Teknolust (2002) - full transcript
Anxious to use artificial life to improve the world, Rosetta Stone, a bio-geneticist creates a Recipe for Cyborgs and uses her own DNA in order to breed three Self Replicating Automatons, part human, part computer named Ruby, Olive and Marine. The SRA's act as 'portals' on the Internet, helping users to fulfill their dreams. The SRA's are nourished through touch. Because they were bred only with Rosetta's DNA, they need the balance of an Y chromo or male sperm to survive. Rosetta projects seduction scenes from movie clips onto Ruby, which absorbs as she sleeps. The SRA'S can not distinguish dreams from reality. Ruby acts out these scenes in real life with the men and shares her spoils with her sisters. However, Ruby's encounters suffer from impotence and unexplained rashes. Fearing a bio-gender war, the FBI sends in Agent Edward Hopper to solve the mystery. Puzzled, he turns for help from a private cyber detective. The men recover. Ruby falls in love and becomes impregnated by Sandy, a xerox shop worker. The characters struggle to find love in a world that no longer needs sex to reproduce, a world that is changing and is populated with people who use provisional identities and are seen through virtual selves and a world where love is the only thing that makes things real.
[mystical choral music]
[shimmering beeps]
[ticking techno music]
- [Man] Do we have to?
- Yes.
[pulsing techno music]
[beeping]
- That some kind
of a weird fetish?
- Yes.
One more thing.
- Anything you want.
- Can we cuddle for a sec?
[mystical choral music]
Wait.
- Stay the night.
- I can't.
- Why not?
- Your quota's used up.
- My what?
- I told you, three's the charm.
- I thought you were kidding.
- Told you, just
sex, no attachments.
Most people only get to two.
- That supposed to
make me feel better?
- Thank you.
[liquid hisses]
[chiming electronic music]
- Wake up.
Breakfast.
[chiming electronic music]
Delicious.
[chiming electronic music]
Yummy.
[chiming electronic music]
There you go.
[pulsing electronic music]
[beeping]
[chiming electronic music]
[beeping]
- I wanna enjoy
things and have fun
and live like every
day is the last day.
Wouldn't that be nice?
A lifetime full of last days.
Promise me something, promise.
- [Soldier] Anything.
- Don't ever let
the celebration end.
[beeping]
[gentle ambient music]
[knocking]
[gentle ambient music]
- [Man] What'd Aristotle
say, by nature?
- By nature--
- We desire--
- [Man And Woman] To know.
- You know?
- Yes.
- Yeah, you know that
the paradoxical thing
about that is is that many
times, the side effects
of knowledge that are
the most dangerous.
[chuckling]
Re-creation is recreation.
[chuckling]
- Not bad.
- Yeah.
Neither is your thesis on
artificial intelligence viruses.
- Oh, thank you, but they
are not viruses, you know.
They are SRAs,
self-replicating automatons.
- Yeah, yeah, SRAs.
- They are non-virus based.
- Yeah, yeah, but they mime and
they reproduce like viruses.
- No, they don't.
[chuckling]
- You know, the most
important thing to me
is the creation of
reliable software
that makes the world a
safer and a better place.
- Mm hmm.
- So when do I get to see them?
- You can't see them.
It's only theory.
It couldn't be possible
for, I don't know, 20 years?
And, even if it were possible,
I'd suppress their
reproduction code
so that they would be tightly,
quite strictly controlled.
- Yeah, that's very smart.
20 years is just
a blink of an eye
in the cosmic scheme of things.
- Okay, well, uh,
maybe 50 years.
And maybe never.
It's only theory.
- [laughs] So was DNA.
[chuckles] Yeah.
- What can I do for you?
I can teach you to dream.
Click my icons.
Emote from your remote.
Evolve with me.
Let's e-dream together.
[knocking]
I can't [speaker cut off].
- Honey.
Did you sleep well?
- [Man] Mm hmm.
- Good.
You must meet lots of
nice women at work.
- Many, many women.
And they all get upset with me.
- They're probably just
trying to get your attention.
After all, you are
an executive there.
- I make copies, Mom.
Your son makes copies.
- [Mom] Oh, don't be so modest.
- I'm the hole-puncher-outter.
The stapler.
- Always wearing yourself down.
- My job's somewhere
down here, Ma.
Trash collectors here,
and soda jerks here.
- Want a bagel?
- No, thank you.
- Honey, you know, I met
your father at the pharmacy.
He was a dishwasher.
- Dishwasher's somewhere here.
- No, no, it's not.
- Mom.
Who wants problems?
Most people don't want problems.
- Just be patient.
The right girl's gonna find you.
- All right, come in.
- So?
- Have you eaten
anything unusual lately?
- Uh, no, don't think so.
- [Doctor] I want you to
eliminate all wheat, sugar,
and dairy from your diet.
- Is it serious?
- I have a suspicion it's
an allergic reaction.
Has this ever occurred before?
- No, never.
- Get some rest and...
- [Patient] And what?
- Don't stress.
- [sighs] Don't
stress, look, look,
I'm impotent!
- I'll prescribe some V-Gro
once we clear your
system of sugar.
When was the last time you
had sexual intercourse?
- Uh, few days ago.
- [Doctor] Was it protected?
- Yeah, yeah, she
insisted on it.
[pulsing electronic music]
- Have something.
- Surprise me.
- Two doubles.
- You didn't have
to do that, Frankie.
- No reason you
should go losing money
by wasting your
time talking to me.
The smile you own.
- [Woman On TV] I ain't heard
that since you went away.
[percussive big band music]
You're looking good, Frankie.
- [Frankie] I feel good.
- [Woman On TV] They tell me
you're gonna be a drummer now.
- [Frankie] Yeah, I got an
appointment with a man tomorrow.
- [Woman On TV]
Oh, that's swell.
- Eh, probably I won't
get the job, though.
- [Woman On TV] Sure you will.
- Probably I don't
play good enough.
- I bet you play fine.
You was always whistling and
drumming on tables and things.
Real good, too.
- Ah.
- I mean it.
You got a natural rhythm.
- I was thinking maybe
I'd take a stage name.
- [Woman On TV] You
got a natural rhythm.
You got a natural rhythm.
You're looking good, Charlie.
You're looking good, Frank.
You got a natural rhythm.
[tinkling techno music]
- You're looking good, Frankie.
You got a natural rhythm.
- Uh, sorry, I'm working.
Maybe some other time.
[tinkling techno music]
- You're looking good, Frankie.
You got a natural rhythm.
What movie is that from?
- You got me.
- I'll give you a hint.
Okay, Frankie, you can maybe
come up once in a while.
It's about an addict.
His was drugs, mine?
[beeping]
I can tell you're
someone special.
- [Balding Man] Thank you.
Are you nuts?
[thrumming electronic music]
- Need protection.
- What?
- You know.
- Oh, I'm sorry, I don't,
I wasn't expecting you.
- Don't worry, I
always carry some.
- I'll bet.
- Want me to stop?
- Hell no.
It's just I'm not
used to your, um.
- What?
- Style.
[pulsing electronic music]
[beeping]
Where, where you going?
Don't you need to develop that?
Wow.
[pulsing electronic music]
[machinery hums]
- [Customer] Excuse me.
Excuse me!
Excuse me, are you
responsible for this?
Cause if you are, these
are utterly useless.
I mean, is this the
finished product?
- You know, I'm so bad at this.
I'm bad at this job, I'm sorry.
I'm really, this is
horrible, isn't it?
- [Customer] This is very, yes.
- Very.
- Could you please do
them again?
- Absolutely, I'll do it.
I'll do it twice.
- How could you be
so incompetent?
- Yes.
- I need to warn people.
- This is your master?
- Yes, that's the master.
- We'll do it right
here, right now.
- [Customer] Okay.
You know, this is
very important.
- Yeah, I'm sure
it's very important.
Need to, okay.
- One hour, okay, thanks.
[machinery hums]
- Loneliness lives
on our net frontier.
Even motherboards and
flash require touch.
Think of passion, each
time you click me into you.
E-dream with me
before you crash.
[mystical choral music]
- I wanna tell you
that you're now
the most popular
portal on the net.
And, Ruby, your chat today
about dreams on the portal
was brilliant, I heard it.
- [Ruby] Thanks.
- Can you be a little
bit more robotic?
Because, remember, no one's
supposed to know you're real.
- [Ruby] We learned
a new program today.
You wanna see it?
We thought it
would cheer you up.
[pulsing techno music]
♪ This is the life, this is
the life, this is the life ♪
♪ This is
♪ This is the life, this is
the life, this is the life ♪
♪ Yeah
♪ This is the life, this is
the life, this is the life ♪
♪ This is
♪ This is the life, this is
the life, this is the life ♪
♪ Yeah
♪ Yeah
♪ Yeah
♪ Yeah
♪ Yeah
[pulsing techno music]
- That is so great.
