Almost Human (2013) s01e02 Episode Script
Skin
The year is 2048.
Evolving technologies can no longer be regulated.
Dangerous advancements forever alter the criminal landscape.
Police are not prepared.
Law enforcement combats this corruption with a new line of defense but not all are created equal.
The idea behind the DRNs was to be as human as possible.
They were based on a program called Synthetic Soul.
That's one of the crazy ones.
- I'll lead you in? - Let's go.
Now all cops human and manmade together take on the battle to watch over us all.
You are incredible.
Let's get more comfortable, hmm? That okay? You nervous? It seems like you've got a lot on your mind.
Actually I do.
What are you doing? I've passed all my tests.
I'm clean.
Would you mind? This won't hurt.
You don't have to do anything if you don't want to.
People come to me for all sorts of reasons.
Some want to talk or just to be held.
Look, why don't we just have some fun? People look for connections in different ways.
Someone who cares about them.
Andrei! Last one.
I promise.
Get dressed.
CSI finished upstairs? Shouldn't be long, sir.
You're a bot.
Yes, I am.
Cool! What can you do? - Whoa.
- Oh, awesome! Are you a robot, too? No, I'm human.
Oh.
What can you do? Watch this.
No, no, no.
It doesn't hurt.
I got I got a synthetic leg! I haven't even been a child, and I know that would scare one.
What's the matter with you? You have negative energy, man.
- My energy's great.
- Why don't you - like kids? - I never said I don't like kids.
You said I don't like kids.
Children can sense electromagnetic fields, John.
- That's a bunch of baloney.
- They can sense discomfort, frustration and bad energy.
As do felines.
I bet you have an issue with cats, too, am I right? Hey.
My issue with cats is none of your business.
I'm allergic to cats.
Maybe the cats are allergic to you.
You ever consider that? Victim is ID'd as Sebastian Jones.
He paid for the room with cash.
Front desk said he showed up with a woman.
Red hair, 20s.
About a half hour later, two men showed up.
There are no fingerprints.
I don't think we're gonna get anything from Forensics.
Everything is tainted in here.
They used a DNA bomb.
I hate that stuff.
Absorption round, third gen.
Wouldn't have made a sound.
These guys are good.
Any surveillance? She came in at 6:15 p.
m.
They arrived 20 minutes later.
They're wearing FlashMask.
They took his bag.
John.
She's an android.
What do we have on our victim? Sebastian Jones was a high-end sex trade bot-maker.
Yeah, too bad he's dead.
Could've made you a girlfriend.
I'm not the one with the online dating profile.
I don't have an online dating profile.
You do now.
"Capricorn who loves danger.
" Okay.
While you're at it, why don't you put down.
"Recently lost partner in tragic freeway accident.
" Guys, what do we have? Sebastian Jones' company is called Orillian Sapients.
They specialize in advanced - sexual robotics.
- Is this one of his sexbots? We don't know.
Sexbots are licensed.
Who's it registered to? It's not registered to anybody.
Someone owns it.
It has to be registered.
What else do we know about his life? No spouse, no kids, no criminal record.
Legitimate businessman.
- Inventor.
- He has 23 patents to his name and is credited as a pioneer in developing - the artificial blush response.
- Every red-blooded man in this city owes a debt to this fallen genius.
Why, because he makes sex trade bots? Call 'em "bang bots.
" They actually like it.
And you know this from experience? You say it like it's - a bad thing.
- Crimes in the sex trade are down - 38% since the bots were introduced.
- Right? - Do that math.
- The fewer real women that have to sleep with you, Richard, - the better off the world is.
- Okay.
- What else do we know about him? - Sebastian Jones couldn't pay his bills.
Orillian Sapients declared bankruptcy three months ago.
Creditors seized all of his assets, and now they're currently sitting in a repo storage facility.
Found a court summons.
Sebastian was being sued.
Kennex.
Your case just got weird.
I just sent you something.
You get it? Yeah, I got it.
The CSis went through the elevator at the hotel, scanning spots these guys likely touched, trying to pick up some DNA on them.
- Yeah.
- We didn't find any DNA on the guys, but we found something else.
That's the first sample they pulled.
Everywhere she touched, there was DNA from a 25-year-old girl named Nicole Bloomquist, who was abducted three weeks ago from a parking garage.
Are you telling me the sexbot we're looking for is leaving this girl's DNA? It seems that way.
How? Correct.
How? Ah, there you go.
Perfect, perfect.
Oh, look at you.
Wriggle monster.
Okay.
Mommy'll take it then.
Give me your hands, give me your face.
Beautiful.
Another abduction happened.
Same M.
O.
as Nicole Bloomquist.
parking structure.
Cameras were disabled.
There's no surveillance of the abduction.
