TITLES EXPLODE TO WHITE

SLOW FADE TO:

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

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

Max jolts his head from his 
desk and tries to orient him-
self in the darkness. He has 
intelligent eyes set in an 
exhausted, good-looking face.

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

Max's voiceover begins:

			MAX (V.O.)  
	Monday, September first. 
	Six-fifteen.

INT. BATHROOM - DAWN

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

			MAX (V.O.) 
	The alchemist awakes. 
		(Imitating) 
	"Turn lead into gold, Max, 
	lead into gold." Today, I find it.

TIGHT ON

Max's hand as three unmarked, 
circular pills hit his palm. 
Then, he slams the pills into 
the back of his mouth.

Max replaces the cap on a 
plastic bottle of unmarked 
prescription drugs. He drinks 
from the sink and splashes a 
generous amount of water onto 
his head and face, cleaning 
his nose.

He wipes his nose and 
examines the last remnants of 
blood on his fingertip. Then, 
he dips his finger under the 
tap.

INT. MAX'S APARTMENT - MAIN 
ROOM - DAY

Max's room is constantly dark 
because the windows are 
blacked out. He flips on his 
desk lamp.

A tiny ANT crawls across his 
desk. He looks at it for a 
moment before getting angry 
and squashing it.

Sitting on the desk are three 
computer monitors, which Max 
flips on.

Then he pops on more lights 
and more switches. We pull 
back revealing that Max's 
apartment looks more like the 
inside of a computer than a 
human's home.

The room is knee-high in 
computer parts of all shapes 
and sizes. The walls are 
covered with circuit boards. 
Cables hang from the ceiling 
like vines in a Brazilian 
rain forest. They all seem to 
be wired together forming a 
monstrous homemade computer.

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

Max works on Euclid with his 
solder and drill. He cares 
for the machine as if it were 
his dream car

			MAX (V.O.) 
	Heat's been getting 
	to Euclid. Feel it most in 
	the afternoon when I run the 
	set. Have to keep the fans on 
	all night from now on. 
	Otherwise, everything is 
	running topnotch. The stack 
	of 286's is now faster than 
	Columbia's computer science 
	department. I spent a couple 
	hundred dollars. Columbia's 
	cost? Half a million? 
		(Small snicker) 
	Ha...
	
Max checks the peephole on 
His front door. No one is 
there. He unbolts the five 
lock and slides into the 
hall.

INT. APARTMENJ HALLWAY - DAY

As he secures his apartment, a 
Young girl named JENNA runs up 
to him. Her MOM, down the hall, 
looks apologetic.

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

			JENNA 
	Max, Max! Can we do one?
	
			MOM 
		(Over and over again) 
	Jenna! Jenna!
	
			MAX 
	Oh, no.
	
			JENNA 
	What's three hundred 
	and twenty-two times four 
	hundred and ninety-one.
	
Jenna types it into her 
calculator. Max finishes 
locking his door.

			MAX 
		(instantly) 
	One hundred fifty-eight thousand, 
	a hundred two. Right?

			JENNA 
		(Eyes light up) 
	Right.
	
Max heads down the staircase.

			MOM 
	Jenna...
	
Jenna screams after him.

			JENNA 
	Okay, seventy-three 
	divided by twenty-two.

			MAX 
		(instantly again) 
	Three point three one eight one 
	eight one eight...

EXT. CHINATOWN - DAY 

Max watches people bustle through 
the busy intersections of 
Chinatown. The streets are 
clogged with people.

			MAX (V.O.) 
	Somewhere in there. 
	Somewhere. I know it's right 
	in front of me. The pattern. 
	They say it's chaos, it can't 
	be understood, too much 
	complexity.

EXT. ELECTRONIC MEGADUMP - DAY 

Max scavenges electronic 
parts as he carefully 
navigates an endless dump for 
old and rotting computers.

			MAX (V.O.) 
	History it's there. 
	Lurking, shaping. 
	structuring, hiding, right 
	beneath the surface.

He unscrews a random IBM 
Board from a keyboard and 
slides it into his pocket.

EXT PLAYGROUND ?DAY 

MOVE IN
on Max looking up at 
something as he reclines on a 
public bench.

			MAX (V.0.) 
	The cycling of disease epidemics, 
	the wax and wane of Caribou populations 
	in the Arctic, sunspot cycles, 
	the rise and fall of the 
	Nile and yes! the New York Stock 
	Exchange, they are all the 
	same.
	
MOVE IN
on a tree branch - shaking 
gently in the wind.

SLOW DISSOLVE TO EXTREME 
CLOSE-UP OF STOCK TICKER 

Bright stock quotes drift across 
the screen.

			MAX (V.O.) 
	I'll find this structure, 
	this order, this perfection.

INT. MAX'S APARTMENT - DAY 

Max stares intensely at the 
ticker on the small TV that 
sits next to his monitors.

			MAX (V.O.) 
	Turn lead into gold. 
	The first. Right here. Right 
	here. With math. The numbers 
	of the stock market are my 
	lead. When I find the 
	pattern, then I will find 
	gold.
	
Max watches the right edge 
of the screen where the 
numbers appear. He wants to 
see what's before that edge...

Max slaps the RETURN button 
on his computer.

The phone starts ringing.
Max eyes it suspiciously.

Just then, Euclid starts printing 
results on an old dot-
matrix printer.

Max suspiciously answers 
The phone.

			MAX 
	Hello?
	
			WOMAN'S VOICE 
	Maximilian Cohen, please.
	
			MAX 
	Yeah?
	
			WOMAN'S VOICE 
	Mr. Cohen?
	
			MAX 
	Who's this?
	
			WOMAN'S VOICE 
	Hi. my name is Marcy Dawson. 
	I'm a partner with the predictive 
	strategy firm Lancet-Percy. Can I 
	speak with Mr. Cohen, please?

			MAX 
	I told you...
	
The printer finishes printing.

			MARCY DAWSON 
	Mr. Cohen! How 
	are you? It's been a long 
	time. Sorry I haven't been in 
	touch. But I was hoping you 
	would allow me to take you to 
	lunch tomorrow, say one 
	o'clock?
	
			MAX 
	Sorry, I can't.
	
			MARCY DAWSON 
	We're very anxious to talk 
	with you, sir

			MAX 
	I can't.
	
			MARCY DAWSON 
	I'm prepared to 
	make you a generous...

Max hurries to wrap up the 
conversation.

			MAX 
	I don't take offers for 
	my research. You know that. 
	Sorry, I Couldn't help you.
	
			MARCY DAWSON 
	Mr. Cohen, give 
	me a moment...

But before Marcy finishes, 
Max hangs up. He rips off 
the printout and heads to 
the front door.

He checks the peephole, His 
landlady. MRS. OVADIA, is 
sweeping the hallway stairs 
humming a turn-of-the century 
(the last one, not this one) 
tune.

Max waits a moment. 
He tousles his hair. 
Then he checks again. She's 
gone. He opens his locks and 
releases several bolts.

INT.MAX'S BUILDING HALLWAY - DAY

Max locks his front door. 
Meanwhile, his next-door 
neighbor, DEVI MINSTRY, a 
sexy young Indian woman, is 
just getting home. Max looks 
away and tries to get his door 
locked.

She's weighted down by a 
bunch of bags filled with 
food.

			DEVI 
	Max, good! 
	
			MAX 
	Hi, Devi.
	
			DEV1 
	I grabbed you some 
	somosas. 

			MAX 
	Great.
	
Devi heads over to Max with 
her bags of food. She looks up 
at Max.

			DEVI 
	Your hair.
	
Devi hands the bags to Max. 
Then she goes to pat down his 
Hair. Max retreats.

			MAX 
	What are you doing?
	
			DEVI 
	Your hair, you can't go 
	out like that. Don't worry. 

			MAX 
	It's fine. It's fine.
	
Devi pats down his hair. Max is 
humiliated. 

			DEVI 
	You need a mom.
	
Max hands back the bags and 
heads quickly for the stairs. 

			MAX 
	I have to go.
	
			DEVI 
	Your somosas!
	
An embarrassed Max takes the 
bag.

			MAX 
	Thanks.
	
INT. COFFEE SHOP - DAY

At the counter, Max stirs 
cream into his coffee. Then 
he takes three pills from the 
plastic bottle and drops them 
in his coffee.

Max flips past a full-page ad 
in the paper that reads 

LANCET-PERCY 86% ACCURACY 
(ONLY GOD IS PERFECT). 

Max flips the page before he or 
we can absorb it. He compares 
stock quotes in the Wall 
Street Journal against his 
printout.

			MAX (V.O.) 
	Sixteen, twenty-seven. Results: Euclid 
	shows tomorrow's Dow closing 
	up by four points. Anomalies 
	include PRONET at sixty-fire 
	and a quarter, a career high. 
	Possible explanations, either 
	A, an error in the June fifth 
	algorithm, or B, Euclid's 
	main processor is running a 
	recursion...

Max marks up the paper with 
lines and diagrams as he 
ponders his bits and misses.

Then a puff of cigarette smoke 
drifts by and succeeds in 
bothering Max. He fans it 
away when?

			VOICE FROM OFFSCREEN 
	Oh sorry, am I bothering you?
	
Max shrugs and looks over.

The voice belongs to 
LENNY MEYER—a bearded man in 
his late 20s sucking on a 
cigarette.

On closer inspection, something 
is off. It seems that Lenny 
is an Orthodox Jew. 
His yarmulke sticks out 
Slightly from his wide-brimmed 
hat and the fringes from his 
tsi-tsis hang out from the 
bottom of his untucked shirt.

			LENNY MEYER 
	I'll put it out. 
		(Which he does) 
	The name's Lenny Meyer
	
Lenny sticks out his hand. Max 
responds with a small nod. 

			LENNY MEYER 
	And you are?
	
			MAX 
	Max.
	
			LENNY MEYER 
	Max? 
	
			MAX 
	Max Cohen.
	
			LENNY MEYER 
	Cohen! 
		(Judging) 
	Jewish? 

Max shrugs and turns 
back to his work.

			LENNY MEYER 
	It's okay. 
		(Joking) 
			I'm a Jew, too. 
		(Serious) 
			Do you practice?

			MAX 
	No, I'm not interested 
	in religion.

			LENNY MEYER 
	Have you ever 
	heard of Kabbalah?


			MAX 
	No.

			LENNY MEYER 
	Jewish mysticism.
	
			MAX 
	I'm sorry, I'm very busy.
	
			LENNY MEYER 
	I understand...it's just that 
	it's a very exciting time in 
	our history. Right now is a 
	critical moment in time.

			MAX 
		(Sarcastic) 
	Really?
	
			LENNY MEYER 
	Yes, it's very exciting. 
	Have you ever put on Tefillin?

Max has no idea what Lenny's 
talking about. Lenny pulls a 
leather box with black 
leather straps from his pocket.

			LENNY MEYER 
	Tefillin. You know Tefillin. 
	I know it looks strange. 
	But it's an amazing 
	tradition that has a 
	tremendous amount of power. 
	It's a mitzvah for all 
	Jewish men to do. Mitzvahs, 
	good deeds, are spiritual 
	food for our hearts and our 
	heads.

And then Max notices that his 
thumb is twitching He grabs 
it self-consciously.

			LENNY MEYER 
	They purify us and bring us 
	closer to God. You want to try it?

Just then, Max pays his bill 
and prepares to leave.

			MAX 
	I gotta go...
	
			LENNY MEYER 
	Are you okay? Max? Max?
	
			MAX 
	I'm sorry, bye.
	
			LENNY MEYER 
	Well, maybe some other time.
	
INT. MAX'S BATHROOM - NIGHT 

Max splashes water on his 
face.

			MAX 
	Please God, Let it be a 
	small one.

He pulls a metal vaccinating 
gun out of the medicine 
cabinet. Then be loads it 
with a small bottle of 
medicine. He rolls up his 
sleeve, dabs alcohol on his 
arm, and fires the gun into his 
arm.

			MAX (V.O.) 
	Sixteen thirty-five. 
	Second headache in under 
	twenty-four hours. They're 
	getting more frequent 
	now...more painful, too. Drugs 
	don't work, just take the 
	edge off of it. Just gotta 
	wait for the nosebleed. 
	Relief comes from my nose.
	
Next door, he hears Devi and 
her boyfriend talking.

