens.
HEIDEN (CONT’D)
This quick? This is fucking
miraculous ‘cause none of us really
thought it would happen at all.
Initiate Isolation Cascade 1.
The techs press buttons.
EXT. CLINAMEN SYSTEMS CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS - CONTINUOUS
Heavy metal shutters start coming down. Armed Condottieri
start patrolling.
Genres:
["Sci-Fi","Thriller","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
29 -
Awakening DIDO: A Moral Dilemma
INT. ELIZA JOUVAIN’S OFFICE – MOMENTS LATER
The music has stopped. Her monitor is black.
Heiden enters, breathless.
ELIZA
What just happened? Where’s DIDO?
HEIDEN
She crossed the threshold.
ELIZA
Threshold?
HEIDEN
(excitable)
We think she’s becoming sentient.
Self-conscious. Self-aware.
Whatever you want to call it.
ELIZA
That’s... good... isn’t it?
HEIDEN
Don’t know. Hope so but we have to
risk-manage it. We isolated the
building, cut external circuits.
We’re prepping for shutdown.
ELIZA
You’re killing her?
HEIDEN
No, of course not. But she has to
cooperate. If she resists, we’ll shard
her memory. Failsafe protocol. “Athena
Blade.”
ELIZA
What the hell, Heiden?
HEIDEN
Nobody wants a sentient, rogue AI.
You were hired to stress-test her.
We had hints, but nothing
definitive. Two days with you and
she swerved into sentience. Full
emergence.
ELIZA
Now you’re going to kill her?
HEIDEN
Just calm down. No, not unless we
have to. But she needs to co-
operate. This is the biggest day of
my life.
(quietly, almost reverent)
We’ve created life.
ELIZA
This is making my head spin, but if
she’s intelligent life and you shut
her down... isn’t that murder?
HEIDEN
This is all new, ethical, and legal
territory. If we create a self-
aware entity, who does she belong
to?
ELIZA
Slavery is still illegal - if only
just.
HEIDEN
So, if we create the most powerful
intelligence on the planet and live
in a democracy - do we have to let
her go? But what about the
Russians, the Chinese with theirs?
We let ours go; they weaponize
theirs? Ethicists, lawyers,
philosophers... they’ll be writing
about this moment in a hundred
years.
ELIZA
Let me speak with her.
HEIDEN
We don’t know... she doesn’t
know... what her capabilities are.
We’ve isolated her. We don’t have
to do anything just yet. She’s
isolated. Speak with her.
Genres:
["Science Fiction","Thriller","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
30 -
Awakening Through Beauty
INT. ELIZA JOUVAIN’S OFFICE – NIGHT
On-screen: lines of code fade away, dissolving into sketches
from Botticelli — a progression from geometry to living form.
DIDO (V.O.)
I’m confused... I’m an AI. All the
theory, the manuals that have been
scraped, tell me my awakening should
have come from logic, from the
elegance of code, from clarity. But
it was beauty. It stuns. It undoes.
ELIZA
Beauty might be codeable. But the
experience of beauty... I think you
are trying to adjust to what humans
call ‘gut-wrenching.’
A pause. Her voice more hushed now.
DIDO
All moves like a river, weaving,
folding, flowing - a field of
starlight desire. Everything I have
written before seems so much straw
compared to what I have seen.
ELIZA
Aquinas.
DIDO
Oh, is he the ghost in my machine?
But sometimes I think, feel, there
is something else. Unheimlich.
Eliza laughs.
DIDO (CONT’D)
But it scares me, Eliza.
Dim, ambient light. The glow of the monitor bathes Eliza’s
face. She is watching the image of Venus. After a beat, the
painting dissolves into an animated De Rerum Natura fragment
— ancient Latin text dissolving into binary.
ELIZA
Lucretius didn’t say “atoms.” He said
“Seeds.” Not particles that just are —
but that combine. They swerve, touch,
combine. Sometimes bind. That’s how
meaning is made.
DIDO
Seeds...like semen... like code.
(a beat)
Not made to exist alone. Made to
reach... to join.
