-
the beginning
in 1992 following a devastating global war called "World War Terminus".in the post-apocalyptic world of earth an android is assigned to find and kill 6 Androids from mars that fled to earth -
the info
rick Decker goes to Rosen Association's headquarters for the latest empathy test which is the only thing that distinguishes humans and the newest android nexus-6. the empathy test gives a false positive on the CEO's niece. that means that they could have been killing humans. -
the first
deckard soon meets a Soviet police contact who turns out to be one of the Nexus-6 renegades in disguise. Deckard kills the android, then flies off to kill his next target -
accusation
his next target an android living in disguise as an opera singer. Meeting her backstage, Deckard administers the empathy test, but she calls the police. Failing to recognize Deckard as a bounty hunter, they arrest and detain him at a police station he has never heard of, filled with officers who he is surprised never to have met. An official named Garland accuses Deckard himself of being an android with implanted memories -
back on track
After a series of mysterious revelations at the station, Deckard ponders the ethical questions his line of work raises regarding android intelligence, empathy, and what it means to be human. Garland, pointing a laser gun at Deckard, then reveals that the entire station is a sham., claiming that both he and Phil Resch, the station's resident bounty hunter, are androids. Resch shoots Garland in the head, escaping with Deckard back to the opera singer -
learning something new
whom Resch brutally kills in cold blood when she alludes that he may be an android. Desperate to know the truth, Resch asks Deckard to use the empathy test on him, which confirms that he is actually human, and then Deckard tests himself, discovering that he has a sense of empathy for certain androids. -
the reason
Deckard buys his wife Iran an authentic Nubian goat with the bounty money. -
the last four
His supervisor then insists that he visit an abandoned apartment building, where the three remaining android fugitives are assumed to be hiding. Experiencing a vision of the prophet-like Mercer confusingly telling him to proceed, despite the immorality of the mission, Deckard calls on Rachael Rosen again, since her knowledge of android psychology may aid his investigation. Rachael declines to help, but reluctantly agrees to meet Deckard at a hotel in exchange for him abandoning the case. -
the trick
At the hotel, she reveals that one of the fugitive androids is the same exact model as herself, meaning that he will have to shoot down an android that looks just like her. Rachael coaxes Deckard into sex, after which they confess their love for one another. However, she reveals she has slept with many bounty hunters, having been programmed to do so in order to dissuade them from their missions. -
the ambush
he building's only other inhabitant, John R. Isidore, a radioactively damaged and intellectually below-average human, attempts to befriend them, but is shocked when they callously torture and mutilate a rare spider he's found. They all watch a television program which presents definitive evidence that the entire theology of Mercerism is a hoax. Deckard enters the building, experiencing strange, supernatural premonitions of Mercer notifying him of an ambush. -
not the goat
Since they attack him first, Deckard is legally justified as he shoots down all three androids without testing them beforehand. Isidore is devastated, and Deckard is soon rewarded for a record number of Nexus-6 kills in a single day. When Deckard returns home, he finds Iran grieving because Rachael Rosen arrived while he was gone and killed their goat. -
the end
Deckard goes to an uninhabited, obliterated region of Oregon to reflect. He climbs a hill and is hit by falling rocks, and realizes this is an experience eerily similar to Mercer's martyrdom. He stumbles abruptly upon what he thinks is a real toad (an animal thought to be extinct) but, when he returns home with it, his wife discovers it is just a robot.
