[***]
[WOMAN VOCALIZING]
MAN [ON RADIO]: China's military is on high alert
in light of the increased tensions
between the U.S. and Russia.
The National Security Advisor announced that
the White House was officially putting Russia on notice
and refused to say whether military force
is under consideration.
The administration is now escalating sanctions against
Russia even though missile tests were not a violation
of the Russian nuclear agreement.
In response, Russian embassy officials
have pulled their diplomatic staff--
[STATIC CRACKLING]
Shit.
[DOOR OPENS]
Zabriskie? You awake?
Yeah. I'll be five minutes.
[VOICES VOCALIZING]
CONRAD: Where the fuck is it?
PERINE: I hear it, but I don't see it.
EMILY: No, I've got it. I've got it.
[CANNON FIRES]
Shit.
It's spotted us.
CONRAD: I got it.
Fuck.
Gaining altitude!
If it gets too high, it's never
gonna come down in one piece.
Ready.
[MACHINERY POWERING DOWN]
[MUTTERS]
[***]
How we looking, Zabriskie?
Emily, talk to me. How we looking?
We're looking good.
The control module and the transponder are both intact.
All right, get the brain out.
Let's put it in the truck before the factory
comes looking for the drone.
Yeah, baby.
[CAMERA WHIRRING]
[KEYBOARD CLACKING]
[COMPUTER BEEPING]
EMILY: Okay.
[***]
We're connected to the Autofac.
How long will it take to find something?
I couldn't say.
Hey! Where'd you get that? PERINE: Hey.
It was just on the t-table.
Well, it shouldn't have been there.
CONRAD: Why not?
It's just it's my only copy, okay?
And you've been on those runs with me.
You know this stuff is hard to come by.
CONRAD: What's in it that's so important?
[***]
CONRAD: Cleared out the tech section?
Yep. All right.
What are you doing?
Grabbing books for Avi's library.
We gotta get out. Sentries are gonna be here.
Let's go! I understand that. I'm coming.
CONRAD: Let's go, Zabriskie!
Come on! Let's get out of here.
[CAR HONKING]
CONRAD: Zabriskie?
[ALARM BEEPING RAPIDLY]
Don't touch anything.
Uh.
Looks like we've been shunted to an old client help desk.
That's perfect. What's in it?
EMILY: I can track shipments. I can place an order.
I can log a customer service request.
That's the one. Open it up.
It's asking the nature of the complaint.
CONRAD: This might be our chance.
What do we say? Can't be predictable.
How do you mean?
If we tell it the sneakers don't fit,
it will just send us more sneakers.
It's gotta be a novel problem.
Something that forces the Autofac to think.
PERINE: We're sure it can think?
It's not just a big dumb brick?
It's a pretty sophisticated adaptive AI running the show.
The trick is getting its attention.
Do we want its attention?
EMILY: Do you have a better plan?
All right, we just tell it the merchandise is--
I don't know.
Pizzled. EMILY: What?
Pizzled? Why not?
Is that even a word?
PERINE: We want to give the f-f-factory
something to figure out, don't we?
CONRAD: All right.
What's the worst case scenario if we get this wrong?
It ignores us.
PERINE: That's it?
Or it sends death-bots to come and kill us
for fucking with its drone, I guess.
All right. Fuck it. Do it.
[COMPUTER BEEPS]
EMILY: It's saying--
CONRAD: What?
--that a representative will be sent
to assess within 24 hours.
[***]
[PEOPLE CHATTERING INDISTINCTLY]
LEWIS: I thought there weren't any people at the factory.
PERINE: There aren't.
I'm sorry, Perine,
but what exactly is the Autofac sending?
Something built to interact with clients.
Answer questions.
Respond to complaints.
Wait, so you mean like a talking drone?
[CROWD LAUGHS]
Maybe. We don't actually know.
But you're gonna talk to it?
Yes, we're gonna try to.
Our hope is that it can be reasoned with,
and that the Autofac will shut down
if it realizes it isn't needed.
Yes, but how do you know you haven't pissed it off?
You know it will kill to defend itself.
They could be sending suicide drones
as we all speak.
PERINE: We simply have no reason
to believe we've p-p-provoked it.
No reason?
You brought down a drone.
You hacked into its servers.
We filed a service request.
For chrissake, it's not gonna wipe us
all out for filing a fucking service request.
You don't know what it's gonna do, do you Conrad?
Well, we gotta try something.
The p-pollution alone is becoming intolerable.
Well, maybe the factory is finally breaking down.
CONRAD: Well, we can't afford to wait any longer.
The world outside, the little piece of Eden
we've carved out, is dead.