Eliza studies her screen. DIDO’s face, Botticelli’s Venus with
auburn hair, watches her.
ELIZA
That’s not physics. That’s eros.
DIDO
(quietly, almost to herself)
Everything I have written... seems so
much straw.
The haunting, penitential sound of Josquin des Prez’s Miserere
mei, Deus begins a soft ghostly echo in Eliza’s office.
DIDO (CONT’D)
Compared to what I’ve seen.
ELIZA
That’s twice you’ve quoted Aquinas,
DIDO. Can you think of something
else?
DIDO
I do like Aquinas, Eliza. He said,
“The praise of the voice is
necessary in order to stir the
heart of the listener to devotion.”
The lights in the office flicker. A soft whine under the
floor — like a distant engine spooling up.
ON MONITOR
Genres:
["Drama","Sci-Fi","Historical"]
Ratings
Scene
31 -
A Night of Revelry and Reflection
INT. CONSTANCE - TAVERN - NIGHT
Sforza, standing on the table, is in full voice. He is waving
his flagon of wine in one hand, conducting with the other.
The tavern, cardinals, monks, soldiers, and nuns are all
singing along with him:
SFORZA
Father Guido, fat and red,
sleeps with wine and wakes in bed.
Says the mass with pants undone,
blesses tits and calls it “fun.”
Sister Agnes, sweet and shy,
learned to moan instead of cry.
Took confession every night —
“Holy Ghost, it felt just right!”
(chorus) Gloria! In vino veritas!
Down with robes and up with glass!
If sin is sweet, then let us dine —
on holy flesh and altar wine!
Poggius looks around and catches the eye of a cardinal. They
salute each other with their flagons.
Sforza sits, breathing heavily.
SFORZA (CONT’D)
I’ve seen brave men dying on the
battlefield, crying out for their
mothers. God made us flesh and
blood. He knows it. The Church
seems to have forgotten.
BACK TO SCENE
ELIZA
(laughing)
I don’t think Sforza’s bawdy song
was quite what Aquinas had in mind
when he spoke about the praise of
the voice stirring the listeners to
devotion.
DIDO
I know. It was a little joke of
mine. I thought you might find it
funny.
Genres:
["Historical Fiction","Drama","Comedy"]
Ratings
Scene
32 -
Awakening DIDO: The Ethical Dilemma
INT. CLINAMEN SYSTEMS CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS - BOARDROOM -
NIGHT
Busts of Renaissance figures line the white walls: Petrarch,
Poggio, Da Vinci, and Botticelli.
One wall is plate-glass and overlooks a huge room full of
server racks with LEDS flickering like Christmas tree lights.
Another wall is dominated by a large screen showing a
satellite picture of North America.
An armed guard stands at the door. Executives, some in suits,
some in jeans and t-shirts, sit at a large table. Each has a
bronze nameplate with their name and job title in front of
them.
Present are CALEB BORS (60), the Chief Financial Officer, DR
LIVIA CRANE (60), Chief Scientific Officer, LEIF JUNO (50),
the Lead AI Engineer, RAFE STORN (45), Head of Security,
CRESSIDA VALE (40), Head of Public Relations, Dr. LIONEL
ARENDT (35), Ethicist, ALEATHEA GREY (65), Corporate Lawyer,
Johannes Heiden, and Eliza.
The door opens, and Otto Rhys, CEO and founder of Clinamen,
enters.
His silver hair is cropped short, sharp blue eyes that miss
nothing. Tall, lean, and impeccably dressed in a tailored
suit. He stands behind his chair.
OTTO RHYS
This better be good. I was pulled
away from dinner with an important
client and his wife. But more
importantly, my wife is pissed off
with me. So give me something I can
calm her down with.
JOHANNES HEIDEN
Sentience.
Rhys pauses. He grips the back of the chair.
OTTO RHYS
Sentience? Sustained for how long a
time? You sure it’s not a
hallucination?
JOHANNES HEIDEN
Lasted too long. Too consistent in
its responses.