And I found three more missing persons cases with the same pattern.
So, they kill the cams and then take the women.
Yeah, except this time, something was left behind.
He was in the car.
His name is Victor.
Can I talk to him? Maybe I should talk to him.
- He's not good with kids.
- Hey.
- Or cats.
- That-That's not I'm great with kids, really.
Hey.
I'm Detective Kennex.
You must be, uh, Victor, right? Victor's a-a good name.
It's a good, strong name.
Look, I know this must be hard but I need you to be brave.
Okay? I really need you to tell me what happened with your mom.
You like him? I'll give him to you if you want him.
But you got to promise me to look after him because he means a lot to me.
I promise.
You promise? Okay.
I trust you.
Look, Victor.
But I really need your help.
Need you to tell me what happened with your mom.
You guys were in a car, right? Your mom got out.
She went to put the trash away.
Then what happened? I saw the car.
Did you see who was in it? Two men.
Two men? What happened then? The car drove away.
What kind of car was it? What color? It was a big, silver car.
A big, silver car.
That's good.
When is my mom coming? Hey, Victor.
You did really good.
- What's up? - CSI found the silver sedan on a traffic cam a block from the parking structure.
The license plates tracked back to a red SUV.
They're using stolen plates.
We got every plate scanner in the city looking for those tags.
We'll find that car.
Okay, two girls were abducted with the same M.
O.
and one of them, her DNA was found on the sexbot who was with Sebastian Jones when he was murdered.
I think we should focus on finding the sexbot that was with Sebastian.
If we can access her memory, we might be able to see what happened in the hotel that night.
And identify who did it.
That's our best bet for finding the missing women.
Guys, I might have a new angle.
I dug into those summonses you found.
Sebastian's former business partner Lorenzo Shaw was suing him for intellectual property infringement and he just opened a sexbot showroom downtown for himself it's motive.
He could be involved.
Check him out.
You were surprisingly good with that kid back there, John.
Even though you had to bribe him with a giraffe.
Thanks.
Do you think his mother is still alive? I hope so.
Every hour she's gone diminishes the chance of us finding her alive.
What do you tell a small child when someone dies? I've never considered that.
What you would tell a small child.
Well, you say the same thing that you'd say to an adult.
What do they say? You tell them that the person that died has gone to a better place.
Why would anyone say that when there's no way to really know where living things go when they stop living? It's designed to give hope and comfort.
To ease the pain.
People believe it because they need to.
Hmm, the data I've studied suggests that the best proof of one's existence is if one is remembered after they're gone.
Was your partner's son told that his father went to a better place? I don't know.
You never spoke to your partner's son? I can understand why that would be hard for you.
What did you do with my son? Don't worry.
The authorities will have him by now.
You see, we're - we're not monsters.
- I have money! Anything you want, anything.
I'll give you anything.
Please, I just want to see my son I already have what I want.
No, no, no! Your ex-partner, Sebastian Jones, when was the last time you saw him? Six months? Seven? We'd been sort of on the outs lately.
"On the outs"? You were suing him.
I have intellectual property rights on designs we developed together at Orillian.
What happens to the I.
P.
rights now that Sebastian's naked? Um, I mean "dead.
" Now that Sebastian's dead.
What happens to the I.
P.
rights? Well, they would naturally revert to me.
Is this one of your models? No, she's not mine.
What about this one? Or this one? You ever seen these women before? No, but they're not synthetics.
- How can you be sure? - In my line of work, you get to know.
You know, I haven't seen one of you in a while.
The latest sexbots have a little bit of your old tech in them.
They're capable of bonding empathetically with their clients.
Sense their moods and respond accordingly.
It's a significant achievement.
If your bots are so special, why was Sebastian so in debt? Well, if you knew Sebastian, you'd understand.
He was an artist.
We were making good money.
But he was determined to create the next line.
Better than the last.
He sunk all our capital into new fabs, tooling, subsystems.
He bet the whole company on it.
And then our biggest client canceled their contract with us.
Took us completely by surprise.
Bankrupted us.
Who was your biggest client? Ah, if you don't want to tell me, that's okay.
We'll just subpoena your records.
Shut you down for a few days while we go through them.
It was an Albanian consortium.
They said they were cutting out the middle man.
You mean they found a new supplier? Apparently.
Sebastian couldn't believe that anyone could build a better sexbot than us.
The first picture I showed you.
Did she belong to the Albanians? Is she why Sebastian was at the hotel the night he was killed? I wouldn't know.
Look, I-I don't want to talk about this anymore.
Did they threaten you? No They were good clients.
They always paid on time.
And that's all I'm gonna say about them.
Excuse me.
I have customers.
Mr.
