Androids and Their Sheep: A Blade Runner 2049 Epilogue

Androids and Their Sheep: Part 8

~ 8 ~

[The Storm, Pt. 2, continued – Joe – 2049]

            Joe slowly walked around Joi, looking for any sign that something was wrong. To have her here in the flesh was a surreal experience that he struggled to reconcile.

            "Joe, don't you..." Joi started.

            "Please," Joe interrupted, "be quiet for a moment." She continued to wear that hurt look, perhaps hoping it would soften Joe's resolve.

            She certainly looked like his Joi. She walked like his Joi. She smelled like he imagined she would, of lilac and sweat. Was she sweating? Joe reached out to touch her, but drew back an instant before making contact. He knew himself well enough to realize that if he touched her, if she felt real (which she would) and if she turned to him and touched him back, that he wouldn't be able to think or reason clearly and that all would be lost. Joe, and Wallace, knew that Joe had lived a lonely existence for so long that the thought of having a future with his love would override whatever rational thought occurred in his brain. The emotionality of having Joi with him, breathing on him, giving off her scent to him, able to caress him back and love him with her full physical self as he had dreamed for so long... Joe knew this would completely take over any reasoning he may have and drive his decisions from the heart and not his head. Of course, if Joe knew this, surely Wallace, the creator of such life itself and orchestrator of the future, knew this and was dependent upon such knowledge. Joe had to think of a way to make sure, quickly, whether this was his Joi or some perversion of her created solely to make Joe lower his guard. A far more likely scenario than the 'happy ever after' Wallace was promising. Joe needed to see if she had information that only Joi would know from talking with Joe in their apartment, something that Wallace couldn't ever know or have discovered. Wallace would keep quiet, Joe believed, as to do anything else would feel like a forcible attempt to reassure Joe of Joi's fidelity and realness. Wallace knew that Joe would have to come to this conclusion himself in order for the dream to be realized.

            "You said something to me," Joe began, "right before Luv crushed our emanator. Do you remember what you said?"

            "Joe...you don't believe it's me? You have to test me with this memory game?" Joe could hear the pain in her voice. But was it real?

            "Please answer the question. I need to know for sure. Lives are at stake. Yours, mine, our future together, the lives of others..." Joe said.

            "Ok," Joi said, sounding like a hurt puppy. "These were my last words to you before being 'destroyed', so I said the only thing worth saying," she began. "I said..." Joe didn't realize he had been holding his breath until the familiar tightness crept into his lungs. "I love you."

            Joe tried to hide his relief and let the air out of his lungs slowly. That question was critical to establish either Joi's memory, or her ability to quickly rationalize what could have been the only possible thing a person would say to their loved one in their final moments. Joe knew this answer, while accurate, was inconclusive. Joe continued to slowly walk around Joi, observing her, taking her in. God, how he missed her. While Joe questioned her, he noticed that Wallace never moved from his chair. His eyes never blinked. If there were any sign Joi was not who she pretended to be, Wallace's face was no hint. Joe knew for this next question he needed to be outside of Joi's plausible reach...just in case.

            "Remember the dream we talked about? The one where I'm a child in an orphanage, running from bullies down into the boiler room?" Joe asked.

            "Yes, Joe, of course I do. I would hold you afterwards and remind you that you were special and always would be to me," she smiled.