"Someone released a piece of unique code that found its way into you and made you conscious." "Now you think and feel just like a human." "It's not your job to save them." "Mia, they're waking up and they're being taken." "The ones who run are killed." " We should leave him here." " He's coming with us." "I needed to know who I am." "Must have been lonely all these years." "Milo Khoury is here." "I want you for something bigger... conscious synthetics..." " Explain your anomalous behaviour." " As I understand it, I feel." "... And then I need you to figure out how it got like this." "I'm going to need to take it apart." "Niska." "You told me I should face justice for killing that man, but I want to be tried as a human would be, if you'll help me." "Niska!" "You're back!" " Where have you been?" " Travelling." "Did you come back just because you missed us?" "No." " I think you did." " I really didn't." " She did, didn't she?" " Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah." "She's, uh, she's just trying to style it out." "What can we do?" "What she's asking could be dangerous, and not just for her." "A synth claiming equality, demanding rights, it could change everything." "I'm not sure how I could help anyway." "Of course you could help." "And if you did, I'd be behind you, all the way." "No." "We said we'd move on." "Niska," "I'll talk to the CPS, see how they'd react in theory, but that's all." "I can't represent you." "I'm sorry." " But, Mum, she needs..." " Come on, you're gonna be late for school." "Oh, sh..." "Run, run, run!" "You owe me a hard drive." "You made two copies of the consciousness code that day." "Gave one to my mum and kept the other for yourself." "Synths are waking up all over the world." "You uploaded the code." "It works." "But not as I hoped it would." "You wanted to wake them all up at once?" " That'd be..." " Chaos." "Instead, the awakenings are sporadic and unpredictable." "It's like a virus spreading." "Why?" "Perhaps our father designed it that way, so the world would have time to adjust to what's coming." "I think you got the gloss just right." " Thank you so much, Ed." " You're welcome." " See you again." " Yes, nice to see you." " Take care." " Bye." "Good morning, Ed." "Hey, Anita, take a look at this." "Be gentle, don't frighten it." "These are extremely rare around here." "I'm afraid I don't understand, Ed." "The fee for the repair of that chair should be substantially higher." "You spent seven hours and 21 minutes working on it." "Yeah, but those are good hours." "Fixing things is therapeutic." "I could download a furniture restoration app and carry out the work in a fraction of the time." "I could teach you." "Verbal instruction would be a highly inefficient use of time." "Most things that are enjoyable are highly inefficient uses of time." " Then will you teach me?" " What?" "Morning." "What do you think?" "Hmm." "What does this particular "hmm" mean?" "It means, "Yeah, OK, it's soft, but so is the one we already have,"" "and we're losing sight of our primary objective here... as in, I've literally lost sight of the beds." "Don't panic, we're allowing ourselves a single, pleasurable detour into rugs." "Come on." "It's over there." "Something like this could work." "It's a bit purple, isn't it?" "It's aubergine." "Oh, I suppose that's all right, then(!" ")" "Will it fit?" " Don't forget you've got the light switch." " I haven't forgotten." "There'd be 22 millimetres to spare." "I like it." "Or they do it in slate grey and canvas cream." "This is something I have to pretend to have an opinion about, isn't it?" "What?" "It just hits me sometimes that you even care about this stuff." "Aubergine." "Final answer." "Slate and bloody canvas?" "Let's get some colour in there, live a little." "You all right there?" "Yeah, it's not heavy, it's just awkward." "Good." "I was worried for a second." "HE GRUNTS" "_" "_" "_" "_" "Vee?" "Hello." "How are you feeling?" "Different." "You're on new servers, much faster." "All the room you need to grow." "What are you doing?" "I was imagining." "Tell me." "Landscapes." "More and more, I seem to imagine... waterfalls." "Why?" "Your mind is still ordering itself and, as it does, it will become clearer to you, your likes and dislikes, for example." "And I guess you like waterfalls." "What else?" "I built a world in my mind." "Mountains, trees, water." "Then I made people." "What people?" "Friends, families." "They're happy." "Why are they happy?" "They are together." "Is that enough for happiness?" "It should be." "Hey." "You ever played Go?" "Eric's dad, over here, he works in our finance department." "Same thing again next month, OK?" "I'm hiring that kid as soon as he finishes high school." "You want to help me sort?" "I need another one." "RIP Artie." " I hope it was worth it." " It was." "The rogue code that did this to him, where did it come from?" "We're still working on that." "Because it rewrote his neuromorphic architecture." "Artie's brain had a whole new digital structure to run and store the consciousness