Shaw? Have you ever heard of people incorporating human DNA into a sexbot? That's illegal.
And I think you know that.
You can say you don't like robots all you want.
Your pulse says otherwise.
What? Precisely.
I want you to hack into Shaw's customer network.
Find the Albanians.
We don't need a warrant? I agree.
Got it.
Five star rating.
What's the plan? Stir the pot.
Hands out of your pockets.
- You seen this bot? - No.
No? - Seen that bot? - No, no We tested all the bots.
They all check out.
They're clean.
Okay, thanks.
Yup.
Officers.
I'm the manager.
Can I help you? Is this one of your bots? No.
We got a great selection here.
We can get you pretty close to this one.
Our bots have passed all the required tests.
Special rate for cops.
We love cops.
Yeah.
- We love cops.
- Well, great.
If you answer all of my questions, maybe I'll let you get to first base.
You ever buy from Sebastian Jones and Lorenzo Shaw? We used to.
- Not anymore.
- Why'd you stop? We make our own now.
And you're sure that's not one of them? Already said.
John.
Detective Stahl needs to talk to us.
Thank you, gentlemen.
His vitals suggest that he is lying.
Yup.
Or he doesn't like you very much.
Add him to the list of kids and cats.
We got a hit for the silver sedan.
The one that kidnapped Kristen Haseman in the parking garage.
We picked it up on a plate scanner.
Dorian, watch the sedan as it goes past the scanner.
The license plate changes.
They're using a tag scrambler.
Once we realized that, we switched to straight surveillance cams and tracked it to an industrial facility off 8th Street.
What were they doing there? I don't know, they were there for 20 minutes, and then we lost 'em.
All right, we're three minutes out.
What the hell is that? Is that Kristen Haseman? It's not human.
This is the android from the hotel.
If this is what they're doing to their sexbots, imagine what they're doing to the women they've abducted.
Beautiful green.
They really have got the color just right.
You see, these shots were targeted precisely to shatter the cortical relays and storage centers.
They destroyed her memory.
Yeah, they wanted to ensure no one could retrieve her recorded memories of Sebastian Jones' murder.
These albinos knew exactly what they were doing.
Albanians.
Well, that, that would make more sense.
But there is a small chance that her temporal housing might be intact enough to salvage some of her echoic memory.
Uh, she might still be able to tell us something about the people that did this.
Apologies, mate.
I'm used to being alone when I do this.
You might want to look away.
It's fine.
Why did they peel its skin off? Well, they obviously didn't want us to see that either.
Wait a minute, the surveillance footage at the hotel.
Her hands left traces of human DNA.
You think they're abducting the girls to harvest their skin.
If you used human skin, you'd make the best sex machines on the market.
I think Sebastian found out about it.
That's why they killed him.
Sex machine, bang bot? It's a bit myopic, isn't it? Not everyone who visits a sexbot is looking for sex.
Some people go for the conversation or for a sympathetic ear at the end of a long working day surrounded by people who only ever come to visit when they want something from you.
I'm just saying that, uh, the neural interface is quite sophisticated.
Anyway, it appears they're growing skin using DNA from the abducted women.
Well, synthetic skin, as good as it is, is a long way from the real thing.
There are pheromones and other biological features that trigger attraction.
Here it is.
Sorry, it's too damaged.
If you want to know where these bots are coming from, I'm going to have to get my hands on a live one.
So to speak.
You're quiet.
What's wrong? Just looking at that bot on Rudy's table makes me think, who is going to remember me? You're a cop.
The people you help will remember you, whatever your name is.
Speaking of names, someone just responded to your dating profile, John.
My dating pro I thought you were kidding.
Not kidding I saw the way you were looking at those sexbots.
Your profile name is Dr.
Richard.
- Dr.
Richard.
- Who likes quiche, - long walks on the beach, smooth jazz.
- You seriously did not call me Dr.
Richard.
- I thought you wanted to meet someone.
- I meet plenty of women.
I don't need your help.
I-I ran a bio scan, and it looked like your testicles were at full capacity.
You're scanning my balls? I didn't enjoy it, - I just - Oh, my God, - this is unbelievable.
- I can't help but notice you're backed up.
What is the matter with you? Don't scan my testicles ever again.
Copy that.
What does she look like? What do you want her to look like? Brown eyes, soulful.
Height? Average height.
I like brunettes.
Would you date anyone in your profession or would you prefer to date someone outside of it? Sure, either way.
I like smart women, you know, women that are smarter than me.
That won't be hard.
You are aware that you just described Detective Stahl, right? Kennex.
Hey, we got a 20 on the silver sedan you posted.
I just uploaded it to Dorian.
Uh, okay, thank you, um, Detective Stahl, thanks.
- Okay, thank you, Detective Stahl.
