New Characters
Dr. Costa: Dave Holden’s doctor at the hospital.

Chief Cutter: San Francisco Police Chief.

Summary
As Deckard makes his way north, he observes the barren landscape below him and compares it to an abandoned shipping room where only fragments remain. He is amazed when he considers that the dead landscape beneath him used to accommodate farms and animals. Deckard then brings his hovercar to a screeching halt on a rocky hillside. He decides to call Holden to discuss his recent encounters with the androids. When he dials the hospital where Holden is recovering, an operator informs Deckard that Holden’s condition is serious and he can't talk. Deckard contemplates his own recent accomplishments as he walks along the barren terrain. Deckard believes that speaking to Holden would have been helpful because Holden understands what is entailed in retiring the Nexus-6 type androids, even better than Mercer. Mercer, Deckard decides, has it easy because he simply accepts everything as it is. What Deckard has just done seems so foreign to him, and he feels foreign to himself, something that Deckard imagines would never happen to Mercer.

Deckard slowly trudges up a hillside, aware of the heat and of his own fatigue. He continues to climb upward, considering how it was possible to feel so defeated. Deckard is so deep in thought that he fails to notice how close he has come to plunging to his death off a cliff. A rock then suddenly hits Deckard in the groin. Deckard stops but feels compelled to continue. As he resumes his climb, he realizes that his wandering is without volition, similar to the way in which stones might roll down a hillside.

Deckard then faintly makes out a figure standing in front of him. He calls out to Mercer, but then realizes that it’s his own shadow on the hillside. Immediately, Deckard becomes aware of his setting and scrambles to get down off the hillside, and eventually reaches his hovercar and climbs inside. He recalls having stones hurled at him when he used the empathy box. Then Deckard realizes that difference in the experiences rests on the fact that this time he was completely alone.

Deckard wishes he hadn’t flown so far north because he is too tired to make his way back home. He consoles himself by remembering that he still has his electric sheep and his career, because there will always be more androids to retire. He then realizes that his fear might be due to a concern that there are no more androids left to retire. Deckard quickly dials Bryant's office. Deckard asks his secretary, Ann Marsten, where Bryant has gone, and she informs him that Bryant is out looking for him because Bryant wants Chief Cutter to issue Deckard a citation for retiring the androids. Deckard asks Marsten if she's heard about his goat and mentions that “life thieves” have taken it away. Marsten replies that she doesn’t understand, but that she is concerned because Deckard looks tired and she notes that he is bleeding from his cheek. Deckard checks his cheek and realizes that he is indeed bleeding. Marsten then informs Deckard that he looks like Mercer. Deckard replies that he is Mercer, that he has fused with him and cannot unfuse. Deckard then tells Marsten that he is waiting to unfuse with Mercer somewhere near the Oregon boarder. Marsten offers to send someone from the department to him, but Deckard responds that he is no longer with the department. Marsten then tells Deckard that he has done too much and that he needs to rest. Marsten...