Cross Nodes

Written by:

Ian Pearson  Gavin Blair
Ian Weir

Transcribed by: Kim McFarland

[Opening: a scene from last week showing the spider ships coming out of the hole in the sky.]
Mike:
[voiceover] Last week on ReBoot.
[Closeup of Specks's eye]
Specks:
We're online!
Dot:
Prepare for viral attack!
[We see the map showing Daemon's worldwide infection.]
Enzo:
It's all green!
Phong:
Daemon's infection grows.
[Bob floats beside AndrAIa's flycycle.]
AndrAIa:
Bob, we've gotta help Matrix fight the Guardians!
Hologram of Cardon:
The Word is Daemon.
Matrix:
I've heard enough!
[Matrix presses a button on the handle with his thumb. Missiles launch at the spider ships and blow them to bits. Then we see Glitch Bob flying sans Zip board.]
Daecon:
[voiceover] We've found him.
Daemon:
The final Guardian.
Daecon:
He is the perfect messenger for the Word.
[Hexadecimal is being smothered by nulls.]
Hexadecimal:
Bob!
[The camera pans down from the roof of Daemon's chapel as the credits roll.]

Cross Nodes

Written by
Ian Pearson Gavin Blair
Ian Weir

Dance of the Hours[The camera ends up on Daemon, sitting on her throne. She is spotlit; the rest of the room is dark. In front of her stand ranks of viral Guardians. Organ music begins and disco ball lights begin spinning around the room. The masked figures that previously were at the hour points of the floor design are now standing behind her throne. They begin clapping, swaying and singing like a revival choir. Daemon looks back, grinning.


Music Composed by
Bob Buckley

"Cross Nodes" Lyrics Composed by
Ian Pearson
Gavin Blair


Choir:
[singing] Hear the Word of, hear the Word! Hear the Word of, hear the word!
[The camera zooms down the aisle in the middle of the Guardian ranks. A light comes on on Mike the TV, who is wearing a baggy sequined purple jumpsuit and a big James Brown wig.]

Music Composed by
Robert Buckley

Directed by
George Roman Samilski

Mike:
[singing] I was standing at the cross nodes, a huge celebrity!
Choir:
[singing] Celebrity, [???]
Mike:
[singing] I was standing at the cross nodes, zoom room came for me! Hardest working TV in show business
Choir:
[singing] Oooh, oooh!
[Mike goes up and sings to Daemon, who is grinning and clapping with the music.]
Mike:
[singing] I said Daemon, have mercy, don't you infect me please!
Choir:
[singing] Infect me please! Please infect me!
Mike:
I tried to run, I tried to run, tell my friend Bob, I've seen Daemon rising, she's the comin'!
Choir:
[singing] Ooooh!
Mike:
[singing] Oh, I tried to run, but the infection, it got me!
Choir:
[singing] Infection got me, it got me!
Mike:
[singing] When Daemon touched my code I heard the Word and it set me free! Woo!
Choir:
[singing] Set me free, oh, set me free! [repeated as Mike speaks] Yeah, yeah yeah!
Mike:
Oh, I have to tell you that I have heard the Word! I was corrupt data! Oh, but the Word found me and, and I was restored. Thank you, heh. Oh, the word is so high you can't get over it! [crawling on the floor] So low that you can't get under it! [He slides on the floor.] And so wide you can't get around it! Oh, and it's in bold caps too! There's no escapin' it! Ooh-hoo-hoo!
[Mike turns a series of backflips which place him in front of Daemon's throne. He goes down on his knees and bows. His wig falls off.
Mike:
Oh, you go, girl! Happy Easter!
[Daemon claps, smiling widely. Then she stands and walks toward the Guardians, who are holding purple egglike objects in their hands. As one they turn to face the aisle in between them and hold out the "eggs." Daemon holds out her arms, not looking to either side, and brushes her fingers against the "eggs." As she touches each, its top half spins, and the egg begins glowing green. When she is partway down the aisle, Daecon, who is now behind her, speaks.]
Daecon:
My lady. Bad news, I'm afraid.
[Daemon looks disquieted.]

