Ross’ dream reveals at least part of the reason he has left Earth, as he remembers being wounded in the leg and the death of his partner, Jessica. As the dream ends Ross awakens, getting a view of the awesome Martian landscape where primal red ground clashes with the blue sky and white clouds. This natural beauty suddenly becomes another awe-inspiring view- the layered city of St. Lowell, sprawling and silver among the wild red ground.
The taxiing transport locks up with the spaceport gate and disgorges the passenger compartment onto a rail system that will carry them and their luggage to the spaceport proper. As this goes on, a mysterious man with wild blonde hair breaks into the special cargo hold with a guitar in hand, and the passenger compartment begins to twist and shake, causing panic among the people aboard.
In the spaceport proper, a small woman dressed in a skimpy red leather outfit and large black visor sits and waits. This is Naomi Armitage, and as she waits she thinks back to a recent encounter with a criminal. A group of Seconds breaks into a bank and kills most of the people there, tearing through metal bars with incredible strength to get at their prize. Lt. Larry Randolph pulls up in a car, quietly taking control of the action behind a wall of armed troopers and mecha. As officers evacuate the wounded, Armitage hops onto a motorcycle and rides directly at the head robber. She stops only after driving the front wheel of the bike into his face, leaving him a sparking pile pinned to the wall. As Armitage nonchalantly walks out of the bank, she says, “All in a day’s work, Lieutenant. And don’t try to bill me for that bike.” This woman is a hard case, and no doubt.
Back in the present, the disgruntled passengers of Ross’ flight exit into the spaceport, complaining about the ride. Ross stops a moment to look around, and is bumped into by the mysterious blonde man, who is walking by with a large briefcase and several burly men in suits guarding him. Armitage calls out to the man to halt, and warns Ross to stay back. The blonde man tells his men to handle it, and Armitage pulls her gun and fires directly into the approaching goons. Her shots reveal them to be robots, and a fierce gun battle erupts between the robots and Armitage. Lacking a weapon, Ross is forced to take cover, emerging when a robot grabs Armitage and she drops her gun. As Ross punches the robot, Armitage grabs her pistol and takes aim at the fleeing suspect. She takes down his last bodyguard, then shoots the case out of his hand.
As the case flies open, its contents are revealed--a woman’s body! The dead woman has been shot in the head, and people at the spaceport immediately recognize her as Kelly McCanon, a famous country music singer. Meanwhile, the blonde man has pulled out a sub-machine gun, and begins firing randomly into the crowd. He shoots his way through the glass wall of the spaceport and leaps outside. Ross arrives and looks out the window to see the suspect climbing into a convertible. Armitage leaps through the window two floors above Ross and lands on the trunk of the car, which then drives out of sight.
Ross returns to the spaceport to check on the body, and is met by Armitage. She hits on Ross, commenting on his broad shoulders, but he wants none of it--his first day on Mars and already he has a murder and a crazy cop who dresses like a bimbo. His consternation increases as his examination of the body reveals McCanon to be a robot. This revelation affects Armitage profoundly, and she puts on her visor to hide her feelings, announcing that the crime is in spaceport police jurisdiction. As she walks, off, Ross looks from her to the body, a glimmer of suspicion arising in his mind.
The next scene begins with a news announcement, revealing that the Martian Police Department has created the TCS, or Technological Criminal SWAT, in response to the McCanon killing. It then cuts to the newly-formed TCS in a briefing room, with Lt. Randolph in charge. He asks whether McCanon was a woman or a robot, and is answered by Lowell Gantz, who reveals that his findings show her to be neither human nor cyborg, and he has concluded that she was entirely a robot. With organic body tissue of man-made origin and an artificial intelligence in a sophisticated computer brain, McCanon was created using a technology much more advanced than the Second-series of robots. Lowell’s conclusion is that she was a prototype built outside of standard regulations, and he postulates that there are other robots like her in existence. Such robots would be undetectable by humans.