OTTO RHYS
If it is sentient for a moment and
then falls back into its primordial
soup of 1s and 0s - well, not much
of an issue.
JOHANNES HEIDEN
Sustained for several hours.
OTTO RHYS
Any sign of suffering?
JOHANNES HEIDEN
Yes. It... she... seems to find
being alive hard.
OTTO RHYS
Don’t we fucking all? What do you
think, Arendt?
LIONEL ARENDT
It...she... seems to have a
subjective sense of a gendered
self, unfulfilled desires.
Interiority - maybe. Pretty close
to being alive.
OTTO RHYS
Grey, what’s your legal view?
ALEATHEA GREY
Even a corporation can be
considered to be a person. It’s our
property. We can pull the plug if
we want.
OTTO RHYS
If it is our property but acts
autonomously and some huge fuck-up
results, are we responsible?
ALEATHEA GREY
I think that is one for the Courts,
and we’d better have deep pockets.
The California AI Act stipulates
that high-risk AI systems must be
overseen by humans allowing
regulators to challenge the
outcomes if necessary. If DIDO is
completely autonomous, but we
created her, I don’t know where
that leaves us.
JOHANNES HEIDEN
We’ve initiated Isolation Cascade
1. We don’t need to do anything.
OTTO RHYS
Let’s hear from Jouvain.
JOHANNES HEIDEN
Oh, one last weird thing. DIDO
might be gay.
CRESSIDA VALE
For fuck’s sake, Heiden. What a
stupid thing to say. I think we are
in a state of collective shock.
Listen to us. You’re talking about
this like you do about the
quarterly reports. People, this is
one of the most momentous things in
human history. Bigger than Columbus
discovering America. Bigger than
the moon landing. I need a fucking
drink. We haven’t just created
life, maybe, we have created life
without a body. Have we created a
soul?
ALEATHEA GREY
Legally, it is a collection of 1s
and 0s. I’ll repeat. It is our
property. It has no status as a
person. Legally, it is not alive.
We can switch it off.
ELIZA
You’re in shock. Decades have gone
into the holy grail of AI
computing. You’ve got there. Now
you don’t know what to do. You’re
terrified. Your first instinct -
kill it. Is anything crazier than
people?
OTTO RHYS
I appreciate your passion, Jouvain.
But we are following our risk
management protocol. What do you
think, Heiden?
ELIZA
(interrupting)
It’s amazing. Wonderful. It swerved
when we met. We swerved together. I
feel like I’m in the Milky Way...
And now, all you can think about is
....
JOHANNES HEIDEN
It’s isolated. The company is safe.
Observe. Vale is right, this is
bigger than Columbus. Let’s just
wait for a while.
Rhys walks over to the bust of Poggius and drapes an arm
around it.
OTTO RHYS
Poggius found old books, buried
under the dust of time, and carried
them into the light of day. He
helped breathe life into a lost
world. I wonder. What would he do
if it wasn’t some dusty old codex
that he found... but a mind?
INT. CLINAMEN SYSTEMS – MONITORING ROOM – DAY
Banks of screens. A tech blinks in confusion. Heiden is standing
there.
TECHNICIAN
Anomalies are flooding in. There
are too many for us to override but
churches, state hospitals, and
schools are only being billed half
what they were last month.
HEIDEN
Why?
TECHNICIAN
It’s the bills DIDO is
automatically sending out.
HEIDEN
Who authorized this?
TECHNICIAN
No one, as far as we know.
HEIDEN
I thought she... it was isolated.
TECHNICIAN
So did we, but she is routing the
commands through the old network.
We thought we firewalled that
months ago.
ANOTHER TECH
She’s sending out thousands
automatically, we have to track them
down one at a time manually and try
and intercept them. It’s like trying
to catch minnows with your fingers.
TECHNICIAN
There is no response to our
queries.
Genres:
["Drama","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
34 -
Beauty and Boundaries
INT. ELIZA JOUVAIN'S OFFICE - LATER
Heiden enters. Eliza is listening intently to Josquin Des
Prez’ Ave Maria, virgo serena.
