Are You Human?

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.

  DANIEL

  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.