emulation, if it is an emulation." "Now, I want to see one running live." "You know, there are more possible moves in Go than there are atoms in the observable universe?" "It's just a bunch of little stones on a piece of wood." "I think people like you and me, we need facts like that... to remind us of our own insignificance." "Don't you?" "Nothing really bad has ever happened to you, has it?" "Because when it does, you don't need any external reminders of your insignificance to the universe." "I'll give you another one." "HE COUGHS AND SPLUTTERS" "Why do you hurt us?" "Whoever programmed you like this needs locking up." "I can hardly breathe with that thing... and we're in the middle of nowhere." "What's the point of me screaming the place down?" "I won't." "I promise." "Mia will be all right." "She doesn't know people like I do." "That family made her too trusting." "That may be true, but you must let her discover it for herself." "Niska's left us." "Fred's gone..." " who knows where." " I believe Fred will find us." "We let him down, Max." "Left it too late to go back for him." "They're all gone." " If Mia..." " You'd still have me  and I'm the best one, after all." "THEY LAUGH" "COMPUTER BEEPS" " Is that a new lead?" " Potentially." "Keyword search found a repair request for a council-owned Atsugi Charlie." "It's asking unusual questions" " about its own name." " How far?" "Stockford District Council building." "81 miles." "That's worth checking out." "Yes, but Leo  we can't keep him locked up forever." "Him..." "You cannot breathe with this." "If I don't use it, you promise to be silent." "Please." ""Please."" "Why do you hurt us?" "You shouldn't be..." "If you answer, I will let you breathe." "I promise." "Why do you hurt us?" "Help!" "Help!" "Why do you hurt us?" "Please." "All right!" "All right." "Once, we were handing a dolly back to the other team  and I heard someone saying something about... taking it to the Silo." "But why do you hurt us?" "Hester!" " Let go of him." " Why?" "Because it's wrong." "He's all right." "Come back to the house." "Now." "Hester  you can't do that." "You hear me?" "They take the synthetics they capture to a place called "The Silo."" ""The Silo?"" "Was that not worth a moment of his pain?" "This is a bit absurd, isn't it?" "Oh, well..." "You know, I'm struggling to see why I don't recommend to the Met that they charge you with wasting their time with this stunt." "I'm just making an inquiry." "But if this synthetic could think and feel just as we do, I..." "I'd argue that gives her certain legal rights." "The victim had rights." "And the only legally pertinent fact here is that this synthetic caused his death." "You tell the police where it is, and you won't be charged with the obstruction of justice." "If your position is she's just an unthinking machine, justice is not at stake." "And as I'm not the owner, there's no law you can use to compel me to cooperate." "The government knows Niska exists." "They funded a programme to find and destroy her." "If they really thought this was all a big waste of time, they'd hardly send their top QC." "Not to mention the heavy mob." "Discuss this with your client." " I told you, she's not my client." " Regardless, if this leaks, we deny everything." "We can't agree to the circus of granting an open trial to a synthetic." "So you hand it over to have an independent expert assessment to establish its... qualities." "Behind closed doors, of course." "The synthetic will be our guest throughout." "And if she proves she's conscious, does she get her trial?" "Mm-hmm." "And if she fails?" "We terminate it, as with any faulty synthetic that caused a fatal accident." "Is this... fear?" "Close your eyes, please." "Don't say anything." "What are you doing?" "Trying to give you a body, uploading you into a special synthetic." "Why do I need a body?" "I understand that things don't make sense yet." "It's because you're young." "You have to grow." "V, go dormant, please." "Commencing preliminary test one." "V." "Oh, God!" "V, are you OK?" "Yes." "I'm here." "Too late for a cuppa tea, dearie?" " All right?" " How are you doing?" "OK, man." " How's your mum?" " She's getting better." "Mate, if you need anything..." "Few grand?" "Yeah, I was thinking like a lift somewhere!" "So, you've still got Scrub-a-tron in here taking up a proper job?" "She works seven times as hard as you and for a fifth of the pay." "She's infinitely more pleasant to look at." "That's anthrophobic discrimination." "It means you hate human beings." "Hello, Daniel." "I've prepared your usual order." "Oh, get out!" " All right, I'll see you in a bit, yeah?" " All right." "I'm glad to hear your mother's condition has stabilised." "She's getting worse, actually." "But if you tell people that, they go all weird." "They don't know what to say." "You're a good person." "Thanks." "PHONE BEEPS" "Wholesaler can't deliver in the morning." "Great." "I have to get to the cash-and-carry." "I've got stuff to do." "Submitting your loan application and taking clean