TOBIAS
I’m only giving this to you, because I hear about drug deals going bad every day. The police refuse to respond to calls unless it’s an outright murder.
DANIEL
Thank you.
TOBIAS
This isn’t a solution to your problems! You’re going to come back. And when you do, I’ll promise to visit you in prison.
DANIEL finally lightens up.
DANIEL
You say that now, but I know I’ll never see you once I’m locked up.
TOBIAS
Yeah, you’re probably right.
DANIEL and TOBIAS hug.
DANIEL
I’ll be alright.
TOBIAS
Only if you leave this place.
DANIEL
I’ll call if I need anything.
TOBIAS
Sure. I have to go back to my overpriced cab and spend another hour looking at this depressing city, thanks to you.
DANIEL
Goodbye.
TOBIAS
Later.
TOBIAS exits, leaving DANIEL alone in the middle of the street to fondle the gun.
KATY ANGELES, a human prostitute, robotically walks on the street like the drug user she is. SHE is dressed just as slutty as CANDY, and also sees DANIEL as a possible customer. KATY walks up behind DANIEL.
KATY
Could I get some directions?
DANIEL doesn’t turn around.
DANIEL
To where?
KATY
Into your pants, big boy!
DANIEL’s rage fills HIS face, and HE turns around blindly with the gun in hand.
DANIEL
I told you to leave me alone!
DANIEL shoots KATY.
SFX: gun shots
KATY falls back onto the street, dead before SHE hits the ground. DANIEL takes a moment to look at the kill. DANIEL can see the real blood flowing out of KATY.
DANIEL
She…she’s real?
CANDY walks back on stage. IT sees the murder and then sets off an alarm.
SFX: police car sirens
can be heard in the background.
CANDY
Citizen, you have been observed committing a federal crime. Your face will immediately go into criminal processing to discern your identity. Remain still as law officials are arriving to place you under arrest.
DANIEL
She can’t be real! She can’t! I could never harm anyone! I’d never do that!
CANDY
Remain still as law officials are arriving to place you under arrest.
DANIEL drops the gun and runs away.
ACT II, SCENE IV
The exact same alley, a month later. SOPHIE RUSSO is standing in the street with the same CROWD huddled around.
SOPHIE cannot fathom that HER new hero could have committed such a sin…at least not without good reason.
SOPHIE
So this is where it all went down? Daniel Mason killed a woman in cold blood? No, I don’t believe that. Do you?
The CROWD doesn’t.
SOPHIE
Daniel is a humanitarian. He’d never do anything to hurt a living, breathing human being. It’s just not possible. All he sacrificed, all he forced us to realize, and now he’s in jail? A joke trial, lasting one month, and he’s trapped in prison forever. I don’t think that’s right.
The CROWD agrees.
SOPHIE
It can’t be. Someone set him up. It’s the only way.
Someone in the CROWD says “only way”.
SOPHIE
A man this ingenious doesn’t last long until someone or some “thing” puts him down. No, no, no…they won’t get away with this. Will they?
CROWD
No!
SOPHIE
We’ll spread the word wherever we can; blogs, chat sites, in front of people’s homes! We’ll do anything and everything to see Daniel get his day of justice!
The CROWD agrees emphatically, and SOPHIE RUSSO and runs with them down the street.
ACT II, SCENE V
In a prison. The walls are bare and without windows, but there is a yellow line of the floor near an offstage door. DANIEL is still in prison clothes, and HE is crouched on the ground, stuck in a permanent state of disbelief.
COMPUTER
Warning! Warning! Daniel Mason, you have a visitor. Do not cross the yellow line at any time or you will receive an electrical shock.
TOBIAS enters, shaking his head great disappointment in HIS friend DANIEL.
TOBIAS
Daniel?
A Beat.
TOBIAS
Daniel, can you hear me?
A Beat.
TOBIAS
Danny Boy?
DANIEL
What do you want?
TOBIAS
What do I want? I want to be able to hang out with my best friend. I want to be able to shake your hand. I want to see you in any place but a prison! That’s what I want!
DANIEL
Sorry, but that’s impossible now.
TOBIAS
No thanks to you! All you had to do was stay unnoticed long enough for this whole thing to blow over. I would have paid your fines if it meant bringing you back.
DANIEL
Thank you.
TOBIAS
But how am I supposed to get you out of this? Can you tell me that?
DANIEL
I don’t need your help.
TOBIAS
I would have testified for you! I would have found a better lawyer. But, no. You wouldn’t see me or talk to me. You pled guilty, and that was that. How am I supposed to help you now, Hmm?