How did you learn to do that?
- Did you like it?
- It's gorgeous.
- [Professor] Are they theory,
or have you used a human cell?
- Sure they're only theory.
I mean, this is only
a university, right?
Why?
- It only takes one cell
to make a living thing human.
- Well, what about a
synthetic human cell?
- Well, then you
have to patent it.
- Why?
- Because it makes it
legal, financially viable,
proprietorial.
When you patent
something, you own it.
- Well how do you patent life?
- That, my dear, is a
very profound question.
In Iceland, the
government is patenting
the citizens' genetic codes.
Multinational corporations
are pirating scrapings
of medicinal trees in
the Amazon rainforest
and poisonous spiders in China.
- Well, I don't have
anything to patent.
- Just make sure that
you don't download
yourself into your own research.
- Happy birthday.
- Baby pictures!
- Again?
- Yes.
[computer bloops]
[gentle ambient music]
- [Scientist] There you are.
- Where?
- There.
I'd know you anywhere.
Even then, your tiny pixelations
were filled with spirit.
You were the company
I waited so long for.
[computer bloops]
[gentle ambient music]
We can look at the rest later.
- Read to us, sing to us.
- [Scientist] There is
something I need to do.
- You never have
time for us anymore.
- Whoa.
Yuck.
[gentle ambient music]
- Humans are so
different from us.
They can't repair themselves,
they age, they die.
They live in
perpetual self-doubt.
They hurt each other,
they even kill each other.
I don't understand
their engines.
We are such an improvement.
Why aren't there more of us?
We're supposed to
be self-replicating.
She's erased our code for that.
I wanna hear the ticking
of my biological clock.
- Stop it.
When you sound defensive
and regressive,
you seem completely human.
That's a recessive
trait, remember?
I trust Rosetta.
After all, she's family.
She's like our mother.
- She's our sister.
- She's our mother
and our sister.
- She's our mother, our
sister, our mother, our sister.
- I'm hungry.
How 'bout you?
- We're running low.
I have to go out for a while.
- I wish I could be like you.
[brassy big band music]
- All of the things that
are written by the prophets
concerning the Son of Man
shall be accomplished.
In that same way, I have
every right to find someone
like me, someone like I am.
Do you understand
what I'm telling...
I want you to be like me.
I want you to worship me.
I want you to believe in me.
I'm your friend, I'm your
friend, I'm your friend.
Hey, hey, back out here.
I can't help you
in the elevator.
- Excuse me!
- Can't help you
in the elevator.
- Excuse me, please!
- You know what Jesus
said, excuse me,
I'm talking to somebody.
- I have a 10 o'clock
with my dentist,
if you don't mind.
- Your teeth look great.
I want you to back off, I
want you to back off now!
- Oh, for heaven's sakes!
- Look, I'm telling you
something, every
human being is a god.
You're a god.
Do you understand
what that means?
Do you understand the
implications of that?
You are a god.
All right?
- Excuse me.
- Click on my icons.
Emote from your remote.
I know a lot for a bot.
You dream with me,
or you might crash.
[computer blips]
- Martin Luther
King died for love.
Will you go to the
glorious kingdom?
You have to prepare
for the afterlife.
- No, I don't.
I'm immortal.
Would you like a cuddle?
[Marinne's voice distorting]
- [Rosetta] What did
Marinne just say?
- She said the tea
was delicious today.
- Why does she insist
on encrypting language?
Neither of you do that.
- She says she needs
something of her own.
- Well, I can understand that.
It's perfectly reasonable.
Every woman deserves
a face of her own.
- Bye.
- Bye bye.
- Hello.
- Hello.
What are we doing, hmm?
- Well,
I would like, um,
I would like a
complete makeover.
- Mm hmm, good.
- I'd like to look
entirely different.
- Great.
Okay.
- Can you make me
look like Bjork?
- Yeah.
Bjork, sure.
- Oh, I love shopping.
It makes me feel
connect-connect-
connect-connected.
- Did you wash your hands?
Scanners carry germs.
- No.
- Hi, how are you?
- Okay.
- How long has
this been going on?
- Um, about a week.
- Might be an allergy.
I want you to cut
down on your wheat.
- [Tim] My wheat?
- Yes, your intake of wheat.
No wheat and no dairy.
For the next month, no pizza.
- Okay, the thing is, okay,
what I'm curious about is,
okay, you say it's a reaction,
and yet it has a number.
- Right.
Let me see.
- At first, I thought, you
know, it's a prime number.
That might be significant.
- Turn your head.
- I realized it's not
a prime number cause
it's divisible by three,
and also three, and also three.
- [Doctor] Does this hurt?
- Wait, do it again.
No, no, it actually,
it helps some.
- And one last question.
- Yeah?
- [Doctor] When
was the last time
you had sexual intercourse?
- It was a week ago.
- Was it protected?
- Oh, yeah.
It was actually kind of a
strange experience, Doctor,
cause it was this woman,
and she had, like,
nails that were weird,
and there was a beeping sound.
I don't know, has that
ever happened to you?
- You heard a beeping?
- [Tim] Oh, yeah,
it was a beeping
and then, uh, we cuddled.
- You cuddled?
- Okay, thank you, Doctor.
- All right, thanks,
my pleasure.
- I really appreciate it.
- [Doctor] Okay, great.
- I'm gonna go now.
- [Doctor] Okay, great.
It's that way.
- Thank you.
[computer bloops]
[mysterious electronic music]
- [Rosetta] Who's that?
- That's the agent
from Washington.
He seems to think that we have
a self-replicating virus loose
in the general population.
He seems to think that
it's the responsibility
of some kind of bio-terrorists.
- What's wrong?
- Well, Agent Hopper thinks
that we have a virus problem.
- Well, like what?
- Like crops, weather, toxins.
- Bio-gender warfare.
- Bio-gender warfare?
- Shh!
- It seems that this virus,
there's a rash of this
virus that self-replicates
so quickly that it
can't be tracked.
- Oh my God.
- It only attacks men.
So we have to trace it fast,
and we have to have
some synthetics fast.
- Synthetic DNA,
that's no problem.
- No.
We have to manufacture sperm,
super synthetic sperm.
I'm depending on you.
- Now, I wanna talk to you.
Something's come up at work,
and I'm gonna have
to leave you alone
a little more than I would like.
[Marinne speaks
distorted language]
Does she have to
speak to me that way?
- She feels deprived
and neglected.
- If she feels deprived,
I'll go out tonight.
- I want you to take
care of your cold.
I want you to build
up your immune system.
I've made a
synthetic substitute,
which should be most satisfying.
- I knew you were ashamed of us.
- Ashamed of you?
I couldn't be prouder of you.
You're the work of my life.
- We'll have to
isolate these men.
They might be contagious.
- I'm gonna call an
old friend of mine
who works with Det-Works.
Our agency parted ways with her
over lifestyle issues.
- Okay, well, do you trust her?
- I think so.
- [Woman] This is Dirty Dick.
Call 1-2-3-4-5-6-7.
This is Dirty Dick, I
take the grime, not crime.
- Hello, you don't know me.
My name is Rosetta Stone.
I'm--
- Yes, let me try.
Hey, honey, it's me, RB.
How'd you like to help us out?
We're talking
bio-gender warfare.
- [Dirty Dick] Emmet's Coffee
Shop, come and meet me.
- [Rosetta] That's Dirty Dick?
He looks like that actress.
- [Agent Hopper] You
look exactly the same.
- You don't.
You've aged and put on weight.
- You're still aiming the
truth like a loaded revolver,
aren't you, except you
shoot from your mouth.
- Well, I get a lot of
privacy telling the truth.
Nobody really wants to hear
anything I have to say.
What's up?
- There are 35 men
in isolation wards.
- 35, I thought it was 33.
- Two more last night.
- Are you sure?
- Why are 35 men in
isolation wards a problem?
I would think that makes
things a lot easier.
- [Agent Hopper]
They're all infected.
We don't know the cause yet,
but all the men have become
completely sterile and impotent.
- They've all developed
this tiny rash
in the shape of a bar code.
- You've got to be kidding.
Where?
- Right between the eyes.
- She's not kidding.
You see, my husband is
one of the affected men.
I'm going public with this.
People need to know.
- Uh, no.
- Each step is a
stumble caught in time.
A living individual
may not be able
to hoard--
- Olive, look at this.
Whee!
- That is really
not fair to them.
Put everything back
the way you found it.
[beeping]
Let's take a break.
[pulsing electronic music]
- [Marinne] I don't feel well.
- All right, I think it's sex.
The same person had sex with
every single one of the men.
- I know my husband, that
is simply not the truth.
- I agree, I agree.
- 35 in two weeks?
- [Rosetta] No,
that's impossible.
- Of course it's possible.
In the '60s, no one
would've questioned it.
Have you heard
about his own past?
What a movie that would make.