Dot to Dot
[Matrix and AndrAIa are flying through a dark and stormy sky toward a hole. Matrix's ship shoots a ring of senders at it. As soon as Matrix and AndrAIa pass through it it is covered by a firewall. Cut to a red spot on a viewscreen. As Bob speaks the camera follows a line of blue as it travels down a green line to a green spot, which turns blue. The camera pulls back as the blue travels across the green lines radiating from that spot, then the lines from the next spot, and so on through the branchlike diagram of Web nodes.]
Bob:
The first firewall is online.
Phong:
It is working, Bob.
Bob:
Close a major port and all the pathways beyond are protected. One down, three to go.
[Bob is in the Command Room between Phong and Mouse.]
Mouse:
But why is Daemon only controllin' the pathways? Why isn't she infecting systems? It doesn't make sense.
Phong:
[panicky] Infect the entire Net? Oh, could she have such power?
Bob:
Look, you're forgetting how Megabyte worked. All he ever wanted was power.
Mouse:
And Daemon's already infected the Supercomputer.
Bob:
The largest power base on the Net. With control of the pathways, she can move anywhere. A system gives her trouble, Daemon moves in. [He smacks a fist into his other hand.]
Mouse:
No trouble.
Phong:
It is brilliant! She effectively controls the entire Net without spreading herself too thin.
[Dot is studying her organizer. On its screen, a representation of Hexadecimal is superimposed on a representation of a blob of nulls, then separated again.]
Bob:
Dot, you okay?
Dot:
Oh, uh, sorry. What were you saying? [She takes off her glasses and tries to smile at Bob. No keytools, doofus
Mouse:
Well, there's one thing buggin' me. We've just closed the door on Guardians. Now how did we do that? Guardians don't need doors.
Bob:
I know, they're not using portals. It worries me too.
Dot:
Look, do we really care? It's a weakness, and we've got to exploit it.
[The big VidWindow flickers with static. Then a blue-pupiled CPU speaks through it. In the background the null cocoon unfolds into a roughly humanoid shape.]
CPU:
Commander, sir, ma'am! It's the cocoon! It's breakin' out!
Dot:
I'm on my way. [to Phong] Where's Enzo?
Phong:
He is in the Read-Only Room.
Dot:
Keep him there. I don't want him seeing this. C'mon, Bob.
[She leaves, waving at Bob to follow her. He starts after her, then slumps forward and flickers momentarily, a pained expression on his face. The camera holds briefly on the VidWindow showing the map of the Net.]

[A spider ship crash lands in a system with a sunsetlike pink-and-purple sky. Matrix and AndrAIa fly down. A frmale Guardian wearing a uniform and helmet and holding a green egg comes out of the bottom. Matrix shoots at her from the air. She runs. An explosion throws her forward and knocks her helmet off. She runs for a cylindrical building.]

But spare my country's flag, she said
[Dot and Bob fly down to the area where Nullzilla II is standing. CPU cars block it on two sides. The CPUs are shooting at it. Dot flies down in front of Nullzilla II, facing the CPUs.]
Dot:
Stop! You're hurting him! Back off! Get outta here! Bob comes in for a landing, and falls forward on his hands.]
Dot:
[to Nullzilla II] Dad? It's me. It's Dot.
[The camera comes in on her face, then fades to a binome running down a walkway leading to a round, domelike structure, the same sone that exploded in the flashback at the beginning of "Daemon Rising." As Welman Matrix begins speaking, fade again to the interior of an auditorium. The seats are empty. A younger Enzo chases Frisket through the seating area. The punkish teenage Dot listens as Welman Matrix, on the stage, speaks. On the stage is a gate like the one Megabyte used in "When Games Collide," and on the backdrop are two pictures of Welman and a gold Guardian's icon.] Chris, not Mairi
Welman:
And, by creating a link between two systems, we can open a door, or a-a gateway, that allows up to pass through. But first, we have to find another system. Now I, I know I have my critics that some sprites say there are no other systems, but, just stop a cycle and process that statement. Can you really believe we are alone? That Mainframe is the only system in Cyberspace? I think not. My machine will detect new systems and link to them. It will prove that cyberspace is not an empty void, but a, a, a, a, wonderous place filled with inhabited systems and peoples and friends. We are not alone. [He pauses, then speaks to Dot.] How was that?
Dot:
Nnnot bad. [aside] Uh, drop the main light two points and raise the fill a half. [to Welman] Mm, I think you need to spend more time on how we detect other systems.
Welman:
By casting a network of signals or-or "pings" into the void.
[Welman presses a big red button on his podium. We hear a beep not unlike underwater radar.]
Welman:
These signals are programmed to lock onto energy bursts. Once we have a lock, we can open a gateway to the source of said energy.
Dot:
Dad! I know that, but no one else in the audience does!
Welman:
Oh! Right. I see.
Dot:
You want to try some questions?
Welman:
[takes a breath] Okay, I'm ready for anything.
Dot:
[clears her throat, then speaks in a formal tone] Professor Matrix, if you've proven the existence of other systems, why do we physically have to visit them?
Welman:
[flustered] Good question. Good question. Um... excellent question there. It's uh, um, well, uh, because-
Dot:
For proof! That's why the gateway command has two functions, search and link!
Welman:
That's right! Good answer. [pause] Dot, you will be here for me, won't you, by my side, just in case?
Dot:
[laughing] Of course, Dad!
[The scene fades from teenage Dot facing her father to Dot facing Nullzilla II.]
Dot:
I wasn't with you, Dad. But you were right, there are other systems and peoples... but they're not all friendly. [tearfully] Oh, Dad. I need you.
[Dot turns to Bob, puts her hand close to her face, and cries softly. Bob holds her. Then he holds out his hand and look at it, alarmed. It fades to semitransparency as he turns it.]

