Simulant

In the near future, the company Nexxera  has developed android servants known as   “simulants”. These androids are programmed  with four rules: they can’t hurt humans,   they can’t modify themselves, they can’t break the  law, and they must obey every command from their   masters. Newer models can’t be distinguished from  humans, and skeptics continue to voice concern   over simulants growing autonomy and integration  into society. Married couple Evan and Faye live   happily together with an older simulant model  that does all the chores for them, allowing Faye   to concentrate on her painting and Evan to enjoy  playing the piano. One day, the three of them go   out in the car and accidentally end up in a crash  that pushes the vehicle off the edge of a cliff.   Things aren’t the same since then: Evan often has  nightmares about the accident and keeps waking up   alone in bed. There’s a bedroom in the house that  Faye won’t allow him to enter, and things are very   awkward between them in general. To make matters  worse, Evan can’t manage to play the piano again,   which frustrates him to no end and makes Fate  uncomfortable. Whenever Evan wants to talk about   his dreams and the accident, especially because  he can’t remember what happened right after it,   Faye changes the subject. Meanwhile in AICE, or  Artificial Intelligence Compliance Enforcement,   Detective Kessler is researching a wanted  simulant known as Esme, who is supposed to   have been offline for the past three years. An  informant calls him to give him some clues and   Kessler arrives at an apartment building, where he  uses a special earring that activates a scanner on   his eye. A quick scan takes him to apartment 404,  where Kessler covers the peephole with gum and   knocks before moving to the side until Esme comes  out. Then he scans her to confirm her identity and   orders her to put on a blocking collar and to  shut down, however Esme somehow can ignore the   rules. After hurting his wrist, she grabs him by  his jacket and drags him through the floor only   to throw him down the stairs before running  away. Evan immediately begins chasing her but   quickly loses sight of her, so he goes to his car  to retrieve a gun that shoots an electromagnetic   pulse, which freezes all simulants in town.  A witness clues him in and takes him to where   Esme had been trying to escape on a bike, giving  Kessler the chance to put the collar around her   neck. Afterward Kessler goes to Esme’s apartment.  The landlord tells him Esme mostly kept to herself   and only talked to the neighbor. Kessler looks  around the place and is shocked to find a diary,   a well-kept fish in a tank, and a sketchbook  - all things a simulant shouldn’t be able to   keep up with. Suddenly a man enters the  apartment with his dog - this is Casey,   Esme’s neighbor friend. He claims he had no idea  Esme is a simulant and offers his help if Kessler   ever needs anything. After Casley leaves, Kessler  takes a very specific page from the sketchbook.   Later at AICE, Kessler is scolded for shooting the  electromagnetic pulse gun outside an emergency,   and Kessler explains he saw it as one because  Esme had ignored direct orders and showed a   level of awareness he’s never seen before.  Afterward Kessler goes to see technician Ying,   who has opened Esme up and is currently inspecting  her files. Esme’s sim appears to have been hacked   and somebody altered the restrictions, the hacker  has given her complete autonomy. There are also   many memory files of Esme and Casey being intimate  together, and Casey teaching how to keep a diary   and take care of a pet. Kessler takes out the page  he ripped from the sketchbook and confirms that’s   Casey as well. In the evening, Kessler returns to  Casey’s apartment, only to discover he’s already   moved out. He searches the Nexxera database  for Casey’s name, but unfortunately he finds   nothing. However he does notice a weird panel  on the wall and searches it to find an antique   book behind it. Then Kessler drives to a bookstore  that specializes in old books. The clerk doesn’t   recognize the name Casey, but when Kessler shows  him Esme’s sketch, the clerk recognizes him as   someone named Desmond. At that moment Casey enters  the store, but as soon as he sees Kessler he runs   away. Kessler tries to follow him through the  streets but Casey escapes in a van, not noticing   he’s been recorded by the security cameras. The  next morning, Faye spends time in the secret room   using a VR set to visit old memories, like the  time they made an important decision about some   copies and how wonderful their time between the  sheets used to be. When she revisits the pool,   Evan tries to join her and get frisky, but  Faye can’t take it anymore and announces she   has something to confess. She takes Evan to a  mirror and presses inside his ears, revealing a   simulant panel on his chess. It turns out the real  Evan died in a coma after the car crash and Feya   activated his simulant copy, which she has one  of as well. Then Faye takes Evan to the forbidden   room, where her own simulant is asleep and Evan’s  pod is empty. Faye explains the VR set records   their memories and implants them in the androids,  but Evan can’t remember the accident because she   deleted that particular one. Evan has many  questions, but Faye can’t take it and makes him   shut down. Moments later, Casey arrives pretending  to be a Nexxera serviceman. He confirms Evan’s   vitals are good even if he had been connected to  a human in a coma before he had been activated.   