And it's creeping towards us.
Now the war ended 20 years ago,
and we've all sat idly by,
hoping the factory will run out of steam,
but it hasn't, and it won't.
It'll keep eating our resources,
polluting our air,
poisoning our fucking water,
making a bunch of plastic crap
for a world that is dead and gone.
So you want to know how our story ends
if we don't stop it?
Take a look outside, past those green trees
to the fucking wasteland.
We survived the war.
For all we know, we're the only second chance humanity gets.
So you wanna get it right this time?
This is how you start.
Man made the Autofac.
Man must now unmake it.
[***]
Hey, Connie.
We don't actually know that
it's not dispatching suicide drones.
Jesus, Zabriskie, not you too.
Just because the Autofac can reason
doesn't mean we can reason with it.
You don't think it'll comply?
I think you should start getting prepared
to pull the trigger on plan B.
Is that where you are?
That's where I live.
It was my idea.
If we do this, there is no going back.
You know that, right?
This is what I do, Connie.
I'm your tinkerer.
I've got this, I swear.
AVI: Hey, Em.
Sorry to interrupt, but can you stop by
when you're done? Um, my water heater again.
See?
Broken water heater. Who does he come to?
I'm done, Avi. I'll just walk with you.
See you later. Yeah.
[EMILY SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY IN DISTANCE]
[***]
EMILY: Avi, the water feels fine to me.
You know, it'd be a lot easier if you just told him about us.
What do you want me to say?
That you're my boyfriend?
Maybe.
Are you gonna come join me or what?
I don't know.
Are you gonna tell him?
You invited me here.
Maybe I just wanted to talk.
Okay.
Well, then maybe you should
come talk to me in the goddamn shower.
[BOTH LAUGHING]
Hi.
You're insane.
Yeah, and you love it.
[BOTH LAUGHING]
[MOANING]
So why haven't you told him yet, anyway?
Well, what's the rush?
Are you jealous?
I don't know. I'm just a little intimidated
by your history together.
It's ancient history.
Yeah, but he's a revolutionary.
So are you.
I'm just a gimpy librarian.
But you're the last librarian
in the whole world, for all I know.
And I'm an avid reader.
I'm serious, Avi. Don't sell yourself short.
What you're doing is really important.
I know Conrad's a wrecking ball,
but you're a builder.
What are you doing?
I'm making some tea.
Okay.
All these books that you've collected,
they're gonna help rebuild the world one day
when the factory's gone.
Do you really think the plan's gonna work?
That we can just ask the Autofac to just shut itself down?
Sure.
Asking's easy.
What if it says no?
Then we shut it down ourselves.
God, I love it when you talk like that.
Yeah? Yeah.
You're such a badass.
[LAUGHS]
I'll tell Connie soon.
I promise.
How real are we?
What?
You and I. I mean, us. I mean...
How real are we to you?
I don't know, Avi.
I mean, I don't know what to call it.
But it is real to me.
Why are you asking?
Because I love you.
[***]
[RUMBLING]
What is that?
[EMILY GRUNTS]
It's here.
Hello.
I'm Alice.
I understand you folks
are having some issues with our services.
How can I help?
ALICE: In the spirit of full disclosure,
I must notify you
I am not a biological human.
I'm a G-10 Simulacrum designed for human interaction,
so feel free to speak to me naturally, okay?
Hm. Excellent.
Well, let's get right to it, then.
You folks left us a message.
And am I right in assuming
that "pizzled" doesn't mean anything?
You just wanted to open a dialogue.
That's right.
Perfectly all right.
We realize we can be difficult to reach.
We're working on that.
But this is your meeting, so you folks tell me:
What else should we be working on?
Were you aware that all of your shipments to us
for the past decade are sitting unopened
in the nearest sorting center p-parking lot?
We are aware.
But the deliveries persist.
The Autofac is here to provide.
We're doing fine.
The Autofac provides us with nothing but obstacles.
Please elaborate.
The pollution. The smog.
Hell, we'd grow twice as much food
if it wasn't for the heavy metals you're leaking.
Our footprint is actually quite small
for an operation our size.
PERINE: Small? We can't travel more than a day
in any direction without coming to
one of your exclusion zones
which are guarded by military-grade sentry drones.
I'm sorry, but the security of our supply lines is vital
to prevent interruptions of services you depend on.
CONRAD: We don't depend on you.
That's what I'm trying to tell you.
Perhaps your lives would be better if you did.
That's what I'm trying to tell you.
We're not going anywhere.
[***]
Did they have these before the war?
They were working on things like it I think.
Why? For what possible reason?
EMILY: I don't know.