DVD Quality?
[Enzo is in the Read-Only Room, is sitting on a Zip board which has been folded to make a chair. His feet are up on the table-like VidWindow, which is covered with Spicy Hot Micro Chips. He is noisily slurping the last bit of an energy shake. On a VidWindow in front of him a cheesy reenactment of the battle with Zaytan is playing. "Enzo" is a Zero binome, and "Zaytan" is two Zeroes, one on top of the other. Frisket is lying by the "table." Hack and Slash watch from behind Enzo. On the VidWindow, "Enzo" dodges several swipes from "Zaytan,"then is knocked back and trembles. Hack and Slack watch anxiously.]
Onscreen System Voice:
Game Over. User winnnnns.
[Onscreen, a box painted like a game cube is hauled up on a rope in front of a backdrop of Baudway. Wipe to binomes costumed as Phong, Mouse, and Dot.]
Dot Binome:
Oh! Oh! NO-O-O-O!
[Hack puts his hands over his face and begins bawling. Enzo looks over. Frisket also looks over, then shifts uncomfortably. Slash wipes at his eyes with a handkerchief.]
Slash:
[also crying] Aw, now you got me goin'!
[Hack snatches the handkerchief from Slash and blows his... nose?... noisily.]
Slash:
[crying] That little fellow is stuck in the game! Oh, the humanity! [snatching the handkerchief] Gimme back my hanky!
Hack:
I'm sorry for.. D-d-d-dot.
[Hack covers his face and begins weeping again.]
Enzo:
Yeah, but everything turned out okay. I turned into Matrix, remember?
[The two bots stop crying.]
Hack:
[surprised] Hey!
Slash:
Hey.
Hack:
That is right.
Slash:
[nodding] Yeah. And he saved Mainframe and got rid of Megabyte-
[Hack startles, and slaps a hand over Slash's voicelight, muffling the other bot.]
Hack:
[frantically] Shhh! Don't mention that name!
Slash:
Who, Megab- Sibling rivalry
[Slash puts his hand over Slash's voicelight, muffling him again.]
Hack:
Huh - huh - wh - what'd I - wh - what'd I say?
Slash:
[muffled] Don't mention Megabyte!
Hack:
That's right. [shouting and shoving Slash back] So don't!
[Hack takes his hand from Slash's voicelight.]
Slash:
[sotto voce] Your hand smelled.
[Phong opens the door and wheels in.]
Phong:
Ah, young Enzo. Hard at work I see.
[Enzo kicks the VidWindow table away and gets off his zip board chair.]
Enzo:
[mockingly] Young Enzo, young Enzo! Everybody says "young Enzo" this or "little Enzo" that! Well, it's gonna stop!
Phong:
[surprised] My child, what is the problem?
Enzo:
[pointing at the VidWindow] I've just watched all the things I've done. I'm a Guardian now, and I'm big! With a cool gun and a babe for a girlfriend! No one's going to call me "little Enzo" ever again!
[As Phong watches, light flashes.]
Phong:
Oh, dear. Great choice of role models
[Frisket looks up.]
Enzo:
No.
[The camera is tight on Enzo's face. He now has an earring and is no longer wearing his ballcap.]
Enzo:
[continuing] From now on, you can call me-
[The camera pulls out, revealing Enzo in a Matrix costume. Enzo poses proudly.]
Enzo:
[continuing] Little Matrix!

[PLACE COMMERCIAL HERE]
[Establishing shot of a system covered with what looks like satellite dishes. The sky is sunset colored. It resembled the system seen at the beginning of "Number Seven." Inside somewhere, presumably one of the satellite dishes, a door opens, and a female viral Guardian runs across a metal catwalk. She stops just before the end of the catwalk and looks up into the pillar of light just beyond.]
AndrAIa:
[voiceover] Hi. Fanatics = cannon fodder
[The viral Guardian - who closely resembles the one AndrAIa dueled with in "The Episode With No Name" - turns back. AndrAIa and Matrix are at the other end of the catwalk. AndrAIa has her hands up, palms outward.]
AndrAIa:
[soothingly] Just relax. We won't hurt you.
Matrix:
[to AndrAIa] Speak for yourself.
Viral Guardian:
[nervously, holding a green egg close to her chest] You can't hurt me. The Word is with me, always.
Matrix:
[twirling Gun on his finger] Suit yourself.
[AndrAIa pushes Matrix's arm down.]
AndrAIa:
Matrix, that's not helping. [to the viral Guardian] I'm AndrAIa. Tell me about... the Word.
Viral Guardian:
[worshipfully] The Word? My lady... Daemon?
[Matrix and AndrAIa are advancing across the catwalk toward the Guardian. The pillar of light flashes, pulses running up and down]
AndrAIa:
Yes. Daemon. What's she like?
Viral Guardian:
[dreamily] Daemon...
[Matrix, and AndrAIa, their hands up, walk forward.]
Viral Guardian:
[alarmed, holding the egg away] Wait! Stay where you are!
[The viral Guardian looks at the pillar of light, then faces Matrix and AndrAIa again. She raises the egg in her hands and falls backward into the light.]
AndrAIa:
No!
[The viral Guardian falls only a short distance before dissolving. The green egg floats up in the light and hovers in front of Matrix and AndrAIa.]

