it was 97 degrees in the city and no hope of improvement. not bad if you're a lizard. but two hours earlier i was drinking acquavit with an eskimo lady in north east alaska. that's a tough change to make. it was so good, i didn't want to leave, so i left a day early.
contact. this is blade runner one calling com-fast 27.
yah, gaff.
you know where i been. i been on vacation.
what's up?
bad?
i'll see you in a minute.
i-x-4-p-d referred to as a nexus-6, the tyrell corporation's new pride and joy. holden was administering the voight-kampff test when one nailed him.
the nexus-6 must be fast because holden was as quick as they come. the report said there were six of them. three males and three female. led by a combat model called roy batty.
they escaped from the colonies two weeks ago. killed twenty- three people and jumped a shuttle. an aerial patrol found the ship in the desert. no crew.
bryant's got a liver problem. a couple years back he handed me a bottle and said have a drink for another man. i been drinking for him ever since.
six, huh?
what was he after?
you got a machine on it yet?
where do we start?
what was the cover on the one that got holden?
garbage man?
did personnel have an address on him?
i'll go take a look.
thanks.
the big incentive to emigrate was still free labor. if the public found out that their door-prizes might kill them, they might not be so hot to go up there. this was one of the worst one's we had and bryant was worried. he wanted to tell me to be discrete or something. but i didn't give him a chance.
machines can be helpful sometimes, but they can also be a pain in the ass. ask for a trace on a forger and you might wind up at a steel- mill. i don't mind a bum-steer once in a while -- it's their personalities that usually get me. somebody once said that man makes machines in his own image. if that's true, whoever made esper should have been shot.
you equipped for random questions?
you start.
how do i stop one?
okay, but.
i know all that.
i think we're through for the night.
yes?
not if it works.
the umbrella.
every government that could was racing to populate their colonial territory. but emigrants needed incentive. over-population and the greenhouse factor didn't seem to be enough; but owning a human look-a-like had lots of appeal. it was big industry, the competition was stiff and tyrell was top of the line.
his claim to fame was making a product more human than human and sometimes the 'more' turned out to be a problem. this wasn't just an escaped andy who broke his owner's arm -- there were twenty-eight people dead and the pressure was on.
but so far they'd always managed to keep it quiet. not to say that once in a while there wasn't bad publicity. some fanatic bitching about equal rights for andies or an occasional trade union proclaiming it was aun-american for automatons to take jobs away from humans on the colony.
but what's more american than good old supply and demand? the government needed them, industry made them and the church backed them. the big religious boys said that androids, no matter how human, were objects; only god could make people. i'm not religious, but i was inclined to agree. otherwise i'd be out of a job.
a humanoid robot is like any other machine, it can be a benefit or a hazard. if it's a benefit, it's not our problem.
it's artificial?
why should i be?
you got it wrong, girl. i work with the bureau not for them.
my job isn't to detect malfunctioning andies, it's to eliminate them. the more the better.
thanks.
please.
yes.
go ahead.
no.
nothing is infallible, but so far the voight-kampff scale bas been foolproof.
one that relies on human interpretation. where's the subject?
you're given a calfskin wallet for your birthday.
you have a little boy. he shows you his butterfly collection, plus the killing jar.
you're watching t.v. and suddenly you notice a wasp crawling on your wrist.
in a magazine you come across a full-page photo of a nude girl.
you show the picture to your husband. he likes it and hangs it on the wall. the girl is lying on a bearskin rug.
why not?
you become pregnant by a man who runs off with your best friend, and you decide to get an abortion.
why not?
in your opinion.
sounds like you speaks from experience.
last question. you're watching an old movie. it shows a banquet in progress, the guests are enjoying raw oysters.
the entree consists of boiled dog stuffed with rice.
the raw oysters are less acceptable to you than a dish of boiled dog.
lights please.
if she is, the machine works.
thirteen.
she didn't know?
five, maybe six.
no thanks.
discreetly.
i work alone.
so how did i do?
no rust?
meaning?
yeah?
huh huh.
true.
nope.
listen, i could make you a long list of complaints about this fucken city but i still rather be here than up there.
they'll change the limit before i change my mind.
never been more sure of anything in my life.
why didn't you go?
but if you could?
me too.
thanks.
is there anything else?
i've already got more help than i need.
sounds like i'm an ass-hole either way, but the answer is still no.
i work alone.
so?
that's okay, i'll get it.
yeah.
i can imagine.