- Shut up.
Shut it, zip it.
Police! Hands up! Hands on the dash! Don't you move! Put your hands on the dashboard! - Hold 'em, keep 'em there! - Do not move! Put your hands on the dashboard now - where I can see 'em! - Turn around, turn around! Step out of the car.
Come on.
Around front.
Hi, I'm Vanessa.
- Hey, how you doing? - I need to take a DNA sample.
Open your mouth, please.
Why? I've passed all my tests.
Please.
Her DNA belongs to a Lorraine White, abducted from a parking structure two months ago in St.
Clair.
Lab.
Rudy, found you some skin.
The Albanians aren't telling us where the kidnap victims are.
We need to get that information from a sexbot.
We have three missing girls out there somewhere, maybe more.
I'll pull everything I can from it.
Hello again.
A human's DNA was used to make your skin.
This woman.
We need to find her.
We don't have much time.
Have you seen her before? No.
I need you to think.
It's really important.
Have you seen her? No.
Where were you made? Who owns you? Do you know where you were born? You ever worked with this girl? Charlene.
Right, Charlene.
Do you know where she was born? Who owns you? She's probably not conscious of those terms.
Where were those men taking you tonight? They were taking me for a ride.
We think they were taking you to be destroyed.
Why would anybody want to destroy me? There are much, much better things to do with me.
We don't have to do anything if you don't want to.
I'm a very, very good listener.
You know, people look for connections in different ways.
That's all people are looking for, is someone who cares about them.
That's what I'm here for.
Do you know where Charlene is? Yes.
Can I see her? Why do you want to? I don't know.
You were designed to bond with people.
That's what you were developed to do.
To notice when they're there.
That also means you notice when they're not there.
That's why you want to see her.
That's what you're feeling.
Who told you to go with the men we found you with tonight? Yuri.
Do you know Yuri? Yeah, we know Yuri.
I'm going upstairs.
Move! You go first.
They're not here.
This isn't the right building.
Office is empty, too.
I think I can find the skin lab.
- Rudy? - Yes, Dorian? Most of these sexbots are platformed on an old UJuno Pendant Learning Module.
Uh, yeah, uh, those modules were available to the public sector once we stopped using them on the DRNs.
Problem was that they were giving off an unwanted GPS signal.
Yeah, it was an unwanted side effect.
Um, whenever they, uh, automatically updated their software, they'd inadvertently send out a signal allowing those so inclined to, uh, track you.
Is there a log of that? I'm sure there is.
Can you access Vanessa's internal GPS log to find the very first time that the module sent a signal? - It's possible.
- If we can find out the first time she was activated, - we can find - Find out where she was born.
The skin lab.
All right, bear with me.
Um I won't be a minute.
Oh.
Look at that.
That's the charger for my doesn't matter.
Um, here we go.
This is the one I need.
Um right.
Uh, hello.
I need to access your data port.
That sounds rude.
Um, I need to insert my Oh, that's even worse.
Um Oh, friendly.
Um, it's nothing sexual, I assure you.
Not that there's anything wrong with sex.
I mean, who doesn't like sex? Not me.
I mean, I do.
That's-that's the point.
But that would be, um, inappropriate at best.
This is not gonna hurt, I promise you.
There we go.
Um right.
Just, um having a look at your, uh statistics.
Looks like you were first activated in Kingston Heights.
Clear! Clear! Clear! Clear! Clear! Take him out! No! Move it! Move it! - Drop that weapon! Drop it, you! - Drop the weapon! Don't shoot! On the ground! Now! Clear! - Clear.
- Clear! Clear! - This is Lorraine White.
- She's deceased.
Call Bloomquist.
She's still alive.
Kristen Haseman she's alive.
Victor is gonna be very happy to see you.
Great work.
Thanks.
- You should celebrate.
- He will.
You have a date.
What? - No, I don't.
- Yes, you do with the woman from the dating Web site.
Wha? No.
He has a wonderful profile.
She's expecting you at 7:00.
That's a it's just a it's a joke, you know.
I get a lot of women.
I mean, not a lot you know, just You should celebrate no matter what.
Have a great night on your date.
Thanks.
Good night.
Benedict Android strikes again.
- I can't go on a date tonight.
- Why? Because I've already got someone I want to see.
- But, John, if you just - Do you have your report done? Uh, yeah, almost.
We'll need individual certificates when the bots are destroyed.
- Okay? - Okay.
I'm sorry.
We can't have bots with human DNA.
She has to be deactivated.
But well done.
Very well done.
- Thank you.
- See you tomorrow.
You okay? I'd like to be there.
Thank you.
Where am I going? To a better place.
Will you be there? I will remember you.
Marty, do you remember John Kennex? He was your dad's partner.