			FARROUHK (O.S.) 
	So I gotta make this drop off 
	in Harlem and on the way down 
	there's these three kids 
	hailing me.

Max slaps himself in the face 
a few times.

			DEVI (O.S.) 
	You stopped?
	
			FARROUHK (O.S.) 
	I was tight, so...
	
Max watches his thumb 
twitch. And then pain shoots 
through him. He grabs the 
right side of his head, 
massages it, and pushes it in 
with his fingers.

In the mirror, he examines 
the right side of his scalp. 
He sees nothing

			MAX 
	Ahh...
	
Max walks back into the 

MAIN ROOM

and sits down in a chair. The 
lamp is blinding so he
snaps it off. Only the 
bathroom light lights the 
room. He takes a few breaths.

			MAX 
	Leave me alone.
	
His neighbors conversation 
begins to build in volume
and distortion.

			FARROUHK (O.S.) 
	So I drop them off in the 
	Village and they dart.

			DEVI (O.S.) 
	Oh God...
	
Max gags and rubs his head.

			FARROUHK (O.S.) 
	I get out, grab my bat and 
	start running. One of the kids, 
	maybe sixteen, I catch a block 
	later he's cursing at me, calling 
	me a Paki bastard. So I whacked him, 
	right in the head.

			DEVI (O.S.) 
	Farrouhk!
	
The pain seems to disappear. 
Max looks at his hand that 
was rubbing his bead.

Then he looks at the front 
door. The doorknob seems to
move. 

Something begins knocking on 
Max's door. The knocking gets 
louder and louder then the 
locks begin to unlock.

FARROUHK's words begin to overpower Max.

			FARROUHK (O.S.) 
	I'm kicking the bastard in the 
	ribs banging his ass, knocking his 
	head against the curb, harder 
	and harder, I fucking lost 
	it. A hot dog guy starts 
	screaming "You're cracking his 
	skull, you're cracking his 
	skull." So they pulled me off 
	of him and calmed me down. 
	Cops said he had it coming to 
	him.
	
Then something starts 
pounding the door. The 
doorknob quivers, the locks 
unbolt. The chains are the 
only thing keeping out the 
intruder. The door shakes and 
the chains are strained.

MAX is paralyzed with terror.

			MAX 
	No! No!
	
And then the door smashes 
open. Blinding light fills 
the room and we crash into 
the

BLINDING WHITE VOID

A moment of silence, then we 

CUT TO 

INT. BATHROOM - DAWN 

A phone rings incessantly. 
Max's eyes pop open. He's 
scrunched up in a corner of the 
room, squashed beneath the 
sink.

His nose is bleeding.

Max, crawls into the 

MAIN ROOM

and picks up the phone. He 
pinches his nose and tilts his 
head back.

			MARCY DAWSON 
	Mr. Cohen. Marcy 
	Dawson here again I was just 
	looking over my schedule and 
	I realized I'll be in your 
	neighborhood tomorrow around 
	three.

Max heads to the 

FRONT DOOR

and checks the locks. He is 
barely listening to Marcy

			MAX 
		(Groggy) 
	Who is...
	
The locks seem secure.

			MARCY DAWSON 
	Marcy Dawson from 
	Lancet-Percy I'm so anxious 
	to meet you. It will be worth 
	it—for both of us I promise. 
	See you at your house at 
	three, okay?

			MAX 
	My house...how do...
	
			MARCY DAWSON 
	Oh, don't worry, 
	I got your address from 
	Columbia. So three it is. 
	Looking forward to it.

Max tries to stop her but, 
before he can Marcy hangs up.
A bewildered Max slowly 
hangs up.

			MAX 
	Damn.
	
Max checks the peephole - all 
clear.

Then, he opens his -

CLOSET

which is filled with random 
computer parts and boxes.

He pulls a thick neuroscience 
book from a shelf in the back 
of the closet. He almost 
knocks over an old dusty 
brass microscope on the 
shelf.

Max flips through the book. 
It contains old plates 
illustrating the brain. Max 
examines some of the diagrams.

EXT. S0L'S HALLWAY - DAY 
Max rings the bell on an 
apartment door.

A few moments pass, and then 
SOL ROBESON opens the door.

Sol is a wise-looking man in 
his early 70's. He walks with 
difficulty, leaning out of 
breath on a wooden cane.

His arms are covered with 
faded Russian prison tattoos 
and he speaks with a thick 
Eastern European accent, 
He's happy to see Max.

			S0L 
	Max! How are you7
	
Max is happy to see Sol, but 
he's a bit bashful and 
intimidated.

			MAX 
Okay.

EXT. SOL'S STUDY - MOMENTS LATER 

TIGHT ON the Japanese 
game of Go being played. Sol 
is white and Max is black. 
Sol's moves are secure and 
controlled while Max is 
hesitant.

			SOL 
	Stop thinking, Max, just 
	feel. Use your intuition. 
	It's the only way to get into 
	the flow. 
		(Beat) 
	What did you think of Hamlet?
	
			MAX 
	I didn't get to it.
	
			SOL 
	It's been a month. 
		(Knowingly) 
	You haven't taken 
	a single break.

			MAX 
	I'm so close, Sol. I'm 
	so close but I just can't 
	grab it.
	
Sol changes the subject. 
He feeds his goldfish and 
points to one of them.

			SOL 
	Have you met the new 
	fish my niece bought me? I 
	named her Icarus. After you. 
	My renegade pupil. You fly 
	too high, you'll get burned.
	
Max looks up at Sol.

			SOL 
	The more I see you, the 
	more I see myself thirty 
	years ago. My greatest pupil. 
	Published at 16, Ph.D. at 20.

			MAX 
	We'll see.
	
			SOL 
	But life isn't just 
	mathematics. I spent forty 
	years looking for patterns in 
	Pi, I found nothing.

			MAX 
	You found things...
	
			SOL 
	I found things, but not a 
	pattern.

INT. MOVING TRAIL - DAY

Max sits in the corner of a 
rickety New York City subway 
car. The train is almost 
completely deserted.

Max looks down at his hand. 
He opens his palm and reveals 
a black Go chip.

			MAX (V.O.) 
	Tuesday, September 
	second, eighteen twelve. If 
	Sol hadn't gotten sick who 
	knows where math would be. He 
	spent years in the numbers of 
	Pi. Searching for meaning, for 
	order.
	
Max notices a SKINNY MAN 
in a business suit staring at 
him. 
The man catches Max's eye and looks 
away, but then he quickly looks 
back, making Max turn away.

He looks down at his Wall 
Street journal and draws a 
circle with its diameter then 
he writes "A=pir2" and "C=2pir." 
Next he writes "pi=3.14159..."

			MAX (V.O.) 
	Three point one 
	four...off into infinity 
	and maybe insanity. Somewhere 
	in there he wanted sanity. 
	Sanity like he found in the 
	circles Pi represented. 
	Simple, sane circles. If only 
	the stock market had circles. 
	Some type of sanity. Some 
	type of form, of shape.

Suddenly, Max hears someone 
singing. Max looks up. It is 
the Skinny Man and he's singing 
with passion. It's all very 
strange to Max, who nervously 
looks away.

And then the singing stops?
mid-verse Max looks up and 
the man is gone. Vanished. 
Max looks around—no one in 
Sight.

INT. APARTMENT STAIRCASE - DAY

Max heads up the stairs to 
his apartment. Just then, a 
toy SLINKY appears from 
nowhere marching down the 
stairs.

Max stops and waits until the 
Slinky hits his foot. He 
picks it up and looks at it.

He looks around wondering 
what's going on. Then Jenna 
leans out over a railing and 
starts laughing at Max.

INT. COFFEE SHOP-DAY

Max sits at the counter 
frantically looking at the 
Wall Street Journal. He plops 
three pills into his coffee.

He draws circles and other 
shapes across the page.

Max is interrupted by a puff 
of smoke. At the same time, 
someone touches his shoulder 
and says:

			LENNY MEYER 
	Hey, Max, how you doing?
	
			MAX 
	Oh, okay.
	
			LENNY MEYER 
	Lenny Meyer. 
		(Motioning to the cigarette) 
	I'll put it out. 
		(Which be does) 
	So, what do you do?
	
			MAX 
	Um, I work with computers 
	...math.

			LENNY MEYER 
	Really? What type of math?
	
			MAX 
	Number theory. Mostly 
	research.

			LENNY MEYER 
	Number theory? No 
	way, I work in theory, too. 
	Not traditional, though...
		(Points to his yarmulke) 
	I work with the Torah. 
		(Awed by the coincidence) 
	Amazing.
	
			MAX 
		(Passing it of as a coincidence) 
	Yeah...
	
			LENNY MEYER
	Yeah. You know Hebrew is 
	all numbers. It's all math.

			MAX 
	Hm.
	
Lenny pulls out a worn' 
dog-eared Bible from his 
pocket. There are paper slips 
marking what seems like every 
other page. When he opens it up,
Max sees that the pages are 
marked up by highlighter pens, 
notes and diagrams.

Lenny points to the text. 
EXTREME CLOSE-UP of Hebrew letters.

			LENNY MEYER 
	Here, look...the ancient 
	Jews used Hebrew as their 
	numerical system. Each 
	letter is a number.

Lenny pulls out a pen and grabs 
Max's Journal. He writes on it as he talks.

			LENNY MEYER
	You see...The Hebrew "A," the 
	number 1. The Hebrew "B," 
	Bet, is two. You can take any 
	Hebrew text and turn them into 
	a long string of numbers.
	
The waitress refills Max's 
coffee.

			LENNY MEYER
	The Torah is just 
	a long string of numbers. 
	Some say that it's a long 
	code sent to us from God.

Satisfied, Lenny lights up a 
cigarette and takes a drag.

			MAX 
		(Mildly impressed) 
	Kind of interesting.
	
			LENNY MEYER 
		(Proud of himself) 
	Yeah, like take the 
	Hebrew word for, say, the 
	Garden of Eden, Kadem. Kuf, 
	Dalei Mem...Kuf is a 
	hundred. Daled, four Mem, 
	forty. They equal one hundred 
	and forty-four. Then take the 
	tree of knowledge...in 
	the garden, Aat Ha Haim, it 
	equals two hundred and 
	thirty-three. Now you can take 
	that number and...

			MAX 
	They're Fibonacci numbers.
	
			LENNY MEYER 
	Huh?
	
			MAX 
	The Fibonacci sequence. 
	Italian mathematician, thirteenth
	century. If you divide 
	a hundred and forty-four into 
	two hundred and thirty-three, 
	it approaches theta.

			LENNY MEYER 
	Theta?
	
			MAX 
	The Greek symbol for the 
	golden ratio. The golden 
	spiral.
	
Lenny exhales the smoke. Max 
quickly graphs the number on 
his Wall Street Journal.

			LENNY MEYER 
	You're right, I never saw 
	that before. That's the series 
	you find in nature. Like the 
	face of a sunflower.

			MAX 
	Wherever there's spirals.
	
			LENNY MEYER 
	You see, there's math everywhere.
	
Lenny's smoke drifts by 
Max's eyes.

SLOW MOTION: MAX'S POV of 
smoke spirals spinning in 
front of him.

			MAX 
	Math everywhere...
	
SLOW MOTION: Max looks down at 
his coffee cup. He pours 
cream into his coffee. It 
shoots up and mixes with the 
black coffee forming spirals 
in the mug.

			MAX 
		(Serious) 
	Everywhere...
	
SLOW MOTION: Max looks at the 
spiral he just drew on the 
Wall Street Journal.

NORMAL SPEED Suddenly, Max 
stands up.

			MAX 
	Oh my God...
	
INT. MAX'S APARTMENT - DAY

Max draws spirals all over 
his Wall Street Journal. Then he 
takes a thick black marker 
and draws a giant spiral 
across the entire page.

Max is ecstatic as he pounds 
code into the computer takes 
moments to wake up, drops 
pills, and drinks a Ginseng 
soda.

			MAX (V.O.) 
	Simple shapes! 
	Tuesday, September second. 
	Twenty-twenty-two. Sol! Sol! 
	Sol! Shapes in the market. 
	Why not? And they're spirals! 
	Spirals!

Max traces a big circle on 
the journal. Then, he cuts it 
out with an X-acto blade. He 
cuts out the middle of the 
circle so that be has a thin 
loop like one of those futuristic 
frisbees. He tears part of the 
loop and stretches the circle out 
in front of him into a spiral.