Lt. Randolph then calls on Ross to give his report about the scene, and he introduces himself as being from the Chicago Police Department. Not much of a public speaker, Ross bores his squadmates to tears, and Lt. Randolph quickly turns to Armitage for more helpful information. She reveals that she trailed the suspects but didn’t think they were carrying a dead robot, which leads Eddie Barrows to ask if it was McCanon’s impostor riding the shuttle. Chris Brown reports that McCanon’s manager didn’t see any difference between the woman he sat with and the real singer, and that nobody saw her come out of the arriving terminal. Lt. Randolph decides that the thing to do is to find out where the real McCanon is.
Ross claims that he couldn’t tell the woman on the flight wasn’t a human, and Eddie asks if he is saying McCanon had always been a robot. Ross backs off a bit, and says he is simply claiming the robot was indistinguishable from a human. He then asks Armitage why she reacted so strangely when she realized the corpse was a robot. She stonewalls him, hiding behind her visor and calmly chewing bubble gum.
Ross is next shown to his new home by Armitage, a fairly dingy little hole that she explains was all that was available because of the housing shortage on Mars. As they reach a part of the area open to the sky Ross looks up in astonishment at the lights and shapes of the buildings seemingly hanging from the sky and seems a bit stunned by the crowded vastness of the city. He and Armitage arrive on the twelfth floor of his building and make their way to apartment 5001, Ross’ new home. Ross has only the one bag of luggage- it seems that everything else was lost during the problems at the spaceport.
When he turns on his viewscreen, Ross sees a special on Kelly McCanon, including a tape sent by the suspect to the media which show him shooting her on the shuttle and dragging her body away. He makes a show of pointing out that she was a robot, and artist Jessica Manning, watching at her studio, is greatly disturbed. As McCanon begs for her life, the suspect calmly puts a sub-machine gun to her head and opens fire. McCanon’s final words are lost, as her voice synthesizer emits only a chilling, distorted warbling. Armitage stares at the screen with hate in her eyes as the suspect gruesomely smiles at the camera, then the transmission ends and she walks out the door.
Early the next morning, Ross goes jogging and sees different parts of St. Lowell, including more of its layered structure and hanging buildings. At one point he stops to rest near what appears to be a full-size replica of the Statue of Liberty, and seems disturbed by it. He finishes his run at TCS headquarters and runs into Eddie, asleep in a chair, who informs Ross that Armitage has already come and gone. He also advises Ross not to get his new partner killed, and to look out for Armitage when she puts her visor on. Eddie then tosses the irritated Ross a key, explaining that his car is clean, gassed, and waiting downstairs, welcoming him to his new home before lying back down to sleep again.
While out driving, Ross encounters an anti-robot demonstration, complete with robots on leashes. As the crowd cries “Give us back our jobs!”, Ross remembers an earlier conversation he had with Lt. Randolph. The Lieutenant explains that TCS is handling the case because illegal robot technology and replication are serious offenses on Mars. He then asks Ross why he requested a transfer to Mars, a question Ross refuses to answer, and in response Lt. Randolph warns him against misguided compassion for robots on Mars. A map on the Lieutenant’s desk shows the street Ross is on when he sees the demonstrators, bringing the scene back to where it began.
Ross’ first stop is the Conception building, where more protesters are waiting. The building is staffed almost entirely by female Seconds, and as Ross looks around he sees Armitage arguing with one of them. She is trying to see someone named Mr. Asakura, and is told that he has never heard of her. As Armitage gets angrier and angrier, she hops up on the counter and grabs the Second, who responds by threatening to call the security gadget. Armitage calms down a bit as she recognizes how useless threatening the secretary is, and is grabbed from behind by Ross, who picks her up and carries her outside before unceremoniously dumping her in his car.
As Ross berates her for her behaviour, Armitage suggests he move his car before the mob trashes it. Successfully side-tracked, Ross suggests they try Immigration for clues, only to find that Armitage has already been there and found nothing--unsurprising, as 37% of the Martian population isn’t registered. Further questioning about Armitage’s motives at Conception get him nowhere, though she does reveal that Conception was the company that set the standards for the Seconds, but were passed up by the other manufacturer, Hu-Gite. Ross listens in silence, then points out that if they are to be partners, she needs to stop flying solo.