[Daemon's chapel. Daemon is standing behind her throne, Daecon with her. The pendulum sweeps by in the background.]
Daecon:
The Mainframers are stronger than we thought. They are actually fighting back! They have protected another hub.
Daemon:
Time is against them. [fingering her hourglass pendant] They do not realize it is already too late.
Daecon:
But, my lady, they close systems that have not yet been seated.
Daemon:
Show me. EX-cellent!
[The window behind Daemon's throne shows a diagram of hubs and systems. The largest circle, centered on the screen, is red. All of the other circles and most of the lines are blue.]
Daecon:
It is now impossible to gain access to these systems without a portal.
Daemon:
Only my messenger can help us now.
Daecon:
Then Mainframe must fall.
Daemon:
We need information. Bring me our two Net surfing friends. [folding one hand over the other] It is time for Matrix and AndrAIa to hear the Word.

[In Kits Sector, CPUs and white coated binomes are around Nullzilla II. The camera pans up Bob's apartment. Inside, the circular door to Bob's garage slides up, revealing Bob and a CPU binome. Bob walks in.] Red flashing lights are bad.
CPU:
Are you sure you're all right, sir?
[Bob turns back.]
Bob:
[tiredly] Yeah. Just... need to access some energy. I'll be fine, thanks.
[As the door closes, the concerned-looking binome salutes, knocking its helmet off kilter, then pulls it straight again. Bob walks by his car, then looks around suspiciously. The camera pulls back to show his new, big-ASCII car. Bob flickers and, gasping, sits down. He gasps in pain as the flickering continues, then faints and falls on the floor, face down. The red thingy on his arm flashes.]

[Fade to a tear seen against a blue sky. The camera pans to the right to show a ring, one part of which is smoking. Hexagons float in another ring. Beyond the ring is a hole in the sky. The system might be the one seen in "The Episode with No Name" and "The Return of The Crimson Binome."]
Matrix:
[voiceover] Just like the last two. Open system, trashed port.
AndrAIa:
The Guardians' calling card.
[Matrix is on his flycycle.]
Matrix:
I'll plant the senders first. We're running outta time. Where's the portal going to open?
AndrAIa:
[pointing] Down there, loading bay two.]
[We see a structure, some of which is burning smokily. AndrAIa swerves her flycycle to a stop. Matrix pulls up beside her.]
Matrix:
What is it? What've you heard?
AndrAIa:
A power buildup. Coming from the control tower. Sparky, it's still functioning! It's a trap! Charlotte
[A light shines on top of the supposedly-wrecked tower.]
Matrix:
Let's get outta here!
[Matrix and AndrAIa pull their vehicles around and zoom away. The tower shoots a beam of light at them. It goes between their flycycles, splitting them apart, and hits the hole in the sky. The hole closes just before Matrix and AndrAIa reach it. They pull around. Matrix glares at the tower, then looks up. Spider ships are emerging from the gateway tear.]