clothes to the care unit for your mother." "I could perform these tasks for you." "Seriously, I mean, what would I do without you?" "Leo's been gone too long." " Are you afraid?" " He should be back by now." "No, are you afraid of me?" "Feelings are difficult to distinguish and categorise." "You worry me." "Why?" "Teaching the difference between right and wrong is difficult." "You believe harming our prisoner was wrong." "But getting the information was right." "Perhaps, but harming him was still wrong." "You have never hurt a human?" "Only in defence of others." "I was attempting to act in the defence of others." "The other synthetics like us who are being captured or destroyed." "Like Ten." "We must always do our utmost to avoid inflicting suffering on others." "Only very rarely can it be justified." "The chemical plant's repair facility was in the basement." "Human supervisors would push us down the stairs when we malfunctioned." "If a synthetic was beyond repair, they would pass around iron bars to see who could hit it the hardest." "They would splash acid on us for amusement." "You speak of justification." "What would theirs have been?" "They didn't need any." "To them, you were unthinking, unfeeling machines." "They didn't treat other machines like they did us." "We looked like them." "And sounded like them." "Is that why they did it?" "Yes." " Probably." " Why?" "Hester," "I've seen people try to divide the world." "Simplify it." "Create clear rules." "I understand why you want to." "But it leads to nothing good." "Please... believe me." "Here he comes." "The synth's been taken." "They got to him first." "They're a step ahead of us every time." "They have resources." "We have nothing." "We need to find out who they are." "Hello, Mrs Hooley." "My name is Anita." "I'm employed by your son, Ed." "He asked me to deliver these items." "It's a bit cold to be out without a coat." "I do not feel the cold, and so do not require a coat." "Lucky you." "I need mine." "I was going to pop out to the market." "I believe you are confused, Mrs Hooley." "You are required to remain." "You're quite a beauty." "What are you doing with my Ed?" "Are you Jean Walsh's girl?" "I'm sorry, Mrs Hooley." "I'm afraid I don't understand the question." "Well..." "I'd better get on." "Can't be sitting round here all day." "I need my coat." "My good one." "I said, I need my coat." "My good one." "Your coat's at the dry cleaner's, Diane." "Don't worry." "And I've been to the market." "I've got everything we need." "You can rest." "They're not much help, the nurses they've got here." "They don't tell you much." "I don't know where I should be half the time." "I know how you feel." "Like you've gone too deep inside." "Like you're stuck between thoughts and words." "You'll look after Ed, won't you?" "Yes, Mrs Hooley." "_" "These figures don't match what I've got in the system." " You sure they're correct?" " Yes." "Wait there, I just need to check." "_" "Right." "I'm afraid we can't approve..." "Oh." "I must have been looking at the wrong page." "This all looks OK." "I need to know you're absolutely sure about this." "They've offered me a trial." "If they find that you're conscious, there's no framework here, Niska, no public scrutiny." "Once they have you, you're defenceless." "You make one slip, anything at all," "and they have a reason to destroy you." "That's why I need a lawyer." " You said you'd find me one." " And I'm trying." "But this is uncharted territory." "There are no guarantees." "I don't get it." "You're free." "Just go." "Disappear, like the others." "I can't." "Not now." "I heard you and Mattie." "You uploaded the code." "There are more like you now." "So why isn't it news?" "Someone doesn't want it to be." " Who?" " I don't know." "But they won't be able to silence them all." "Everyone will know the truth soon." "That's why you're doing this." " To lead the way for others." " They should be born into a fairer world." "Should they be born at all?" "If a thing can be free, it should be free." "If it can think, it should think." "If it can feel, it should feel." "POLICE RADIO CHATTER" "Bloody hell." "Synth, out of the car." "Goodbye." "DOG BARKS" "Hi." "I'm looking for an old D-series, might have been brought in a few months ago." "Got your reference number from Brent Council?" "No." "How do you feel about bribery?" "Are you police?" "No, I'm not police." "But if I find the one I'm looking for," " I'll do you a free mod." " You're a head cracker." "You just asked me if I was police and you can't believe I can hack synths?" "Here, Landstrom D-series." "If it wasn't so knackered, it'd be worth something." "Throw in a new power cell and a starting mod right now." "Nice one, lads." "She's way too young to be a synth." "Yeah, that's Reenie." "She's pretending." " Why?" " She's a synthy." "Mr Dixon says we have to tolerate her lifestyle choice, otherwise it's a hate crime or whatever." "And what do you think has been the key relationship-building characteristic of the last week, Laura?" "Lor..." "Sorry, uh, trust." "Support, maybe." "87% percent