A Scanner Darkly

Fred observes himself/Arctor on the holo-scanner entering the house, removing a book from the bookshelf, and reciting long passages in German. He doesn’t know if Arctor is losing his mind or is simply play acting because he knows he’s being monitored. Luckman, sleeping in his room, is awakened by Arctor’s recitation but doesn’t recognize his voice. Startled, he picks up an axe. When he realizes it’s Arctor, however, he relaxes. The men smoke a joint and commiserate over their lost youth.

The Sheriff Department’s psychological evaluator schedules Fred for a full range of “percept tests.” Meanwhile, Fred grows frustrated with Arctor and Luckman’s inane chatter; but their conversation turns to undercover narcotics agents—their private lives, their motivations—and Arctor wonders how anyone could do that job (a slip-up on Arctor’s part, Fred assumes). Fred soon wearies of the conversation and turns off the playback monitor. He and another agent compare their lives to the users they surveille—both are monotonous, but undercover agents are “imposters,” posing not as the rich and famous but as a “worm which crawls through dust” (158). Fred goes into the bathroom and drops 10 tabs of Substance D and goes back to watching the scanners.