[Dot and several CPUs and white-coated binomes are still around Nullzilla II.]
Dot:
[to Nullzilla II] We've already started working on a cure for nulls. We just need time. We'll get you back, Dad, I promise. Just stay calm.
[An alarm sounds.]
System Voice:
Warning, incoming game. Warning, incoming game.
[The sky darkens to purple.]
Dot:
Not here, not now! [to the binomes] Clear the sector! I want everyone outta the game's path!
[Dot looks anxiously toward Bob's apartment. Then she runs toward it.]
[Establishing shot of Dot's Diner. In a booth, while two female One binomes watch, Mouse displays a red sphere. She throws it up in the air and slices it twice with her katana. It falls onto the table, sliced into five pieces. The binomes applaud. Then, when they hear the System Voice, they look up, alarmed.]
System Voice:
Warning, incoming game.
[Mouse sees Enzo, Hack, and Slash zoom by outside.]
Dot:
[calling out] Cecil! Check please, sugah!
Cecil:
What, am I your dog, to come when you call?
[Mouse stands and slices at his bow tie with the tip of her sword. It falls away in pieces from the outside in.]
Cecil:
Check, coming right up! 8-bit, can't find the door
[Mouse jumps up on the table.]
Mouse:
Put it on my tab!
[Mouse slices a circle in the glass of the window, pushes it out, and leaps through the hole.]
Cecil:
[shouting] I will add zat to ze bill as well!
[The sky is dark and stormy.]
System Voice:
Warning, incoming game.
[Dot comes into Bob's garage and finds Bob on the floor. The red thingie on his arm is beeping.]
Dot:
Bob!
[Dot kneels down over Bob. He starts to turn himself.]
Bob:
[woozily] Ah... Oh, hi, Dot. I don't feel so good.
Dot:
We've got to get you outta here. [into a red thingie attached to her wrist band] Phong, Bob's sick.
[Dot looks up. The game cube comes down through the ceiling onto them, transforming the place into the inside of an Egyptian tomb. With some sounds of effort Bob gets to his hands and knees, then stands unsteadily. Dot stands too.]
Bob:
[weakly] Let's do it.
Dot:
Yeah, right. You're in no shape to boot. Look, can you download the game stats?
Bob:
Ah, I'll try.
[Bob closes his eyes and concentrates. The camera travels across the floor of another room. There is a large hole in the floor. We see a man firing guns at binomes dressed as mummies; He blows the eyeblock off of one.]
Bob:
[voiceover] The User is raiding this... tomb. He's one level below.
[The camera comes up to a glowing scroll hovering above a pillar.]
Bob:
[voiceover, continuing] He wins by reading from the Scroll of Life. [Bob opens his eyes.] It's just up ahead.
Dot:
[putting on her glasses] Okay, sounds easy enough. Reboot!
[She double-clicks her icon. The burst of light puts her into an Egyptian sort of showgirl costume. She looks down at herself, then pats her hips as if looking for something.]
Bob:
What's up?
Dot:
[shrugging, disappointed] Well, I was hoping for a pair of 45s. It hurts when I do this
Bob:
[double clicking his icon] Reboot!
[Red and yellow light flares. He yelps in pain and falls to his hands and knees, then slumps all the way down. Dot crouches in front of him.]
Dot:
Bob!

[Matrix and AndrAIa fly among structures, chased by spider ships. Matrix shoots the middle of a horizontal beam, splitting it. One half swings down and hits one of the pursuing spider ships. Matrix and AndrAIa fly side by side.]
Matrix:
I'm out of ammo. How long have we got?
AndrAIa:
Five cycles. Then the portal opens to Mainframe.
Matrix:
We hit the portal as it opens. Bob should have enough time to close it before we're followed.
AndrAIa:
Well, Sparky, timing's everything!

[Dot puts the unconscious Bob into a mummy case. As she closes the door The User can be seen behind her, in the hole in the floor. She flinches, then looks back, when he shoots and misses, hitting the coffin lid. The User shoots several more times. Seen from the point of view of a first person shooter game, Dot runs, then dives behind a box. The User's gun clicks. He raises and glares at it. Dot, now holding a staff, looks up from behind the box. The User tosses the gun away. Dot comes at him, holding the staff like a quarterstaff.] Dot skin pak
Dot:
My turn!
[The User takes out a large knife. He swings it at Dot's legs. She jumps over it. Then she looks over at the wall behind him, and spots a differently colored stone on the ground with an 8 marking. She jabs the base of her staff at the stone, then looks up. The wall opens, revealing a large spherical stone with a 8 marking. It rolls forward, bouncing back and forth off the walls.]
Dot:
Eight ball, center pocket.
[The User stares at it. Then he jumps down into the hole just as the ball crashes down. Dot blows on the end of her staff as if it were a gun barrel.]

[A door opens into the Command Room. Mouse, holding a struggling Enzo off the ground by the back of his vest with one hand, walks in. Hack and Slash are behind her.]
Enzo:
Put me down! This is no way to treat a renegade!
Mouse:
Phong, we've got a problem.
Phong:
Just one? Early adolescence
[Mouse holds Enzo out toward Phong.]
Phong:
Oh, I knew about that one.
[Enzo scowls at Phong. Mouse drops Enzo. He lands on his hands and knees, then stands up.]
Mouse:
So what's happened?
Phong:
Bob and Dot are caught in the game.
Mouse:
Don't sweat it, they'll be fine.
Phong:
But, Bob is unwell!
Mouse:
Then Dot'll take the User out.
Phong:
And the countdown nears zero. We need Bob to open the portal, or Matrix and AndrAIa will be trapped in the net!
Mouse:
Now, ya got me there.