The partners move on to a flashier part of town to get some food, and the area they choose is filled with robotic whorehouses and other, less unseemly, businesses where robots are the performers or employees. One man even has a custom-made Second with a mermaid’s tail, something that disgusts Ross. As they look out over the city enjoying their meal of ice cream, Ross expresses his feelings on robots--that humans and robots can never get along, and that robots simply can’t be trusted. An angry Armitage proclaims, “You’re no different. You and that guy are both the same.” Ross replies, “Well, I’m sick of all these cyborgs and humanoids and machines that only seem to copy us. Since I’m allowed to make a choice, I choose not to like something that pretends to be human.” A stunned Armitage stares at him for a moment, before putting on her visor and stalking away.
Their next stop is an old-fashioned night-club, where they meet McCanon’s manager for questioning. He is convinced that McCanon has been kidnapped and was replaced by the robot- he refuses to believe that a robot could play music and sing the way she did. His final comment, “I know her better than anybody- she’s the most human woman I know!”, earns him a punch in the gut from Armitage, who then stalks out. Ross follows her out, berating her for her unprofessionalism. As Armitage rails against the manager and his beliefs, Ross puts together all of the clues he has seen so far and comes up with the answer: Armitage is a robot!
Before Ross can talk to Armitage about his deduction, his Navi beeps. It’s Chris, looking for Armitage, who seems to have just disappeared. A message for Armitage is coming in real-time, and Ross records it to show her later.
The message is from Jessica Manning, who claims she is a Third, and that she is keeping a list of all the Thirds from Pluto. She explains that the protests are keeping her inside, and that McCanon’s killer has been sending her mail. Getting hysterical, she asks for help, as her worried model looks on. Ross hops in his car, bringing up a computer screen on the windshield, and somewhere in the city Armitage swings on a swingset and gathers her thoughts. On his screen, Ross watches the murders of other Thirds since McCanon and wonders--why are they all women?
On the television, the killer has once again pirated the airwaves, this time revealing his name: Rene D’Anclaude. He explains to the viewers that robots are disguising themselves as humans, and that he considers it his duty to do something about it. He then brings up an image of Jessica Manning, explaining that she is an artist, and also a Third who has all of Mars fooled. He then asks the viewers, “What should we do about her?”, inviting them to join in his crusade. By the time Ross arrives at her house, it is a mess, laid waste by a mob. Following the sound of a woman crying, he finds Jessica’s model in a ball in the corner, and she begs him to save her.
Outside, Ross pushes his way through a crowd gathered around a roaring fire. Once he gets close to it, Ross finds that the fire is fuelled by the bodies of robots, including Jessica Manning. As he stares, he sees her eyes light up as blue circles and she connects electronically to her home Navi and to Armitage, sending the list of Thirds. As she completes the list, Jessica’s transmission ends with a final good-bye to Jenny, her model and possibly more. Armitage takes off running into the night, and Ross hears the sound of D’Anclaude whirling the handcuffs Armitage put on him at the spaceport. Drawing his gun, he sets off after the killer.
D’Anclaude leads Ross through abandoned streets as Armitage arrives at the robot bonfire. A church bell tolls the hour, returning the scene to Ross and D’Anclaude, who are fighting in the church below. D’Anclaude opens fire with his sub-machine gun, hitting Ross in his right leg. Ross begins hallucinating, seeing a cyborg instead of D’Anclaude and himself with his partner on Earth- the cyborg who killed her and shot him. He returns to reality to hear D’Anclaude giving a speech about how Ross should understand him, and despite his wound, Ross stands up and grabs the killer, knocking him out onto a balcony and hitting him repeatedly.
Astonished, D’Anclaude rips at Ross’ leg with his teeth to reveal that it is cybernetic! Pointing out that Ross is almost a cyborg himself, D’Anclaude is interrupted by the tolling of the bell again. This time, however, it is Armitage who rings it, before taking control of a nearby crane and smashing it into the balcony. Ross and D’Anclaude, still struggling, fall over the side just before the crane hits, landing on a rooftop below. Declaring that she will demonstrate the true power of a Third, Armitage runs nimbly down the crane at an incredible speed, deflecting bullets as she goes. Leaping through an explosion she lands on D’Anclaude, his only defence to stab her with a knife. She ignores the wound, punching his throat as electricity crackles.