Rose Bud, you're blushing.
- Rose Bud?
- We have interviewed
all of the men.
They've retraced their
steps, and all of them say
the last person they slept
with insisted on safe sex.
- Look, have them make
a digital composite.
At least then, we'll
know what she looks like.
Why are you so nervous?
You know something
you're not saying?
Where do you live, honey?
Let me have your card.
Card.
[beeping]
[gasping]
- What happened?
- The substitute
tasted terrible.
She refused to take any.
- I'm going out.
Put her on recharge,
it uses less energy.
- She told you not to go out.
- This is an emergency.
She wouldn't want
anything to hurt us.
We're her research,
she needs us.
- We've never
disobeyed her before.
- No time to argue.
[pulsing electronic music]
- [Woman] Don't ever
let the celebration end.
Promise me [speaker cut off].
[computer bloops]
[tapping]
[TV speakers slur and fade]
[knocking]
[beeping]
[pulsing electronic music]
[knocking]
- Hey, let's never let
the celebration end!
- [Man] Huh?
What celebration?
- Yeah.
- [Man] Come around.
[pulsing electronic music]
[beeping]
[pulsing electronic music]
[beeping]
[soft ambient music]
- Okay.
There you are.
[tense electronic music]
- [Agent Hopper] Did
anything unusual happen
in the days before the
onset of your illness?
- Uh, well, only the, well,
it's not really important.
- [Agent Hopper]
Everything's important.
- Well, the hard disc
on my computer crashed.
- Mine, too, mine, too.
It was a brand new
machine, and, you know,
I just thought it had a bug.
- It was weird.
- It was very weird.
- I had a hard drive
that crashed, too.
- [Agent Hopper] Did any
of you meet anybody new?
Someone you might've
been intimate with.
- I met a woman.
- [Agent Hopper]
What was her name?
- I don't know.
- [Agent Hopper] Can
you describe her?
- She was really pretty,
and she was very
color coordinated.
- [Agent Hopper] Did you
have relations with her?
- Relations?
- [Agent Hopper] Did you
have sexual relations
with the woman?
- Oh yeah.
[tense electronic music]
- When, I wanna know when.
When is the number
gonna disappear?
- And what about the erections?
- Have you been having
any erections lately?
- No, that's why we're here.
We don't care about the numbers.
- I don't want you
to have any sex
for the next week.
- No, I do care about
the numbers, I wanna know why
this number's on my forehead.
- Yeah, yeah.
- I noticed that the gate
was opened last night.
I thought I told you to stay in.
You've never acted
independently before.
- I'm autonomous,
what do you expect?
Independence kicks
in under stress.
It was an emergency, we
needed supplement fast.
No time to get permission.
- Well what about
the substitute?
- It didn't work.
- Tasted like
chlorinated rubber.
- It's not as good
as the original.
- Well, substitutes never
are as good as the original,
except, of course, in your case.
You'll just have to adapt to it.
- I think she's under
some kind of pressure.
[beeping]
- This is getting closer,
but could you bring
some more green in
her eyes, though?
I remember that very clearly.
She had piercing green eyes.
- [Agent Hopper] Can we
get some drinks Thomas?
You want soft drinks?
Coffee?
- I don't care.
- Yeah.
We'll get you some,
get some coffee,
and you just relax.
- [Dirty Dick] What's that
you have in your hand?
- [Thomas] This is my bible.
- Let me have it.
Thomas, put your
hand on that bible.
- Rosetta?
Anything wrong?
- No, I just feel a
little disoriented.
- I'll give you a ride home.
You shouldn't drive
if you're dizzy.
- No, no, I'll be fine.
- Well take care
of yourself, kid,
you work too hard.
- It's nice to meet you, too.
- Four more last night, why?
I told you it was
dangerous to go out.
- I figured it would keep
us stocked for a while.
- I trusted you, now
we're in jeopardy.
- [Marinne] We're
supposed to be autonomous.
- Haven't I given you
everything you need
right here at home?
- You're in the real world.
Why can't we be in
the real world, too?
- Listen, the real world,
it's not a place you wanna go.
It's full of traps,
it's full of predators.
If you're not careful
in the real world,
people will hurt you.
[Marinne speaks
distorted language]
What's she saying?
- She says that she would
like to go into the jungle.
[Marinee speaks
distorted language]
She says that she's
tired of being looked at
by cameras the whole time.
[Marinee speaks
distorted language]
What was that?
[Marinne speaks
distorted language]
And she says that the real
world must have some charm
or there wouldn't be
so many people in it.
- Look at this.
- Oh, that's nice.
- You like it?
Do you understand
what this means?
There are these things all
over in the real world.
They're looking for you.
And if they find you,
they'll hurt you.
They'll lock you up.
- Well we're locked up as it is.
- Where'd you get that outfit.
- E-Buy!
- Why?
Why do you need it?
- I just wanted to
look like everyone else
I see on the net.
- And how did you pay for it?
- She was scanning your
hard drive for infections
and came across your
credit card number.
- I'm gonna have to cancel it.
I don't feel safe anymore.
[knife clacks]
Dirty Dick, how
did you get here?
- Hitched.
- [Rosetta] Would
you like some tea?
- [Dirty Dick] Mm.
- Rosetta thinks she owns us.
I wanna see for myself what
it's like in the jungle.
- Well, you'll have to build
up your immune system first.
If you try and absorb
their reality all at once,
you'll get sick or freeze up.
- So how do we acquire immunity?
- I'll fetch you some of
their favorite protein.
Everyone eats it.
It seems to give them energy.
- How can I help you?
- I like you, Rosetta.
I feel I understand you.
Am I frightening you?
- A little bit.
- I know that there's
something going on
you're involved with,
and I wanna help you.
I wanna get you out of it.
So tell me what you need.
- Well, I have to
say that I, um,
I'm, uh,
a little disillusioned
at the moment,
and I could do with
somebody to talk to.
[beeping]
[soft ambient music]
- Is that your DNA
on the motherboard?
Do they have the same
feelings and emotions as you?
- Well, no, each one
has her own identity.
- So they do have feelings.
- Well, that's what amazed me.
Not only do they have
their own feelings,
they have their own will.
[computer bloops]
- Hey, Olive, Paula West
is playing tonight, live,
at the Sno Drift.
You wanna take a run
through the jungle?
- They crave physical contact.
When they have physical contact,
they stop searching.
Olive and Marinne,
they have each other.
[pulsing electronic music]
Ruby only ever couples
three times with one man
so as to avoid
forming attachments.
Cleaner without attachments.
Anyone can download this code
and make their own SRAs if
they follow my protocol.
It's really as easy
as baking brownies.
- Not the brownies I know.
So, why did you do it
in the first place?
- Um, time.
I thought that I
could train them up
to do menial labor.
- Menial labor, what's that?
No way, I don't do windows.
- Well, it backfired.
I have more work to do
and less time than ever.
It's hard being a single parent,
to keep them fed and clean,
and look after
them in every way.
Oh, they are self-supporting.
Ruby hosts a website portal.
People are prepared
to pay a fortune
for consensual illusion.
- You really care
for them, don't you?
- They are my life.
- Ah, look at this!
I've located the same
virus in every one of them.
- Do you think it's possible
for a computer virus
to enter a human host?
- Yeah, I think so.
It's been to know to
hop between species.
Some people think
that the HIV virus
was passed on to to
the green monkey.
And, considering
the advanced state
of this artificial intelligence,
it is not inconceivable
that it could've
lept screams.
- I did that.
- [Cashier] Can I help you?
- Succulent protein, please.
Olive,
Marinne,
Ruby.
- Okay, that'll be $1.49.
- What?
- Cash, credit cards,
traveler's checks, fine.
Your purse?
Money.
- Oh.
- Oh, um, sorry.
We only take cash.
Next.
- I'll have one
of these, please.
- For here, to go?
- For here.
Thank you.
No, thank you.
[gentle ambient music]
Here.
- Succulent protein.
[gentle ambient music]
[smacking]
Thank you.
[beeping]
[gentle ambient music]
[chuckles]
Thank you.
- I'm Sandy.
- Looking good, Sandy, you
got a natural kind of rhythm.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
Oh.
[knocking]
- [Marinne] Come on.
[gentle ambient music]
- That's?
- That's.
You live here.
Thank you.
- So, this is the jungle?
- Oh yeah, the center
of it, you bet.
So what are we doing today?
Uh, Bjork?
Who would you like to look like?
- I wanna look like myself.
- Well, you know, we can
do that, and you are?
- I'm Marinne.
- Ah, good.
Well then you'll look
just like Marinne
when we're done
with you. [chuckles]
- Thank you.
- Good for you.