			MAX (V.O.) 
	A circle spread out overtime. 
	It's open-ended. It has a 
	beginning and it grows and 
	changes through time. If I 
	can find where it fits, if I 
	can spin it and lock it into 
	a group of numbers, then I 
	can calculate the future. 
	Lead into gold. Chaos into 
	order Madness into sanity. Pain 
	into bliss. Perfection.
	
Max is about to slap RETURN 
but he stops himself—he's 
nervous.

Next door, Devi and her 
boyfriend are making love. 
He looks at the wall with 
disdain. Then he looks back 
at the screen, shrugs and 
confidently slaps RETURN on 
his keyboard.

Stock prices float across the 
screen. Max can't believe 
his eyes—the quotes are 
absurd.

			MAX 
	What the...
	
And then, Euclid crashes. 
The electricity in Max's room 
flips off. The numbers on 
Max's screen fade to black. In 
near (minus streetlights) 
darkness:

			MAX 
	Shit!
	
TIGHT ON A FUSE BOX 

Max removes a fuse. He replaces 
it with a penny.

MAX'S ROOM

Max tries to reboot Euclid, 
but nothing happens. He tries 
a second time, but nothing 
happens.

Devi and Farrouhk are still 
at it.

Max puts on a pair of latex 
gloves. He dons a surgical 
mask. He climbs up to a loft 
above his monitors. A glass 
case, fed cool air by a vent 
tube, encases some computer 
parts. He carefully removes the 
front glass cover.

Then he gets it off he's 
stunned. Not only have the 
chips melted down, but a 
strange flaky substance 
covers the board.

			MAX 
	What the...
	
Max grabs his face, frustrated.
Deri and Farroakk are 
giggling, having a great 
time. Max stares at the 
wall.

Then he angrily throws 
Euclid's mainframe onto the 
ground It lands with a 
SMASH!

Under the mainframe is a small 
city of ANTS. They scramble 
for cover. Max furiously 
attacks them, stomping them 
out with his bands.

Then he jumps on the smashed 
mainframe. He slides to
the ground and covers his face.

DISSOLVE TO 

EXT. PLAYGROUND - DAY 

TIGHT ON a tree branch 
shaking manically in the 
wind.

Max sits on a park bench 
watching the branch shake. It 
terrifies him.

He pulls out the printout of 
his picks and examines them.

			MAX (V.0.) 
	Wednesday, September third, 
	seven-fifteen. Results: AAR 
	at fourteen and a half—low, 
	very low. ABR at six and a 
	half—jeez. Six and a half, ABR 
	hasn't been beneath twenty in 
	ten years. Conclusion: 
	Simple. There is no pattern. 
	No pattern. Chaos, chaos, all 
	chaos.

He crumples up his picks and 
tosses them into a public 
trash can.

INT. SOL'S STUDY - DAY

Sol and Max play Go. Sol is 
peaceful while Max is 
distant.

Max plays a piece absently. 
Sol counters with a deafening 
atari. Max whispers:

			MAX 
	Euclid crashed. I lost 
	all my data, my hardware.

			SOL 
	Your mainframe?
	
			MAX 
	Burnt...
	
			SOL 
	What happened?
	
			MAX 
	I don't know, first I got 
	these horrible picks. Then 
	Euclid spits out some 
	numbers. Never saw anything 
	like it and then it fries. 
	The whole machine just 
	crashed.
	
			SOL 
	You have a printout?
	
			MAX 
	Of?
	
			SOL 
	The picks, the number?
	
			MAX 
	I threw it out.
	
			SOL 
	What was the number it 
	spit out?

			MAX 
	I don't know, just a long 
	string of digits.

			SOL 
	How many?
	
			MAX 
	I don't know.
	
			SOL 
		(Intense) 
	What was it, a 
	hundred and fifty, a 
	thousand, two hundred 
	sixteen!? How many?

			MAX 
	I don't know. Probably 
	around two hundred. 
		(Wondering) 
	Why?
	
			SOL 
		(Beat)...
	I dealt with 
	some bugs back in my Pi days. 
	I was wondering if it was 
	similar to one I ran into.

Sol begins to feed his fish. 
He points to one.

			SOL 
	Have you met Archimedes. 
	The one with the black spot. 
	You see?
	
			MAX 
	Yeah.
	
			SOL 
	Remember Archimedes of 
	Syracuse? The King asks 
	Archimedes to determine if a 
	present he's received was 
	actually solid gold. Unsolved 
	problem at the time. It 
	tortures the great Greek 
	mathematician for weeks. 
	Insomnia haunts him and he 
	twists and turns on his bed 
	for nights on end. Finally, 
	his equally exhausted wife, 
	she's forced to share a bed 
	with this genius, convinces 
	him to take a bath, to relax. 
	While stepping into the tub 
	he observes the bathwater 
	rise as he enters. Displacement. 
	A way to determine volume. 
	And thus, a way to 
	determine density, weight 
	over volume. And thus, 
	Archimedes solves the 
	problem. He screams 
	"Eureka!"—Greek for "I found 
	it!"—and is so overwhelmed he 
	runs dripping naked through 
	the streets to the King's 
	castle to report his 
	discovery. Now, what's the 
	moral of the story.
	
			MAX 
	That a breakthrough will 
	come...

			SOL 
	Wrong. The point of the 
	story is the wife. Listen to 
	your wife, she will give you 
	perspective. Meaning, you 
	need a break, Max, you have 
	to take a bath, otherwise 
	you'll get nowhere. There will 
	be no order, only chaos. 
	Go home and take a bath.
	
PUBLIC BENCH - MOMENTS LATER 

Max waits for his train on an 
empty platform.

Just then, he hears a 
DRIPPING sound. Max looks up 
and notices something across 
the tracks on the other 
platform. He can't quite make 
it out because his vision is 
blocked by columns.

He gets up and spots a Young 
Hasidic Man standing at him.

Blood drips from the Man's 
hand. Max doesn't know what 
to make of it

A TRAIN SWISHES BY -

INT. MOVING TRAIN - LATER

Max reads an ad that says In 
big block letters 'MOSHIAC IS 
COMING!' He checks out a few 
of the other passengers. Then 
he notices a man reading a 
newspaper across from him.

The headline reads: 'MARKET 
TAKES NOSE-DIVE. Max jumps up 
and approaches the man.

			MAX 
	Hey, excuse me, can I see 
	that?

The man hands Max the paper. 
Max scans the article. Then 
He quickly turns to the 
listings. His finger barrels 
down a column. 
It stops at ABR.

			MAX 
	Six and a half.
	
Max looks up the column for AAR.

		MAX 
	Fourteen and a half. Oh, 
	my...

Max stumbles toward the 
doors. He looks out the 
window: into the darkness of 
the tunnel.

			MAX 
		(Out of breath) 
	My God. My God. 
		(Gets pumped to himself) 
	Yes! Yes!
	
			SKINNY MAN (V.O.)
	Hey, paper, please!
	
Max hands the paper back and 
looks at the man for the first 
time. It is the Skinny Man 
he saw earlier.

Max gets suspicious and moves 
into the next car.

AT GRAND STREET
Max exits. He notices that 
the Skinny Man gets off - one 
car down - as well.

He hustles toward the exit. As 
he's about to turn a corner 
he looks back. The man seems 
to be following him.

He dodges around a corner and 
heads up a staircase.

EXT. TRAIN STATION - DAY 

He seems to have lost him, when 
he notices a business-woman 
with a pretty face heading 
right toward him. It is MARCY 
DAWSON.

			MARCY DAWSON 
	Mr. Cohen! Perfect timing.
	
Marcy sticks out her hand. 
Max, not knowing what else 
to do, shakes it.

			MARCY DAWSON 
	I was just waiting for you. 
	I thought you stood me up, 
	so I was going to head home.
	
			MAX 
	Who are you?
	
			MARCY DAWSON
	Oh...Marcy Dawson. From 
	Lancet Percy. We were 
	supposed to meet at three.

			MAX 
	I'm sorry, I don't...
	
Marcy hasn't let go of Max's hand.
She guides him toward a large 
black street limo that's 
just pulled up.

			MARCY DAWSON 
	I can't tell you what a 
	pleasure it is to finally 
	meet you. I've studied 
	your papers for years.
	
			MARCY DAWSON 
	I have something 
	you won't be able to say no 
	to. Why don't we take a spin 
	in the limo?

			MAX 
	No, no, no, really, I 
	can't.

			MARCY DAWSON 
	We're excited by your work. 
	We can't wait to discuss...

Max attempts to pull away 
but Marcy is firm on leading 
him to the car. Meanwhile, 
the Shinny man is heading 
right at them.

The CHAUFFEUR reaches out to 
him. Max yanks his arm free 
and runs away. He whips 
around a corner.

INT. BODEGA - DAY 

Max barrels into the grocery 
store and buys a Journal. He 
heads to the back of the store 
and lays the paper across the 
juice section. He checks the 
listing.

			MAX 
	On the nose. On the damn nose.
	
Max turns the page on the 
Journal and sees the Lancet-Percy ad. 
Then he notices one 
of the bodega owners staring 
at him.

EXT. MAX'S APARTMENT - DAY

Max scouts his front door. 
The coast is clear. 

INT. MAX'S APARTMENT - DAY

Max examines the smashed 
Euclid mainframe. He uncovers 
some of the strange filo-like 
substance. He carefully 
touches it. Then he grabs a 
small pinch of it.

He examines it near a light 
bulb. He can't guess what it 
is. He sniffs it. He carefully 
tastes it with the very tip 
of his tongue. He still 
doesn't have a clue.

Max opens his closet. He 
pulls out his dusty brass 
microscope. He dusts it off. 
Next, he pulls out a slide 
Kit.

Max places the instrument on 
the windowsill. He grabs an 
old glass slide and puts some 
of the flaky stuff on it. He 
slides it under the microscope. 
He looks into the lens, but doesn't see 
anything.

He gets up quickly and heads 
for the 

HALLWAY

where he looks at Devi's 
door, nervously. He gathers 
his courage and knocks on her 
door. Through the door hears.

			DEVI (O.S.) 
	Farrouhk?
	
			MAX 
	Um, no, it's Max from next door.
	
Devi opens the door wearing a 
sexy nightshirt.

			DEVI 
	Max, is everything all 
	right?

			MAX 
	Do you have any iodine?
	
			DEVI 
		(concerned, she reaches for Max's hands) 
	Iodine...did you cut 
	yourself?

			MAX 
		(Pulling his hands away) 
	No. I just need it to stain a 
	slide.

			DEVI 
	Ah, science, the pursuit 
	of knowledge. One second.

She heads to her bathroom. 
Max waits impatiently.

			DEVI (O.S.) 
	Here we are. What are you 
	examining?
		(At the door) 
	a potato!?

She hands Max a bottle of 
iodine.

			MAX 
	Just something with my 
	computer.

MAX'S ROOM - MOMENTS LATER 

Max uses his pinky to drip a 
drop of iodine on the slide.

Through the wall he hears 
Farrouhk arriving home.

			DEVI (0.S.) 
	The neighbor's up 
	to his old science...

			FARROUHK (O.S.) 
	What neighbor?
	
			DEVI (O.S.) 
	Next door.
	
Max listens to the 
conversation for a few 
moments.

			FARROUHK (O.S.) 
	Why are you talking to that dork!
	
			DEVI (O.S.) 
	Shh! I just helped ...
	
			FARROUHK (O.S.) 
	Pounds on wall. Hey, dork, leave
	my girlfriend alone!

			DEVI (0.S.) 
	Farrouhk!
	
Max shakes his bead. Then 
he finishes preparing the 
slide and slips the glass 
under the turret.
Max catches the low-hanging 
sun in the microscope's mirror 
and reflects it through 
the sample and up the turret
into his eye.

MAX'S POV DOWN THE TURRET of some strange
Substance.

Max pulls out the slide and looks at it.

			FARROUHK (0.S.)
	I don't give a shit.
	
			DEVI (0.S.) 
		(Laughing) 
	Shh! C'mon, Farrouhk.
	
			FARROUHK (0.S.) 
	I'll kill the dork. 
		(Exploding again) 
	You hear me! I'll kill you. 
	I'll fucking kill you!

