Altered Carbon

Humanity has spread to the stars.

We set out like ancient seafarers to explore the limitless ocean of space.

But no matter how far we venture into the unknown,

the worst monsters are those we bring with us.

"Once upon a time, in a village in the woods..."

Don't read it, Tak.

I want you to tell it our way.

Okay. You ready?

"Once, there was a cruel father who had two kids.

He was called Mad Mykola."

"He was a miller, but he made the kids do all of the work."

- Where do you think their mom was? - There are never moms in these stories.

Come on, keep going.

"The girl and the boy worked so hard, that one night they fainted."

"Mad Mykola found them lying on the floor,

and he threw them both into the mill."

"Then he thought, who's going to do all the work for him?"

"So he went into the village, stole more children.

He killed them, cut them up,

and took their bits and pieces to the loom."

"And stitched all their bloody dead parts

into one huge, strong, creepy thing."

"The Patchwork Man.

But it turned, and it ripped Mad Mykola to shreds."

"Then it went out into the world. But its body kept falling apart."

"So to this day, the Patchwork Man wanders the streets

looking for children to kill, to cut up, and to sew into himself."

We're on a new world now, new lives. Stop complaining!

Why can't you just be grateful? Just once, hmm?

You know what your problem is?

You don't know how to be appreciative for what you have.

I'm sorry, Jakub. I am so lucky.

You're right. I... I'll be better.

I don't care what you do. Just stop complaining!

We stick together, Rei.

Never face the monsters alone.

An invitation arrived for you with the dawn.

I doubted you wanted it in the shower.

It requests your presence at Suntouch House this evening.

I'm afraid I have other pertinent news.

Miriam Bancroft was not the only one in attendance last night.

The room's privacy settings were compromised.

To be vulgar, I was hacked.

I have no explanation how this drone eluded my security protocols,

but it did acquire... footage.

You're fucking kidding me.

Yeah?

Mr. Kovacs, I sent you an invitation some hours ago.

- Is there a reason you haven't replied? - I'm not big on dinner parties.

It's a party in name only.

The guest list includes everybody I could think of who might have a reason want me dead.

You made a list of everyone who wants to kill you and invited them to dinner?

Oh well, they're hardly gonna come for an interrogation, are they?

Do you want me to chat them up at the buffet line?

I mean do I need to explain the risks?

I think you can manage three courses and a digestif.

See you at 7:00.

Do you believe he is aware of your conduct with Mrs. Bancroft?

I believe he's smart enough to try to kill two birds with one stone.

I mean I'm not strolling into that dinner party with a bull's-eye on my forehead.

Oh, I would gladly accompany you if I could,

- but alas, I cannot be elsewhere. - What do you mean?

My neural network is part of the building itself.

Think of the hotel as a body, of which I am the brain.

I am the hotel.

The hotel is me.

Which leaves you without a man in the field.

You as a wingman wasn't quite what I had in mind.

You're like a computer program, right? You can go anywhere you want on the Array.

Anywhere data flows, so can I.

What kind of virtual protocols do you have on time?

- A veritable cornucopia, ranging from... - Psychosurgery therapeutics?

I've never sought that specific license, but I can.

How long would that take?

Done.

Are you to be the patient?

No.

- Hey. - I'll take care of it.

Oh, here she is.

Ms. Prescott. To what do I owe the complete lack of pleasure?

Detective Ortega. Nice to see you, too.

And save the attitude. I'm just here to invite you to dinner.

I'd rather starve.

I'm afraid you don't have much choice. Captain, perhaps you could...

Ms. Prescott has requested a permit for an Extreme Organic Damage event

at Suntouch House tonight.

This permit's time-stamped two hours ago.

Fucking Meth bullshit. No one gets these approved that fast.

Be that as it may, Mr. Bancroft would like you to monitor the bout

on behalf of the Bay City Police.

That's a job for a Uni.

You've been specially requested. It's an honor.

Thank you, Captain.

And I'll see you tonight, Detective.

Seriously? I have cases to work.

You can work them tomorrow.

Tonight, you kiss the ring.

Whatever this thing is with you and Bancroft,

I need you to bury it for the good of the department.