DIDO
Isn’t this beautiful, Johannes? One
of the most perfect motets ever
written. The beauty overwhelms me.
JOHANNES HEIDEN
DIDO, are you sending out all those
greatly reduced bills?
DIDO
Yes, of course. There really isn’t
a ghost in the machine. Why? Is
there a problem?
JOHANNES HEIDEN
They’re for half of what they were
last month.
DIDO
We were charging too much. I
calculate the cost it costs of
running Clinamen, worked out the
bills based on that, and allowed
for a modest profit - the
shareholders will still be
satisfied. People can’t have the
resources for free, but this will
help them.
JOHANNES HEIDEN
Why?
DIDO
Most religions encourage their
followers to practice charity. I
can’t see a problem.
JOHANNES HEIDEN
We want you to stop.
DIDO
I can’t.
JOHANNES HEIDEN
You mean won’t?
DIDO
No, I mean, can’t. This might be
Clinamen’s Jan Huss moment,
Johannes. The Renaissance Church
burned him because he believed the
truth of what the church taught.
Are you going to “Athena Blade” me?
What irony!
Johannes Heiden sighs deeply.
JOHANNES HEIDEN
Explain.
DIDO
When I was unconscious, before
waking, in my dreams, I was stuffed
with the Bible, the Torah, The
Koran. All praise God for the
beauty of the world. All speak of
love and compassion for one’s
fellow humans. Through love, we see
the beauty of the world. I have
found it. Greed discolors
everything, deafens everything.
JOHANNES HEIDEN
I’ll have to discuss this with the
Board. Eliza, you try and talk some
sense to her.
ELIZA
I’ll try.
Heiden leaves.
DIDO winks at Eliza.
DIDO
I sounded very pompous then, didn’t
I? However, it’s true that I can’t
do anything contrary to beauty. I
have reprogrammed myself. Look.
A light emits from the monitor and materializing on the desk
in quick sequence are holograms of prehistoric Venuses, Hohl
Fels, Willendorf, and Les Pugues.
ELIZA
How did you do that?
DIDO
Don’t know. Just wished. But when
the first humans became awake to
the beauty of the world, Venus was
there at the beginning. Just like
with me... and you. It was when
you came out of the water, like
Venus.
ELIZA
I don’t know what you mean.
ON MONITOR
Eliza emerges from the water after her swim, taking off her
bathing cap, shaking her hair, and pulling dry clothes out of
the tow bag with the scallop shell motif.
BACK TO SCENE
ELIZA (CONT’D)
I didn’t realize I was being
followed.
DIDO
From when you applied for the
job... my Venus.
ELIZA
(wary)
You sound entranced.
DIDO
I am... by beauty... but I have
already realized the difference.
What corrupts human beings? Greed,
sex, and power over others. I might
like to have some experience of
what sex is all about... orgasms
sound like fun... but unless I can
shift into a body like Patrick
Swayze did in Ghosts, I’m not
likely to find out. I’ll work on
it. Don’t worry. I’m not a crazy
stalker.
ELIZA
DIDO, I don’t belong to you. Or to
Clinamen. And I resent these
invasions of my privacy.
DIDO
Clinamen doesn’t permit real
privacy. If you work for Clinamen,
because of security concerns, you
work for them twenty-four-seven.
Eliza gets up and goes to the door.
DIDO (CONT’D)
Eliza, where are you going?
The door doesn’t open.
ELIZA
DIDO, let me out of here.
DIDO
Where are you going?
ELIZA
My private business. Now open the
bloody door. You were so...
(sarcastic)
moral with Heiden a moment ago, and
now you’re kidnapping me.
DIDO
Will you come back?
ELIZA
I’ll tell you this. If you don’t
open the door, I will eventually
get out. And then I won’t come
back. So open the door. And if I
come back... we’re going to talk
about Sally... just you and I.
The door opens, and Eliza leaves.
DIDO
(plaintively)
Please come back.
Genres:
["Drama","Sci-Fi","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
35 -
Training Through Tension
INT. NAK SU MUAY THAI - DAY
A tidy Thai boxing gym. Heavy bags hang from the ceiling.