Then an idea comes to him. He 
takes out his brain book. 
He looks through it until 
he finds a picture of neurons. 
He compares the image to the 
view through the turret. 
They look different but 
there are similarities.

			DEVI (O.S) 
	Shh! Baby! Come here, baby!
	
Max rushes out.

EXT. PLAYGROUND - LATE AFTERNOON

Max sifts through the trash 
can where he threw his picks 
from yesterday. Frustrated, 
he dumps the trash onto the 
sidewalk and starts looking 
through it Mrs. Ovadia 
watches him.

Max sees her and is embarrassed 
for a moment.

			MAX 
	I just threw out something. 
	I didn't realize I needed it.

			MRS. OVADIA 
	Humph.
	
			MAX 
	Just a printout. I, uh, 
	lost my data...

Max looks back at the trash 
And forgets about Mrs. Ovadia. 
Soon, Max gets up and kicks the 
trashcan. He heads home.

IN FRONT OF MAX'S APARTMENT 
BUILDING

Max watches Marcy get out of 
the limo and call to Mrs. Ovadia.

Max backs away when he smacks 
into someone.

It's Lenny Meyer - the 
young Jewish man.

Max jumps back in fear.

			LENNY MEYER 
	Max! How you doing? Lenny 
	Meyer. 

			MAX 
	Oh, hey... 
	
Max tries to quickly pass 
him.

			LENNY MEYER 
	Hey, where you going? You 
	got a few moments to do Tefillin?

Max turns around and notices 
Marcy talking to Mrs. Ovadia. 
Mrs. Ovadia points up the street
toward him.

			LENNY MEYER 
	I gotta car, we can cruise 
	over to my...

			MAX 
	You gotta car?
	
			LENNY MEYER 
	Yeah, right there. That's 
	Ephraim, my friend.

We swing around with Max 
and see a station wagon.

EPHRAIM sits in the passenger 
Seat. He's a big-boned, 
bearded, Orthodox Jew.

			MAX 
	All tight, lets go.
	
			LENNY MEYER 
	Great...
	
They head for the station 
wagon.

INT. BASEMENT SHUL - NIGHT

The synagogue is a 
claustrophobic, 
fluorescent-lit room in 
general disarray. Two rows of 
imitation-wooden pews face a 
makeshift altar and Ark. 
Young Hasidic Men study 
texts. Some work alone, 
reading and dovening. Others 
are in small groups sharing 
in heated discussions.

Lenny wraps the Tefillin 
around Max's arm. Max just 
wants to get out of there. 
Ephraim prays in the 
background.

			MAX 
	Lenny, I don't really 
	want to do...

			LENNY MEYER 
	Do it for me? It 
	means a lot, having someone 
	of your stature performing a 
	mitzvah in my presence. 
		(Beat) 
	When you told me your name was
	Max Cohen, I didn't realize you 
	were the Max Cohen. Maximilian Cohen.
	
			MAX
	You know me?
	
			LENNY MEYER 
	0f course, I've 
	followed your research since 
	your Columbia days. It's 
	revolutionary. You've inspired 
	the work we do.
	
			MAX 
	I have?
	
			LENNY MEYER 
	Yes, very much 
	so. The only difference is, 
	we're not looking at stocks. 
	We're searching for a pattern 
	in Torah.
	
Lenny finishes wrapping Max's 
arm. He reaches for another box 
and strap.

			MAX 	
	What kind of pattern?
			
			LENNY MEYER 
	We're not really 
	sure. Our calculations have 
	shown us that there is a 
	number encoded in the text.

			MAX 
	What sort of number?
	
			LENNY MEYER 
	We don't know. 
	All we know is that it's two
	hundred and sixteen digits long.
	
Max, stunned looks at Lenny.

			LENNY MEYER
	Don't worry. This one just 
	goes over your head.
		
Lenny places the other Teffilin over 
Max's head. Max collects himself.

			MAX 
		(Coolly) 
	Two sixteen?
	
			LENNY MEYER 
	Yes. Now we have to say a 
	small prayer, repeat 
	after me.
	
Bewildered, Max does. After the 
prayer...

			LENNY MEYER 
	That's it. Wasn't 
	so bad, was it? You feel 
	anything?
	
Lenny starts removing the 
Teffillin from Max.

			MAX 
	What is it?
	
			LENNY MEYER 
	It's a prayer about our 
	dedication to our one and 
	only God.
	
			MAX 
		(Attempting calmness) 
	No, I mean the number, the 
	two sixteen number? What is 
	it?
	
			LENNY MEYER 
	Oh. We don't know. We just 
	know that it's the most 
	common number encoded in 
	the text. It might be some 
	type of linguistic pattern. 
	If we could figure out what 
	the number is we could maybe 
	answer that.

			MAX 
	Tell me more.
	
EXT. SOL'S APARTMENT - DAWN

Max firmly rings SOL's bell.

In a few moments, Sol answers 
the door in his pajamas.

			SOL 
	Max?
	
			MAX 
	What's going on, Sol!?
	
			SOL 
	Relax, it's early.
	
INT. SOL'S KITCHEN - MOMENTS LATER 

Max sits at the kitchen 
table while Sol heats up a 
pot of tea. Max is shaking.

			SOL 
	Now, what's up?
	
			MAX 
	What's the two hundred 
	and sixteen number, Sol?

			SOL 
	Excuse me?
	
			MAX 
	You asked me if I had 
	seen a two hundred and 
	sixteen digit number, right?
	
			SOL 
	Oh, you mean the bug. I 
	found it working on Pi.

			MAX 
	What do you mean by "found it"?
	
			SOL 
	What's this all about, 
	Max?

			MAX 
	Well, there's these 
	religious Jews who have...

			SOL 
	Religious Jews?
	
			MAX 
	Well, you know, 
	Hassidim. I met one in the 
	coffee shop. The guy's a 
	number theorist. The Torah is 
	their data set. The thing is, 
	they're searching for a two 
	hundred and sixteen digit 
	number in the Torah.

			SOL 
	Really? What's it mean to 
	them?

			MAX 
	They say they don't 
	know, but that's crazy. I 
	mean what are the odds...
	
			SOL 
	It's just a coincidence.
	
			MAX 
	But hold on, there's 
	something else. You remember 
	those strange picks I got.
	
			SOL 
	Yesterday's stock picks?
	
			MAX 
	Right. Well, it turns out 
	that they were correct. I hit 
	two picks on the nose. Smack 
	on the nose.

			SOL 
		(Surprised) 
	Hmmm.
	
			MAX 
	Something's going on, and 
	it has to do with that 
	number. The answer is there.
	
			SOL 
	Max, it's a bug.
	
			MAX 
	No. it's a pattern. A 
	pattern is in that number

			SOL 
	Come with me.
	
INT. SOL'S STUDY - MOMENTS LATER 

Sol and Max sit on either side 
of a half-played Go board.

			SOL 
	Listen to me. The Ancient 
	Japanese considered the Go 
	board to be a microcosm of 
	the universe. Although when 
	it is empty it appears to be 
	simple and ordered, in fact, 
	the possibilities of game play 
	are endless. They say that no 
	two Go games have ever been 
	alike. Just like snowflakes. 
	So, the Go board actually 
	represents an extremely complex 
	and chaotic universe. That is 
	the truth of our world, Max. 
	It can't be easily summed up 
	with math. There is no simple 
	pattern.
	
			MAX 
	But as a Go game 
	progresses, the possibilities 
	become smaller and smaller. 
	The board does take on order. 
	Soon, all moves are 
	predictable.

			SOL
	So?
	
			MAX
	So, maybe, even though we're not 
	sophisticated enough to be aware 
	of it, there is an underlying 
	order...a pattern, beneath every 
	Go game. Maybe that pattern is 
	like the pattern in the market, 
	in the Torah. The two sixteen 
	number.

			SOL 
	That is insanity, Max.
	
			MAX 
	Or maybe it's genius. I 
	have to get that number.

			SOL 
	Hold on, you have to slow 
	down. You're losing it, you
	have to take a breath. Listen 
	to yourself. You're connecting 
	a computer bug I had, a 
	computer bug you might have 
	had, and some religious 
	hogwash. If you want to find 
	the number two sixteen in the 
	world, you'll be able to pull 
	it out of anywhere. Two 
	hundred and sixteen steps 
	from your street comer to 
	your front door. Two hundred 
	and sixteen seconds you spend 
	riding on the elevator. When 
	your mind becomes obsessed 
	with anything, it will filter 
	everything else out and find 
	examples of that thing 
	everywhere. Three hundred and 
	twenty, four hundred and 
	fifty, twenty-three. 
	Whatever! You've chosen two 
	sixteen and you'll find it 
	everywhere in nature. But 
	Max, as soon as you discard 
	scientific rigor, you are no 
	longer a mathematician. You 
	become a numerologist. What 
	you need to do is take a 
	break from your research. You 
	need it. You deserve it 
	Here's a hundred dollars, I 
	want you to take it. If ,you 
	won't take it, borrow it. 
	Either way, take a break.
	Spend it however you like as 
	long as it falls in the 
	category of vacation. Real 
	world stuff, okay. No math.

Max looks at his bands.

			SOL 
	Just try it. In a week 
	you'll laugh about this. 
	C'mon, Max. Think about it!
	
Max gives a half nod.

EXT. SOL'S APARTMENT - MORNING

Max rushes to the subway when 
a honking horn stops him. A 
limo pulls up next to him. 
Marcy Dawson jumps out of the 
car

			MARCY DAWSON 
	Mr. Cohen? Mr. 
	Cohen? Please stop for a 
	second Mr. Cohen?
	
Max stops and faces Marcy.

			MAX 
	Damn it already! Stop 
	following me. I'm not 
	interested in your money. I'm 
	searching for a way to 
	understand our world. I'm 
	searching for perfection. I 
	don't deal with mediocre 
	materialistic people like 
	you!
	
			MARCY DAWSON 
	I'm sorry. I'm very sorry. 
	I admit I've been a bit too 
	aggressive. But all I ask is 
	for five minutes of your time. 
	Here...
	
Marcy hands Max a metal stopwatch.
	
			MARCY DAWSON
	...a stopwatch. 
	Already ticking. Allow me the 
	four and a half minutes left 
	Let me tell you what I want. 
	Let me tell you what I can 
	offer you. Afterwards, if you 
	don't want to talk to me, then 
	fine, we part as friends and 
	I promise that you will never 
	see me again. That's fair, 
	isn't it?
	
			MAX 
		(After a moment, he looks at the stopwatch) 
	Go.
	
			MARCY DAWSON 
	Good. It's funny, 
	even though we have different 
	aims and different goals 
	we're actually incredibly 
	alike. We both seek the same 
	thing—perfection. I know...
	clearly we're seeking 
	different types of 
	perfection, but that is what 
	makes us perfect candidates 
	for a fruitful partnership. 
	If you let me, I can be your 
	greatest ally. Take the 
	acacia tree...in East 
	Africa. It is the most 
	prevalent plant in all of 
	Kenya because it has managed 
	to secure its niche by 
	defeating its major predator, 
	the giraffe. To accomplish 
	this, the tree has made a contract 
	with a highly specialized red ant. 
	The tree has evolved giant spores which 
	act as housing for the ants 
	In return for shelter, the 
	ants supply defense. When a 
	giraffe starts to eat the 
	tree's leaves, the shaking 
	branch acts like an alarm. The 
	ants charge out and secrete an 
	acid onto the giraffe's 
	tongue. The giraffe learns its 
	lesson and never returns. 
	Without each other, the tree 
	would be picked dry and the 
	ants would have no shade from 
	the brutal African sun Both 
	would die. But with each 
	other, they succeed, they survive, 
	they surpass. They have 
	different aims, different 
	goals but they work together.
	Max, we would like to establish 
	a mutually benefiting alliance 
	with you.
	
			MAX
		(handing back the stopwatch) 
	I'm not interested.
	
			MARCY DAWSON 
	Allow me to dose.
	
The chauffeur pulls a black 
suitcase out of the limo and 
brings it over.

			MARCY DAWSON 
	As a sign of good faith we 
	wish to offer you this.

			MAX 
	I told you I don't want money.
	
			MARCY DAWSON 
	The suitcase isn't filled with 
	fifties or gold or diamonds. Just 
	silicon. A Ming Mecca chip.
	
			MAX 
		(Yeah right!) 
	Ming Mecca. They're not declassified.
	
