I, Robot Page #12

Lunges forward. Following. The drops. Running faster. And

faster...

OWNER:

Hey!

...Through the CROWD. POLICE SIRENS. In the background. As

Spooner. Shoves through. Tracking those drops. Like a

bloodhound. Turns...

84 INT. ALLEYWAY - CONTINUOUS 84

...into a narrow alleyway. The drops. Ending suddenly. In

a PUDDLE.

Spooner. Crazed. Wounded. Exhausted. Spins around. Where

is it? Where is it? Then he HEARS. A DROPLET falling.

Into the puddle. Slowly. Looks up to see...

THE MAINTENANCE ROBOT. Hovering above him. Straddling the

two alley walls like some weird metallic rock spider. Its

III LAWS SAFE Logo GLINTING in the sunlight.....

64.

Spooner aims his gun and FIRES! The Maintenance Robot, lets

go, falling right onto him. Knocking the gun from his hand.

The Robot swivels around. Bringing down his foot...but...

Spooner...rolls to the side just in time as CRASH! The

Robot.s foot...breaks up the concrete...

The Robot...grabs Spooner by the jacket...lifting him

up...shoving him...against the wall...about to CRUSH him

when...

Spooner...kicks out its knees...the Robot...SMASHING into the

wall...then bounces back...trying...to pin Spooner...back...

Man and machine...struggling...Spooner...losing his

footing...falling...The Maintenance Robot...LOOMING over

him...

Spooner.s HAND...whips back...grabbing his back-up

WEAPON...squeezing off some SHOTS...into the Robot.s arm...it

breaks off...

Spooner...scrambling back...continues FIRING...the

Robot...jerking back...a macabre dance...until Spooner...runs

out of bullets...

The Robot...recovers...grabbing the gun from Spooner.s

hand...pistol-whipping him...then picking him up and...

HURLING him against the wall...Spooner...watching as

FLUID...GUSHES from the Robot.s body...the Robot...taking a

swing at him which Spooner...

BLOCKS...with his right arm...the Robot...ready...to try

again...but STALLING...having lost...too much fluid...it

TOPPLES...to the ground...

Spooner. Exhausted. Beaten to a pulp. His knees, starting

to buckle. As he thinks he sees. In the DISTANCE...

A ROBOTIC CLEAN-UP CREW...heading down the alley towards

them...

Spooner. Crashes to the ground. As another ROBOT. Suddenly

appears above him. Its FINGERS made up of NEEDLES...as it

closes in on him...

SPOONER:

Noooo!

WE FADE...

65.

85 INT. HOSPITAL ROOM - DAY 85

To BLACKNESS. Coming through, a faint, WHIRRING SOUND. As

we slowly. FADE IN ON...

SPOONER.S FACE. Eyes closed. Asleep. Gash above his head.

Bruises around his eye. Nose swollen, purplish.

His eyes. Slowly. Flutter open. His brow. Furrowing. At

the whirring sound. As he tries. To figure out. Where he

is. Looks down to see...

A couple WHITE METAL ROBOTS. With multiple APPENDAGES.

Leaning over him. Running LASERS. Over his bruised

RIBCAGE...

SPOONER. Tries to bolt upright. But his ARMS and LEGS. ARE

CLAMPED to the bed. One of the ROBOTS. Turns to him.

MEDICAL ROBOT 1

Stay still.

Spooner. Desperately twisting, struggling...

SPOONER:

What are you doing!

Looking around. COMPUTER MONITORS. Everywhere...

SPOONER:

What are you doing!?

JUST THEN. Another ROBOT. Enters the room. Holding a

medical plasma sheet.

MEDICAL ROBOT 2

Detective Del Spooner. You have

suffered significant trauma to the

head and chest...

86 EXT. HOSPITAL ROOM - CONTINUOUS 86

Lt. Bergin. Standing outside Spooner.s hospital room. Turns

and looks through the window at him thrashing on the bed...