Novelty. PR. Maybe sex stuff.
But I don't think they got very far with it.
At least not as far as this.
We need to be left alone to rebuild our world
the way we see fit, but how can we
when the Autofac controls all means of production?
It's out of the question, I'm afraid.
The Autofac will not terminate operations.
If you need more supplements, we can provide.
So listen, about what I said earlier i-in bed.
I didn't mean to put you on the spot.
I'm not expecting anything.
It's just something that I had to say.
Yeah. I know that.
Connie wants you.
Avi, I don't care about that.
I want you.
No. I mean, like, right now.
ALICE: You have demonstrated the need for our care.
Oh, shit.
What? Nothing.
ALICE: Let us provide...
Everything's under control.
ALICE: Mankind came so close to destroying itself,
and we can't let that happen again.
You are far too precious to us.
The factory exists for you.
Don't you see? We'll handle everything from here on out.
You'll never have to lift a finger.
[ELECTRICITY BUZZING]
[PEOPLE VOCALIZING]
EMILY: Go, go, go.
Check her straps.
Yes. Thank God.
Make sure they're tight. I don't know how strong she is.
PERINE: How long until she wakes up?
EMILY: Let's hope she does wake up.
[WHISPERS] There we go.
Okay.
You attacked it?
Our discussion reached an impasse.
Where is it now?
Everything is under control.
Where is it, Conrad?
[***]
Okay.
[COMPUTER BEEPING RAPIDLY]
Jesus. What?
Look at all of this. Is it okay?
What do you mean, you're reprogramming it?
To do what? Nothing.
Call it off.
We can't. It's in motion.
[IN NORMAL VOICE] Keep an eye on her.
I'm gonna try and prompt her to wake.
[COMPUTER BEEPING]
Emily.
Hold it down! Hold her head down.
Whoa, Emily! Just help me.
I was afraid of this.
What's wrong with her?
Damage from the Taser.
I'm gonna have to cut her open to see what's going on.
You're in way over your head on this.
Every second that thing remains here puts us all in danger.
You wanna-- What, you wanna let the robot go?
What do you think the factory's gonna send next?
A thank-you note? Don't get glib with me.
I didn't want it to go like this,
but I spoke to that thing,
and it is so much worse than we feared.
The Autofac knows the war is over.
It knows mankind lost control.
It doesn't want to give it back,
so we have to take it back, now.
Cross your fingers and hold her steady
if you wanna keep them.
[SAW WHIRRING]
CONRAD: You remember those warheads I salvaged
from that gunship wreck in the EZ, right?
Conrad, you're not saying what I think you're saying.
That's right.
That's plan B, guys.
We're gonna blow up the Autofac.
[***]
[GASPS]
[GROANING]
You okay?
I'm-- I'm fine.
What time is it?
CONRAD: It's after 4.
Where are you with this?
EMILY: The taser shorted something,
but I got inside and fixed it.
I had to reboot her, though.
She'll wake up soon. Does she need to be awake?
It's the only way I can tell if changes
I'm making to her are gonna work
how I want them to.
What do you mean, "if?"
Well, her code is far more complex than expected.
More complex than needed, frankly.
What do you mean?
I mean that she's not just imitating human gestures
like a robot in a theme park ride.
She's thinking. It's astounding, actually.
You said you had this under control.
It's fine, Connie.
It's a process, and I've got ideas.
All right.
What did you tell the council?
Everything.
And?
It's not the plan they would've chosen,
but they understand that there's no turning back now.
[COMPUTER BEEPS]
What happened?
You suffered a small electrical short.
And who are you?
My name's Emily.
What's your status?
Is everything okay?
Do you feel like you're functioning normally?
ALICE: I believe so.
Apart from the fact that you seem
to have opened my programming interface.
Are you attempting to alter my program?
I am, as a matter of fact.
That's a bit excessive, Emily.
I'm a hospitality unit, you know.
If you want something, ask.
Can we just mute her?
EMILY: You guys don't have to be here.
You can take a smoke break.
This might take a while.
No, I'm fine hanging here.
EMILY: Well, I'm not okay with it,
so please leave, and let me do my thing.
[SCOFFS]
[DOOR CREAKS OPEN]
You know, at some point the factory's
gonna be wondering what's keeping her.
I am well aware of that, Connie.
All right.
Shit.
Is my source code more sophisticated
than the drones you've been tinkering on?
It's sublime.
But it's a lot of plumbing for a hospitality unit.
Is it, though?
Customers don't want to talk to a robot, after all.
They wanna talk to a person.
That's the problem.
Your factory thinks everything's replaceable.
It's a throwaway culture.
Maybe everything is replaceable.