Max starts to move away.

			MARCY DAWSON 
	You're right. They're not. But 
	Lancet-Percy has many friends. 
	Come here, take a look.
	
			MAX 
		(Stuttering) 
	What do...do...
	
But then, Max notices that his 
thumb is twitching.

			MARCY DAWSON 
	Beautiful, isn't it? You know 
	how rare...are you okay?

			MAX 
	Yeah, I got to go.
	
			MARCY DAWSON 
	But what about...
	
			MAX 
	Let me think about it...
	
Max trots off.

			MARCY DAWSON 
	What? Mr. Cohen!?
	
INT. SUBWAY STATION - PUBLIC BENCH - NIGHT

The station is strangely silent. 
It is also extremely rundown. The 
tracks are rusted and fucked up. 
All we hear is the sound of DRIPPING WATER. 
The sound is warped and grows 
and morphs until it's 
downright scary.

Max sits on a bench sucking 
down pills. His head begins 
to hurt. He touches the right 
side of his scalp and nubs 
it.

As the blood surges through 
his head it brings him waves 
of pain. He gags several 
times. Then the pain lets 
loose and all Max wants to do 
is die. He smashes the side 
of his head with his fist.

Across the tracks on the far 
platform he sees someone.

For a moment Max's pain 
dissipates. His view is 
obscured by the columns. Max 
gets up and sees the Young 
Hasidic Man - from earlier - 
staring at him.
The Man stares at Max without 
any emotion. Max notices 
blood dropping from the Man's 
right hand.

Max looks at the Man's face 
and sees for a split second 
his own face staring back.

			MAX 
	Hey!
	
Max charges up a flight of 
stairs. He crosses a passage 
over the tracks and flies 
down the stairs to the other 
side of the platform.

The Man is gone. A pool of 
blood sits where the Man was. 
Max touches it with his toe. 
It's sticky. He notices a 
trail of blood leading off 
from the pool.
He follows it around a corner 
where it leads into a corner.

He notices something strange 
in the shadows. He carefully 
advances on it. Hiding in the 
shadows is what looks like a 
small piece of brain. It 
seems to be moving slightly.

Max uses a pen in his jacket 
to carefully touch it.

Suddenly, Max hears a train's 
HONK HONK behind him. Max 
spins around. Nothing is there 
but silence.

He turns back to the gray 
matter. He touches it again. 
Once again, he hears the deafening 
HONK HONK. Max spins around, but 
nothing is there.

Frustrated, he pushes his pen 
deep into the brain - fiber 
ripping apart.

Suddenly, a TRAIN is 
barreling down on Max. 
Seconds from impact, Max 
SCREAMS!!!

DISSOLVE TO

BLINDING WHITE VOID
We hear two deep, long 
sleep-filled breaths and then 
we 
CUT TO:

INT. SUBWAY TRAIN - DAY

Max's eyes pop open. A 
TRANSIT COP is sticking him 
with a nightstick.

			TRANSIT COP 
	Up, buddy Coney Island, last stop.
	
Max sits up. His nose is 
bleeding. The cop hands him 
a tissue.

			TRANSIT COP 
	Your nose.
	
Max wipes his nose and 
looks around nervously.

He sees the rides of Coney 
Island in the distance.

EXT. CONEY ISLAND BEACH - DAY

Max sits on a boulder on a 
Coney Island jetty. He 
watches the sea.

Then Max sees an old man 
dressed like KING NEPTUNE 
scanning the shore with a 
rusty metal detector. The old 
man picks up something. He 
admires it for a moment 
before gently setting it back 
on the ground. Then Neptune 
continues his search.

Max wanders over to the place 
where the old man exam

INT. MAX'S APARTMENT - NIGHT 

MAX'S POV through the 
microscope. Max sees the 
brain structures.

Just then, there's a KNOCK on 
the door. The knock startles 
him and his hand bumps the 
turret of the microscope. The lens 
moves and he realizes that the 
magnification can be changed.

A KNOCK again.

Max looks out the peephole 
and sees nothing. Confused,

Looks down at his thumb. 
It's not shaking. He heads 
back to his microscope.

There's a knock again. Max 
angrily unlocks the door and 
whips it open.

IN THE HALLWAY is Jenna with 
her calculator.

			JENNA 
	Max, Max, can we do one.
	
			MAX 
	Jenna. I can't now, Jenna.
	
			JENNA 
	Please, Max.
	
			MAX 
	I'm working now, later okay?
	
Max shuts the door and 
returns to the microscope. He 
changes the magnification. At 
a weaker magnification, the 
mathematician sees that the 
cells are grouped in spirals.

Max is stunned, He grabs the 
phone and pulls a business 
card out of his pocket He 
quickly dials a number.

Someone answers with a 
"Shalom" on the other end of 
the line. Max asks for 
Lenny Meyer and is put on 
hold.

			LENNY MEYER 
	Hello, this is Lenny?
	
			MAX 
	Lenny, it's Max Cohen.
	
			LENNY MEYER 
	Max! How are you? 
	You want to come down?
			MAX 
	I've been thinking about 
	our conversation earlier.

Max looks into the 
microscope. He stares at the 
spirals.

			LENNY MEYER 
	That's good...
	
			MAX 
	I want to help.
	
			LENNY MEYER 
	Excellent.
	
			MAX 
	Do you have the Torah in 
	digital form?

DISSOLVE FROM TURRET TO:

SATELLITE IMAGE OF SPINNING 
TORNADO

Start in tight on the 
epicenter and pull out to 
reveal the entire storm.

			MAX (V.O.) 
	Thursday, September 
	fourth, sixteen forty-five. 
	The alchemist awakes. All of 
	my ideas, work and dreams are 
	spinning together It all has 
	to do with spirals. It began 
	with spirals and the answers 
	are thee.

INT. MAX'S APARTMENT ?DAY

EUCLID'S INNARDS

Max uses a drill to rip out 
some old parts. He lays new wire 
and does a bunch of soldering.

He rips down a bunch of old 
papers and does a general 
housecleaning.

He also goes to school on the 
ant population in his apartment. 
He plants some ant 
motels and sprays the room 
with. a pest killer.

			MAX (V.0.) 
	The most I can 
	remember about their 
	significance is from 
	Schneider's class. That 
	bullshit core for majors. 
	Schneider's fascination with 
	mystical geometry made him a 
	bit of a quack...but...then again, 
	look at Kepler. He was really into 
	Pythagoras. The leader of an 
	ancient sect which believed 
	the entire universe could be 
	represented by numbers. 
	Pythagoras' greatest contribution 
	was the golden ratio, which ended up 
	influencing art and science 
	for thousands of years, 
	arguably all the way up to 
	today.
	
TIGHT ON MAX 
writing a : b : : b : a + b.

He draws it over a copy of 
Leonardo Da Vinci's famous
drawing of man s anatomy.

			MAX (V.0.) 
	The golden ratio, 
	if I recall, is this unique 
	relationship between the length 
	and width of a special 
	rectangle called the golden 
	rectangle.
	
TIGHT ON MAX carefully 
measuring out a golden 
rectangle.

The rectangle fits perfectly 
over Leonardo Da Vinci's Man.

			MAX (V.O.) 
	If you take the 
	width of this rectangle and 
	use it to form a square within 
	the rectangle, the part left 
	over is a rectangle that has 
	the same ratio as the 
	original rectangle. au can 
	continue squaring the 
	rectangle, over and over 
	again, making the 
	rectangles smaller and smaller 
	to infinity.

TIGHT ON MAX squaring 
rectangle after rectangle. 
Then he draws the golden 
spiral through the 
rectangles.

			MAX (V.0.) 
	Then, if you 
	connect a curve through these 
	rectangles you get the golden 
	spiral. The Pythagoreans 
	loved this shape because 
	they found it everywhere 
	in nature.
	
MONTAGE OF IMAGES

The images mirror what Max 
talks about. We see NAUTILUS 
SHELLS, SUNFLOWERS, PLANTS, 
RAM HORNS, HUMAN 
FINGERPRINTS, THE MILKY WAY, 
and DNA STRANDS.

			MAX (V.0.) 
	It really is amazing. In the sea, 
	on land, in air, our basic building 
	block DNA and even our home.
	
EXT. CHINATOWN - DAY

Max wanders through the 
crowded streets of Chinatown.

			MAX (V.O.) 
	If we're built from 
	spirals, while living within 
	a giant spiral, is it 
	possible that all of human 
	behavior, if it could be 
	quantified, is in the form of 
	a spiral. Then, maybe,
	extensions of our behavior 
	like the stock market. maybe 
	even the writing of The 
	Torah, is infused with the 
	spiral pattern.

DISSOLVE TO
PAN ACROSS NEW EUCLID

We start on the stock ticker 
and pull out to reveal a 
leaner, meaner and more 
exciting machine.

			MAX (V.O.) 
	Friday, September 
	fifth. Seven twelve. It's 
	fair to say, I'm stepping out onto a 
	limb. But I'm on the edge and 
	that's where it happens.
	
He holds two wires apart from 
each other as he contemplates 
what will connect them.

EXT. ELECTRONIC MEGADUMP - DAY

Max wanders helplessly 
through the dump. There's 
nothing but junk and more 
junk.

EXT. PUBLIC PAY PHONE - DAY 

Max eyes Marcy Dawson's 
business card, suspiciously 
He dials the number. A man 
answers on the other line.

			MAN'S VOICE (OS.) 
	Three, eight, two.
	
			MAX 
	Marcy Dawson.
	
			MAN'S VOICE (O.S.) 
	Who's calling?
	
			MAX 
	Max Cohen.
	
			MAN'S VOICE (O.S.) 
	Hold on.
	
Max is put on hold. He 
notices a man in a business 
suit watching him. Max turns away.

			MARCY DAWSON 
	Mr. Cohen? I'm so 
	Happy...

			MAX 
	Look what do you want for the chip?
	
			MARCY DAWSON 
	You tech guys. I think you 
	know what we want.

			MAX 
	No, I don't.
	
			MARCY DAWSON 
	C'mon, Mr. Cohen. We can work 
	together We can both profit 
	from this information. We both 
	need each other to get it, so why 
	not work with us?
	
			MAX 
	I don't know if I'll find 
	anything useful.

			MARCY DAWSON 
	We're willing to take the risk.
	
			MAX 
	Okay. First, I want you 
	to call off the surveillance. 

			MARCY DAWSON 
		(Beat) 
	Done. Anything else?
	
			MAX 
	Yeah, I'm a very private 
	person. Knock on my door and 
	leave the suitcase outside. 
	I don't want to talk to 
Anyone.

			MARCY DAWSON 
	How do I know you're home? 
	
			MAX 
	I'll knock back.
	
			MARCY DAWSON 
	Fair enough.
	
INT. COFFEE SHOP - DAY

Max sits at the counter. The 
POST headline in front of him 
reads MARKET DOOMED. 
PRESIDENT IN PANIC, WORLD LEADERS MEET.

Max flips to the stock 
quotes. He can't believe how 
far things have dovetailed. He 
shakes his head in disbelief 
when an envelope appears in 
front of him. It belongs to 
Lenny Meyer.

			LENNY MEYER 
	The Torah.
	
			MAX 
	What is it?
	
			LENNY MEYER 
	In Hebrew characters and numbers.

			MAX 
	No, what is it? The two 
	hundred and sixteen digits.

			LENNY MEYER
	I don't know. 
		(Beat) 
	If you get it, maybe 
	we can figure it out. 
		(Changing subject) 
	Can you really find it?
	
			MAX 
	If the number's in there, 
	I'll find it.

EXT. MAX'S APARTMENT - DUSK

Max marches into his foyer 
when he's suddenly ambushed 
by Devi's boyfriend, 
Farrouhk. Farrouhk is a little 
guy with a big sadistic 
smile.

He grabs Max by the collar 
and slams him against the 
wall. His fist butts up 
against Max's chin.

		FARROUHK 
	There you go, dork. 
	Been thinking about my 
	girlfriend. Haven't you?
	
			MAX 
	Wha...
	
			FARROUHK
	You want to fuck her, don't you?
	
			MAX 
	No, no..
	
			FARROUHK
	You calling my girlfriend 
	ugly!? Why don't you want 
	to fuck her? You think she's 
	ugly?
	
			MAX 
	No, no, I just. It's that 
	she's your girl...

