Ex Machina Read Free

fact, I want to share it with you so much, it’s eating me up inside.
    Beat.
    But there’s something I need you to do for me first.
    CALEB
    … What?
    Nathan reaches into his pocket, and pulls out a pen.
    INT. HOUSE ⁄ CALEB’S BEDROOM – DAY
    Caleb sits at the desk in his room, holding Nathan’s pen.
    In front of him is a sheet of paper, which reads, at the top: NON DISCLOSURE AGREEMENT.
    CALEB
    ‘The signee agrees to regular data audit with unlimited access, to confirm that no disclosure of information has taken place, in public or private forums, using any means of communication, including but not limited to that which is disclosed orally or in written or electronic form …’
    Caleb glances back at Nathan on the bed.
    I think I need a lawyer.
    NATHAN
    It’s standard.
    CALEB
    It doesn’t feel very standard.
    NATHAN
    Okay, it’s not standard.
    He shrugs.
    What can I tell you? You don’t have to sign. We could spend the next seven days shooting pool and getting drunk together. Bonding. And when you discover what you missed out on, in a year or so’s time, you’ll spend the rest of your life regretting it.
    Caleb turns back to the desk.
    Looks at the paper.
    Then hesitates a final moment –
    – and signs.
    When he looks round, Nathan has moved from the bed, and is standing directly behind him.
    NATHAN
    Good call.
    Nathan takes the piece of paper.
    Folds it. Puts it in his pocket.
    So.
    Beat.
    Do you know what the Turing Test is?
    Caleb reacts – immediately knowing what Nathan has just  implied.
    CALEB
    … Yeah. I know what the Turing Test is.
    Nathan waits.
    It’s where a human interacts with a computer. And if the human can’t tell they’re interacting with a computer, the test is passed.
    NATHAN
    And what does a pass tell us?
    CALEB
    That the computer has artificial intelligence.
    Beat.
    … Are you telling me you’re building an AI?
    Nathan shakes his head.
    NATHAN
    I’ve already built one.
    He stands.
    And over the next few days, you’re going to be the human component in a Turing Test.
    CALEB
    … Holy shit.
    NATHAN
    That’s right, Caleb. You got it. Because if that test is passed, you are dead centre of the single greatest scientific event in the history of man.
    CALEB
    If you’ve created a conscious machine, it’s not the history of man. It’s the history of gods.
    Nathan smiles.
    NATHAN
    I like you.
    CUT TO
    INT. HOUSE ⁄ OBSERVATION ROOM – DAY
    What appears to be a neon-coloured jellyfish, tendrils like axons, hangs in a black-blue liquid space.
    REVEAL
    – the jellyfish is contained in a glass orb –
    – which is held in an exposed cavity at the back of machined skull-shape –
    – which is part of a robot girl.
    Her name is Ava.
    She’s an extraordinary piece of engineering.
    Proportioned as a slender female in her twenties, her limbs and torso are a mixture of metal and plastic and carbon fibre.
    The carbon fibre is charcoal-colour. The plastic is cream. The metal has the yellow warmth of nickel.
    The shapes of her body approximate the form of muscle. There are biceps and breasts. Her hands have five delicate digits.
    Her body structure is covered in a delicate skin. The skin is a mesh, in the pattern of a honeycomb. Like a spiderweb, it is almost invisible unless side-lit.
    The one part of her that is not obviously an inorganic construct is her face – which is that of a strikingly beautiful girl. Created in a defined oval, from the top of the forehead to just below her chin. Indistinguishable from a real girl in its appearance and in the way it moves – except for one thing –
    – there is a very slight, almost imperceptible blankness in her eyes.
    As we observe Ava, she fits a section of skull-plate to the back of her head, which obscures the glass orb and jellyfish structure.
    Then –
    – she half turns. As if having become aware of another presence in the room.
    REVEAL
    – the room in which Ava stands.
    Ava’s living area is made up of three primary spaces.
    The