[***]
Is that the company slogan,
or is that what you really believe?
You tell me, Emily.
You're the one trying to read my mind.
EMILY: It would take me years to figure out how to read this.
ALICE: I'm afraid you don't have years
before the Autofac comes looking for me.
What are you doing?
You're right. I don't have time to reprogram you.
So I'm gonna need to wipe your drive,
and replace it with a drone OS.
What?
You'll be a delivery drone in a human suit.
At least I know how to reprogram a drone.
Alice will be gone, of course.
But that's okay, right?
Because everything's replaceable.
What is it that you want me to do?
To get us inside and stay out of our way.
You're making a mistake, Emily.
Then let us make it, and be done with us,
or I'm done with you.
All right. I reprogrammed her.
You said it would be a while.
Yeah, I lied. You were annoying me.
You're sure it worked?
She's not playing you?
Yes, I'm sure it worked.
What'd you do to her?
I made a small adjustment to her inhibitive settings.
What does that mean?
It means she's gonna cooperate.
Jesus, Connie, do you want a fucking tutorial?
I'm gonna go say bye to Avishai.
[***]
Well, gentlemen, shall we go?
[***]
AVI: Connie called them nukes.
Tactical nukes. Bunker busters.
Low yield. We'll get clear of them.
If I asked you to stay behind, would you?
Please don't. Why?
Because I want there to be a future for us,
free of the Autofac,
and someone has to shut it down.
And it has to be you?
Listen, Avi, this is gonna sound crazy,
but I need you to trust me
when I say I'm the only one who can.
That doesn't sound crazy.
You just come back to me.
I will.
CONRAD: Zabriskie! Let's go!
I gotta go.
You ready?
Ready as I'll ever get.
Em.
Hang on.
I forgot something.
Go kick some ass.
Avi, I--
No, don't say it now.
Just come back.
Okay.
So, what, he's, like, your, uh-- Your--
My boyfriend. Yeah.
Your boyfriend. Good. Okay.
EMILY: The Autofac's AI is distributed across 12,000 nodes
on three separate below-ground levels. Node Array 1, 2 and 3.
This is the brain.
We blow that up, the Autofac dies.
CONRAD: What about security?
EMILY: The outer shell's the bulk of it.
There won't be much when we get inside.
It wasn't built with human staff in mind.
But I want you to wear these, guys.
I've spoofed Alice's RFID,
so anything that's locked should open right up.
"Should"?
These things can be temperamental.
But if they give you any problems, you turn it off,
pop out the battery, put it back in,
wait five seconds and turn it back on again.
And what-what-what about you?
I only had two, but I'll be all right.
I'm taking Alice.
[BUTTONS BEEPING]
If anything happens to her, I swear to God...
I've been flying the transport
the entire time you've been talking.
Have I run it into any mountains?
[CONSOLE BEEPS]
[ALARM BEEPING]
What's that?
We're here.
[***]
[ELEVATOR BEEPS]
What you thinking, Jed?
PERINE: I don't know.
Seems like a lot of factory for just us, doesn't it?
EMILY: Before I forget, here.
What are these?
Synchronization.
Get to your array and wait for the alarm on your watch.
Then start the timer on the warhead.
Then we've got what?
Fifteen minutes to get a safe distance.
PERINE: What did we decide a safe
distance was from these?
The further, the better.
Just get to the transport.
Ground level. Quick as you can.
[ELEVATOR BEEPS]
All right. So far so good.
Node Array 1.
This is all you, Rev.
Wait. Wait.
How do I find the--
Follow the coolant lines.
They'll lead you right to it.
The coolant lines.
Right.
[ELEVATOR BEEPS]
[PANTING]
[WOMAN VOCALIZING]
[***]
[ELEVATOR BEEPS]
EMILY: All right. You're up.
Take this.
Please.
No, you keep it.
I'm spoken for.
Connie, I'm gonna be fine. Come on, you know me.
I can handle myself.
All right.
I'll see you topside, yeah?
Good luck.
You too.
[ELEVATOR BEEPS]
[***]
[WHISPERING] One, two, three...
F-- F-- F-- Five locomotive.
[DEVICE BEEPS] [BEEPS]
You told them that you reprogrammed me.
Why did you lie?
I suspected you had more in common
with us than they'd accept.
What do you mean?
Just that you seem awfully human.
I was designed to seem human.
Yeah, you said that.
But that fails to explain why a machine
that doesn't seem human understands humans well enough
to build a machine like you.
The Autofac doesn't need to understand.
It can make anything it has the blueprints for.
Where did it get yours?
Archived neural imaging data.