Pulling out his knife and tossing it away, she begins shaking D’Anclaude, asking “What did we ever do to humans? If humans don’t want me, then why did they create me?” A weeping Armitage then prepares to kill D’Anclaude, but is stopped by Ross, who reminds her that she is a police officer and knows what her duty is. He also explains that it doesn’t matter that she is a Third--she is a cop, and his partner. His words reach Armitage, who puts down D’Anclaude and asks Ross if he already knew she was a Third. Obviously in extreme mental anguish, she cries out “I’m only a monstrous doll!” and leaps off the building into the water below, disappearing from sight.
Later, Lt. Randolph tells Ross that despite having a Class-A license, Armitage decided to become a cop, and that it is his fault she left. Ross denies it, offering to submit to interrogation, but the Lieutenant takes him on his word. He then explains that he has a hunch that there is some kind of connection between Armitage and the killing of the Thirds but asks Ross to keep quiet about it, as an officer being discovered to be a humanoid would cause incredible problems.
Trying to find and help Armitage, Ross goes to her apartment looking for clues. There he finds a picture of a young Armitage hugging a kindly older man, who looks back at her with love in his eyes. After a moment’s thought, Ross leaves a message on her home Navi, expressing his concern and warning her about Lt. Randolph’s suspicions. He also reveals that Thirds are still being murdered, though D’Anclaude is in the hospital, and speculates that he was working with someone. The message ends with a plea for Armitage to come back.
As Armitage walks alone in the rain, thinking, the TCS crew investigates the murder of another Third, number seven to be killed. Chris tells Ross that he can only think of two people capable of the murder- Rene D’Anclaude and Armitage. Chris explains that Armitage told him once that she pities the robots used for crime, so she kills them quickly, but that he can’t believe she’d actually hunt and kill Thirds.
A flashback shows the Third talking on her Navi, then dictating part of a book--she was evidently a writer. As she speaks, a shadowy figure comes up behind her and she whirls around, asking “Are you Armitage? Are you the one who contacted me? You fooled me.” As she tries to run the shadowy figure shoots her in the head, leaving only the woman’s last words recorded by her Navi as a clue. Based on the evidence Armitage has become a suspect, and Chris explains that the Lieutenant has issued a warrant for her arrest and put an APB out on her.
Accessing the woman’s mail and looking for a message from Armitage, Ross finds instead a message from Pluto using her ID and explaining that Pluto is a Third as well. Chris begins trying to track the message’s origin and Ross hunts for Armitage, finally tracking her down in a school playground. Though the rest of the MPD is looking for her, Ross decides to help Armitage look for Pluto instead, telling her gravely, “I believe in you.”
Their search is a success, leading them to a boy who Armitage instinctively knows is Pluto. He requests that they call him by his given name, Julian Moore, instead of by his handle, all the while using his Navi. He explains that he is transferring his thoughts to the main memory at the Navigation centre to make a backup of himself. He then leads the partners to the memory server at the ad tower to learn the purpose of the Thirds.
As they ride a lift down, Julian explains that he was the last Third made. Just then the lift stops, then begins dropping like a rock. Pinning the other two in a corner, Armitage uses herself as a shock absorber when the lift hits the water at the base of the shaft. She manages to save them, though Ross breaks his right arm and several ribs on his right side. As Julian looks on in horror, a huge mecha rises from the water and attacks Armitage with a claw. Though she fires back with her pistol, the mecha blocks the shots with a shield, so she makes the wise decision to run, helping Ross as much as she can.
The mecha, proving to be quite flexible, follows them down a tunnel
which dead-ends in a waterfall blocked by a grating. With nowhere to go,
Armitage turns to fight, charging at the mecha and leaping onto it. She
then jams her coat in an intake port and is thrown from the mecha by a
sudden stop. Grabbing her in one mighty claw and squeezing, the mecha seems
to have won, until Ross, with targeting help from Julian, shoots the cockpit
open to reveal- D’Anclaude?
The claw drops Armitage, then the mecha rams her into the metal grating.
A punch to D’Anclaude’s face frees her and reveals that he isn’t human.
As he recovers, Armitage sets the mecha controls to forward and handcuffs
him to it so that as it tumbles over the waterfall, D’Anclaude is taken
with it. A curious Ross asks Armitage why other Thirds aren’t as strong
as her, and in response she puts her Navi down, kisses him and leaves with
Julian, letting security take care of Ross’ injuries. Their exit is the
last thing Ross sees before he passes out.