♪ Baby, baby, baby
♪ I miss you so
when you are gone ♪
♪ By myself, I'm lonely
♪ With just a bed to lie upon
♪ The longer you're gone, baby
♪ The harder it is to carry on
♪ Oh yeah
♪ When, baby, when
♪ Baby, baby, baby
♪ What is there for me to say
♪ I do not mean maybe
♪ When I beg you to
come back today ♪
♪ How soon will the day be
♪ Til you are back
with me to stay ♪
♪ Again
♪ When, baby, when
- Can you?
[electronic hissing]
Do that again.
[electronic hissing]
[static hisses]
[electronic hissing]
♪ Baby, baby, baby
♪ What is there for me to say
[sneezing]
♪ I do not mean maybe
♪ When I beg you to
come back today ♪
♪ How soon will the day be
♪ Til you are back
with me to stay ♪
♪ Again
♪ When, baby, when
[heart pounding]
- All these computers
have the same strain.
I've never seen anything
like this before.
- Are you sure?
- Yes.
And they're watermarked from
our most secure database.
- Rosetta.
- I wouldn't jump
to any conclusions.
She's an immaculate coder.
- Yeah, but sometimes weeds grow
through cracks in cement.
[sneezing]
[sneezing]
[sneezing]
[sneezing]
- [Ruby] I have to go,
my sisters need me.
- Can I meet your sisters?
- [Ruby] When their
immune system is stronger.
- Did, did you?
- [Ruby] Did you?
[sneezing]
[tires screech]
[car revs]
- Immunity takes
time to develop.
- Time, that's what Rosetta
said she wanted more of.
[sneezing]
- She encrypts words, too.
When she says time,
she means love.
[sneezing]
- This will hurt the
research you want me to do.
It's counterproductive.
- And I'm sorry,
but rules are rules.
I don't make them.
If you're clean, we
can release you soon.
- Well, at least, may
I call my colleagues
to alert them to the fact that
I'm being formally detained?
- Go ahead.
[soft ambient music]
- Um, I'm being
formally detained.
Continue as usual.
I will be with you shortly.
Cut out the walks
on the wild side.
See you later.
- [Agent Hopper] Do you
know where this woman is?
- This woman
is me.
I like to dress up like
this when I'm bored.
- Why do you do that?
- It's like a role in a movie.
It's more interesting than
being myself all the time.
- Have you been driven
to do other things
to make your life
more interesting?
Because if you have,
you might be contagious,
you could be a carrier.
We can't take any chances.
This is for your own good.
[quiet ambient music]
Let's go.
[pulsing electronic music]
- I went to a place,
and I saw a painting,
and it was so full of spirit.
I feel like I have a
spirit when I'm with you
because I feel things.
[pulsing electronic music]
My experience of the
real world is limited,
but intimacy is most elusive.
Sex is not, sex
is easy, you know?
- No.
I've heard.
[mystical electronic music]
[humming]
[computer beeps]
- We had a bug, a
really nasty one
that attacks the hard drive.
- Do you think Ruby had it?
- She did, but I
purged the network
and she should've felt
tingly a few moments ago.
- Where'd it come from?
Do you think it was
the attachments?
- Well, if so, then
Rosetta is right.
Attachments are dangerous.
- I don't think that's
exactly what she meant.
I think she was referring
to emotional attachments.
- I miss Rosetta.
- So do I.
[computer bloops]
- I'm cured.
We're cured.
[men cheer]
- I accessed her hard drive,
scanned it completely.
- Well?
- [chuckles] Clean as a whistle.
No contamination,
not a single bug.
- I don't get it.
- She tilted at windmills and
didn't fall off her horse.
- We could make
more of ourselves
if we followed that recipe.
She said anybody could do it.
She said it was as easy
as baking brownies.
- Don't you dare.
- Rosetta
asked me to make sure I was
more robotic on the portal
because I was
appearing too real.
It made me feel very good.
Am I robotic to you?
- No, you're very good at real.
Real is your second nature.
- Think of me as
your second nature,
a curve in your cyborgian spine.
Feel my luminous halo,
quietly pulsating inside.
Touch me and be
touched, flesh, spirit,
flesh, soul, icon.
Spirit, flesh, soul, icon.
[whooshing]
- [Sandy] It looks so peaceful.
It's hard to imagine why
there's so many angry
people out there.
- They're angry because
they never take the moments
that allow them to
define their essence.
- Like what?
- Looking at a
Man Ray photograph
or listening to John Lee Hooker.
- Or Louis Armstrong.
- Or Louis Armstrong.
Or watching the light
change in the morning.
Or allowing yourself
to fall in love.
So precious.
Will you promise me something?
- Anything.
- Let's not let the
celebration ever end.
Let's not let the
celebration ever end, ever.
- Hi, honey.
What's happening?
What?
Oh my goodness, what's
this, what's this?
What's my boy up to, huh?
What, what?
- I found her.
- You found her?
You found her?
- I found her.
[laughing]
- [Agent Hopper] I've
got some good news.
- [Rosette] Sorry?
- [Agent Hopper] I've got
some good news for you.
- [Rosette] Some good news?
- [Agent Hopper] Yeah.
- [Rosette] Well,
I could use some.
- [Agent Hopper] Well,
the men are okay.
Their vital signs have returned.
Looks like it was some sort of
temporary allergic reaction,
or something.
- [Rosette] Their vital signs?
You mean, their vital signs?
- Right, their drive's back.
Maybe it was an electrolyte
overstimulation.
I don't know.
What do you think?
- [Rosette] Well, I think good.
So the charge is
dropped against me?
I can go home?
- Yeah, we just have to finish
processing your paperwork.
Our mainframe has crashed.
- Your mainframe's crashed?
Okay.
- I don't get it, first, the
virus we traced disappears.
Then the rashes disappear.
The men all identified her,
but she says she didn't do it.
I wanna believe her,
but there's so much
evidence against her.
It's very confusing.
It's like Three Faces of Eve.
- She couldn't have done it.
- [Agent Hopper] All the
men positively identify her.
- You never believe me.
I'm telling you,
she didn't do it.
- How can you be so certain?
- I examined her
medical records.
- Virgin?
- Like I told you, she
couldn't have done it.
If I were you, I would just
leave well enough alone.
Like [speaks foreign language].
- Oh, hello.
- Mom, this is Ruby.
Remember Ruby, she
has her own portal.
The writer.
- Um, honey, honey, yes.
- This is Ruby.
- Hi, Ruby, honey,
come here, come here,
come here a second.
No, no, no, no, no,
we have to talk.
Just one second, we'll
be right back, excuse us.
So that's her, the
woman I told you about
that I saw downtown
with the preacher
and she wouldn't let
me into the elevator.
- Okay.
- And she runs around
at night, I've seen
her out of the window.
- Mother, please, please.
- What?
- Do you remember?
- Well of course.
- Remember that?
- Yes I do, you're happy.
- She's responsible for that,
okay?
- So you like her.
- Come here.
- All right, it's
his taste, not mine.
I'm just the mother, God
forbid I should judge.
- Ruby, Mom, Mom, Ruby.
- Well, hello.
Oh!
My son is not a gem, you know.
He's got a lot of problems.
- I like him.
- Well, tell me, what
do you see in him?
I'm very curious to know.
- He's what I need.
- He's what you need.
- He feeds me.
- I feed her.
- Oh.
What do you think?
- It's a beautiful color.
- Yes, it's borscht.
You know borscht?
- I don't.
- No?
Ah.
Well, I'll give you the recipe.
- I have a recipe.
It's a different, it's
a different borscht,
but it's delicious.
- Well, we'll have to trade.
Where you going, honey?
Be down in 10 minutes.
- No hard feelings.
- [Rosette] No hard feelings.
- I was just doing my job.
- I was just doing my job, too.
- I'm glad it was a case
of mistaken identity.
- [Rosette] Would
you like some tea?
- Sure.
- Would you mind waiting
here for a moment?
I need to check my microwave.
- Microwave?
[Rosette gasps]
[Rosette gasps]
[Rosette gasps]
- Ruby.
I'm being rude.
- Oh, oh what a wonderful story.
She looks so happy.
- We're free.
She doesn't need us anymore.
She hasn't even
checked in with us.
- I'm so sleepy.
Can we sleep in
your room tonight?
I dream better in blue.
[mystical electronic music]
- Okay.
[mystical electronic music]
[computer bloops]
[gentle ambient music]
- Can we do it again?
- Yes, we can.
- Did you and Dirty
Dick, were you?
- Are you gonna tell
me about your past?
[ticking electronic music]
- Can we do it again?
- Sure.
[ticking electronic music]
[pulsing electronic music]
[Rosette gasps]
- [Rosette] Why'd you do it?
There was no need to.
- I know I didn't need to.
I wanted to.
Can you take over
my portal today?
But be a bit more robotic.
You don't anyone to
know you're real.
- The user friendly
reproductive system.
- It's a whole
new world in here.
[pulsing electronic music]
- Ruby, uh, can't be
here today, obviously.
She's taking care of
dreams of her own.