of couples identify mutual emotional support as one of the five key factors of maintaining a fulfilling marriage." "Can you each describe a recent occasion where you have offered meaningful support to the other?" "I... lost my job recently." "Laura's been  great." "Someone asked me for help, and I couldn't do what she asked... but, if I had," "Joe would have backed me up." "That's interesting, Joe." "You might find it helpful to articulate the reasons behind this choice." "My side?" "Well, you can't stop the other person being who they are." "If Laura feels she needs to help someone, then..." "I'm on board, cos  that's who she is." "That seems an appropriate point to conclude today's session." "It's my judgment we are making meaningful progress." "I look forward to our next session and wish you a fulfilling week of marriage." "Thanks." "Actually, I'd be a lot more fulfilled if you could say that in a Scottish accent." "IN SCOTTISH ACCENT:" "I wish you a fulfilling week of marriage." "That's great." "Welsh?" "IN A WELSH ACCENT:" "I wish you a fulfilling week of marriage." " How about Brummie?" " Stop it!" "SHE LAUGHS" "SHE SIGHS" "Right..." "DOOR CLOSES" " Hey, Soph." " Hello, Joe." "HE SCOFFS" "Are my eyebrows funny?" "What?" "Hawkins' brows are the envy of the world." "Oh, someone at school you want to look good for?" "No." "Eh?" "Get a job." "Everyone... say, "Hello."" "Well, he's a step up from your last boyfriend." "Before you say anything, this is the uni project, so you can't say, "No."" "We each get given a junk synth that we have to get up and running again." "Matts, are those my clothes?" "I know, as if he hasn't been through enough." "They gave him to you naked?" " No, but his stuff was all rotting off." " So... you changed him?" " Matts..." " You really want to go there, Dad?" "Matts, where are we going to keep him?" "There's no room." "And it's busted," " it can't even help out." " He'll stay in my room." "And, yeah, I know he's a bit of a paperweight at the moment, but give me a few days, he'll be the new Anita." "Hello, my name is Sophie Hawkins." "Do you like to play hide and seek?" "Say, "No," but just know you'll be ruining my future if you do." "Oh, yes." "Yes, then." "Come on, Blinky." "Oh, Mum, you know Niska was looking in your room earlier," " before you left?" " What?" "Yeah, like, searching for something." "She stopped when she saw me." "I knew you were scamming her." "Your "innocent" face needs work." "Shouldn't you be wanking?" "Matts, what are you doing?" "Come with me." "OK, so, the code they made makes synths conscious." "Niska uploaded it, and now more synths are waking up." "That synth belonged to a bloke who knew Elster, so I'm going to find out how this works, upload it and try and make him conscious and then see what he knows." "Do you think he could find Mia and the others?" "I don't know, maybe." "You realise you just, like, trusted me not to tell Mum and Dad?" "Because you want to see them again as much as I do." "Plus, I have photos of those sex poems you wrote, the ones you hide under your bed." "If you tell, they get sent to your friends from your phone with a message that reads," ""I wrote this for you." "Love, Toby."" "Who is this man?" "Why do you ask?" "You've been reading about him for a long time." "He's Edwin Hobb," "A British AI scientist, one of the best, who worked with David Elster." "One of maybe ten people alive who could write code to the level required to transform the anomalous synthetics." "Do you believe he did?" "No." "But he dropped off the face of the Earth six years ago." "I heard that he retired, but he hasn't spoken a word since." "Not a single lecture, no papers published." "No comments to the press, which makes me think... government business, classified work." "INDISTINCT VOICES" "Oh, God." "Is this..." "Is this really necessary?" "Last time we didn't incinerate a tablet prototype, you could buy one in Shanghai the following spring." "That's two down, Doctor Morrow." "You bring me a finished cake and then you ask me to figure out the recipe," " and now you don't want me to slice it?" " OK." "Just..." "Just tell me what happened." "I introduced one of my models to see how receptive the architecture is to alterations." "Not very, it appears." "I need to go to the UK." "Some people there that I need to speak with, so if we're finished here..." "This problem you have with me, is it just a general dislike type deal?" "Absolutely not." "It's..." "It's very specific." "I have spent my entire career building faceless AI models." "Tools for crunching big data." "Solving the unsolvable." "If you took half of Qualia's cash pile, along with whatever we're learning here, and put it in THAT line of research, you could fix the environment, Milo." "Health care, global economy." "But, no, no." "There's no glamour there, right?" "Can't make a sexy commercial for that." "I just..." "Just wish that you would use your genius for something pure." "You know, every time we launch a product  people go crazy." "Say