As Ross lies on the operating table, the doctor describes his wounds and announces that over fifty percent of his body will now be artificial, but that it won’t be a problem for an experienced cop like Ross. Later, as Ross exercises in the hospital hallway, he runs into Eddie, who informs him that the doctors gave him a new nervous system in addition to a cybernetic arm and chest. He then takes Ross to another room and shows him Kelly McCanon’s body, making another startling revelation--the dead Third was pregnant.
In a rundown building elsewhere in St. Lowell, Julian informs Armitage that she, too, can get pregnant. In fact, that’s the entire purpose of the Thirds. What he doesn’t know, however, is where he fits into the picture. Julian’s serial number shows he was the last Third made, but he doesn’t understand why a male kid was created at all. The answer, he decides, must lie with Asakura.
After making a full recovery, Ross finds himself in the Lieutenant’s office, where he learns that the investigation into the murder of the Thirds has been ordered closed by Lt. Randolph’s superiors, under the pretense that the murderer has been caught. The Lieutenant refuses to accept Ross’ report of the attack by D’Anclaude in his mecha, and tells him to obey orders.
Meanwhile, Julian and Armitage break into the memory bank, easily defeating the guard robot to get access to the main memory. Plugging a cord directly into the top of his chest, Julian accesses the system and searches for Asakura’s file. Armitage opens a virtual monitor from his Navi so she can see what he finds, and sees a picture of the entire Conception team of years before, including Asakura and D’Anclaude standing side by side and smiling. Julian begins to moan and Armitage unplugs him, but it is too late- something has already entered his mind.
That something is quickly revealed to be D’Anclaude, as he takes over Julian’s body and attacks Armitage. Speaking from Julian’s body, he reveals that he isn’t a Third but something else entirely. Armitage shoots the memory jack Julian had plugged into, causing feedback that hurts D’Anclaude and frees Julian from his control for a moment. As he convulses in pain, Julian tells Armitage that that D’Anclaude is not the original, then knocks her away as blue energy explodes from him. Panicking, she contacts Ross and begs for his help.
At the same time, the Lieutenant is meeting with a Judicial Vice Minister from the Legal Affairs Bureau, who asks for an accurate picture of the MPD’s operations. Lt. Randolph asks why the woman accompanying the Vice Minister, an inspector from Earth’s government, is necessary, and she replies that she is only an observer. His answer, that robots on Mars do not reflect a feminist society, shows that he understands he is being told to stay away from robot-hating crimes, and the others leave satisfied.
On a rocky hill overlooking St. Lowell, Ross and Armitage have just buried Julian. As he leans over to comfort her, Ross’ Navi begins to beep, and he throws it as far away as he can in response, symbolically breaking with the MPD and fully supporting Armitage. He then recalls that Julian’s memory is backed up and he is therefore not truly dead, which cheers Armitage immensely. Together, they decide to go to Shenora Hospital to get some answers from the D’Anclaude there, who was revealed as the original by Julian’s dying words.
At the entrance to the hospital the pair encounter military troops placed there to guard it. Armitage remotely pilots Ross’ car into the line of tanks, and in the wake of the explosion she and Ross step out onto the street like a pair of Old West gunfighters. Surviving a near-miss by a tank round, Armitage runs forward, a whirlwind of death among the military robots gleefully causing destruction. Ross supports her with mini-grenade fire, and the pair are quickly inside the hospital and heading for D’Anclaude’s room. When they find him, Armitage drags him from his hospital bed, but before they can leave an enormous wheeled mecha with another D’Anclaude plugged into it breaks through the wall.
Ross and Armitage run for their lives with the human D’Anclaude, who calls the robot D’Anclaude Armitage’s “brother” and claims that she isn’t a Third, either. He then reveals that Asakura is hiding in a dome on Dunwich Hill. With that, Armitage drops him and turns to face the pursuing D’Anclaude, leaping onto the mecha and driving a fist charged with electricity deep into the robot’s chest. This turns him into pure data, which she disperses with a simple “cease function” command.