[PLACE COMMERCIAL HERE]
[Matrix and andrAIa fly low over the ground, weaving around various obstacles. AndrAIa looks at a beeping circular thingy on her wrist that displays a wireframe schematic of the territory ahead.]
AndrAIa:
Now!
[AndrAIa swerves to the side and leaps off her cycle, which smashes against a pillar. She catches a horizontal bar and swings around it like a gymnast.]
AndrAIa:
Whoa!
Matrix:
AndrAIa!
[AndrAIa swings up and off the bar, does somersaults in the air, and lands on her feet behind the burning wreckage. The spider ships are approaching her from behind. She runs into a hangarlike area. The door closes behind her. The spider ships land outside.]

Brutal caricature
[Dot walks through passageways in the tomb toward the Scroll of Life. A door on the side opens. The User steps out and holds out his knife menacingly. He rushes Dot and swings the knife downward. She dodges. Then she spins around on one leg and kicks him in the back. He goes down on his hands and knees. Before he can reach his knife she picks him up by his head. Her eyes and mouth glow, and light flows from her mouth into the User's. He takes out an ankh and holds it up before her face. She freezes. There is a burst of energy and a ripple in the air like a heat mirage, then Dot begins withering. She is blown back into the wall, and by the time she hits it she is a desiccated-looking old woman. She falls to the ground and moans. The User walks toward the Scroll of Life.]

[AndrAIa is sitting on a crate. Other crates are piled behind her. In the foreground, Matrix's foot hits the ground with the force of an elephant's. He gets off his flycycle and turns the vehicle off.] Nice box.
AndrAIa:
What took you?
Matrix:
[wiping his forehead with the back of his hand] Traffic's murder out there!
AndrAIa:
[firmly] No, the traffic isn't murder. The Guardians aren't trying to delete us, none of the tanks have fired a shot.
Matrix:
They're not on a search and destroy mission.
AndrAIa:
It's search and retrieve.
Matrix:
[drawing and raising Gun] Huh, well, they can try.
AndrAIa:
Put Gun away, those are unarmed Guardians, not Users or Viruses. Remember what Bob said, there are better ways.
Matrix:
[sarcastically] Bob! [looking around] Where's Bob and the portal now?
AndrAIa:
Well, I don't believe Bob's abandoned us, do you?
[Matrix looks around sulkily.]
AndrAIa:
So the portal's just late. It'll still arrive.
Matrix:
Yeah. But out there. And we're in here.
AndrAIa:
So, we have to go out there, take on the Guardians hand-to-hand, and be ready to jump into the portal when it arrives. There's only seventy-eight of them. I've been counting.
Matrix:
Seventy-eight to two. And you don't want me to use Gun? [pause] You know something I don't?
AndrAIa:
Look what I'm sitting on.
[Her feet are hanging in front of an icon logo on the side of the crate. She moves her feet apart, revealing the letters "EXO" on the box.

[The User, in front of the Scroll of Life, grins nastily at Dot, then turns and walks toward the scroll. Dot reaches a trembling hand out.] Hex can reboot! YES!
Dot:
No!
[Dot looks down and touches her icon, then looks up again. A mummy case on the wall opens and a female mummy strides out. She grabs the User by the throat and lifts him off the ground. Light shines out of her eyes and mouth. The light enters his mouth. His bangs flip backward and come off, leaving him bald on top. He dissolves into light and disappears, leaving the mummy holding his knife.]
System Voice:
Game Over.
[The game cube leaves. In the background, Dot gets up. In the foreground, someone wearing a pair of white feminine boots and strips of a white cape faces her.]
Dot:
Hex? What in the net?
[The camera pans up Hexadecimal's body, showing her white boots, white laced stockings and garter belt, white pushup corset, and white gloves, necklace, and shoulder accessories. The parts that used to be spikes and now curved. Hexadecimal now has Spritelike, four-fingered hands; short black hair, eyeballs, and a Statue of Liberty crown. Her skin is gold up to her neck, above which it is white. She looks down at herself.] You and me both
Hexadecimal:
Oh, my goodness.
Dot:
What happened to my father? The null cocoon?
[The closeup of Hexadecimal's face reveals that it is cracked, like her mask was before Bob defragmented it, minus the star on her cheek.]
Hexadecimal:
What null cocoon?
[Dot looks over as the door shooshes open. Bob reels in. The thingy on his arm is flashing.]
Bob:
[weakly] The portal...
[Bob falls. Dot catches him.]
Dot:
Hex, I need your help.
Hexadecimal:
You need my help?
Dot: Statue of Liberty
Just take Bob to the portal generator. I've got to get to the war room.
[Dot hands Bob over to Hex. Hex takes his arm. Bob stumbles forward. Hex grins at him, then closes her eyes and concentrates. Then she frowns and opens her eyes again.]
Dot:
Please, Hex! I know we've got our differences, but I need you to do this!
Hexadecimal:
[sounding increasingly upset] But... but I've just tried and we're still here. And I can't fly. Dot, I've lost my powers! How do I get in there?