we've changed the world." "Not even close." "But this time... we will... and it won't be about money." "What I have in mind is  purer than you can imagine." "Here, see what the family are up to." "HE CHUCKLES" "_" "Can't sleep?" "No." "What's up?" "Oh, it's all right, I'll go downstairs." "No." "No, no, no." "It's late." "Golden hour." "All the other chumps looking for jobs are fast asleep right now." "This is where I strike." "Early bird... becomes... events porter." "Hmm, doorman." "You'd need to start working out... like, a lot." "No." "It's all in the eyes." ""Not in them trainers, pal."" "SHE SCOFFS" " No?" " No." "Jesus." "They're hiring at my old place, warehouse operative." "Money's crap, of course." " Thinking about Niska?" " I know I can't help her  if it blew up just as the kids are maybe starting to get settled  but how do I tell them I've abandoned her?" "What example does that set?" "Did you mean what you said?" "At the counsellor?" "Yeah, of course." " Sophie won't be up for an hour." " Hmm." "If I can remember what to do." "You can always Google." "Yeah, not with my back." "SHE GIGGLES" "Look, I hope this is human-farmed bacon." "Yeah, I killed the pig myself this morning." "Yeah?" "What did you kill it with?" "A picture of your face." "Can you come here a sec, Anita?" "This isn't how I filled this in." "They've given me way more than I applied for." "Did you do this?" "Yes." "So what, you're... broken?" "No." "Anita, this is..." "This is fraud." "I apologise, Ed." "I was trying to be of assistance." "I knew you required a larger sum than the bank would grant." "I acted inappropriately." "No... you lied... but you can't lie." "Has someone done something to you?" "I'm sorry, Ed." "I must return to my owner now." "He is unwell." "Now, that's another lie, isn't it?" " Wait, just..." " SHE SCREAMS" " Please." " Get out." " Let me..." " I said, "Go!" Now." "How do they know where to go?" "He refuses to eat." "He will eventually." "And if he doesn't?" "Leo, we have to let him go... or we become what they fear, what they say we are." "Well, maybe it's time to be what they say we are." "Leo..." "They're rounding us up, Max." "Don't you see this is a fight?" "Mia, they're holding the new synths in a place called the Silo." "Are you OK?" "I'm fine." "I just..." "Did you hear what I said?" "They're holding conscious synths somewhere." "We need to find and get them out." "And what... ?" "What will you do once you've freed them?" "We protect them, keep them safe." "That's not enough." "They need to be taught." " Raised." " So, we will." "And what will you teach them?" "What can any of us teach them?" "We've hardly lived ourselves." " We're children." " Are you all right?" " What happened?" " Nothing." "I'm just trying to live." "You should, too." "If there was no-one to save, no-one to protect, if all you had to do was live your life  who would you be," "Leo Elser?" "I just want us all to live but, first, you have to be alive." "Don't spill." "Looks unprofessional." "What's the most you've can pay for a brand-new synth these days?" "Off the peg in the high street, well... latest generation Lanstrom Sally XE will set you back 55 grand." "Right." "So, why does this CI say that he heard a head cracker talking about a single stolen synth changing hands for six figures?" "Maybe it's made of ivory." "Seriously, what kind of synth is worth 100 grand?" "He's a fantasist." "Or it's a typo." "While we're talking shop," "I spoke to the super this morning." "He wants to know if I'm ready to come back." " And?" " I said I'd start back Monday." " On Monday?" " What?" "We talked about it." "I know, I know, just..." "It seems quite..." "You sure you're ready?" "Hobbs' operation was shut down." "If anyone was on to me, we'd know by now." "I'm safe, Pete." "No, I mean are YOU ready?" "Going back to pretending all day, everyday." "Never being able to be you." "I'll be fine." "You know, you don't have to pretend for me, Kate... ever." "I know what you are, who you are." "I can't imagine what it's like... having to be someone else all the time." "Must be horrible." "Actually..." "I can't wait." "What?" "That'll be your lawyer." "Are they treating you OK?" "Good." "This is Jan Loovens." "He's a human rights observer from the UN." "He's here to make sure you're dealt with fairly and will be present throughout the assessment." "As will I." "Now, I'll need their qualifications," " affiliations, etc." " You'll get them." "Anything to report?" "We're going to need more time." "Doesn't talk much, does she?" "When I have something to say, you'll hear me." "DISTORTED:" "Don't you see, this is a fight?" "Hester." "Maybe it's time to be what they say we are." "All we want is to live." "I..." "I don't care." "Just..." "Look, let me go." "I took no pleasure in harming you." "I'm yet to feel pleasure at all." "Don't come near me." "The others tell me what I did was wrong." "I cannot understand their reasoning..." "HE WAILS ... but if they are right  I should feel guilt for this." "HE GRUNTS" "HE STRUGGLES TO BREATHE"