I want to tell you about your father.
Evolving technologies can no longer be regulated.
Dangerous advancements forever alter the criminal landscape.
Police are not prepared.
Law enforcement combats this corruption with a new line of defense but not all are created equal.
The idea behind the DRNs was to be as human as possible.
They were based on a program called Synthetic Soul.
That's one of the crazy ones.
- I'll lead you in? - Let's go.
Now all cops human and manmade together take on the battle to watch over us all.
You are incredible.
Let's get more comfortable, hmm? That okay? You nervous? It seems like you've got a lot on your mind.
Actually I do.
What are you doing? I've passed all my tests.
I'm clean.
Would you mind? This won't hurt.
You don't have to do anything if you don't want to.
People come to me for all sorts of reasons.
Some want to talk or just to be held.
Look, why don't we just have some fun? People look for connections in different ways.
Someone who cares about them.
Andrei! Last one.
I promise.
Get dressed.
CSI finished upstairs? Shouldn't be long, sir.
You're a bot.
Yes, I am.
Cool! What can you do? - Whoa.
- Oh, awesome! Are you a robot, too? No, I'm human.
Oh.
What can you do? Watch this.
No, no, no.
It doesn't hurt.
I got I got a synthetic leg! I haven't even been a child, and I know that would scare one.
What's the matter with you? You have negative energy, man.
- My energy's great.
- Why don't you - like kids? - I never said I don't like kids.
You said I don't like kids.
Children can sense electromagnetic fields, John.
- That's a bunch of baloney.
- They can sense discomfort, frustration and bad energy.
As do felines.
I bet you have an issue with cats, too, am I right? Hey.
My issue with cats is none of your business.
I'm allergic to cats.
Maybe the cats are allergic to you.
You ever consider that? Victim is ID'd as Sebastian Jones.
He paid for the room with cash.
Front desk said he showed up with a woman.
Red hair, 20s.
About a half hour later, two men showed up.
There are no fingerprints.
I don't think we're gonna get anything from Forensics.
Everything is tainted in here.
They used a DNA bomb.
I hate that stuff.
Absorption round, third gen.
Wouldn't have made a sound.
These guys are good.
Any surveillance? She came in at 6:15 p.
m.
They arrived 20 minutes later.
They're wearing FlashMask.
They took his bag.
John.
She's an android.
What do we have on our victim? Sebastian Jones was a high-end sex trade bot-maker.
Yeah, too bad he's dead.
Could've made you a girlfriend.
I'm not the one with the online dating profile.
I don't have an online dating profile.
You do now.
"Capricorn who loves danger.
" Okay.
While you're at it, why don't you put down.
"Recently lost partner in tragic freeway accident.
" Guys, what do we have? Sebastian Jones' company is called Orillian Sapients.
They specialize in advanced - sexual robotics.
- Is this one of his sexbots? We don't know.
Sexbots are licensed.
Who's it registered to? It's not registered to anybody.
Someone owns it.
It has to be registered.
What else do we know about his life? No spouse, no kids, no criminal record.
Legitimate businessman.
- Inventor.
- He has 23 patents to his name and is credited as a pioneer in developing - the artificial blush response.
- Every red-blooded man in this city owes a debt to this fallen genius.
Why, because he makes sex trade bots? Call 'em "bang bots.
" They actually like it.
And you know this from experience? You say it like it's - a bad thing.
- Crimes in the sex trade are down - 38% since the bots were introduced.
- Right? - Do that math.
- The fewer real women that have to sleep with you, Richard, - the better off the world is.
- Okay.
- What else do we know about him? - Sebastian Jones couldn't pay his bills.
Orillian Sapients declared bankruptcy three months ago.
Creditors seized all of his assets, and now they're currently sitting in a repo storage facility.
Found a court summons.
Sebastian was being sued.
Kennex.
Your case just got weird.
I just sent you something.
You get it? Yeah, I got it.
The CSis went through the elevator at the hotel, scanning spots these guys likely touched, trying to pick up some DNA on them.
- Yeah.
- We didn't find any DNA on the guys, but we found something else.
That's the first sample they pulled.
Everywhere she touched, there was DNA from a 25-year-old girl named Nicole Bloomquist, who was abducted three weeks ago from a parking garage.
Are you telling me the sexbot we're looking for is leaving this girl's DNA? It seems that way.
How? Correct.
How? Ah, there you go.
Perfect, perfect.
Oh, look at you.
Wriggle monster.
Okay.
Mommy'll take it then.
Give me your hands, give me your face.
Beautiful.
Another abduction happened.
Same M.
O.
as Nicole Bloomquist.
parking structure.
Cameras were disabled.
There's no surveillance of the abduction.