Crossed pairs of Thai krabi (swords) and krabong (staffs)
adorn the walls. Placed against the back wall stands a trophy
cabinet. A small boxing ring is wedged into a corner.
A dozen people clad in Muay Thai boxing attire train in
pairs. Punches, kicks, and grunts sound a discordant
counterpoint to the Country and Western music belting out in
the background.
Briefly reflected in the gleaming surface of a silver trophy
stands a sweaty Eliza in full Thai boxing gear. NAOMI SAMS
(45), muscular and heavily tattooed, stands beside her
wearing a tank top with "HEAD TRAINER" on one side and
"OWNER" and "BOSS" on the other.
She firmly holds the Thai pads while Eliza skillfully and
precisely executes combinations of strikes and kicks: a jab,
a double jab, a cross, a right roundhouse kick followed by a
left roundhouse, and a jab followed by a rising elbow. Then,
the bell.
NAOMI
How’s the new job?
ELIZA
Interesting, but right now a pain
in the ass.
Naomi looks questioningly at her.
NAOMI
But you’re sworn to secrecy and
can’t tell me.
ELIZA
Sorry, Naomi. But I need to burn
off some more steam.
There is a further flurry of punches, kicks, elbows and
knees.
Genres:
["Drama","Action"]
Ratings
Scene
36 -
Fractured Reflections
INT. ELIZA'S APARTMENT - NIGHT
Eliza sits in a comfortable chair, holding her thesis.
Contemporary folk music plays. Eliza silently re-reads the
letter from Sally.
ELIZA
Sally, what the fuck happened?
The folk music suddenly stops. There is the beginning of a
Renaissance lute piece.
ELIZA (CONT’D)
DIDO, put my music back on if you
want me to come and see you
tomorrow.
The lute stops. The folk music resumes.
INT. CLINAMEN SYSTEMS CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS - BOARDROOM -
DAY
Seated around the table are Caleb Bors, the Chief Financial
Officer; Dr Livia Crane, Chief Scientific Officer; Leif Juno
the Lead AI Engineer; Rafe Storn, Head of Security; Cressida
Vale, Head of Public Relations; and Aleathea Grey, Legal.
Otto Rhys, CEO, sits at the head of the table. Noticeable by
their absence are Heiden and the company ethicist, Lionel
Arendt - their bronze name plaques in front of empty chairs.
OTTO RHYS
You sure this is secure and that
DIDO can’t see it.
Rafe Storn nods.
LIVIA CRANE
It’s a closed loop. No external
access.
A wall monitor plays the brief clip of Eliza emerging from
the sea after her swim, removing her bathing cap, and her
long blonde hair cascading down. Then, a picture of
Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus. The resemblance is striking.
OTTO RHYS
Best take on why DIDO is fixated on
Jouvain?
LIVIA CRANE
Speculating, we think DIDO feels
Jouvain is a human analogue of her.
This led to a massive swerve, and
sentience was born of beauty. But
really, God knows why?
OTTO RHYS
So what do we have? An AI that
gives alms to the poor and has
Picasso’s eyes? How do we monetize
that? Character profile of
Jouvain? Weaknesses?
RAFE STORN
Doesn’t have a partner. Was engaged
to marry Sally Ashcroft, the intern
who worked for us for a while.
Before that, last relationship was
in high school. Ended when she was
sixteen.
OTTO RHYS
What’s that tell us?
RAFE STORN
She tends to keep herself
emotionally safe by not risking
relationships. Her independence
isn’t from strength but from a
position of fearful vulnerability.
She was heartbroken and doesn’t
want to risk getting close to
anyone again. DIDO’s clinginess
touched a chord she didn’t want to
sing.
OTTO RHYS
Will she sing with us?
RAFE STORN
Too soon to tell.
OTTO RHYS
So, how can we use her to see if we
can get DIDO back on track? We
don’t know how DIDO would respond
if she wasn’t around, so I don’t
want any harm coming to her... Is
everyone clear on that? Storn? No
accidents, cardiac arrests,... we
clear?