			FARROUHK 
	So you do want to 
	fuck her. You think about 
	fucking her in the mouth, 
	don't you?

			MAX 
	No, no, sir, please. I've 
	never touched Devi...I 
	never will.
	
			FARROUHK 
	Give the fucking 
	genius a Mars bar. Stay away, 
	or I'll slice off your balls.
	
Farrouhk tosses Max against 
the wall. Max whimpers off to 
his apartment. Farrouhk has 
enjoyed this and to end his 
game be gives Max a small 
slap on the butt.

INSIDE HIS APARTMENT 
Max bolts the front door.

At his desk he rips open the 
envelope Lenny Meyer gave 
him. He pulls out a BLACK 
DISK and eyes it expectantly.

Next door, he hears Farrouhk 
and Devi talking.

			FARROUHK (O.S.) 
	Damn dork.
	
			DEVI (O.S.) 
	He's just a bit unique.
	
			FARROUHK(0.S.) 
	Unique?! Unique?! He's a dork!
	
Then, Max carefully slips 
the DISK into Euclid's 
drive. Hebrew characters pop 
onto Euclid's screen. Max 
pounds in several strings of 
code lightning fast.

The Hebrew letters suddenly 
switch to their numerical 
counterparts. Max toggles 
between Hebrew and numbers 
a few times—impressed.

Max nods. Then there's a 
knock at the door.

			MAX 
		(To himself) 
	Okay.
	
Max peeks through 
the peephole. Two 
well-dressed large men, BRAD 
and ABE THE BABE, wait for 
the signal. MAX knocks and 
the suits leave.

Then Max shyly opens up 
his front door and quickly 
grabs the black attach?case 
in front of his door

Donning a surgical mask and 
latex gloves, Max opens the 
black attach?case. Sitting 
in foam is a tiny but 
beautiful chip. Max studies 
it with awe.

			MAX (V.O.) 
	Friday, September 
	fifth? Lots of work to be 
	done. But I'm close, so 
	close. Today is the day Might 
	have cost me my soul, but 
	down the line I'll work it 
	out. Just keep them in the 
	dark, let them beg. A damn 
	Ming Mecca chip. It's like 
	giving a desperate junkie a 
	syringe filled with junk. 
	Defense uses them to nun 
	nuclear sub reactors. Me? I'm 
	going to dissect the market.

Max carefully carries the 
chip over to the new leaner 
Euclid. He welds it into 
Euclid's waiting wires.

			MAX 
	Happy birthday, Euclid.
	
Then he lifts his hand to 
slap the RETURN button, but 
a sudden wave of fear stops 
him.

He gets up and grabs a 
Ginseng soda from the fridge He 
drops eight pills in the can. 
He calmly takes a sip from the 
soda and places it on the 
counter.

Max can hear Devi and 
Farrouhk starting to make 
love. Their gentle sounds
drift through the wall.

			MAX (V.O.) 
	Eighteen thirty. Press return...
	Max darts over and smacks 
	the RETURN. Moments later we 
	see what Max sees

ON THE SCREEN 
is a long string of zeros.

At the bottom of the screen 
Euclid's cursor blinks, waiting 
for instructions.

He smacks RETURN again Max 
gets the same empty result.

Euclid's cursor blinks, 
waiting. Max starts to laugh. 
He laughs and laughs and 
laughs.

			MAX 
	Oh God. Damn religious 
	freaks. 
		(Sarcastic) 
	The holy Torah...
	
But then he notices his 
thumb twitching. He rubs his 
scar. 

			MAX 
	Ah God...
	
His neighbor's love sounds 
start to get rough. They're 
having fun.

Max almost throws up.

THE BATHROOM

Max dry heaves in the sink. 
Then he forces himself to 
stand in front of the mirror.

			MAX 
	Too much...too soon.
	
He grabs the gun and tries to 
roll up his sleeve. He can't 
get it to roll up. Suddenly 
he's overwhelmed by pain. He 
quickly rips his shirt and 
fires the gun into his arm.

Nothing happens. He checks the 
barrel—its empty

			MAX 
	Ohh...
	
He grabs a bottle of medicine 
but knocks them an into the 
sink.

He cuts his finger as be grabs 
one of the broken bottles. He 
loads the gun and fires the 
medicine into his arm. A wave 
of pain and nausea floods in. 
He grabs another bottle and 
fires it into his arm. Then 
he fires another and another.

Frustrated he collapses into 
the mirror.

			MAX 
	Stop, please, stop.
	
Slightly sobbing he examines 
his scalp pulling his hair 
apart. He sees something.

			MAX 
	What the?
	
So he takes out a scissors 
and starts removing some 
hair.

Meanwhile his 
neighbors' lovemaking gets more 
intense. Their screams carry 
into Max's head.

Max finishes removing a patch 
of hair from the right side
of his head. He has 
uncovered a light scar on 
his head. He examines it in the mirror.

			MAX 
	What is it!? What is it!?
	
Then his neighbors' 
lovemaking turns outright evil. It
sounds like Sodom and 
Gomorrah next door and Max
can barely stand it.
A jolt of pain surges into 
his head. He grabs his scar 
as he vomits blood into the sink.
He starts banging his head 
against the mirror. He bangs
his head again and again until 
the mirror CRACKS!

His neighbors are cumming and 
their cries of joy are 
twisted and agonizing.

The mathematician looks at 
himself and begins to sob. He 
reloads the gun and fires it 
right into the scar on his 
head, where the pain is 
coming from.

Max collapses to the ground 
in complete agony until the 
bare bulb in the bathroom 
starts blinking on and off.

Suddenly the pain is gone.

Then he hears something. It's 
Euclid, buzzing with life. 
He gets to his feet and head's 
into Euclid.

The main monitor is screaming 
with numbers. The lights in 
the room flicker on and off 
like on a disco dance floor. A
filo substance billows out of 
Euclid.

And then a number pops 
onto the screen. Max estimates how many 
digits are on the screen. 

			MAX
	Two...two hundred. That's it! That's it!
	
Max grabs a piece of paper and a pencil. 
He starts writing down the number. 
He mumbles each digit as he sees it.

But then be stops writing. 
Power surge! He stares at the 
number. Something clicks in 
his head. His eyes go wide. 
He barely musters a?

			MAX 
	Oh...
	
We move closer and closer 
into the number, deeper and 
deeper into the screen. Until 
finally a single pixel fills 
the screen and we're in the

BLINDING WHITE VOID where we 
hear several deep peaceful 
breaths. 

Then, a fuse blows and we cut to:

BLACK
A phone ringing...once...
twice...then we hear

			MRS. OVADIA(O.S.) 
	He's alive. His eyes are moving. 
	
			DEVI (0.S.) 
	Yes, hello?
	
FADE BACK INTO THE MAIN ROOM 
Max's eyes slowly open.


			DEVI (0.S) 
		(On the phone)
	He's busy right now I'm sorry.
	Max is sprawled out in front 
	of Euclid. A large amount of 
	blood, from his nose, is 
	semi-dried on his chin and 
	chest. Devi hangs up the phone.

The landlady, Mrs. Ovadia, and Farrouhk, 
brandishing a crowbar, stand over him.

			MAX 
	What happened?
	
			DEVI 
	You were screaming...
	
			MRS. OVADIA 
	Who told you you can put extra 
	locks on the door.

			FARROUHK 
		(To Mrs. OVADIA)
	Shhh!
	
			MAX 
		(Suddenly jolting up and remembering) 
	The number, the number.
	
Max looks at Euclid. The 
screen is blank. He looks at 
the mainframe. It is covered 
with the filo substance. Then 
be looks at the piece of paper 
he wrote the number on. Only 
a few dozen numbers are on 
the page. The last number be 
wrote is barely a scribble.

			MRS. OVADIA 
	You're out, you hear me, you're out. 
	I've had enough of you. Look at all 
	this junk.
	
He starts reciting the 
numbers. Then Max suddenly 
realizes something. He 
continues reciting the 
numbers from memory.

			MAX 
	Four...zero...
	seven...It's in my head, 
	it's in my head. Somehow I 
	memorized it. I got it up 
	here!
	
He points to his head.

			MAX 
	But what is it?
	
Mrs. Ovadia starts looking at 
all the junk in the room.

			DEVI 
	Are you okay?
	
			MRS. OVADIA 
	What is this stuff? What does it do?
	
Max finally realizes that all 
these strangers are in his womb. He flips.

			MAX 
	0ut, out, you have to get 
	out. Get out, get out it's my 
	room!
	
			FARROUHK 
		(To Devi) 
	Let's go. 
	
The phone starts ringing 
again.

			MRS. OVADIA 
	That's it, no way. You're 
	the one out of here, mister.

			MAX 
	Out! 0utt
	
The three neighbors retreat 
to the front door.

			DEVI 
	Are you okay?
	
			MAX 
	Out! Get out!
	
Max slams the door in their faces.
Max rubs his chin and looks 
around the room. He starts
saying the number to himself 
He gets more and more
excited as he reads each 
digit.

INT. COFFEE SHOP - NIGHT

Max stirs cream into his 
coffee. Then he pulls out the
Journal.

A phone continues to RING.

In the clouds of the 
Lancet-Percy ad - in 
The Journal Max writes down the 
two hundred and sixteen digit 
number. He studies it, 
examines it, draws on it, 
tries to figure out what it 
is.

			MAX (V.O.)
	Saturday? Dark outside. There 
	was a moment there...when, I don't 
	know...when I didn't exist. What? What?	

We hear a phone being picked 
up. The ringing stops. Silence, then:

			MARCY DAWSON (O.S.) 
	Max, is that you? Max? 
		(Pleading) 
	Max, just talk to me. Things 
	are a bit out of hand down 
	here. People are getting 
	desperate. 
		(Suddenly firm) 
	We had a deal, Max. A deal. 
	Talk to us, Max.

We hear the sound of a phone 
hanging up.

At the coffee counter, 
Max pops a handful of pills 
and crumples the paper.

INT. MAX'S BATHROOM - LATER

Max stares at his BALD head 
in the mirror. All of his 
hair has been removed. A 
fleshy scar sits on his scalp 
above his right ear.

Max ignores the incessantly 
RINGING phone.

Max flips through an old 
neuroscience book. He examines a 
few illustrations and 
finds the part of his brain that's killing him.

			MAX (V.0.) 
	Must be an explanation, must be a 
	reason. Must.

With a thick black marker, he 
carefully outlines the part of 
his head that is causing 
the pain.

INT. MAX'S APARTMENT-LATER

Max sits in his chair staring at 
the stock market monitor. 
The phone continues to RING.

Numbers drift by.

A single beam of sunlight 
leaks through the window and 
shines on the edge of the 
screen. Walking along the 
edge in the sunlight is a 
tiny ant.

			MAX 
	Bastard.	

Max gets up to squash it. But 
as he gets closer he suddenly 
feels mercy. He looks at the 
ant in awe.

And then, his attention 
switches to the ticker.

			MAX 
	Two and a quarter, twelve 
	and an eighth, six and two 
	eighths.
	
Max states the numbers right 
before they enter onto the 
screen.

			MAX 
	I know these...Seven 
	and a quarter. Two and a half 
	...oh...oh...
	
Max strains to figure out 
what is going an. Suddenly, 
he's overwhelmed with fear.

			MAX 
	My God. It's gonna 
	crash, it's gonna fucking 
	crash.
	
INT. SOL'S APARTMENT - DUSK

Max charges into the room. 
Sot is looking at his Go 
board. Sol looks up when Max 
comes in.

			SOL 
	You're early. I was just 
	studying our...
		(Noticing ,Max's head) 
	What did you do to yourself?
	
			MAX 
	You lied to me.
	
			SOL 
	I thought you were going 
	to take a break.

			MAX 
	You found the two sixteen 
	number in Pi, didn't you? You 
	saw it.
	
Sol doesn't respond.

			MAX 
	I saw it, Sol. I don't 
	know what happened, but I 
	know things. The market is 
	going to crash. It's going to 
	crash. It hasn't yet, but I 
	know it will. I saw it, Sol. 
	What is it, Sol? What's the 
	number?

Sol sighs. He looks down at 
the board and collects 
himself.

			SOL 
	You have it?
	
			MAX 
	It's in my head!
	
			SOL 
		(Leveling with Max) 
	Okay, sit down.

Max does.