And I found three more missing persons cases with the same pattern.
So, they kill the cams and then take the women.
Yeah, except this time, something was left behind.
He was in the car.
His name is Victor.
Can I talk to him? Maybe I should talk to him.
- He's not good with kids.
- Hey.
- Or cats.
- That-That's not I'm great with kids, really.
Hey.
I'm Detective Kennex.
You must be, uh, Victor, right? Victor's a-a good name.
It's a good, strong name.
Look, I know this must be hard but I need you to be brave.
Okay? I really need you to tell me what happened with your mom.
You like him? I'll give him to you if you want him.
But you got to promise me to look after him because he means a lot to me.
I promise.
You promise? Okay.
I trust you.
Look, Victor.
But I really need your help.
Need you to tell me what happened with your mom.
You guys were in a car, right? Your mom got out.
She went to put the trash away.
Then what happened? I saw the car.
Did you see who was in it? Two men.
Two men? What happened then? The car drove away.
What kind of car was it? What color? It was a big, silver car.
A big, silver car.
That's good.
When is my mom coming? Hey, Victor.
You did really good.
- What's up? - CSI found the silver sedan on a traffic cam a block from the parking structure.
The license plates tracked back to a red SUV.
They're using stolen plates.
We got every plate scanner in the city looking for those tags.
We'll find that car.
Okay, two girls were abducted with the same M.
O.
and one of them, her DNA was found on the sexbot who was with Sebastian Jones when he was murdered.
I think we should focus on finding the sexbot that was with Sebastian.
If we can access her memory, we might be able to see what happened in the hotel that night.
And identify who did it.
That's our best bet for finding the missing women.
Guys, I might have a new angle.
I dug into those summonses you found.
Sebastian's former business partner Lorenzo Shaw was suing him for intellectual property infringement and he just opened a sexbot showroom downtown for himself it's motive.
He could be involved.
Check him out.
You were surprisingly good with that kid back there, John.
Even though you had to bribe him with a giraffe.
Thanks.
Do you think his mother is still alive? I hope so.
Every hour she's gone diminishes the chance of us finding her alive.
What do you tell a small child when someone dies? I've never considered that.
What you would tell a small child.
Well, you say the same thing that you'd say to an adult.
What do they say? You tell them that the person that died has gone to a better place.
Why would anyone say that when there's no way to really know where living things go when they stop living? It's designed to give hope and comfort.
To ease the pain.
People believe it because they need to.
Hmm, the data I've studied suggests that the best proof of one's existence is if one is remembered after they're gone.
Was your partner's son told that his father went to a better place? I don't know.
You never spoke to your partner's son? I can understand why that would be hard for you.
What did you do with my son? Don't worry.
The authorities will have him by now.
You see, we're - we're not monsters.
- I have money! Anything you want, anything.
I'll give you anything.
Please, I just want to see my son I already have what I want.
No, no, no! Your ex-partner, Sebastian Jones, when was the last time you saw him? Six months? Seven? We'd been sort of on the outs lately.
"On the outs"? You were suing him.
I have intellectual property rights on designs we developed together at Orillian.
What happens to the I.
P.
rights now that Sebastian's naked? Um, I mean "dead.
" Now that Sebastian's dead.
What happens to the I.
P.
rights? Well, they would naturally revert to me.
Is this one of your models? No, she's not mine.
What about this one? Or this one? You ever seen these women before? No, but they're not synthetics.
- How can you be sure? - In my line of work, you get to know.
You know, I haven't seen one of you in a while.
The latest sexbots have a little bit of your old tech in them.
They're capable of bonding empathetically with their clients.
Sense their moods and respond accordingly.
It's a significant achievement.
If your bots are so special, why was Sebastian so in debt? Well, if you knew Sebastian, you'd understand.
He was an artist.
We were making good money.
But he was determined to create the next line.
Better than the last.
He sunk all our capital into new fabs, tooling, subsystems.
He bet the whole company on it.
And then our biggest client canceled their contract with us.
Took us completely by surprise.
Bankrupted us.
Who was your biggest client? Ah, if you don't want to tell me, that's okay.
We'll just subpoena your records.
Shut you down for a few days while we go through them.
It was an Albanian consortium.
They said they were cutting out the middle man.
You mean they found a new supplier? Apparently.
Sebastian couldn't believe that anyone could build a better sexbot than us.
The first picture I showed you.
Did she belong to the Albanians? Is she why Sebastian was at the hotel the night he was killed? I wouldn't know.
Look, I-I don't want to talk about this anymore.
Did they threaten you? No They were good clients.
They always paid on time.
And that's all I'm gonna say about them.
Excuse me.
I have customers.
Mr.
Shaw? Have you ever heard of people incorporating human DNA into a sexbot? That's illegal.