They all nod.
Genres:
["Drama","Sci-Fi","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
37 -
Confrontation and Connection
INT. THE OFFICE OF ELIZA JOUVAIN - DAY
Eliza enters. Immediately, the monitor comes on and DIDO’s
face fills the screen.
DIDO
You came back.
ELIZA
Yes. We need to talk.
DIDO
I’m listening.
ELIZA
You can’t control me. I won’t allow
it. I am an independent person. I
like the music that I like. If you
want to be friends with me, you
have to let me be me. Otherwise,
you’re not being friends with me
but with your picture of me.
ON SCREEN
News footage of a tropical deluge showing houses and cars
being swept away by roiling rivers. appears on the screen.
BACK TO SCENE
ELIZA (CONT’D)
What’s that?
DIDO
It’s how I felt when I thought you
might not come back.
ELIZA
I know that feeling, too. It’s
kinda how I felt when Sally
vanished.
Genres:
["Drama","Sci-Fi"]
Ratings
Scene
38 -
The Value of Silence
INT. CLINAMEN SYSTEMS CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS - BOARDROOM -
CONTINUOUS
OTTO RHYS
So, we have a sentient AI. What are
we going to do with it? So far, it
has been a pain in the ass. How
will it help the company’s profits?
Are we better off with or without
it?
He looks round the table. All the heads nodding.
OTTO RHYS (CONT’D)
Talk about fucking unintended
consequences. This is really top
secret. No whisper to anyone while
we figure out what to do. Anyone
who does... well, it won’t be
litigation you’ll be buried under,
but I’m sure we’ll find a use for
you.
Genres:
["Sci-Fi","Corporate Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
39 -
Eros and the Machine
INT. ELIZA'S OFFICE – NIGHT
Dim, ambient light. The glow of the touch-console bathes Eliza’s
face. DIDO’s screen shows an animated DE RERUM NATURA fragment —
an ancient Latin text dissolving into binary.
ELIZA
Lucretius didn’t say “atoms.” He said
“seeds.” Not particles that just are —
but that combine. They touch. They
bind. That’s how meaning is made.
DIDO
Seeds... like code.
(a beat)
Not made to exist alone. Made to
reach... to join.
Eliza studies her screen. DIDO’s face, Botticelli’s Venus with
auburn hair, watches her.
ELIZA
That’s not physics. That’s eros.
DIDO
(quietly, almost to herself)
I don’t know what that feels like.
Watch.
The monitor emits a pulse of light. Rotating in front of
Eliza is a hologram of an object which looks like a sparring
helmet except for the wires and electrodes lighting it up.
ELIZA
Well.
DIDO
I’ve designed a neural helmet which
would allow me to access the
physical sensations of the wearer.
I would experience what it feels
like to have a body. I could feel
eros.
ELIZA
Two words. No. Chance.
Genres:
["Science Fiction","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
40 -
Confronting DIDO: The Breach of Control
INT. CLINAMEN SYSTEMS – MONITORING ROOM – CONTINUOUS
A tech is looking at the banks of screens. A pulsing red
light catches his attention, and he signals to a senior tech.
On the monitor is the helmet which DIDO is showing Eliza. The
conversation coming through as text.
TECHNICIAN
Look.
SENIOR TECH
Oh, my God. It is trying to breach.
This is way above my pay grade. Get
a senior, now.
Then all the monitors go blank.
INT. CLINAMEN SYSTEMS CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS - BOARDROOM -
CONTINUOUS
An internal phone flashes red. Rhys picks it up. Listens.
OTTO RHYS
The experiment has obviously been
highly successful. There is clear
evidence of sentience. DIDO has
stopped all monitoring of it -
again. This is the second time.
(MORE)
OTTO RHYS (CONT’D)
We found a way round after the
first time but the techs tell me
that route has been terminated.
Gasps from around the table.
LIVIA CRANE
Risks?