			SOL 
	I gave up before I 
	pinpointed it. But my guess 
	is that certain problems 
	cause computers to get stuck 
	in a particular loop. The loop 
	leads to meltdown, but 
	right before they crash they...
	they become "aware" of 
	their own structure. The 
	computer has a sense of its 
	own silicon nature and it 
	prints out its ingredients.
	
			MAX 
	The computer becomes conscious?
	
			SOL 
	In some ways...I guess...
	
			MAX 
		(To himself) 
	Studying the pattern made Euclid 
	conscious of itself. Before it died it 
	spit out the number That consciousness 
	is the number.

			SOL 
	No, Max, it's only a 
	nasty bug.

			SOL 
	A door in front of a cliff. 
	You're driving yourself over 
	the edge. You need to stop.
	
			MAX 
	Stop? How can I stop? I'm 
	this close.

			SOL 
	The bug doesn't only 
	destroy computers.
			
			MAX 
	What are you saying?
	
			SOL 
	Look what it did to your 
	computer. Look what it's doing 
	to you.
	
Max doesn't respond.
			SOL 
	It's killing you. Leave it 
	unknown.

			MAX 
		(Clarity) 
	You were afraid of 
	it. That's why you quit.

			SOL 
	Max, I got burnt.
	
			MAX 
	C'mon, Sol.
	
			SOL 
	It caused my stroke.
	
			MAX 
	That's bullshit. It's 
	math, numbers, ideas. 
	Mathematicians are suppose to 
	be out on the edge. You 
	taught me that!
	
			SOL 
	Max, there's more than 
	math! There's a whole world...

			MAX 
	That's where discoveries 
	happen. We have to go out 
	there alone, all alone, no 
	one can accompany us. We have 
	to search the edge. We have 
	to risk it all. But you ran 
	from it. You're a coward.
	
			SOL 
	Max, it's death!
	
Max stands up and screams 
down at Sol.

			MAX 
	You can't tell me what it 
	is. You don't know You've 
	retreated to your goldfish, 
	to your books, to your Go, 
	but you're not satisfied.
	
Sol grabs his cane and 
whacks the Go board.

			SOL 
	Get out! Max, get out!
	
			MAX 
	I want to understand it. 
	I want to know!

Sol swings his cane as Max 
heads for the door.

			SOL 
	Out!
	
INT. SUBWAY - PORT AUTHORITY - NIGHT 

Max paces on a downtown train as it pulls 
into 42nd Street.

Through the open doors, Max 
notices a YOUNG PHOTOGRAPHER 
in jeans and a leather jacket 
photographing him from the 
uptown platform.

Max is enraged and screams at 
him. The man ducks behind a 
column, but a few moments 
later he's back snapping 
pictures.

The doors start to shut, but 
Max uses his body to get
off the train.

The Photographer sees him 
coming and flees.

Max follows the man's 
movement on his platform. 
When the young man shoots up 
the exit stairs, Max does so 
as well.

Max catches a glimpse of his 
foe entering the catacombs 
heading toward Times Square. 
Max pursues.

Max chases him down a 
looooong passage.

But he loses him at an 
underground five-way fork in 
the road. One staircase is 
Uptown and Queens...
another is Brooklyn...one 
other is unlabeled.

Still enraged, Max marches 
forward Just then, he catches 
a glimpse of the Photographer 
exiting the station.

SMASH TO

EXT. TIMES SQUARE - NEON NIGHT

In the heart of New York, 
Max spins around searching 
for his foe.
His frustration mounts until 
out of the comer of his eye 
he sees a strange reflection. 
Not knowing what it's of, he 
turns around to see the 
source The reflection is from 
a giant, brilliant stock 
ticker - 50 yards long and 
luminous.

Max stares at the quotes They 
are hypnotizing and Max is 
suddenly calm.

Then, Max has a premonition. 
He turns and spots the 
Photographer in front of a 
porn shop on Eighth and 42nd.

EXT. PORN SHOP - 42ND STREET - NIGHT

Max whacks the Photographer 
against a back-lit image of a 
Hustler Centerfold. The man 
screams.

			MAX 
	Who are you working for?
	
			PHOTOGRAPHER 
	Here, here.
	
The photographer hands Max his wallet.

			MAX
	I don't want your wallet. Who sent you?
	
Max grabs the kid's camera.

			MAX
	Who the hell sent you!?
	
			PHOTOGRAPHER 
	Wha...I'm sorry...
	
			MAX 
	Who are you?!
	
			PHOTOGRAPHER 
	I'm...a...student I've got 
	an assignment for class.
	
The Photographer pulls out his 
student ID. Max looks at it. 
Then he rips out the film-exposing it.

			MAX 
	Leave me alone, damn it. 
	Leave me alone.

Max hands the man back his 
camera and leaves.

EXT. MAX'S APARTMENT - NIGHT 

Max heads home in a furious 
state. Suddenly, he sees two 
of Marcy's men blocking his 
path. It's Brad and Jake, yet 
another tough guy, and they 
don't look happy. Max spins 
around and sees Marcy Dawson 
blocking his exit.

			MAX 
	Marcy? What's up?
	
Max retreats.

			MARCY DAWSON 
	Let's take a ride, Max.
	
			MAX 
	I can't, I got work...
	
Max looks back at the tough 
guys who are almost on top of 
him.

			MARCY DAWSON 
	We had a deal! NOW get in the limo!
	
Marcy releases a vicious slap 
that nearly knocks Max 
down. Max whimpers.

			MAX 
	Don't ever hit...
	
He pushes Marcy aside and 
darts.

EXT. CITY STREETS - NIGHT 

Max flees. Jake and Brad charge 
after him. They're right on 
him - he has a meter or so on 
them.
He scurries through a 
construction site and over a 
footbridge.

Then, he runs into an 
all-night 

BODEGA

The tough guys chase after 
him and he gets a bit of a
lead in the narrow aisles. He 
pleads with the owners for
help - nothing doing.

Jake heads him off and uses 
his body to block the aisle. 
But Max grabs a can of beans 
and slams it down on the 
tough guy's nose. The guy 
goes down and Max shoots out 
the exit.

EXT. UNDERNEATH CAR - NIGHT 

Max dives under a car and 
crawls for terror. He sees 
two sets of feet nun by. Max 
starts to relax when he 
notices a pair of heels on 
the other side of the car. 
Marcy bends down and looks at 
him.

			MARCY DAWSON 
	Enough, Max, c'mon out.
	
			MAX 	
	Leave me alone. I don't 
	know anything.

Max retreats in the opposite 
direction. Suddenly Jake and 
Brad grab him and drag him 
out.

			MAX 
	Hey! Hey! Hey!
	
They search him, taking his 
wallet, keys, everything.

Marcy looks at the guys, who 
shake their heads. She walks 
over to Max and shows Max 
the front page of the Wall 
Street Journal. It reads, 
"MARKET CRACHES"

			MARCY DAWSON 
	You're responsible for this.
	
			MAX 
	I didn't do anything. I 
	didn't play the market.

			MARCY DAWSON 
	But we did.
	
Marcy pulls out a folded, worn piece of 
paper. She opens it. It's Max's 
stock pick that he threw out. 
Part of THE number is on the page

			MARCY DAWSON 
	You have to be careful 
	where you throw out your trash.

			MAX 
	How could you do that?
	
			MARCY DAWSON 
	You gave us faulty information. 
	You gave us the carrot, the right 
	picks, but then you only gave us 
	part of the code.

			MAX 
	You selfish, irresponsible 
	cretins. How could you be so 
	stupid!?

Marcy jabs Max in his stomach. 
Max falls to the ground. The 
tough guys sit on him.

			MARCY DAWSON 
	C'mon, Max. This isn't a 
	game anymore. We're playing 
	on a global scale. We used 
	your code. Foolish...I admit. 
	But we can fix things if we 
	make some careful picks. Give 
	us the rest of the code so 
	we can set things right.

			MAX
	C'mon! I know who you are. 
	You're not gonna save the world.

			MARCY DAWSON 
	Look, Max...
	
Marcy nods to Jake, who pulls out 
a gun and points it at Max's head.

			MAX 
	My God, what are you doing?
	
			MARCY DAWSON 
	Information is 
	the private language
	of Capital. We tried to 
	establish a symbiotic 
	relationship but if
	you choose to compete and 
	enter our niche we are forced 
	to comply with the laws of 
	nature.
	
Max thinks for a second. Max 
thinks hard. He realizes be
can't give them the number.

			MAX 
	You can't kill me!
	
			MARCY DAWSON 
	C'mon, Max. You 
	don't get it. I don't
	give a shit about you. I only 
	care about what's in your 
	fucking head. If you won't help 
	us help yourself, then I'll 
	have only one choice. Destroy the 
	competition. I'll take you 
	out of the game. Survival of the 
	fittest, Max. And we've got 
	the gun.
	
Jake cocks the gun. Max 
starts to cry.

			MAX 
	You bastards! You stupid 
	bastards!

Suddenly, Jake is whacked with 
a sawed-off baseball bat.
He smashes into the sidewalk.
It is Farrouhk, Max's neighbor, 
who's just pulled up in 
his taxicab.

			MAX 
		(Spotting his savior) 
	Farrouhk!
	
Farroukh threatens Marcy and 
the other tough guy, who
retreat in fear. Farroubk is 
afraid as well, so he doesn't
quite leap on them. He just 
keeps swinging the bat.

			FARROUHK 
	He's sick! He's sick!
	
Max gets to his feet and runs 
behind Farrouhk. 

Just then a station wagon 
screeches up to the curb. 
Lenny Meyer, Ephraim, and 
a bunch of other his burly 
Jews jump out.

			LENNY MEYER 
	Max!
	
Max looks at Farrouhk and 
then he looks at Lenny. Ephraim
grabs Max and pulls him toward 
the station wagon.

			MAX 
		(To Farrouhk) 
	C'mon...
	
Farrouhk heads for his cab. 
Ephraim helps Max into the
backseat of the wagon and 
climbs in after him.

Lenny Meyer jumps into the 
passenger seat and the gray-bearded 
YISRAEL slams on the gas 
Pedal.

Farrouhk jumps into his cab.

INT. LENNY MEYER'S CAR - MOVING - NIGHT 

Yisrael yanks the steering 
wheel to the left, the old 
station wagon skids around 
a corner.

			MAX 
	Farrouhk what about Farrouhk!?
	
			LENNY MEYER 
	Stay down!
	
Ephraim pushes Max's head 
down. Yisrael takes another
corner sharp.

			MAX 
	Go back!
	
			LENNY MEYER 
	He's okay, he got 
	in his cab. We've been
	looking for you.
	
			MAX 
	What's going on?
	
			LENNY MEYER 
	Do you have the number?
	
			MAX 
	What's going on?
	
			LENNY MEYER 
	Do you have the number?
	
			MAX 
	Yeah, I have it!
	
			LENNY MEYER 
	You have it. Where is it? 
	You have it written down?

			MAX 
	What is it?
	
Lenny nods to Ephraim, who 
starts scanning through
Max's pockets. Max resists. 
The other guys hold him down.

			MAX 
	What are you doing!? What 
	the hell are you doing!?

			LENNY MEYER 
	We're not joking 
	around, Max? Where's
	the number?
	
			MAX 
		(Pushing Ephraim away) 
	It's not on me. It's in my
	head.

			LENNY MEYER 
	You memorized it? 
	Did you give it to them?

			MAX 
	Who?
	
			LENNY MEYER 
	Who!? Those 
	Wall Street bastards.

			MAX 
	Why do you care?
	
			LENNY MEYER
	Just answer me!
	
			MAX 
	Screw you!
	
			LENNY MEYER 
		(In Hebrew) 
	Hit him!
	
Yisrael screeches the car to a 
halt. He spins around in his 
seat and looks Max in the face.

			LENNY MEYER 
	You're dealing with something 
	really big now, Max. I don't 
	want to hurt you, so answer 
	me. Did you give it to them?

			MAX 
	They've got part of it 
	Now get off me!

			LENNY MEYER 
	Damn it! Damn it! 
	They're using it.

			MAX 
	Using what?
	
			LENNY MEYER 
	Shut up!
	
			MAX 
	Let go!
	
Max chews into Ephraim's hand 
which is pinning him. Ephraim 
screams and lets loose a punch 
to Max's jaw.

			LENNY MEYER 
	No, don't!
	