SPOONER:

I want to talk to a human being!

87 INT. HOSPITAL ROOM - MINUTES LATER 87

Spooner sitting up in his bed. Rubbing his wrists. The

metal clams, released. Lt. Bergin. Standing next to him.

66.

SPOONER:

Don.t people go to medical school

any more?

LT. BERGIN

This is one of the best units in

the city, Del.

One of the Medical Robots turns to Spooner with some PILLS.

Spooner. Stares it down. Grabs his clothes.

SPOONER:

(sotto)

There.s some real sh*t going on

here, John.

He looks around. Jumping off the bed.

SPOONER:

I went to Hogenmiller.s house --

there was a U.S.R. demolition crew

there. They overrode my police

I.D. Tried to tear down the house

with me in it...

LT. BERGIN

Del...

Spooner pulls on his pants.

SPOONER:

...Then when I went to the monorail

a Maintenance 10 pushed me onto the

tracks...

LT. BERGIN

Del...

SPOONER:

I had to chase it all across the

Plaza...

LT. BERGIN

Del.

Spooner. Stops talking. Looks at Bergin.

LT. BERGIN

Hogenmiller scheduled that

demolition crew, it was apparently

a proviso in his will. And they

showed no police I.D. on their

scanner...

67.

Spooner. Trying to look away...

LT. BERGIN

Witnesses at the monorail said you

fell onto the tracks. That you

shot at a Fix-It robot on the Plaza

and that you were found alone in

the alley. There was no

Maintenance 10.

SPOONER:

What?! John -- that.s what they

want you to believe!

(remembering)

A robot clean-up crew was there -

it must have cleared away the

Maintenance 10! And there was

another robot that tried to drug

me!

LT. BERGIN

That was an EMT model.

Spooner. Sees the look on Bergin.s face.

SPOONER:

You.re giving me that look. That

treat-him-delicately-he.s-coming-

unhinged-look. I don.t need that

look, John. I need you to hear

what I.m saying.

Lt. Bergin. Embarrassed for him. Has about had it.

LT. BERGIN

You came back too soon, Del.

You.re back on leave. Effective

immediately.

Spooner. Staring at him. Betrayed. Turns and grabs his

coat.

88 EXT. PLAZA - DAY 88

Spooner walking across the Plaza. The SUN. Burgeoning on

the horizon. Comes to...

The ESCALATOR the Maintenance 10 jumped down. Stares down.

At the steps. Waiting. To see the DENTED ONE. Nothing.

68.

89 EXT. ALLEY - DAWN 89

Heads down the ALLEY, where he chased the robot. Studying

the ground. For any hydraulic fluid. Nothing. The

concrete, scrubbed clean.

Spooner. Rubs his hands over his face.

90 INT. SPOONER.S APARTMENT - DAY 90

Spooner. Lying on his couch. Shades, closed to block out

the sunlight. Body bruised, cut up, bandaged.

A KNOCK. At the door. He ignores it. Another KNOCK.

91 INT. HALLWAY - DAY 91

Spooner pulls open the door. Surprised to find CALVIN

standing there.

CALVIN:

You.re right. I am afraid of

people.

Spooner. Looks at her. Then steps back...

92 INT. SPOONER.S APARTMENT - CONTINUOUS 92

...letting her inside.

CALVIN:

When you.ve spent as much time with

robots as I have, it.s hard to

accept the unpredictability of

humans. I was wrong to call you

paranoid, Detective. You.re

traumatized. And it makes perfect

sense why.

Spooner. Unsure. Looks at her.

SPOONER:

What do you mean?

Calvin. Reaches out. Takes his right hand. Spooner. Tries

to pull it away. But Calvin. Stays firm. Her eyes. Never

leaving his. Pulls the sleeve up from his arm. Turns it

over. Feeling for something. Then finds. A FLAP. Peels it

back. TO REVEAL:

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