Pi Page #4

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:

Sh*t!

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...

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