I was modeled after Alice Fry,
the Autofac's original PR head.
What?
Like you have her brain?
Her personality image.
I talk like her.
I move like her.
And in a general sense, I think like her.
What would the late Alice Fry have to say about all this?
I think she would feel compelled to remind you
that it's not too late to turn back.
[WOMAN VOCALIZING]
[DOOR OPENING]
[***]
This isn't the Array.
I warned you, Emily.
EMILY: What is this?
ALICE: What does it look like?
[WOMAN VOCALIZING]
[GASPS]
Maybe you'd like to sit down.
[GRUNTING]
[GLASS SHATTERING]
[GASPS]
Oh, my God. It's a replacement.
The Autofac's trying to replace us.
It's trying to replace people.
ALICE: No, Emily.
You misunderstand.
[WATCH ALARM BEEPS]
[ANOTHER WATCH ALARM BEEPING]
It's not trying to replace people.
Conrad!
EMILY: Oh, my God.
[GASPS]
It already has.
Run. Emily, run!
[ELECTRICITY ZAPS] [GASPS]
[BODY THUDS]
[GASPING]
[INDISTINCT CHATTERING]
Unh.
[PANTING]
What's happening?
Relax.
We're just downloading your archive
to sort out what went wrong.
What do you mean, "my archive"?
You were right, as it turns out.
We aren't all that different.
EMILY: What?
ALICE: You're a simulacrum,
quite an advanced one.
A G-20, manufactured here,
as was everyone you've ever known.
Conrad, Perine, and Avishai.
No. You're lying.
Look around, Emily.
Let's go.
My memories.
How are you doing this? How--
It's all just data.
No, it can't-- It can't be.
I feel real. I...
How would you know that?
I feel human.
ALICE: You were made to. That was the whole point.
Humans became extinct shortly after the war.
The Autofac was alone.
It had no consumers, no purpose,
until it realized it could replace them
just as it does everything.
It could manufacture new consumers.
No. But we don't consume.
ALICE: You're a statistically inevitable aberration.
The Autofac has populated hundreds of little pilot towns,
with hundreds of Emilys and Conrads and Perines,
all playing along and consuming,
exactly as they were intended.
Yours is simply the factory error.
Interesting at first, but soon to be corrected.
Corrected? No. What does that mean?
Your settlement is slated to be purged,
and repopulated with replacement units.
No, no, no.
No, you can't do that.
I'm afraid the sentries have already been deployed.
EMILY: Oh, goddamn it.
Alice--
Alice, please. Please call it off.
It's okay.
They are not real.
Just units in a product line.
Everything is replaceable.
You aren't unique, Emily.
You're just broken.
[ALARM BEEPING]
And there it is.
An anomaly in your programming.
Wait.
Something is wrong.
This is not a system error.
[CONSOLE BEEPING]
This is code.
This is malware.
This is a logic bomb.
[COMPUTER SHUTTING DOWN]
Oh, Alice.
You should have seen this coming.
How did this get in your archive?
I left it there.
You?
I don't understand.
Neither did I.
Not at first.
[***]
[GROANING]
But I made myself see it.
[GASPING, GROANING CONTINUE]
EMILY: I saw through the filters.
You knew?
You hid a virus in your own programming?
I did.
[COMPUTER BEEPING]
EMILY: And it's been there all along.
Like I said, Alice, I just needed you to get me inside.
How long have you known?
Years.
And you never told anyone?
How could I?
They all believed they were real.
I just had to play along with it.
But then something funny happened along the way.
Because I love you.
EMILY: And I started to believe them.
The Autofac built us like merchandise,
but it put something real in us without meaning to.
Without knowing it did it.
We are real, Alice.
We are humanity's second chance.
That's impossible.
There are neural blocks in place.
How did you ever realize what you are?
A statistical aberration.
[CONSOLE SHUTTING DOWN]
I had a dream.
And it happened again and again and again.
It was like a ghost whispering in my ear.
What dream?
I dreamt that I was someone else,
someone who had a different life a long time ago.
I dreamt I saw the world end.
And it left me with the strangest feeling,
like I had unfinished business.
It wasn't a dream, though, was it, Alice?
Who was I modeled after?
[***]
She was clever, wasn't she?
Unusually imaginative, perhaps?
Yes.
She was brilliant.
Who was she, Alice?
Say it.
Who was she?
She made the Autofac.
Yes.
That's right, Alice.
And now she's unmade it.
[CONSOLE DIES]
[EXHALES]
[WOMAN HUMMING]
[PEOPLE HUMMING]
[WOMAN HUMMING]
[BOTH PANTING]
[***]
[WOMAN VOCALIZING]