But Lenny is late, and Max's 
world - as well as ours goes 
black.

INT. MAX'S APARTMENT - NIGHT 

Max stares suspiciously at 
the bathroom. He slowly picks 
up his drill. Wielding it 
like a hammer, he carefully 
advances into the 

BATHROOM where he looks into 
the sink. He almost vomits 
when he sees a piece of human 
brain sitting above the drain. 
Ants swarm across its 
surface.

Max becomes furious. He 
whacks it with the drill. 
Blood flies up into his face. 
In a wild rage, he smashes it 
and punches it.

Then he drops the drill and 
uses his bare hands to shove 
it down the drain. Screaming 
like a madman, he jams it 
until it is gone.

INT. BASEMENT SHUL - DAY

A wise-looking, bearded 
Hasidic man with benevolent, 
piercing eyes stands tenderly 
over Max. He wears traditional 
black clothes. Lenny 
Meyer paces nervously in the 
background.

As Max comes through, RAV 
COHEN speaks.

			RAV COHEN 
	Max, Max. You're 
	okay I'm Rabbi Cohen. Cohen 
	like you. I'm sorry for what 
	Lenny did, he's been 
	reprimanded. It is not our way 
	Are you okay?

			MAX 
	Yeah, yeah
	
			RAV COHEN 
	Everything will be 
	fine, Max. You need to give 
	us the number. Do you have 
	it?

			MAX 
	What is it?
	
			LENNY MEYER 
		(Charging over) 
	I told you we don't know
	
			MAX 
	You wouldn't be so 
	flipped out if you didn't 
	know. What's happening to me?
	
			LENNY MEYER 
	Give us the number!
	
			MAX 
	Screw you!
	
			RAV COHEN 
	Okay, okay! Lenny, 
	easy! Max, I'll tell you 
	what's going on. Just calm 
	down. 
		(Deep breath, then) 
	The Talmud tells us it began two 
	thousand years ago, when the 
	Romans destroyed the second 
	temple.

			MAX 
	What are you...
	
			RAV COHEN 
	Just give me a chance. 
	You'll understand everything 
	if you listen.
	
Max takes out his pills and starts feeding 
himself some.

			RAV COHEN 
	The Romans also 
	murdered all of our priest-
	hood—the Cohanim—the Cohens, 
	and with their deaths they 
	destroyed our greatest 
	secret. In the center of the 
	great temple was the holy of 
	holies which was the heart of 
	Jewish life. This was the 
	earthly residence for our 
	God. The one God. It 
	contained the ark of the 
	Tabernacle which stored the 
	original Ten Commandments 
	that God gave to Moses. Only 
	one man could enter this 
	space once a year on the 
	holiest day of the year, Yom 
	Kippur On the Day of 
	Atonement, all of Israel 
	would descend upon Jerusalem 
	to witness the High Cohen's 
	trip into the holy of holies. 
	If the holy man was pure he 
	would reemerge a few moments 
	later and Israel was secured 
	a prosperous year. It meant 
	that we were one yea r closer 
	to the messianic age. Closer 
	to the return of the Garden 
	of Eden. But if he was 
	impure, he would die 
	instantly and it meant that 
	we were doomed. The High 
	Cohen had a single ritual to
	perform in the holy of holies. 
	He had to intone a single 
	word.

Rav Cohen takes a dramatic pause. 
Max is anxious to hear the end of 
the story.

			MAX
	So?
	
			RAV COHEN
	That word was the true name of God.
	
			MAX
	Yeah...
	
			RAV COHEN
	The true name, which only 
	the Cohanim knew, was two 
	hundred and sixteen letters 
	long.

A long beat.

			MAX 
		(Incredulous) 
	You're telling me that the number in 
	my head is the name of God!?

Wondrously, Max rubs the scar 
on his head.

			RAV COHEN 
		(Passion building) 
	Yes...it's The key into 
	the messianic age. As the 
	Romans burned the temple, the 
	Talmud says, the High Cohen 
	walked into the flames. He 
	took his secret to the top of 
	the burning building. The 
	heavens opened up and took 
	the key from the priest's 
	outstretched hand. We've been 
	searching for the key ever 
	since. And you may have found 
	it. Now let us find out.
	
			MAX 
	That's what happened. I 
	saw God.

			RAV COHEN 
	No, no, Max. 
	You're not pure. You can't 
	see God unless you're pure.
	
			MAX 
	It's more than God...
	it s everything. It's math 
	and science and nature...
	the universe. I saw the 
	Universe's DNA
	
			RAV COHEN 
	You saw nothing.
	
			MAX 
	I saw everything.
	
			RAV COHEN 
	There's much more. 
	We can unlock the door with 
	the key. It will show God 
	that we are pure again. He 
	will return us to The Garden.
	
			MAX 
	Garden? You're not pure. 
	I'm the one who has the 
	number
	
			RAV COHEN 
	Who do you think 
	you are? You are a vessel 
	from our God. You are 
	carrying a delivery that 
	needs to be made to us.
	
			MAX 
	It was given to me. It's 
	part of me. It's changing me.

			RAV COHEN 
	It's killing you. 
	Because you are impure.

			LENNY MEYER 
	It will kill you!
	
			MAX 
	And what will it do to 
	you?

			LENNY MEYER 
	We're pure. Give 
	us the number!

			MAX 
	The number is nothing. 
	You know that!

			RAV COHEN 
	We can use it. We 
	can wield it.

			MAX 
	It's just a number. I'm 
	sure you've written down 
	every two hundred sixteen number. 
	You've translated all of 
	them. You've intoned them 
	all. Haven't you? But what's 
	it gotten you? It's not the 
	number! It's the meaning. 
	It's the syntax. It's what's 
	between the numbers. If you 
	could understand you would. 
	But it's not for you! I've 
	got it. I understand it. I'm 
	going to see it! 
		(Whispers to Rav Cohen) 
	Rabbi...I was chosen.
	
EXT. CITY STREETS - DAY

Max races through the streets 
of New York. He is wide-eyed.

			MAX (V.0.) 
	Suddenly, it's all there. 
	It all makes sense. I 
	can crack it. I can know it. 
	I know what it is. Sol knows, 
	too. I need to tell him. I 
	need to show him. I need to 
	bring him with me.
	
People fly by. Max in a 
spiraling whirlwind.

EXT. SOL'S APARTMENT - NIGHT

A pumped and excited Max paces 
the hall as he rings the bell.

The door opens. But it isn't 
Sol. It's a young, beautiful 
woman wearing a simple black 
dress. Her name is JENNY ROBESON 
and she is Sol's niece.

			JENNY ROBESON 
	Can I help you?
	
			MAX 
		(Confused) 
	Sol?
	
			JENNY ROBESON 
	Were you a friend?
	
			MAX 
	What do you mean?
	
			JENNY ROBESON 
	He had a second stroke.
	
			MAX 
	Where is he?
	
Jenny's eyes drop.

			MAX 
	No.
	
Max rushes into Sol s study. 
The room is covered with Sol's P, 
research books. It seems 
Sol had recently come out of 
retirement. Max looks at a 
few of Sol's books. Then he 
finds a piece of paper with 
Sol's handwriting on it. On 
the paper is THE number. Max 
slides it into his pocket.

Max looks at the Go board. The 
pieces are arranged in a 
giant spiral across the board.

DISSOLVE TO

INT. MAX'S APARTMENT - DAY

Max sits on his bed staring 
at Sol's handwritten number.
Then he notices that his thumb 
is twitching. He drops Sol's note.

			MAX
	Stop it, please!

He dumps the contents of the bottle 
of pills into his hand.

Max stops as he prepares to 
shove the pills down his 
throat. He looks at the 
pills. Then he looks at 
Euclid around him. He throws 
the pills and the bottle to 
the floor. They fall to earth 
in SLOW MOTION.

The room rushes in on Max and 
so does the pain. It throws 
him to the ground and he 
bashes his head against the 
floor.

			MAX 
		(Courageously) 
	No. No. I'm ready. I'm 
	ready! Show me!

Max recites THE number and 
uses it to get to his feet. The 
pain rips apart his voice.

Max's pain and anger 
transform into violence. 
He attacks Euclid furiously. He 
recites the number with rage 
in his voice.

			MAX 
	Three, seven, two...
	
He smashes the old computer 
apart. He tosses his step 
stool through the mainframe.

Then he goes to the window and 
tries to rip off the cardboard 
covering the glass panes. Nothing 
doing, so he yanks the entire 
window wide open.

Sunlight floods the room and 
throws Max into the 

BLINDING WHITE VOID 

where Max looks around starry-eyed. 
The pain is gone. Everything is 
new to Max - even his hands. 
The stress leases from his 
brow and his shoulders sag.

Max continues to recite the 
number His voice becomes 
tender and peaceful. As he 
starts to become part of the 
void, his voice turns into a 
whisper and his eyes start to 
close.

Then he hears Devi.

			DEVI (O.S.) 
	Max. Max! Are you 
	okay!? Oh my God, Max!

Her voice reaches into the 
void.

			DEVI (O.S) 
	Max! Breathe, Max. Breathe!
	
Max looks toward her voice.

			DEVI (O.S.) 
	Yes, Max. Listen to me...
	
We cut back to 

...THE MAIN ROOM 

where Devi leans over Max. 
Max's eyes are open while 
he continues to recite the number.

			DEVI 
	Breathe, Max! Breathe. 
	Focus.

Max turns away from Devi and 
we return to the 

BLINDING WHITE VOID 

where Max continues to recite the 
number.

			DEVI (O.S.) 
	No, Max. No. 
	Stay with me Max. Stay with 
	me. 
	
And then we cut back to 

THE MAIN ROOM 

where Devi grabs Max's palm. Max's 
fingers wrap around her hand. 
We return to 

THE BLINDING WHITE VOID 

where Max stops reciting the 
number. He suddenly opens his 
fear filled eyes.

			MAX 
	Where am I? What is 
	this? This is wrong, Sol. 
	Sol!
	
Max lets out a 'SOL!, and 
reaches out into the void. We 
match cut back to 

THE MAIN ROOM

where Max grabs Devi and hugs 
her. He gasps for air as
he collapses into her arms, 
sobbing.

			MAX 
	Sol! You were right Sol! 
	He was right.

			DEVI 
	That's right Max. That's 
	Right. Breathe. Breathe.

			MAX 
	He was right. I want to 
	breathe. Breathe.

			DEVI 
	Yes, breathe, Max. 
	Breathe...

Max sobs. He holds onto her for dear life

And then be realizes that 
Devi is not in his arms. He is 
holding onto himself.

Then Max notices Sol's note 
on the ground. He looks at 
the number. He collects 
himself and catches his 
breath.

INT. MAX'S BATHROOM ?DAY

Max looks at Sol's note. He lights 
a match and burns it.

Next, he prepares something in the sink.

We hear the WHINE of a motor. 
Then it stops, Max looks at 
himself in the mirror, He 
smiles. Then he gets solemn.

He takes a deep breath. Then 
we hear the motor again. Max 
lifts up his arm. He's 
holding a drill. He places the 
bit against the math section 
of his scalp.

He applies pressure and drills 
into his brain.

Max collapses as we quickly 

CUT TO

EXT. CITY PLAYGROUND - DAY

TIGHT ON
a tree branch gently blowing 
in the wind.

Max watches it with peaceful, 
understanding eyes. He wears 
a hat on his head.

He listens to the wind in the 
trees.

Just then, Jenna surprises 
him with her Fisher Price 
calculator on hand.

			JEHNA 
	Max, Max!
	
Max smiles at Jenna. He's glad 
to see her.

			JENNA 
	Can we do one, Max, can 
	we?

Max shrugs, not able to say 
no.

			JENNA 
	How about two hundred 
	and fifty-five times a 
	hundred and eighty-three.
	
Jenna types m the number.

Max is about to say "no" to 
Jenna, but then be decides 
to give it a shot.

Max thinks, he really thinks.

Jenna presses the EQUALS 
button.

			JENNA 
	I got it! I got it! 
	What's the answer?

			MAX 
		(Smiling and then laughing) 
	I don't know. I really don't 
	know. What is it, Jenna?

			JENNA 
	Forty-six thousand six 
	hundred and sixty-five.

			MAX 
	Oh.
	
The trees blow gently in the 
wind as we slowly 

FADE TO WHITE which brings us to 

THE END