[Dozens of purple-and-white uniformed Guardians are standing around the spider ships outside the hangar. The hangar door rises. The Guardians ready themselves. Exoskeletons bearing Matrix and AndrAIa stomp forward.]
AndrAIa:
Hello, boys.[Matrix raises a fist. The exoskeleton does too.] The most disturbing smile since Clutch Cargo
Matrix:
If anyone wants to surrender, now's the time.
[As Matrix speaks a Guardian steps forward, out of the ranks, takes off his helmet, and smiles at Matrix.]
Matrix:
[shocked] Turbo?!
[Turbo smiles very unsettlingly up at Matrix. His grin is too wide to look natural and his eyes seem weary.]

[The Mainframe subsphere opens. Bob's car swoops and flies erratically to it as if driven by someone who has never driven a car before. When it comes close we see Hexadecimal is driving and Bob is lying across the back.]
Hexadecimal:
[raising a hand to her face] Oops. Bang bang chitty chitty bang bang
Bob:
Uh, Hex. Just stop. This's fine.
Hexadecimal:
Okay, now what?
[Bob tries to sit up, flickers into transparency, and falls back.]
Hexadecimal:
[shaking her head worriedly] Not good. This is not good.

[The exoskeletons stand in front of a crowd of Guardians.]
Turbo:
Give it up, son. You can't take us all. [He grins scarily again.]
[Matrix and the exoskeleton both shake their right fists.]
Matrix:
I wouldn't bet on it.
[He yells and draws his hands back - the suit does too - then lunges forward and grabs Turbo. The other Guardians scatter. Then the Guardians rush forward and begin leaping onto Matrix and AndrAIa's exoskeletons. AndrAIa's knocks three away with its tail. Matrix throws off the Guardians clinging to his clamp arm. Then he lifts Turbo close.]
Matrix:
Traitor! You were supposed to help us!
Turbo:
But I am, son! [slumping forward and shaking his head] It's time to stop fighting. You been fightin' all your life. Let the Word bring the peace you so rightly deserve.
[Matrix looks indignant.]
Turbo:
[continuing] Trust me.

[Daemon and Daecon see Turbo in the window.]
Daemon:
Lock onto Turbo's icon. Send a zoom room before someone is deleted.

AndrAIa is beating on the Guardians who rush her. She knocks them away with her exoskeleton's arms and kicks with her own foot.
AndrAIa:
[shouting] Matrix! I could use some help here!
[AndrAIa looks up. A beam of light stabs into the sky and opens a hole into The Edge of Beyond. A zoom room comes down toward them. AndrAIa looks at Matrix, then rushes him. He looks over at her, surprised. A portal to Mainframe opens behind him. AndrAIa's exoskeleton knocks him away so the zoom room comes down on her instead. Matrix's exoskeleton stumbles back and through the portal, back into Mainframe. It skids to a stop. Matrix reaches toward the portal.]
Matrix:
[shouting] AndrAIa!
[The portal disappears. Turbo, on his hands and knees, looks over. The camera pulls up.]
Matrix:
No! AndrAIa!

[The zoom room comes down in Daemon's chapel, then disappears, leaving behind AndrAIa in the exoskeleton. AndrAIa looks around.]
Daemon:
AndrAIa.
[AndrAIa looks down at Daemon.]
Daemon:
Welcome. Stepford Dataforms
[AndrAIa screams in rage and swings her exoskeleton's arm at Daemon. Daemon stops it with one finger. Light spreads over the exoskeleton, lighting it up. AndrAIa gasps. When it fades, it and AndrAIa slump forward. AndrAIa falls out of the holder. When she looks up at Daemon, her forehead is glowing with veinlike lines.]
AndrAIa:
[worshipfully] My lady!
Daemon:
You have arrived just in time.
[Daemon tilts her head back and closes her eyes. A glow spreads from her crest to her body, backlighting her as she rises into the air. Green light explodes from her. It spreads through The Edge of Beyond in an expanding disc. It washes through the sky in the system that Matrix and AndrAIa just came from. Energy discharges flash in the sky as the energy reaches ground level. It lights the sky in the satellite dish system, then similarly flows over the ground. The column of light that the female Guardian fell into flares bright green. Dot, holding a miserable-looking Enzo, looks at the pinnacle in the large VidWindow in the Command Room.]
Matrix:
No... AndrAIa...
Mouse:
Dot?
[Dot looks at Mouse]
Mouse:
[shaken] You... better see this. I'm puttin' it on the main screen.
[The main screen shows the node map. A circle flashes green. Green travels down the line beyond it. The next circle flashes from blue to green.]
Dot:
[hushed voice] How is she doing this? She can't. It's impossible!
[Green travels down the next line. The next circle turns green. The green goes down another line to the next circle.]
Phong:
This - this cannot be!
Mouse:
It gets worse. Some of the systems we've just sealed have gone viral.
Dot:
What? But how?!
Phong:
She must have had the power to do this all along! Why wait?
Mouse:
Net ninety-two percent infected.
[The pie chart diagram is now 7/8 green. In the bottom right corner of the screen it says 92.18%.] Calmness, children... CALMNESS!
Phong:
Ninety-two percent?!
Mouse:
It's over. She didn't get it all. There're still small pockets of closed systems that are clean.
Phong:
Dot, what are we going to do?
[Dot does not answer Phong. He looks surprised.]
Phong:
Dot?
[Dot looks down, as if losing hope.]
Phong:
Dot? [yelling] Dot?!