I'm here
with some thoughts that I
thought I might share with you.
And some suggestions.
The first thing that has
been occurring to me recently
is that our wildest
dreams can become reality.
[pulsing electronic music]
♪This is the life, this is
the life, this is the life ♪
♪ This is
♪ This is the life, this is
the life, this is the life ♪
♪ Yeah
♪ This is the life, this is
the life, this is the life ♪
♪ This is
♪ This is the life, this is
the life, this is the life ♪
♪ Yeah
♪ Yeah
♪ Yeah
♪ Yeah
♪ Yeah
And we should never
ever be afraid of love.
[shimmering beeps]
[ticking techno music]
- [Man] Do we have to?
- Yes.
[pulsing techno music]
[beeping]
- That some kind
of a weird fetish?
- Yes.
One more thing.
- Anything you want.
- Can we cuddle for a sec?
[mystical choral music]
Wait.
- Stay the night.
- I can't.
- Why not?
- Your quota's used up.
- My what?
- I told you, three's the charm.
- I thought you were kidding.
- Told you, just
sex, no attachments.
Most people only get to two.
- That supposed to
make me feel better?
- Thank you.
[liquid hisses]
[chiming electronic music]
- Wake up.
Breakfast.
[chiming electronic music]
Delicious.
[chiming electronic music]
Yummy.
[chiming electronic music]
There you go.
[pulsing electronic music]
[beeping]
[chiming electronic music]
[beeping]
- I wanna enjoy
things and have fun
and live like every
day is the last day.
Wouldn't that be nice?
A lifetime full of last days.
Promise me something, promise.
- [Soldier] Anything.
- Don't ever let
the celebration end.
[beeping]
[gentle ambient music]
[knocking]
[gentle ambient music]
- [Man] What'd Aristotle
say, by nature?
- By nature--
- We desire--
- [Man And Woman] To know.
- You know?
- Yes.
- Yeah, you know that
the paradoxical thing
about that is is that many
times, the side effects
of knowledge that are
the most dangerous.
[chuckling]
Re-creation is recreation.
[chuckling]
- Not bad.
- Yeah.
Neither is your thesis on
artificial intelligence viruses.
- Oh, thank you, but they
are not viruses, you know.
They are SRAs,
self-replicating automatons.
- Yeah, yeah, SRAs.
- They are non-virus based.
- Yeah, yeah, but they mime and
they reproduce like viruses.
- No, they don't.
[chuckling]
- You know, the most
important thing to me
is the creation of
reliable software
that makes the world a
safer and a better place.
- Mm hmm.
- So when do I get to see them?
- You can't see them.
It's only theory.
It couldn't be possible
for, I don't know, 20 years?
And, even if it were possible,
I'd suppress their
reproduction code
so that they would be tightly,
quite strictly controlled.
- Yeah, that's very smart.
20 years is just
a blink of an eye
in the cosmic scheme of things.
- Okay, well, uh,
maybe 50 years.
And maybe never.
It's only theory.
- [laughs] So was DNA.
[chuckles] Yeah.
- What can I do for you?
I can teach you to dream.
Click my icons.
Emote from your remote.
Evolve with me.
Let's e-dream together.
[knocking]
I can't [speaker cut off].
- Honey.
Did you sleep well?
- [Man] Mm hmm.
- Good.
You must meet lots of
nice women at work.
- Many, many women.
And they all get upset with me.
- They're probably just
trying to get your attention.
After all, you are
an executive there.
- I make copies, Mom.
Your son makes copies.
- [Mom] Oh, don't be so modest.
- I'm the hole-puncher-outter.
The stapler.
- Always wearing yourself down.
- My job's somewhere
down here, Ma.
Trash collectors here,
and soda jerks here.
- Want a bagel?
- No, thank you.
- Honey, you know, I met
your father at the pharmacy.
He was a dishwasher.
- Dishwasher's somewhere here.
- No, no, it's not.
- Mom.
Who wants problems?
Most people don't want problems.
- Just be patient.
The right girl's gonna find you.
- All right, come in.
- So?
- Have you eaten
anything unusual lately?
- Uh, no, don't think so.
- [Doctor] I want you to
eliminate all wheat, sugar,
and dairy from your diet.
- Is it serious?
- I have a suspicion it's
an allergic reaction.
Has this ever occurred before?
- No, never.
- Get some rest and...
- [Patient] And what?
- Don't stress.
- [sighs] Don't
stress, look, look,
I'm impotent!
- I'll prescribe some V-Gro
once we clear your
system of sugar.
When was the last time you
had sexual intercourse?
- Uh, few days ago.
- [Doctor] Was it protected?
- Yeah, yeah, she
insisted on it.
[pulsing electronic music]
- Have something.
- Surprise me.
- Two doubles.
- You didn't have
to do that, Frankie.
- No reason you
should go losing money
by wasting your
time talking to me.
The smile you own.
- [Woman On TV] I ain't heard
that since you went away.
[percussive big band music]
You're looking good, Frankie.
- [Frankie] I feel good.
- [Woman On TV] They tell me
you're gonna be a drummer now.
- [Frankie] Yeah, I got an
appointment with a man tomorrow.
- [Woman On TV]
Oh, that's swell.
- Eh, probably I won't
get the job, though.
- [Woman On TV] Sure you will.
- Probably I don't
play good enough.
- I bet you play fine.
You was always whistling and
drumming on tables and things.
Real good, too.
- Ah.
- I mean it.
You got a natural rhythm.
- I was thinking maybe
I'd take a stage name.
- [Woman On TV] You
got a natural rhythm.
You got a natural rhythm.
You're looking good, Charlie.
You're looking good, Frank.
You got a natural rhythm.
[tinkling techno music]
- You're looking good, Frankie.
You got a natural rhythm.
- Uh, sorry, I'm working.
Maybe some other time.
[tinkling techno music]
- You're looking good, Frankie.
You got a natural rhythm.
What movie is that from?
- You got me.
- I'll give you a hint.
Okay, Frankie, you can maybe
come up once in a while.
It's about an addict.
His was drugs, mine?
[beeping]
I can tell you're
someone special.
- [Balding Man] Thank you.
Are you nuts?
[thrumming electronic music]
- Need protection.
- What?
- You know.
- Oh, I'm sorry, I don't,
I wasn't expecting you.
- Don't worry, I
always carry some.
- I'll bet.
- Want me to stop?
- Hell no.
It's just I'm not
used to your, um.
- What?
- Style.
[pulsing electronic music]
[beeping]
Where, where you going?
Don't you need to develop that?
Wow.
[pulsing electronic music]
[machinery hums]
- [Customer] Excuse me.
Excuse me!
Excuse me, are you
responsible for this?
Cause if you are, these
are utterly useless.
I mean, is this the
finished product?
- You know, I'm so bad at this.
I'm bad at this job, I'm sorry.
I'm really, this is
horrible, isn't it?
- [Customer] This is very, yes.
- Very.
- Could you please do
them again?
- Absolutely, I'll do it.
I'll do it twice.
- How could you be
so incompetent?
- Yes.
- I need to warn people.
- This is your master?
- Yes, that's the master.
- We'll do it right
here, right now.
- [Customer] Okay.
You know, this is
very important.
- Yeah, I'm sure
it's very important.
Need to, okay.
- One hour, okay, thanks.
[machinery hums]
- Loneliness lives
on our net frontier.
Even motherboards and
flash require touch.
Think of passion, each
time you click me into you.
E-dream with me
before you crash.
[mystical choral music]
- I wanna tell you
that you're now
the most popular
portal on the net.
And, Ruby, your chat today
about dreams on the portal
was brilliant, I heard it.
- [Ruby] Thanks.
- Can you be a little
bit more robotic?
Because, remember, no one's
supposed to know you're real.
- [Ruby] We learned
a new program today.
You wanna see it?
We thought it
would cheer you up.
[pulsing techno music]
♪ This is the life, this is
the life, this is the life ♪
♪ This is
♪ This is the life, this is
the life, this is the life ♪
♪ Yeah
♪ This is the life, this is
the life, this is the life ♪
♪ This is
♪ This is the life, this is
the life, this is the life ♪
♪ Yeah
♪ Yeah
♪ Yeah
♪ Yeah
♪ Yeah
[pulsing techno music]
- That is so great.
How did you learn to do that?
- Did you like it?
- It's gorgeous.
- [Professor] Are they theory,
or have you used a human cell?
- Sure they're only theory.
I mean, this is only
a university, right?
Why?
- It only takes one cell
to make a living thing human.
- Well, what about a
synthetic human cell?
- Well, then you
have to patent it.
- Why?
- Because it makes it
legal, financially viable,
proprietorial.
When you patent
something, you own it.
- Well how do you patent life?
- That, my dear, is a
very profound question.
In Iceland, the
government is patenting
the citizens' genetic codes.