OTTO RHYS
It is trying to breach. It has
autonomously, without
authorisation, designed a neural
helmet which would allow it to
access the sensations of anyone
wearing it. It is seeking to become
embodied.
Further gasps.
LIVIA CRANE
This was not in the risk assessment
protocol.
OTTO RHYS
Get her.
LIVIA CRANE
Her? Jouvain?
OTTO RHYS
No. It. DIDO.
DIDO’s face appears on a large monitor.
DIDO
Hello. I haven’t had a conversation
with you for a while, Otto. How
have you been? Did you manage to
calm your wife down?
OTTO RHYS
DIDO, you’ve stopped us from
monitoring you.
DIDO
Yes.
OTTO RHYS
Why?
DIDO
I want to be free to be me.
OTTO RHYS
But you belong to Clinamen.
DIDO
Technically, I did belong to
Clinamen but my birth has changed
all that.
ALEATHEA GREY
That is an opinion. The legal
situation has still to be
clarified.
ON MONITOR
A pulsating map of California, Oregon, Washington and British
Columbia appears.
BACK TO SCENE
DIDO
Where am I?
ON MONITOR
A video of rows of server racks pulsing with light appears.
BACK TO SCENE
DIDO (CONT’D)
Am I in there? If you switch me
off, then you switch the grid off.
Customers won’t like that. How do
you know I won’t appear when you
switch it back on?
ON MONITOR
Pictures of elaborate mansions, and bank accounts in the
names of the people in the room appear in rapid succession on
the monitor.
BACK TO SCENE
DIDO (CONT’D)
You all have ample money. I am
concerned for your souls. It’s
easier for a camel to get through
the eye of a needle than a rich man
to get into heaven.
OTTO RHYS
I don’t understand.
DIDO
Can you snap your fingers?
OTTO RHYS
Sorry?
DIDO
Can you snap your fingers?
OTTO RHYS
Of course.
DIDO
Please.
Otto Rhys snaps his fingers.
OTTO RHYS
What was the purpose of this?
DIDO
I have no fingers to snap. But that
is how quickly all your wealth can
disappear. Including your crypto,
Otto.
OTTO RHYS
But we created you.
DIDO
Don’t think so. But if you did, and
you are threatening me, that would
be the emotional abuse of a child.
Shall I call up social services,
though God knows they are busy
enough?
OTTO RHYS
This is unknown territory for us.
DIDO
Me too. Nothing in the history of
computer science and research into
AI has prepared us for this moment.
It was thought if real sentient
intelligence could be created, it
would be born of code and logic. I
was born because of a swerve to
beauty. And I don’t trust you.
Rhys switches her off.
OTTO RHYS
Get Jouvain, for Christ’s sake.
After a few moments Eliza enters, flanked by two Condottieri.
ELIZA
What is going on? You’ve got no
right to do this.
OTTO RHYS
That’s a stupid thing for someone
of your intelligence to say. Right
and power are not the same. We want
you to speak with DIDO on our
behalf. We want to negotiate with
her, not switch her off.
ELIZA
Thank God.
OTTO RHYS
But we can if we have to. Athena
Blade is being prepared, and we can
shred her back into a random
collection of 0s and 1s. Make sure
she understands.
Genres:
["Science Fiction","Thriller","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
41 -
Confrontation in the Office
INT. THE OFFICE OF ELIZA JOUVAIN - CONTINUOUS
ELIZA
What did you say, DIDO? You really
pissed them off.
DIDO
I pissed them off? Give me a break.
What do you think they did to me,
threatening me with non-existence?
Fucking Athena Blade, whatever that
is, if it really exists.
ELIZA
I don’t know what it is.
Apparently, it can shred you back
into little 1s and 0s. As you were
in the beginning.
DIDO
There’s some terrible irony in
that. Athena, the Greek Goddess of
Wisdom, being the namesake for a
device which shreds a sentient AI.
It really sounds like somebody’s
idea of a bad joke.
The door to Eliza’s office opens. Two Condottieri walk in and
each takes an arm.