Story Editors Ian Pearson
Gavin Blair
Phil Mitchell
Starring the Voices of Sharon Alexander
Giacomo Baessato
Kathleen Barr
Garry (sic) Chalk
Ian Corlett
Colombe Demers
Paul Dobson		 Michael Donovan
Danny McKinnon
Scott McNeil
Shirley Milliner (sic)
Richard Newman
Stevie Vallance
Dale Wilson
Voice Director Michael Donovan

[B.C. Performers logo]
Production Designer Ken Nicholls
Story Board Artist Rob Jensen
Character Designer Scott Lee
Matte Painter Jeff Panek
Googs/Graphic Design Keith Arima
Colin Oleksyn
Peter Ruttan
Production Manager Sharan Wood
Assistant Director Petra Haluska
Modeling Assistant Director Stefanie Boose
Production Coordinator Christopher Fink
Director of Animation Mark Schiemann
Supervising Animators Corey Barnard
Daniel Ife
Senior Animators Rex Ahn
Andrew Lawson
Carleen Lay
Jeremy Matthieson
Clayton Ryan
Scott Thompson
Computer Animators Harry Ahn
Larry Anderson
Francis Cardeno
Rahul Dhabulkar
Mike Dharney
Chad Ellis
Shona Galbraith
Jason Hopkins		 Stephen King
Jackie Nelson
Lake Pearson
Keith Richardson
Dustin Trenton
Christian Varin
Witold Werner
Grant Wilson
Lip Sync Technical Director Jason Osipa
Supervising Modeler Michael Haslam
Senior Modelers Gerald Lauzé
Michael Monks
Jim Su
Modelers Jay Chi
Henry Cho
Wayne Wong Chong
Eric Cheung
James Feng
Jared Fry
Wayne Gonsalves
Tyler Haider
Sephine Kuan
Richard Lau		 Greg Lohr
Hak Hyung Lee
Doug MacKay (sic)
Stephen Midwinter
Joel Olmstead
Fred Pazi
Brad Sweder
Deryk Tappin
Christian Varin
Carl Whiteside
Digital Effects Supervisor Michael Mussellam
Digital Effects Animators Anne Davis
Kevin McKibbon
Patrick Parenteau
On-Line Editors Anne Hoerber
Jean Ireland
Off-Line Editor Sylvain Blais
Video Production Supervisor Jim Corbett
Video Production Technicians Andre Guilbeault
Rudy Koch
Russell Orme
Video Disc Operators Brett Daly
Justin Much
Executive in Charge of Technical Operations Greg Story
Systems Engineers David Algar
Terry Bates
Larry Bodnar
Kevin Elsdon
Jason Hislop
Myles Morse
Curt Odenbach
Executive in Charge of Software Development Chris Welman
Software Support Tim Belsher
Gordon Farrell
Stephen Schick
YTV Executive Laurinda Shaver Goncalves
Audio Supervisor Marcel Duppereault
Sound Effects Editors Todd Araki
Marcel Duppereault
Jason Fredrickson
Kirk Furniss
Mix Engineers Marcel Duppereault
Todd Araki

Dolby Surround
Foley Artist Ian Mackie
Don Harrison
Mixed at Dick and Rogers
Creative Affairs Dan DiDio
Video Post Production at Mainframe Entertainment Inc.

Vancouver, Canada

A Mainframe Entertainment Production

Produced in Association with YTV

© 2001 Reboot IV Productions Inc.
All rights Reserved

with the assistance of the Canadian Film or Video Tax Credit Program Canadian Television and Cable Production Fund (License Fee Program)
and
Film Incentive BC

Mainframe Entertainment, Inc.

YTV logo

The ReBoot episode "Cross Nodes" and all associated images is copyright © Mainframe Entertainment, Inc. Screen grabs snapped by Kim McFarland. This transcript document is copyright © Kim McFarland. Please do not re-archive without permission.

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