(HELICOPTER ROTORS WHIRR)
MAN: Rubek!
I know it's you, Rubek.
I'd recognise that ugly coat anywhere.
It's good to see you, partner.
Yeah. It's a dream come true.
Come on, how about a bit of courtesy?
6 months, you don't call, you don't write.
And yet still, you didn't take the hint.
We've got a job for you.
I have a job.
Look at the file.
I work in security now, Waller. I'm not one of your hunters.
Read the file, Rubek.
A shuttle came down from one of the colonies weeks ago.
But we only just found it.
Passengers? Just one.
And we have reason to believe
he's headed straight for the corporation.
And that's why you want me on this.
I won't raise any alarm.
We want you because you're the best.
That disaster down at the docks,
the machine was wrong.
You were right. So what?
So...let's stop playing like you've got a choice.
Right.
Interviews start at 9am.
What about the file?
I've got a good memory.
I really hope you do.
(MACHINERY BEEPS, WHIRRS)
OK, we're done. You can go now, Miss Pine.
That's it?
That's it. What was the point?
It's just routine.
You kept us waiting here all day so that we could...
Thank you for your time.
(CLOCK TICKS)
Sorry, is it alright that I come in?
I'm the last one.
Mr Ames. Andrew.
Andy, if you like.
Really?
You're Lynn Rubek.
That's right.
Rubek.
Like the puzzle.
Try not to move, please.
Is it Czech?
Hungarian?
I'm going to ask you a series of questions, Mr Ames.
Reaction time is a factor,
so please, try to answer as quickly as you can.
OK.
You're walking down a busy street at night.
Where am I going?
Maybe home, maybe to a party.
Maybe you're just walking. It's hypothetical.
Sorry.
So, I'm walking down the street going somewhere.
You pass an alleyway and see two men assaulting a young boy.
He's calling out for help but no-one seems to notice.
I'd probably shout something, call for help.
You wouldn't intervene physically?
Is that wrong?
There are no wrong answers.
These questions are just meant to elicit an emotional response.
It's your birthday and your wife buys you a present.
I'm not married.
Right. Hypothetical wife.
You open the box and find a dead mouse inside.
I...guess I'd ask her
why she gave me a dead animal for my birthday.
Your wife tells you she doesn't love you anymore,
being around you sickens her.
I'd be hurt. Angry.
Would you hit her? No.
How many more of these questions are there?
It depends.
Your best friend calls you in the middle of the night.
He thinks he may have hit a pedestrian in his car.
(CLOCK TICKS)
The woman before me was out in 20 minutes.
How long is this going to take?
Just one more question.
(RECORDER CLICKS ON)
You're a police officer and you've just finished your shift.
A call comes in about a shuttle crash at the docks.
Do you answer the call or do you go home?
I answer the call. Why?
Because someone might be hurt.
You get to the docks, and a group of passengers
from the crashed shuttle have been detained.
You start to interrogate them.
Why?
To find out if they're human.
The tests clear them,
but you can't shake the feeling
that one of the passengers isn't what he seems.
Maybe I'm wrong.
Maybe I'm tired.
But you're sure you are right.
You're so sure of it,
that you draw your gun
and you shoot him dead.
I know I said only one more question but can I ask you something?
Why come back?
Back?
To Earth.
The machine and I agree this time, Andrew.
You're human.
Why come back?
Because this is our planet!
This WAS your planet.
But you abandoned it. You abandoned us.
How do you abandon a piece of machinery?
You're not people! You just look like us.
"More human than human," wasn't that the company line?
Have you ever been to the colonies?
People scrabbling for survival under the red sky.
We weren't meant to live like that.
There's no escape, Andrew.
Give yourself up and maybe they'll just deport you.
Like the guy at the docks?
I'll take my chances.
Why did you take a job at the corporation, Andrew?
Sabotage?
Trying to figure out a way to kill us all?
You were built to die.
Four years of service and then you're done.
We've come a long way since then, Andrew.
Some of us live to 9 or 10.
And how long do you have left?
Most of us prefer not to know.
You're just squatters.
Living in our houses, pretending to be human.
Everything you have was created by us.
My dad was a literature professor.
We went to the colonies when I was five.
The only thing we took with us were books -
Tolstoy, Beckett, Shakespeare.
He made me memorise passages,
and recite them for him.
He said we should never forget where we came from.
Andrew, stop!
(GUNSHOT)
You never could pull the trigger, could you, partner?
This one, he doesn't get to walk away.
But then again, who does?
Captions by Ericsson Access Services
Copyright Australian Broadcasting Corporation