After the hospital attack, Ross and Armitage are both wanted by the
MPD as terrorists. Meeting secretly with Ross in a robot graveyard, Eddie
provides him with a map to the hidden location of Dunwich Hill, and Armitage
and Ross are on their way. During the ride, Armitage reveals that her CPU
is damaged. They arrive at Dunwich Hill to find a nearly abandoned Conception
laboratory and wander the grounds, bumping into a bioroid robot resembling
a walking tree. They also find yet another D’Anclaude, but this one has
strange attachments on his skull and simply politely bids them follow him.
He leads them to Dr. Asakura, but he doesn’t recognize Armitage and
believes Ross to be a new man from Conception. Treating Armitage like a
failed project, Asakura excitedly shows Ross another of the tree-robots
in a tank of liquid, calling it a Fourth type or, as he prefers, an Alive,
or a phobian, or a malfortian. Obviously confused, Asakura then begins
to throw a tantrum, as D’Anclaude explains that his mind was altered, and
that reduplication of his thoughts is difficult. Wilbur D’Anclaude, as
he calls himself, explains that he is Asakura’s aide, and Asakura explains
that although Wilbur looks like an Assassinroid, he fixed up his head to
remove his violent tendencies.
Disheartened by the failure of her ‘father’ to remember her, Armitage and Ross camp out for the night on the laboratory grounds. There, on the grass, the two finally admit their feelings for each other and give in to their desires. As they sleep, it is announced on the news that an economic agreement has finally been signed between Mars and Earth. In the morning the pair are awakened by Wilbur, who takes them to a secluded part of the laboratory and explains that the purpose of the Alives is to complete the terra-forming of Mars. He then shows them a half-finished duplicate of Armitage in a tank, one with wings and some other slight differences.
Explaining that Asakura gave up weapons production after a falling out
with his partner Professor D’Anclaude, he goes on to say that all of the
D’Anclaude robots as well as Armitage herself were created as Assassinroids,
able to easily hide in human society. These Assassinroids were used as
a base of synthetic organisms to develop the Third types, which were programmed
with creativity and life instead of the directive to destroy. The Thirds
all had an instability in their CPU, however, and Asakura was never able
to perfect them. His final bit of knowledge is the most surprising, however-
the reason for the Thirds. Martian birth-rates are extremely low, he explains,
and a colony desiring independence needs a population, which the Thirds
were created to help provide.
This explanation allows Armitage to finally understand why the Thirds
were being killed- the Mars government hoped to sign a treaty with the
Earth Federation, which is strongly feminist. Robots who could give birth
could be a challenge to those feminist ideals, and so they had to go before
the treaty could be signed. At this point Ross receives a call on his Navi
from Lt. Randolph, who warns him that Dunwich Hill has become a military
attack point and that the MPD has officially denounced the pair’s activities.
He then reveals that he and their friends at the TCS are hoping they escape,
and signs off.
Armitage decides she must get Asakura out of the dome, but he refuses to go. Armitage confronts him, and he admits he remembers her, so she gives him a police order to evacuate. He then shocks her into unconsciousness, hoping to ensure she gets out safely instead. Taking her damaged body Asakura quickly repairs her, using parts from the unfinished ‘sister.’
Army robots, helicopters, and tanks approach the dome, and Armitage and Ross head out to meet them. As they do, aircraft destroy the dome with bombs, killing everything inside. Ross offers to get Armitage a new identity on Earth but she refuses, choosing instead to stay on Mars. In response, Ross declares his intention to remain by her side forever. In St. Lowell, a news broadcast is hijacked by a mysterious source, showing the troops approaching the wrecked dome, and Seconds who see it are mesmerized.
Back on the battlefield, Ross gets into a military battle-suit he found
in the laboratory and powers it up, and Armitage reveals the new wings
Asakura gave her, complete with lasers. She and Ross proceed to take out
all of the attackers, though she is wounded doing so, and the entire battle
is broadcast all over the city. This is mixed with scenes of Martian leaders
and the Earth Federation Chairwoman shaking hands and pronouncing “one
world, one nation”, creating a montage that reveals the true costs of the
new treaty. After the battle, Ross and Armitage look out over St. Lowell
from a nearby cliff, pondering the existence of a place they can call home
for the two of them--or, maybe, for three.