so why do you think they were after their records.
right.
night.
the possibilities were infinite. they could change their appearances but not their future. like she said, it was short. longevity is what they were after. the garbage man even wanted a past. poor fuck. i'd check it out but i knew she was right. the market worked on turn-over. built-in obsolescence was the name of the game. that meant her too. it was something i didn't want to think about.
yeah.
i was just about to have my dinner.
what is a conventional term?
never mind. do they have that knowledge?
okay, gimme a run-down on the three females.
next.
number three.
fuck.
taffey lewis?
can i come in?
i'd like you to take a look at these pictures.
do you recognize any of them?
what did she want?
the girl that doesn't look like that girl.
what night?
what's suck night?
you talking about the opera house on the main?
book the good ones for where?
what shows?
excuse me, miss salome.
i'd like to have a word with you if i could.
i'm with the american federation of variety artists.
don't worry, i'm not here to make you join -- that's not my department.
i'm an investigator for the confidential committee on moral abuses.
there's been reports of management sexually abusing the artists in this place.
you haven't felt yourself to be exploited by the management in any way?
like to get this position. did you or were you asked to do anything lewd or unsavory or otherwise repulsive to your person?
oh, yeah. you'd be surprised what goes on around here. i'd like to check the dressing room if i could.
for holes.
it that mother real?
it's a good job.
does it eat?
sorry.
they have their ways of doing their dirty work without the victim knowing what's going on.
you'd be surprised what a guy'll go through to get a glimpse of a beautiful body.
little dirty holes the bastards drill in the wall so they can watch a lady undress.
me.
hmmmmm?
stop or you're dead!
listen, sergeant.
she was gonna get away.
i didn't like her.
yeah.
no problem. gimme another.
forget it.
it's okay. forget it.
i'll but you one. what'll you have?
shot of vodka, please.
my pleasure.
prosit.
sorry, don't have the time.
those cockroaches?
how long you had these guys?
prosit.
no thanks.
i like you too.
i gotta piss.
i think i'll piss outside.
i showed pictures. somebody recognized her. i went to see.
i don't know.
four years.
like i said, i don't need your help.
i knew a cop once who was involved in a high-speed chase. they shot out one of his tires and he went over a cliff at hundred and fifty miles an hour. they found him in the morning with a broken skull, six fractured ribs and second- degree burns. on the way to the hospital he made a play for the nurse.
hey! i thought you were supposed to be taking care of me.
don't just stand there looking at me. it's not polite.
sit.
gimme your arm.
you ever take a bath with a man before?
fuck you, then.
how are you doing, old man?
well, you don't have to worry about getting it wrinkled.
sorry.
i'm doing okay.
yeah. but that's what i wanted to talk to you about.
no. i got a problem.
i think i'm starting to empathize with these nexus-sixes.
what's that?
what about -- not sex -- but love?
these aren't just.
thanks.
you did?
me and my dad.
dead.
i am. part of my job is to sit on a couch and try and figure things out.
not too good.
if they are smart, they take naps.
yeah. sometimes.
wishing is a kind of dreaming.
yeah.
it wasn't very good last night, was it?
what?
like?
i don't know. if there is i'd like to find it.
hmmm?
don't be fooled by appearances.
because they would ruin the arrangement.
i don't like people snooping around my stuff.
oh no, don't do that.
never mind the plug, just go through the motions.
i don't like the noise. just practice. practice makes perfect.
i'm serious. go ahead. show me how you would do it.
how about under the couch there. come on.
good for a smart girl to feel stupid. part of your education.
i never felt better.
she'd never seen the great outdoors. never even seen books on the subject. she went through everything i had, and we talked. and there were subjects we didn't discuss and they were words we didn't say, i couldn't say, like death, like future, like real. but it was hard because she was curious and full of questions. she was more alive than anyone i'd ever known.
you mean a woman?
what's a long time?
nope. nobody could stand me that long.
yeah.
yeah.
who.
got it.
yeah. i got it.
because it's not.
andies only simulate suffering -- if they're programmed for it.
no, i don't.
don't leave here. don't open the door, don't answer the phone.
just wait here.
what?
hello, roy.
she wanted to go to a place i knew. out of the city. like one of those pictures she saw. where there were trees but no buildings.
we had a good time. she told me a funny story and i taught her a song. a song about monkeys and elephants. and it made us laugh so hard we couldn't sing.
i told myself over and over again, if i hadn't done it, they would have.