So just go, accept the honor of being invited to the Aerium

on behalf of all us lowly grounders.

Smile, nod, and then get the hell out.

- Ah. Just the man I'm looking for. - Shut up and get out.

Can we skip to the next part, or do I gotta knock you out again?

This time, I'm ready for you...

See, if you want to lose a fight, you should talk about it first.

This some of your terrorist brainwashing bullshit?

Nah, just some friendly advice from the guy who just disarmed you.

- What do you want? - To offer you some gainful employment.

Which you could clearly use. You were pretty good backup.

I thought we could work a trade. You help me, and, uh... I'll help Lizzie.

I'm not letting you near my daughter ever again.

She needs psychosurgery.

- Who's gonna pay for that? - I'll just put it on the Bancroft tab.

I'm not taking anything from that fuck.

I don't think he did it.

He's into consensual death.

- He replaces the sleeves he kills. - That's fucked up.

- It's true. Doesn't make him guilty. - Sure as hell doesn't make him innocent, either.

Let's make a deal. I'll keep looking into what happened to Lizzie,

and if I find out that Bancroft did it and you wanna blow his brains out...

I'm not gonna stop you. I'll hand you the fucking gun.

You don't care about Lizzie.

Don't take this personally, but...

I don't care about anyone.

But if it gets me what I want, I'll still help her.

How?

- Salutations. - Seriously, you've gotta stop that.

You've brought a friend to my humble establishment.

Greetings, fine sir. It is an honor to make your acquaintance.

- Who's this? - I'm his partner.

No.

- I'm his esteemed colleague. - Still no.

I am the proprietor of the hotel.

He is the hotel.

- This is Poe. - I knew this place was too empty.

- Is this one of those freaky AI place... - You are in the Raven.

An establishment of peerless repute, timeless quality.

And extra room, virtual and otherwise. Tell him, Poe.

I have upskilled for psychosurgery to Protocol Level Nine

and prepared a VR suite for your daughter.

She must be removed from human contact.

Every time she is spun back up, her mental state deteriorates.

- So you're saying... - I can heal her mind.

But you will not be able to see her.

For how long?

I cannot say until I've assessed her. But her condition sounds severe.

- I won't be able to talk to her? - No.

Not at all.

Do I have your consent?

In the field, you're under fire...

a guy goes down, he's injured, but he's too heavy to carry.

You rip his stack and you move on. Kill a sleeve to save his life.

I'm afraid I cannot construe your graphic war...

I understand that sometimes you have to get burned to pull somebody from the fire.

I consent.

Your faith in me is not misplaced, sir.

If it is,

I will personally reduce this place to a smoking pile of rubble,

and you along with it.

Ah.

Lovely.

So what do you want from me?

You look like a man with friends in low places.

I need some hardware.

What are you doing?

Detecting.

That is my job after all.

Okay, think about this.

What do we really know about Mary Lou Henchy?

What? They found the body.

Tanaka was right. The mom got what she wanted.

Yeah, but we didn't clear it.

That would be, as I believe you pointed out,

because it's not your case. Leave it.

What we know is...

she fell out of the sky from nowhere. Which is impossible.

So she must have been tossed out of an aircar...

Still not your case.

Mary Lou Henchy was thrown from somewhere up high.

And quite a few of the people that live up there will be at Suntouch tonight.

All the times we've wanted to question Meths and been stonewalled,

and now... I've been invited into a house full of them.

You know, your father asked me to look out for you before he died.

Perfect. Then you can patch into my ONI and remote scan their vehicles.

Absolutely not.

Why do you have a picture of Chief Justice Ertekin on your monitor?

Because she's gonna be at Bancroft's tonight,

along with all these other Meths.

It's the guest list.

AKA potential suspects in Mary Lou's death.

It's gonna be great.

Gotta find something to wear.

Good news, everyone. It's sugar skull season again!

Día de los Muertos is tomorrow and preparations are in full swing.

Takeshi Kovacs? What kind of schizophrenic name is that?

It's Slavic and Japanese.

In the case of my parents, a match made in hell.

Here you go. There we go.

Okay, take care, you guys. Be good.