Multinational corporations
are pirating scrapings
of medicinal trees in
the Amazon rainforest
and poisonous spiders in China.
- Well, I don't have
anything to patent.
- Just make sure that
you don't download
yourself into your own research.
- Happy birthday.
- Baby pictures!
- Again?
- Yes.
[computer bloops]
[gentle ambient music]
- [Scientist] There you are.
- Where?
- There.
I'd know you anywhere.
Even then, your tiny pixelations
were filled with spirit.
You were the company
I waited so long for.
[computer bloops]
[gentle ambient music]
We can look at the rest later.
- Read to us, sing to us.
- [Scientist] There is
something I need to do.
- You never have
time for us anymore.
- Whoa.
Yuck.
[gentle ambient music]
- Humans are so
different from us.
They can't repair themselves,
they age, they die.
They live in
perpetual self-doubt.
They hurt each other,
they even kill each other.
I don't understand
their engines.
We are such an improvement.
Why aren't there more of us?
We're supposed to
be self-replicating.
She's erased our code for that.
I wanna hear the ticking
of my biological clock.
- Stop it.
When you sound defensive
and regressive,
you seem completely human.
That's a recessive
trait, remember?
I trust Rosetta.
After all, she's family.
She's like our mother.
- She's our sister.
- She's our mother
and our sister.
- She's our mother, our
sister, our mother, our sister.
- I'm hungry.
How 'bout you?
- We're running low.
I have to go out for a while.
- I wish I could be like you.
[brassy big band music]
- All of the things that
are written by the prophets
concerning the Son of Man
shall be accomplished.
In that same way, I have
every right to find someone
like me, someone like I am.
Do you understand
what I'm telling...
I want you to be like me.
I want you to worship me.
I want you to believe in me.
I'm your friend, I'm your
friend, I'm your friend.
Hey, hey, back out here.
I can't help you
in the elevator.
- Excuse me!
- Can't help you
in the elevator.
- Excuse me, please!
- You know what Jesus
said, excuse me,
I'm talking to somebody.
- I have a 10 o'clock
with my dentist,
if you don't mind.
- Your teeth look great.
I want you to back off, I
want you to back off now!
- Oh, for heaven's sakes!
- Look, I'm telling you
something, every
human being is a god.
You're a god.
Do you understand
what that means?
Do you understand the
implications of that?
You are a god.
All right?
- Excuse me.
- Click on my icons.
Emote from your remote.
I know a lot for a bot.
You dream with me,
or you might crash.
[computer blips]
- Martin Luther
King died for love.
Will you go to the
glorious kingdom?
You have to prepare
for the afterlife.
- No, I don't.
I'm immortal.
Would you like a cuddle?
[Marinne's voice distorting]
- [Rosetta] What did
Marinne just say?
- She said the tea
was delicious today.
- Why does she insist
on encrypting language?
Neither of you do that.
- She says she needs
something of her own.
- Well, I can understand that.
It's perfectly reasonable.
Every woman deserves
a face of her own.
- Bye.
- Bye bye.
- Hello.
- Hello.
What are we doing, hmm?
- Well,
I would like, um,
I would like a
complete makeover.
- Mm hmm, good.
- I'd like to look
entirely different.
- Great.
Okay.
- Can you make me
look like Bjork?
- Yeah.
Bjork, sure.
- Oh, I love shopping.
It makes me feel
connect-connect-
connect-connected.
- Did you wash your hands?
Scanners carry germs.
- No.
- Hi, how are you?
- Okay.
- How long has
this been going on?
- Um, about a week.
- Might be an allergy.
I want you to cut
down on your wheat.
- [Tim] My wheat?
- Yes, your intake of wheat.
No wheat and no dairy.
For the next month, no pizza.
- Okay, the thing is, okay,
what I'm curious about is,
okay, you say it's a reaction,
and yet it has a number.
- Right.
Let me see.
- At first, I thought, you
know, it's a prime number.
That might be significant.
- Turn your head.
- I realized it's not
a prime number cause
it's divisible by three,
and also three, and also three.
- [Doctor] Does this hurt?
- Wait, do it again.
No, no, it actually,
it helps some.
- And one last question.
- Yeah?
- [Doctor] When
was the last time
you had sexual intercourse?
- It was a week ago.
- Was it protected?
- Oh, yeah.
It was actually kind of a
strange experience, Doctor,
cause it was this woman,
and she had, like,
nails that were weird,
and there was a beeping sound.
I don't know, has that
ever happened to you?
- You heard a beeping?
- [Tim] Oh, yeah,
it was a beeping
and then, uh, we cuddled.
- You cuddled?
- Okay, thank you, Doctor.
- All right, thanks,
my pleasure.
- I really appreciate it.
- [Doctor] Okay, great.
- I'm gonna go now.
- [Doctor] Okay, great.
It's that way.
- Thank you.
[computer bloops]
[mysterious electronic music]
- [Rosetta] Who's that?
- That's the agent
from Washington.
He seems to think that we have
a self-replicating virus loose
in the general population.
He seems to think that
it's the responsibility
of some kind of bio-terrorists.
- What's wrong?
- Well, Agent Hopper thinks
that we have a virus problem.
- Well, like what?
- Like crops, weather, toxins.
- Bio-gender warfare.
- Bio-gender warfare?
- Shh!
- It seems that this virus,
there's a rash of this
virus that self-replicates
so quickly that it
can't be tracked.
- Oh my God.
- It only attacks men.
So we have to trace it fast,
and we have to have
some synthetics fast.
- Synthetic DNA,
that's no problem.
- No.
We have to manufacture sperm,
super synthetic sperm.
I'm depending on you.
- Now, I wanna talk to you.
Something's come up at work,
and I'm gonna have
to leave you alone
a little more than I would like.
[Marinne speaks
distorted language]
Does she have to
speak to me that way?
- She feels deprived
and neglected.
- If she feels deprived,
I'll go out tonight.
- I want you to take
care of your cold.
I want you to build
up your immune system.
I've made a
synthetic substitute,
which should be most satisfying.
- I knew you were ashamed of us.
- Ashamed of you?
I couldn't be prouder of you.
You're the work of my life.
- We'll have to
isolate these men.
They might be contagious.
- I'm gonna call an
old friend of mine
who works with Det-Works.
Our agency parted ways with her
over lifestyle issues.
- Okay, well, do you trust her?
- I think so.
- [Woman] This is Dirty Dick.
Call 1-2-3-4-5-6-7.
This is Dirty Dick, I
take the grime, not crime.
- Hello, you don't know me.
My name is Rosetta Stone.
I'm--
- Yes, let me try.
Hey, honey, it's me, RB.
How'd you like to help us out?
We're talking
bio-gender warfare.
- [Dirty Dick] Emmet's Coffee
Shop, come and meet me.
- [Rosetta] That's Dirty Dick?
He looks like that actress.
- [Agent Hopper] You
look exactly the same.
- You don't.
You've aged and put on weight.
- You're still aiming the
truth like a loaded revolver,
aren't you, except you
shoot from your mouth.
- Well, I get a lot of
privacy telling the truth.
Nobody really wants to hear
anything I have to say.
What's up?
- There are 35 men
in isolation wards.
- 35, I thought it was 33.
- Two more last night.
- Are you sure?
- Why are 35 men in
isolation wards a problem?
I would think that makes
things a lot easier.
- [Agent Hopper]
They're all infected.
We don't know the cause yet,
but all the men have become
completely sterile and impotent.
- They've all developed
this tiny rash
in the shape of a bar code.
- You've got to be kidding.
Where?
- Right between the eyes.
- She's not kidding.
You see, my husband is
one of the affected men.
I'm going public with this.
People need to know.
- Uh, no.
- Each step is a
stumble caught in time.
A living individual
may not be able
to hoard--
- Olive, look at this.
Whee!
- That is really
not fair to them.
Put everything back
the way you found it.
[beeping]
Let's take a break.
[pulsing electronic music]
- [Marinne] I don't feel well.
- All right, I think it's sex.
The same person had sex with
every single one of the men.
- I know my husband, that
is simply not the truth.
- I agree, I agree.
- 35 in two weeks?
- [Rosetta] No,
that's impossible.
- Of course it's possible.
In the '60s, no one
would've questioned it.
Have you heard
about his own past?
What a movie that would make.
Rose Bud, you're blushing.
- Rose Bud?
- We have interviewed
all of the men.
They've retraced their
steps, and all of them say
the last person they slept
with insisted on safe sex.
- Look, have them make
a digital composite.
At least then, we'll
know what she looks like.
Why are you so nervous?
You know something
you're not saying?
Where do you live, honey?
Let me have your card.
Card.
[beeping]
[gasping]
- What happened?
- The substitute
tasted terrible.
She refused to take any.
- I'm going out.
Put her on recharge,
it uses less energy.
- She told you not to go out.
- This is an emergency.
She wouldn't want
anything to hurt us.
