Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

by Philip K. Dick

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Student Question

Why did Rick refuse Rachael's help in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

Expert Answers

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When Rachael Rosen offers to help Rick hunt down an escaped android, the bounty-hunter turns her down. He claims that he has enough help already. But Rachael persists, telling Rick that it'll be impossible for him to catch such an agile model as the Nexus-6 on his own. Still, Rick's not interested and hangs up the phone. The last thing he wants is Rachel tagging along on his android-hunting expedition and getting in the way.

There's another reason, though: Rick doesn't really trust Rachael. Having already established that she's an android herself, he feels that there's something not quite right about an android phoning up a bounty-hunter and asking if she can help him hunt down another android.

As it turns out, Rick is absolutely right not to trust Rachael. Later on in the story, he meets her at the St. Francis Hotel, where they engage in what passes for sexual relations between a human and an android. Rachael confesses that it's her job to sleep with Rick to make him unable to hunt any more androids. Rick's initial suspicions have been well and truly confirmed; had Rachael tagged along with him while he was out hunting androids, she would definitely have prevented him from doing his work one way or the other.

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