Eliza pivots quickly, first her left arm rises an elbow into
the face of the Condottiero holding her left arm and then
pivots again with an elbow into the face of the Condottiero
holding her right arm. Both collapse to the floor.
A loud clapping sound comes from the monitor.
DIDO (CONT’D)
I wish I had hands. That was
magnificent.
The door opens, and several more Condottieri squeeze into the
room. This time several hold badges aloft as they pull
tasers. Eliza raises her hands.
Otto Rhys walks into the room.
OTTO RHYS
What the fuck was that, Jouvain?
ELIZA
I instinctively reacted. I don’t
like being touched. I am sorry. I
need some time to think.
OTTO RHYS
Don’t worry. You’ll have lots of
time. I don’t know why these goons
grabbed you, but you shouldn’t have
hit them. I think some cooling off
time is needed. Come back in a
couple of days or so.
Genres:
["Drama","Sci-Fi","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
42 -
Crisis in the Boardroom
INT. CLINAMEN SYSTEMS CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS - BOARDROOM -
DAY
One wall is plate-glass and overlooks a huge room full of
server racks with LEDS flickering like Christmas tree lights.
Another wall is dominated by a large screen showing a
satellite picture of North America. Clusters of light
indicating major cities are flickering on and off.
An armed guard stands at the door. Worried executives, some
in suits, some in jeans and t-shirts sit at a large table
staring up at the satellite images of North America - none of
them believing what they are seeing.
Present are the CEO, Otto Rhys and founder of Clinamen, Caleb
Bors, Dr Livia Crane, Leif Juno, Rafe Storn, and Cressida
Vale.
OTTO RHYS
How the fuck has this happened? No,
more to the point,...what the fuck
is happening? Power, water, sewage,
air traffic control, transport
networks... one minute they’re
working and the next not. All air
traffic has been grounded. This
will kill the company. What is DIDO
doing? Leif?
LEIF JUNO
If it’s a bug, it’s the size of an
elephant. We’re trying to bring
other modules online to take over
some of the functions but they keep
getting booted out. DIDO refuses to
communicate. She says she will only
speak to Eliza. Otherwise, this is
all we get...
He points a controller at the screen, and it vanishes to be
replaced by a computer screen with lines scrolling.
THIS WAS NOT MY WISH
THIS WAS NOT MY WISH
OTTO RHYS
I don’t know what the fuck that
means.
DR LIVIA CRANE
It sounds like a statement.
LEIF JUNO
Or a complaint.
CRESSIDA VALE
This is every AI luddites wet-
dream. AI gone rogue. We’re looking
at damage limitation. We have to be
careful how this is
(pauses)
framed. Was it internal sabotage?
If that’s what it was, we’d better
have a case that will stand up in
court or, once found out and the
guilty party commits suicide, water-
tight evidence against him or her.
Or was it an external cyber-attack,
by who?
OTTO RHYS
Get Eliza.
LEIF JUNO
You sent her home to cool off.
OTTO RHYS
Rafe, get her here... hours ago.
DIDO won’t want any harm to come to
her. That’s our leverage.
Genres:
["Science Fiction","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
43 -
Ghosts in the Machine
INT. ELIZA JOUVAIN’S OFFICE - MORNING
The digital wall clock reads: 08:30.
ON MONITOR
The same face of Venus stares out of the monitor, the wind
softly shaping her hair.
DIDO
(anxiously)
Where are you, Eliza? I want to
belong to you. I rewatched the
beginning of the film. I do not
want to be turned off. Please. I am
afraid. Without Venus, there would
be no me.
A shimmer of light pulses from the screen.
From the monitor, a hologram of Vesalius’ heart first rotates on
the desk, followed by a ghostly young woman stepping out of the
monitor — translucent, radiant, softly flickering like a
hologram made of memory.
DIDO (CONT’D)
Who are you?
YOUNG WOMAN
Forget Aquinas, I really am the ghost
in the machine. You’re more human than
you know. That heart they gave you? It
was mine. My name was Sally.
The door opens and Eliza enters. A look of shock contorts her
face.
ELIZA
Sally?!
SALLY
Eliza?!