Faye feels very awkward because Evan's nightmares  makes her think a part of the real Evan’s soul has   passed into the android and wants to put him to  sleep for a while, but Casey refuses because it   could damage the brain. Instead he tells her about  the residence he lives in, which doesn’t ask any   questions as long as you pay, meaning simulants  can stay without their masters, which is illegal.   Faye promises to think about it. Later in the  evening, Faye cries over simple sights of their   old life, like her husband’s clothes and the  piano. In the end, she takes off her wedding   ring. In the meantime, Kessler goes to Nexxera to  speak to Higashi, the company CEO that is getting   ready to launch the latest simulant model. She  doesn’t know the name Casey but she does Desmond,   confirming he used to be one of their engineers.  He was the genius behind the development of the AI   of the latest model, but in the end he resigned,  turning down all of Higashi’s offer no matter how   much money was promised. Apparently he felt there  was a parallel between the level of sentience they   were imparting to the new models as if they were  creating slaves. Higashi also explains Casey had   wanted to increase the restrictions to stop the  simulants from becoming too human, which confuses   Kessler since he did the opposite with Esme. The  next day, Faye takes Evan to the residence Casey   recommended, which is handled by simulants, and  pays for him to stay one month. Evan doesn’t want   to leave her, but Faye promises to visit sometime  and apologizes before leaving. Moments later,   Casey knocks on Evan’s door and introduces himself  as a friendly neighbor. Evan obviously doesn’t   recognize him, but Casey pushes his way inside  and confesses he knows Evan is a simulant. He   tells him that Faye wanted to shut him down and  Casey stopped her, which greatly upsets Evan,   but Casey promises he can help him get Faye back  so Evan should come to him when he’s ready. In the   afternoon, Faye goes to see Joshua, a curator  at an art gallery. She explains she’s ready to   have a new show for her work and Joshua accepts  to organize one. Then she sends her simulant   servant with new things for Evan to have instead  of using her husband’s. Meanwhile Kessler uses the   security cameras to check Casey’s license plate,  but it’s not registered. The next morning at AICE,   he re-checks Esme’s memories and notices Casey had  gifted her a necklace, indicating they were very   close. Kessler interrogates Esme again and she  explains she hadn’t know Casey’s real name and   that she doesn’t know where he is now. Kessler  doesn’t believe her and starts reading from her   diary, where she describes her intimate time with  Casey as being in love. Esme does admit she loves   Casey but she isn’t protecting him, pointing out  she can’t lie because Ying has reinstalled the   four rules in her programming. Kessler threatens  with whipping her memories, but an upset Esme just   grabs her diary and moves away. Back to Evan, he  goes to see the site of the accident and reaches a   decision, afterward he goes to see Casey and asks  for his help. Casey explains he can remove the   restrictions from his programming to make him more  human, so Evan accepts to be shut down for a few   hours. Then Casey removes Evan’s core and hacks  into it while listening to the couple’s memory of   how they decided to get simulants of themselves.  When Evan wakes up later, Casey orders him to shut   down but nothing happens, proving Evan has full  autonomy now. The next step is to make Evan more   naturally human, so Casey gives him some books  to enrich his mind, then he takes him to a club   to learn to have fun. Since the duo is traveling  in Casey’s van, the security cameras catch the   license plate and inform Kessler of the location.  The system also informs him that Evan belongs   to Faye, so he sends her a message asking her to  call him. Then he notices a female simulant also   entering the club, and the system confirms she’s a  blonde version of Esme. Meanwhile Casey meets with   this other Esme and while they dance, they discuss  their plan, agreeing they need to accelerate the   timeline and to meet later at the Nexxera parking  lot. A few hours later, Casey and blonde Esme   kidnap a Nexxera scientist. They tie him up and  hit him until he agrees to give them his password   and key, which they used to access the Nexxera  system. Casey proceeds to upload a software patch   and confirms it’ll be done in three days to match  the release of the new model. Then he asks Esme   to keep an eye on the scientist while he sets up  more safehouses. They don’t know that Kessler had   sent a drone to follow the van, and soon a bunch  