DANIEL
You can’t.
TOBIAS
Exactly! You’re in prison. There’s no hope for you, especially after killing an innocent girl.
A Beat.
TOBIAS (cont.)
What, did you think she wasn’t real? Katy Angeles was just another android? Wrong! She was a real person. Her foster parents are Geoffrey and Alison Angeles. I’ve see their crying faces on every webpage for the past four weeks.
DANIEL
I haven’t gone online in awhile.
TOBIAS
Are you able to take the blame for anything you’ve done?
DANIEL
I killed Katy Angeles! I can admit that.
A Long Beat.
TOBIAS
So how is this place? I’ve never been to one.
DANIEL
Safe.
TOBIAS
I’d assume so. They let you watch anything?
DANIEL
No.
TOBIAS
Write?
DANIEL
No.
TOBIAS
Anything?
DANIEL
I don’t deserve anything.
TOBIAS
Daniel, I’m trying here!
DANIEL
I know you are.
TOBIAS
Then give me something back.
DANIEL
What do you want?
TOBIAS
Are you really stupid enough to ask that question again?
A Beat.
TOBIAS (cont.)
You know what? I don’t think you can give me anything. Not friendship. Not from a prison and in a comatose state.
DANIEL
Then there’s nothing for you here.
TOBIAS
Right. I’ll leave, since that’s obviously what you’re wanting. Have a nice life.
TOBIAS turns to leave.
DANIEL
Tobias!
TOBIAS
What?
DANIEL
I do want something. An answer to a question.
TOBIAS
Ask it.
DANIEL
Are you human?
A Beat.
TOBIAS
You…I can’t believe you’d ask me that.
DANIEL
I need to know.
TOBIAS
Don’t you already? Can’t you feel it inside?
DANIEL
I don’t trust anything anymore.
A Beat.
TOBIAS
I…am…human. Goodbye Daniel.
TOBIAS leaves.
A Beat.
COMPUTER
Warning! Warning! Daniel Mason, you have a visitor. Do not cross the yellow line at any time or you will receive an electrical shock.
DANIEL isn’t expecting another visitor. SOPHIE RUSSO walks in incredibly excited about being able to meet HER hero.
DANIEL
You?
SOPHIE
Yeah, it’s me, Sophie. I’m thrilled that they’re allowing you visitors. We can finally talk.
DANIEL
Talk of what?
SOPHIE
Of your innocence.
Go away.
SOPHIE notices the yellow line.
SOPHIE
The security here is as unbearable as the color of the walls.
A Beat.
SOPHIE (cont.)
Right…I shouldn’t waste our time together. I’ve come to talk about what really happened. You haven’t said a word to the public except ‘guilty’.
DANIEL
And why do you care?
SOPHIE
Because I believe in you, Daniel. I now see what you were talking about. Every corner of our lives, there’s a machine doing what people need to do for each other: making food, building our homes, and being our families. We need to stop this before we kill ourselves.
DANIEL
I said as much to you in person.
SOPHIE
That was then.
DANIEL
What changed?
SOPHIE
I did! I see what you see! I feel what you feel! We need to start the change, Daniel.
DANIEL
What change is there to make…and why am I the one to do it?
SOPHIE
You’re the one who started it all. We need you!
DANIEL
You need me? You’d follow in the footsteps of a murderer?
SOPHIE
I don’t think you are one. You were set up.
DANIEL
Heh! You’re a fool.
SOPHIE
What?
DANIEL
Sophie…leave me alone. Stop trying to understand me. I ruined my life! I didn’t know what I was talking about! I don’t want people to listen to me anymore!
SOPHIE
You can’t stop that. You’re all over the Internet. Your show is inspiring people everywhere.
DANIEL
To kill so many androids that they accidentally kill people?
SOPHIE
You were framed! I know you. You’re not a murderer. Time Tech must have sent that whore, knowing what you’d do. It’s too convenient an android was there at the right time to record the killing. Your people need your side of the story.
DANIEL
You know me? I’m a murderer. Whatever I believed in doesn’t matter anymore.
SOPHIE
That’s not true!
DANIEL
Get out.
SOPHIE
Not until you tell me what happened.
DANIEL
Get out!
DANIEL moves as if to harm her, but stops before the yellow line. SOPHIE instinctively prepares for the hit.
DANIEL
You see, you don’t know me at all. I belong here.
SOPHIE
Maybe I don’t know you, but I won’t stop.
DANIEL
Then perhaps you belong here too.
SOPHIE takes a moment to get HER bearings, and then leaves.
THE END.