We're her research,
she needs us.
- We've never
disobeyed her before.
- No time to argue.
[pulsing electronic music]
- [Woman] Don't ever
let the celebration end.
Promise me [speaker cut off].
[computer bloops]
[tapping]
[TV speakers slur and fade]
[knocking]
[beeping]
[pulsing electronic music]
[knocking]
- Hey, let's never let
the celebration end!
- [Man] Huh?
What celebration?
- Yeah.
- [Man] Come around.
[pulsing electronic music]
[beeping]
[pulsing electronic music]
[beeping]
[soft ambient music]
- Okay.
There you are.
[tense electronic music]
- [Agent Hopper] Did
anything unusual happen
in the days before the
onset of your illness?
- Uh, well, only the, well,
it's not really important.
- [Agent Hopper]
Everything's important.
- Well, the hard disc
on my computer crashed.
- Mine, too, mine, too.
It was a brand new
machine, and, you know,
I just thought it had a bug.
- It was weird.
- It was very weird.
- I had a hard drive
that crashed, too.
- [Agent Hopper] Did any
of you meet anybody new?
Someone you might've
been intimate with.
- I met a woman.
- [Agent Hopper]
What was her name?
- I don't know.
- [Agent Hopper] Can
you describe her?
- She was really pretty,
and she was very
color coordinated.
- [Agent Hopper] Did you
have relations with her?
- Relations?
- [Agent Hopper] Did you
have sexual relations
with the woman?
- Oh yeah.
[tense electronic music]
- When, I wanna know when.
When is the number
gonna disappear?
- And what about the erections?
- Have you been having
any erections lately?
- No, that's why we're here.
We don't care about the numbers.
- I don't want you
to have any sex
for the next week.
- No, I do care about
the numbers, I wanna know why
this number's on my forehead.
- Yeah, yeah.
- I noticed that the gate
was opened last night.
I thought I told you to stay in.
You've never acted
independently before.
- I'm autonomous,
what do you expect?
Independence kicks
in under stress.
It was an emergency, we
needed supplement fast.
No time to get permission.
- Well what about
the substitute?
- It didn't work.
- Tasted like
chlorinated rubber.
- It's not as good
as the original.
- Well, substitutes never
are as good as the original,
except, of course, in your case.
You'll just have to adapt to it.
- I think she's under
some kind of pressure.
[beeping]
- This is getting closer,
but could you bring
some more green in
her eyes, though?
I remember that very clearly.
She had piercing green eyes.
- [Agent Hopper] Can we
get some drinks Thomas?
You want soft drinks?
Coffee?
- I don't care.
- Yeah.
We'll get you some,
get some coffee,
and you just relax.
- [Dirty Dick] What's that
you have in your hand?
- [Thomas] This is my bible.
- Let me have it.
Thomas, put your
hand on that bible.
- Rosetta?
Anything wrong?
- No, I just feel a
little disoriented.
- I'll give you a ride home.
You shouldn't drive
if you're dizzy.
- No, no, I'll be fine.
- Well take care
of yourself, kid,
you work too hard.
- It's nice to meet you, too.
- Four more last night, why?
I told you it was
dangerous to go out.
- I figured it would keep
us stocked for a while.
- I trusted you, now
we're in jeopardy.
- [Marinne] We're
supposed to be autonomous.
- Haven't I given you
everything you need
right here at home?
- You're in the real world.
Why can't we be in
the real world, too?
- Listen, the real world,
it's not a place you wanna go.
It's full of traps,
it's full of predators.
If you're not careful
in the real world,
people will hurt you.
[Marinne speaks
distorted language]
What's she saying?
- She says that she would
like to go into the jungle.
[Marinee speaks
distorted language]
She says that she's
tired of being looked at
by cameras the whole time.
[Marinee speaks
distorted language]
What was that?
[Marinne speaks
distorted language]
And she says that the real
world must have some charm
or there wouldn't be
so many people in it.
- Look at this.
- Oh, that's nice.
- You like it?
Do you understand
what this means?
There are these things all
over in the real world.
They're looking for you.
And if they find you,
they'll hurt you.
They'll lock you up.
- Well we're locked up as it is.
- Where'd you get that outfit.
- E-Buy!
- Why?
Why do you need it?
- I just wanted to
look like everyone else
I see on the net.
- And how did you pay for it?
- She was scanning your
hard drive for infections
and came across your
credit card number.
- I'm gonna have to cancel it.
I don't feel safe anymore.
[knife clacks]
Dirty Dick, how
did you get here?
- Hitched.
- [Rosetta] Would
you like some tea?
- [Dirty Dick] Mm.
- Rosetta thinks she owns us.
I wanna see for myself what
it's like in the jungle.
- Well, you'll have to build
up your immune system first.
If you try and absorb
their reality all at once,
you'll get sick or freeze up.
- So how do we acquire immunity?
- I'll fetch you some of
their favorite protein.
Everyone eats it.
It seems to give them energy.
- How can I help you?
- I like you, Rosetta.
I feel I understand you.
Am I frightening you?
- A little bit.
- I know that there's
something going on
you're involved with,
and I wanna help you.
I wanna get you out of it.
So tell me what you need.
- Well, I have to
say that I, um,
I'm, uh,
a little disillusioned
at the moment,
and I could do with
somebody to talk to.
[beeping]
[soft ambient music]
- Is that your DNA
on the motherboard?
Do they have the same
feelings and emotions as you?
- Well, no, each one
has her own identity.
- So they do have feelings.
- Well, that's what amazed me.
Not only do they have
their own feelings,
they have their own will.
[computer bloops]
- Hey, Olive, Paula West
is playing tonight, live,
at the Sno Drift.
You wanna take a run
through the jungle?
- They crave physical contact.
When they have physical contact,
they stop searching.
Olive and Marinne,
they have each other.
[pulsing electronic music]
Ruby only ever couples
three times with one man
so as to avoid
forming attachments.
Cleaner without attachments.
Anyone can download this code
and make their own SRAs if
they follow my protocol.
It's really as easy
as baking brownies.
- Not the brownies I know.
So, why did you do it
in the first place?
- Um, time.
I thought that I
could train them up
to do menial labor.
- Menial labor, what's that?
No way, I don't do windows.
- Well, it backfired.
I have more work to do
and less time than ever.
It's hard being a single parent,
to keep them fed and clean,
and look after
them in every way.
Oh, they are self-supporting.
Ruby hosts a website portal.
People are prepared
to pay a fortune
for consensual illusion.
- You really care
for them, don't you?
- They are my life.
- Ah, look at this!
I've located the same
virus in every one of them.
- Do you think it's possible
for a computer virus
to enter a human host?
- Yeah, I think so.
It's been to know to
hop between species.
Some people think
that the HIV virus
was passed on to to
the green monkey.
And, considering
the advanced state
of this artificial intelligence,
it is not inconceivable
that it could've
lept screams.
- I did that.
- [Cashier] Can I help you?
- Succulent protein, please.
Olive,
Marinne,
Ruby.
- Okay, that'll be $1.49.
- What?
- Cash, credit cards,
traveler's checks, fine.
Your purse?
Money.
- Oh.
- Oh, um, sorry.
We only take cash.
Next.
- I'll have one
of these, please.
- For here, to go?
- For here.
Thank you.
No, thank you.
[gentle ambient music]
Here.
- Succulent protein.
[gentle ambient music]
[smacking]
Thank you.
[beeping]
[gentle ambient music]
[chuckles]
Thank you.
- I'm Sandy.
- Looking good, Sandy, you
got a natural kind of rhythm.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
Oh.
[knocking]
- [Marinne] Come on.
[gentle ambient music]
- That's?
- That's.
You live here.
Thank you.
- So, this is the jungle?
- Oh yeah, the center
of it, you bet.
So what are we doing today?
Uh, Bjork?
Who would you like to look like?
- I wanna look like myself.
- Well, you know, we can
do that, and you are?
- I'm Marinne.
- Ah, good.
Well then you'll look
just like Marinne
when we're done
with you. [chuckles]
- Thank you.
- Good for you.
♪ Baby, baby, baby
♪ I miss you so
when you are gone ♪
♪ By myself, I'm lonely
♪ With just a bed to lie upon
♪ The longer you're gone, baby
♪ The harder it is to carry on
♪ Oh yeah
♪ When, baby, when
♪ Baby, baby, baby
♪ What is there for me to say
♪ I do not mean maybe
♪ When I beg you to
come back today ♪
♪ How soon will the day be
♪ Til you are back
with me to stay ♪
♪ Again
♪ When, baby, when
- Can you?
[electronic hissing]
Do that again.
[electronic hissing]
[static hisses]
[electronic hissing]
♪ Baby, baby, baby
♪ What is there for me to say
[sneezing]
♪ I do not mean maybe
♪ When I beg you to
come back today ♪
♪ How soon will the day be
♪ Til you are back
with me to stay ♪
♪ Again
♪ When, baby, when
[heart pounding]
- All these computers
have the same strain.