And I think you know that.
You can say you don't like robots all you want.
Your pulse says otherwise.
What? Precisely.
I want you to hack into Shaw's customer network.
Find the Albanians.
We don't need a warrant? I agree.
Got it.
Five star rating.
What's the plan? Stir the pot.
Hands out of your pockets.
- You seen this bot? - No.
No? - Seen that bot? - No, no We tested all the bots.
They all check out.
They're clean.
Okay, thanks.
Yup.
Officers.
I'm the manager.
Can I help you? Is this one of your bots? No.
We got a great selection here.
We can get you pretty close to this one.
Our bots have passed all the required tests.
Special rate for cops.
We love cops.
Yeah.
- We love cops.
- Well, great.
If you answer all of my questions, maybe I'll let you get to first base.
You ever buy from Sebastian Jones and Lorenzo Shaw? We used to.
- Not anymore.
- Why'd you stop? We make our own now.
And you're sure that's not one of them? Already said.
John.
Detective Stahl needs to talk to us.
Thank you, gentlemen.
His vitals suggest that he is lying.
Yup.
Or he doesn't like you very much.
Add him to the list of kids and cats.
We got a hit for the silver sedan.
The one that kidnapped Kristen Haseman in the parking garage.
We picked it up on a plate scanner.
Dorian, watch the sedan as it goes past the scanner.
The license plate changes.
They're using a tag scrambler.
Once we realized that, we switched to straight surveillance cams and tracked it to an industrial facility off 8th Street.
What were they doing there? I don't know, they were there for 20 minutes, and then we lost 'em.
All right, we're three minutes out.
What the hell is that? Is that Kristen Haseman? It's not human.
This is the android from the hotel.
If this is what they're doing to their sexbots, imagine what they're doing to the women they've abducted.
Beautiful green.
They really have got the color just right.
You see, these shots were targeted precisely to shatter the cortical relays and storage centers.
They destroyed her memory.
Yeah, they wanted to ensure no one could retrieve her recorded memories of Sebastian Jones' murder.
These albinos knew exactly what they were doing.
Albanians.
Well, that, that would make more sense.
But there is a small chance that her temporal housing might be intact enough to salvage some of her echoic memory.
Uh, she might still be able to tell us something about the people that did this.
Apologies, mate.
I'm used to being alone when I do this.
You might want to look away.
It's fine.
Why did they peel its skin off? Well, they obviously didn't want us to see that either.
Wait a minute, the surveillance footage at the hotel.
Her hands left traces of human DNA.
You think they're abducting the girls to harvest their skin.
If you used human skin, you'd make the best sex machines on the market.
I think Sebastian found out about it.
That's why they killed him.
Sex machine, bang bot? It's a bit myopic, isn't it? Not everyone who visits a sexbot is looking for sex.
Some people go for the conversation or for a sympathetic ear at the end of a long working day surrounded by people who only ever come to visit when they want something from you.
I'm just saying that, uh, the neural interface is quite sophisticated.
Anyway, it appears they're growing skin using DNA from the abducted women.
Well, synthetic skin, as good as it is, is a long way from the real thing.
There are pheromones and other biological features that trigger attraction.
Here it is.
Sorry, it's too damaged.
If you want to know where these bots are coming from, I'm going to have to get my hands on a live one.
So to speak.
You're quiet.
What's wrong? Just looking at that bot on Rudy's table makes me think, who is going to remember me? You're a cop.
The people you help will remember you, whatever your name is.
Speaking of names, someone just responded to your dating profile, John.
My dating pro I thought you were kidding.
Not kidding I saw the way you were looking at those sexbots.
Your profile name is Dr.
Richard.
- Dr.
Richard.
- Who likes quiche, - long walks on the beach, smooth jazz.
- You seriously did not call me Dr.
Richard.
- I thought you wanted to meet someone.
- I meet plenty of women.
I don't need your help.
I-I ran a bio scan, and it looked like your testicles were at full capacity.
You're scanning my balls? I didn't enjoy it, - I just - Oh, my God, - this is unbelievable.
- I can't help but notice you're backed up.
What is the matter with you? Don't scan my testicles ever again.
Copy that.
What does she look like? What do you want her to look like? Brown eyes, soulful.
Height? Average height.
I like brunettes.
Would you date anyone in your profession or would you prefer to date someone outside of it? Sure, either way.
I like smart women, you know, women that are smarter than me.
That won't be hard.
You are aware that you just described Detective Stahl, right? Kennex.
Hey, we got a 20 on the silver sedan you posted.
I just uploaded it to Dorian.
Uh, okay, thank you, um, Detective Stahl, thanks.
- Okay, thank you, Detective Stahl.
- Shut up.
Shut it, zip it.
