I, Robot Page #5

SPOONER:

How cool will it be when one takes

your job?

Spooner. Pushing past him. His eyes. Darting around.

CALVIN:

Is everything alright, Detective?

SPOONER:

Yeah. This is just how I like my

robots -- in pieces.

As they approach Hogenmiller.s body, the lead CRIME SCENE

INVESTIGATOR, BALDEZ, gets up to meet them.

BALDEZ:

(to Spooner)

Can you believe it, man? U.S.

Robotics. I didn.t think I.d ever

see the inside of this building.

Hands Spooner, a plasma clipboard. Spooner signs it,

awkwardly. With his LEFT HAND...

SPOONER:

What.s the run-down?

BALDEZ:

Heinrich Hogenmiller, sixty-four

years old. Weapon a small caliber

.22, registered in his name. Looks

like he walked in, locked the door,

and snuffed himself.

12.

Spooner. Cocking his head to look at Hogenmiller.s face.

SPOONER:

I know someone who disagrees with

you.

BALDEZ:

Who?

Spooner. Stands. Pointing down at Hogenmiller.

SPOONER:

Him.

And steps over the body, leaving a confused Baldez.

Stepping deeper, into the lab. Calvin. Following.

SPOONER:

I spoke to a dead man today. Want

to tell me about that?

CALVIN:

Dr. Hogenmiller.s hologram took his

appointments. Attended staff

meetings. He hated corporate life.

The hologram enabled him to focus

on his work. It.s just a device,

Detective.

SPOONER:

A device that called the police.

CALVIN:

The sound of the gunshot would.ve

triggered a 911.

SPOONER:

But the call came directly to me.

CALVIN:

We.re talking about a mechanism

designed by Hogenmiller to say

provocative things. To irritate

and confound his colleagues.

SPOONER:

And that.s what you think it is?

CALVIN:

I.m sorry, but this whole

investigation is the result of a

dead man.s toy messing with your

head.

13.

They pass half a robot, hanging from a hook. Spooner curls

his lip.

him.

Swivels the robot.s head so it.s not looking at

SPOONER:

When.s the last time any of you

actually spoke to Hogenmiller?

mean human to human?

I:

CALVIN:

I couldn.t say.

SPOONER:

Take a guess.

CALVIN:

I don.t guess, Detective. But if

pressed, I would reason it had been

a considerable length of time.

SPOONER:

How well did you know him?

Calvin.

been.

Gently swivels the robot.s head back to where it had

CALVIN:

Not well. But I admired his work

tremendously.

Spooner. Studies her for a beat. Then turns back to the

body. Two CORONERS entering with a high-tech body box.

SPOONER:

I get the whole .mad scientist.

thing. Hogenmiller was past his

prime. Isolated. Eccentric. He

enters a room. Locks the door and

is found minutes later with a

bullet fired through his mouth into

his brain. Everything about this

case says suicide.

Rate this script:4.3 / 4 votes