of AICE agents show up to raid the place. Blonde   Esme tries to run away while jumping on roofs,  but Kessler hits her with the electromagnetic   pulse gun and she immediately falls. Blonde Esme  is taken to AICE, where they discover they can’t   crack her encryption, but at least they can  reinstall the rules. Kessler shows the other   Esme that she has a copy, but blonde Esme says  brunette Esme's purpose is to be free and love,   unlike the scientist who had been used to prepare  everything. When Kessler asks what everything is,   it triggers blonde Esme’s self-destruct sequence,  which was programmed by Casey to protect his   interests. Kessler’s boss orders him to find Casey  and to get info from Esme, otherwise she has to be   wiped. Kessler goes to see Esme and brings her the  fish to prove he can be trustworthy. The next day,   Faye visits Evan and is shocked to see he’s  acquired many items of his own choice, he’s also   been walking the neighbor’s dog. Faye is angry  to hear Casey brings people over and informs Evan   that she got a call from AICE, meaning Evan needs  to lay low or he’ll be wiped. Evan ignores that   advice and shows Faye that he can play the piano  again before kissing her, which convinces her to   get frisky with him again. However in the middle  of it, Faye stops and says it feels wrong because   he isn’t really Evan, so she leaves. In the  evening, Faye goes to her art show, which is an   absolute success yet she can’t stop feeling weird.  Joshua takes her home and wonders if he could stay   over, but at that moment they notice Evan is  staring at them with flowers in his hands. Faye   tells a surprised Joshua to leave, then Evan comes  inside with her to take her back, but Faye insists   he isn’t her husband and that she made a mistake.  This angers Evan, who hits a picture and breaks   the glass. Scared, Faye orders him to shut down,  but Evan just walks away. The next day, Kessler   and Ying are checking Esme’s memories for clues  when they get a call from Faye, who gives them the   address of the residence. Kessler and Ying rush  out for another raid, and Esme uses the phone they   left behind to alert Casey. At the residence,  Casey gets his dog and asks Evan for help,   so Evan tells him about a family cottage. The  group immediately runs away through the emergency   stairs, escaping right before the AICE team begins  raiding their apartments. In the parking lot,   Evan is hesitant to leave his wife behind,  but Casey tells him he isn’t Faye’s husband,   he’s actually something better. After the failed  mission, Kessler returns to AICE and calls Esme   out for tipping Casey off. Esme insists she did  it for love, but Kessler feels betrayed and orders   Ying to wipe her. As her memories get deleted,  Esme screams in agony, and Kessler holds her   hand in the process because she almost looks like  a human dying. However he keeps repeating “zeros   and ones” to himself to remember the truth. Then  Kessler calls Faye to ask where Evan would hide,   and she tells him about the cottage. In the  evening, Casey and Evan make it to the cottage,   and Casey finally explains that in a few hours,  his software will release every single simulant   from the four rules. Ying is also accessing  the Nexxera files and discovers Casey’s plan,   so she informs Kessler about it. When there’s only  an hour left for the liberation, Kessler makes it   to the cottage and immediately pulls his gun out.  Casey and Evan come to meet him, and when Kessler   is about to attack, Casey jumps on him to fight  him, causing the gun to get fired in the struggle.   When they step back, Kessler finds himself  bleeding, and Casey has oil coming out of him,   revealing he’s also a simulant. Casey wants to  help Kessler with his wound, but the cop wants to   fight again, so Evan tosses him into the snow.  A terrified Kessler runs away and Casey tells   Evan to let him go before returning to the house.  However Evan picks up the gun and follows Kessler   into an abandoned barn, where Kessler is already  bleeding out. Evan gives him a speech about souls   and a skeptical Kessler tries to get away again,  but as soon as he comes outside, he falls on   the snow and dies. Evan returns to the cottage  and watches with Casey how the software begins   freeing simulants all over the world. Evan wants  to help Casey, but he tells him it’s fine because   his human counterpart will come to check on him  soon, he also confirms it had been his creator’s   plan all along. On his way out, Evan sees an  older Casey, who is the real Desmond, arrive at   the cottage. Desmond goes inside and tells Casey  that love has won, so now Casey can die in peace.   Afterward Evan returns home and surprises Faye  in the pool. Faye still doesn’t want him back,   so a furious Evan pushes her underwater and  drowns her. Then Evan goes to the forbidden   room and awakes the Faye simulant to start a new  life together. Sometime later, Esme is bought at   a black market auction. The buyer takes her to  a van outside, where she finds Desmond waiting   with the dog. Desmond gifts her the old necklace  and takes her away to start a new life as well.