Police! Hands up! Hands on the dash! Don't you move! Put your hands on the dashboard! - Hold 'em, keep 'em there! - Do not move! Put your hands on the dashboard now - where I can see 'em! - Turn around, turn around! Step out of the car.
Come on.
Around front.
Hi, I'm Vanessa.
- Hey, how you doing? - I need to take a DNA sample.
Open your mouth, please.
Why? I've passed all my tests.
Please.
Her DNA belongs to a Lorraine White, abducted from a parking structure two months ago in St.
Clair.
Lab.
Rudy, found you some skin.
The Albanians aren't telling us where the kidnap victims are.
We need to get that information from a sexbot.
We have three missing girls out there somewhere, maybe more.
I'll pull everything I can from it.
Hello again.
A human's DNA was used to make your skin.
This woman.
We need to find her.
We don't have much time.
Have you seen her before? No.
I need you to think.
It's really important.
Have you seen her? No.
Where were you made? Who owns you? Do you know where you were born? You ever worked with this girl? Charlene.
Right, Charlene.
Do you know where she was born? Who owns you? She's probably not conscious of those terms.
Where were those men taking you tonight? They were taking me for a ride.
We think they were taking you to be destroyed.
Why would anybody want to destroy me? There are much, much better things to do with me.
We don't have to do anything if you don't want to.
I'm a very, very good listener.
You know, people look for connections in different ways.
That's all people are looking for, is someone who cares about them.
That's what I'm here for.
Do you know where Charlene is? Yes.
Can I see her? Why do you want to? I don't know.
You were designed to bond with people.
That's what you were developed to do.
To notice when they're there.
That also means you notice when they're not there.
That's why you want to see her.
That's what you're feeling.
Who told you to go with the men we found you with tonight? Yuri.
Do you know Yuri? Yeah, we know Yuri.
I'm going upstairs.
Move! You go first.
They're not here.
This isn't the right building.
Office is empty, too.
I think I can find the skin lab.
- Rudy? - Yes, Dorian? Most of these sexbots are platformed on an old UJuno Pendant Learning Module.
Uh, yeah, uh, those modules were available to the public sector once we stopped using them on the DRNs.
Problem was that they were giving off an unwanted GPS signal.
Yeah, it was an unwanted side effect.
Um, whenever they, uh, automatically updated their software, they'd inadvertently send out a signal allowing those so inclined to, uh, track you.
Is there a log of that? I'm sure there is.
Can you access Vanessa's internal GPS log to find the very first time that the module sent a signal? - It's possible.
- If we can find out the first time she was activated, - we can find - Find out where she was born.
The skin lab.
All right, bear with me.
Um I won't be a minute.
Oh.
Look at that.
That's the charger for my doesn't matter.
Um, here we go.
This is the one I need.
Um right.
Uh, hello.
I need to access your data port.
That sounds rude.
Um, I need to insert my Oh, that's even worse.
Um Oh, friendly.
Um, it's nothing sexual, I assure you.
Not that there's anything wrong with sex.
I mean, who doesn't like sex? Not me.
I mean, I do.
That's-that's the point.
But that would be, um, inappropriate at best.
This is not gonna hurt, I promise you.
There we go.
Um right.
Just, um having a look at your, uh statistics.
Looks like you were first activated in Kingston Heights.
Clear! Clear! Clear! Clear! Clear! Take him out! No! Move it! Move it! - Drop that weapon! Drop it, you! - Drop the weapon! Don't shoot! On the ground! Now! Clear! - Clear.
- Clear! Clear! - This is Lorraine White.
- She's deceased.
Call Bloomquist.
She's still alive.
Kristen Haseman she's alive.
Victor is gonna be very happy to see you.
Great work.
Thanks.
- You should celebrate.
- He will.
You have a date.
What? - No, I don't.
- Yes, you do with the woman from the dating Web site.
Wha? No.
He has a wonderful profile.
She's expecting you at 7:00.
That's a it's just a it's a joke, you know.
I get a lot of women.
I mean, not a lot you know, just You should celebrate no matter what.
Have a great night on your date.
Thanks.
Good night.
Benedict Android strikes again.
- I can't go on a date tonight.
- Why? Because I've already got someone I want to see.
- But, John, if you just - Do you have your report done? Uh, yeah, almost.
We'll need individual certificates when the bots are destroyed.
- Okay? - Okay.
I'm sorry.
We can't have bots with human DNA.
She has to be deactivated.
But well done.
Very well done.
- Thank you.
- See you tomorrow.
You okay? I'd like to be there.
Thank you.
Where am I going? To a better place.
Will you be there? I will remember you.
Marty, do you remember John Kennex? He was your dad's partner.
I want to tell you about your father.