I've never seen anything
like this before.
- Are you sure?
- Yes.
And they're watermarked from
our most secure database.
- Rosetta.
- I wouldn't jump
to any conclusions.
She's an immaculate coder.
- Yeah, but sometimes weeds grow
through cracks in cement.
[sneezing]
[sneezing]
[sneezing]
[sneezing]
- [Ruby] I have to go,
my sisters need me.
- Can I meet your sisters?
- [Ruby] When their
immune system is stronger.
- Did, did you?
- [Ruby] Did you?
[sneezing]
[tires screech]
[car revs]
- Immunity takes
time to develop.
- Time, that's what Rosetta
said she wanted more of.
[sneezing]
- She encrypts words, too.
When she says time,
she means love.
[sneezing]
- This will hurt the
research you want me to do.
It's counterproductive.
- And I'm sorry,
but rules are rules.
I don't make them.
If you're clean, we
can release you soon.
- Well, at least, may
I call my colleagues
to alert them to the fact that
I'm being formally detained?
- Go ahead.
[soft ambient music]
- Um, I'm being
formally detained.
Continue as usual.
I will be with you shortly.
Cut out the walks
on the wild side.
See you later.
- [Agent Hopper] Do you
know where this woman is?
- This woman
is me.
I like to dress up like
this when I'm bored.
- Why do you do that?
- It's like a role in a movie.
It's more interesting than
being myself all the time.
- Have you been driven
to do other things
to make your life
more interesting?
Because if you have,
you might be contagious,
you could be a carrier.
We can't take any chances.
This is for your own good.
[quiet ambient music]
Let's go.
[pulsing electronic music]
- I went to a place,
and I saw a painting,
and it was so full of spirit.
I feel like I have a
spirit when I'm with you
because I feel things.
[pulsing electronic music]
My experience of the
real world is limited,
but intimacy is most elusive.
Sex is not, sex
is easy, you know?
- No.
I've heard.
[mystical electronic music]
[humming]
[computer beeps]
- We had a bug, a
really nasty one
that attacks the hard drive.
- Do you think Ruby had it?
- She did, but I
purged the network
and she should've felt
tingly a few moments ago.
- Where'd it come from?
Do you think it was
the attachments?
- Well, if so, then
Rosetta is right.
Attachments are dangerous.
- I don't think that's
exactly what she meant.
I think she was referring
to emotional attachments.
- I miss Rosetta.
- So do I.
[computer bloops]
- I'm cured.
We're cured.
[men cheer]
- I accessed her hard drive,
scanned it completely.
- Well?
- [chuckles] Clean as a whistle.
No contamination,
not a single bug.
- I don't get it.
- She tilted at windmills and
didn't fall off her horse.
- We could make
more of ourselves
if we followed that recipe.
She said anybody could do it.
She said it was as easy
as baking brownies.
- Don't you dare.
- Rosetta
asked me to make sure I was
more robotic on the portal
because I was
appearing too real.
It made me feel very good.
Am I robotic to you?
- No, you're very good at real.
Real is your second nature.
- Think of me as
your second nature,
a curve in your cyborgian spine.
Feel my luminous halo,
quietly pulsating inside.
Touch me and be
touched, flesh, spirit,
flesh, soul, icon.
Spirit, flesh, soul, icon.
[whooshing]
- [Sandy] It looks so peaceful.
It's hard to imagine why
there's so many angry
people out there.
- They're angry because
they never take the moments
that allow them to
define their essence.
- Like what?
- Looking at a
Man Ray photograph
or listening to John Lee Hooker.
- Or Louis Armstrong.
- Or Louis Armstrong.
Or watching the light
change in the morning.
Or allowing yourself
to fall in love.
So precious.
Will you promise me something?
- Anything.
- Let's not let the
celebration ever end.
Let's not let the
celebration ever end, ever.
- Hi, honey.
What's happening?
What?
Oh my goodness, what's
this, what's this?
What's my boy up to, huh?
What, what?
- I found her.
- You found her?
You found her?
- I found her.
[laughing]
- [Agent Hopper] I've
got some good news.
- [Rosette] Sorry?
- [Agent Hopper] I've got
some good news for you.
- [Rosette] Some good news?
- [Agent Hopper] Yeah.
- [Rosette] Well,
I could use some.
- [Agent Hopper] Well,
the men are okay.
Their vital signs have returned.
Looks like it was some sort of
temporary allergic reaction,
or something.
- [Rosette] Their vital signs?
You mean, their vital signs?
- Right, their drive's back.
Maybe it was an electrolyte
overstimulation.
I don't know.
What do you think?
- [Rosette] Well, I think good.
So the charge is
dropped against me?
I can go home?
- Yeah, we just have to finish
processing your paperwork.
Our mainframe has crashed.
- Your mainframe's crashed?
Okay.
- I don't get it, first, the
virus we traced disappears.
Then the rashes disappear.
The men all identified her,
but she says she didn't do it.
I wanna believe her,
but there's so much
evidence against her.
It's very confusing.
It's like Three Faces of Eve.
- She couldn't have done it.
- [Agent Hopper] All the
men positively identify her.
- You never believe me.
I'm telling you,
she didn't do it.
- How can you be so certain?
- I examined her
medical records.
- Virgin?
- Like I told you, she
couldn't have done it.
If I were you, I would just
leave well enough alone.
Like [speaks foreign language].
- Oh, hello.
- Mom, this is Ruby.
Remember Ruby, she
has her own portal.
The writer.
- Um, honey, honey, yes.
- This is Ruby.
- Hi, Ruby, honey,
come here, come here,
come here a second.
No, no, no, no, no,
we have to talk.
Just one second, we'll
be right back, excuse us.
So that's her, the
woman I told you about
that I saw downtown
with the preacher
and she wouldn't let
me into the elevator.
- Okay.
- And she runs around
at night, I've seen
her out of the window.
- Mother, please, please.
- What?
- Do you remember?
- Well of course.
- Remember that?
- Yes I do, you're happy.
- She's responsible for that,
okay?
- So you like her.
- Come here.
- All right, it's
his taste, not mine.
I'm just the mother, God
forbid I should judge.
- Ruby, Mom, Mom, Ruby.
- Well, hello.
Oh!
My son is not a gem, you know.
He's got a lot of problems.
- I like him.
- Well, tell me, what
do you see in him?
I'm very curious to know.
- He's what I need.
- He's what you need.
- He feeds me.
- I feed her.
- Oh.
What do you think?
- It's a beautiful color.
- Yes, it's borscht.
You know borscht?
- I don't.
- No?
Ah.
Well, I'll give you the recipe.
- I have a recipe.
It's a different, it's
a different borscht,
but it's delicious.
- Well, we'll have to trade.
Where you going, honey?
Be down in 10 minutes.
- No hard feelings.
- [Rosette] No hard feelings.
- I was just doing my job.
- I was just doing my job, too.
- I'm glad it was a case
of mistaken identity.
- [Rosette] Would
you like some tea?
- Sure.
- Would you mind waiting
here for a moment?
I need to check my microwave.
- Microwave?
[Rosette gasps]
[Rosette gasps]
[Rosette gasps]
- Ruby.
I'm being rude.
- Oh, oh what a wonderful story.
She looks so happy.
- We're free.
She doesn't need us anymore.
She hasn't even
checked in with us.
- I'm so sleepy.
Can we sleep in
your room tonight?
I dream better in blue.
[mystical electronic music]
- Okay.
[mystical electronic music]
[computer bloops]
[gentle ambient music]
- Can we do it again?
- Yes, we can.
- Did you and Dirty
Dick, were you?
- Are you gonna tell
me about your past?
[ticking electronic music]
- Can we do it again?
- Sure.
[ticking electronic music]
[pulsing electronic music]
[Rosette gasps]
- [Rosette] Why'd you do it?
There was no need to.
- I know I didn't need to.
I wanted to.
Can you take over
my portal today?
But be a bit more robotic.
You don't anyone to
know you're real.
- The user friendly
reproductive system.
- It's a whole
new world in here.
[pulsing electronic music]
- Ruby, uh, can't be
here today, obviously.
She's taking care of
dreams of her own.
I'm here
with some thoughts that I
thought I might share with you.
And some suggestions.
The first thing that has
been occurring to me recently
is that our wildest
dreams can become reality.
[pulsing electronic music]
♪This is the life, this is
the life, this is the life ♪
♪ This is
♪ This is the life, this is
the life, this is the life ♪
♪ Yeah
♪ This is the life, this is
the life, this is the life ♪
♪ This is
♪ This is the life, this is
the life, this is the life ♪
♪ Yeah
♪ Yeah
♪ Yeah
♪ Yeah
♪ Yeah
And we should never
ever be afraid of love.