Ghost in the Shell - Scene 9: Doubting Your Own Ghost

• June 1, 2008
• James Skemp
• dvd / movie, philosophy

[9 Doubting Your Own Ghost]

(A woman is standing on the street, in the rain. She's hit by a truck. The view goes out, like a television turning off.)

Sensors: restarted. Auxiliary computer link: check. Visual sensors: online.

Cyborg body signal?

Output: nominal.

(Kusanagi walks in from the right. The view zooms in on her.)

Can't you call in if you're going to be late?

We're all set. Should we hook her up?

Okay, looking good! Kill it!

(Aramaki:) Be in my office in three minutes.

(Batou:) Since you were late, I'll explain what's going on. Two hours ago, a Megatech Body assembly line in Newport City just started up and produced a cyborg shell. By the time the guys in charge realized what was happening the body had escaped. Then, just as they had thrown up a cordon to catch the thing we got a call from a conscientious truck driver that he'd just run down a naked lady wandering around on the highway. Which brings us to here.

(Togusa:) I've heard Megatech Body's tied pretty closely to the government and that all the shells made there are secret.

(Batou:) If a hacker did this, he had to swim through some of the heaviest protection around. And that isn't the only problem. Of course, it doesn't have an organic brain in its head but we've detected what looks like a ghost in the auxiliary computer brain.

===

(We're in Aramaki's office.)

It isn't unlike the virtual ghost-line you get when a real ghost is dubbed off. But it shows none of the data degradation dubbing would produce. Well, until we map the barrier perimeter and dive in there we won't know anything for sure. Anyhow, better get back to checking her over.

Good work.

Time to rip her apart.

(Togusa:) Come on, you guys don't think there's a ghost in that thing.

(Batou:) It's possible. I've heard celluloid dolls can have a soul. And this thing's stuffed full of neurotech devices. I wouldn't be surprised if it had a soul. Since you're new here, you probably don't know. The Major's shell was also made by Megatech Body. Not just hers. Me and Ishikawa for one along with Saito and others all need maintenance and such. Outside of you and the Chief, everyone in Section 9 needs to make use of their kind services. Maybe you can see now why we all look a little worried, Togusa.

(Kusanagi:) Assuming the enemy is an outsider, we can't know for sure whether he's in that cyborg body or not. But he cracked through the protection around some of our most secret files and managed to send a program with a ghost-line on it through.

And in a way that was easy to spot. What's he after?!

Let's leave that for now. Togusa, get over to Megatech and help Ishikawa check the place out. Batou, I've closed down the nets with files as sensitive as Megatech's. I want you to double-check the protection we have on them.

(Kusanagi:) I'll get a protection maze put together. I'll dive tomorrow.

You sure? We could force it into another shell and let it swim.

I have to see for myself what's inside that thing. Don't let anyone else dive in there before me!

What's with her?

I wrote in my team evaluations that she's been acting weird ever since this Puppet Master case fell into our laps. Do you even read them?! Chief, do you ever wonder just how trustworthy the cyberdocs who service your brain are?

Cyber-brain technicians undergo regular psychological testing. And security-cleared ones have their private lives checked, too. But the people who administer those checks are only human.

Once you doubt, you can't stop...

Chief, a Mr. Nakamura from the MFA treaties bureau to see you.

Okay, send him up.

===

(An elevator opens and Togusa, Batou, Kusanagi see two men exit.

Wasn't that fat guy...?

Nakamura, chief of Section 6. Foreign Affairs treaties bureau. I don't know who the white guy with him was.

(The elevator doors open.)

(Togusa:) I'm outta here.

Tell Ishikawa to keep cool, okay?

(Long pause.)

So, what's your problem?

Doesn't that cyborg body look like me?

No, it doesn't.

Not the face or the figure.

What then?

Maybe all full-replacement cyborgs like me start wondering this. That perhaps the real me died a long time ago and I'm a replicant made with a cyborg body and computer brain. Or maybe there never was a real "me" to begin with.

You've got real brain matter in that titanium skull of yours. And you get treated like a real person, don't you?

There's no person who's ever seen their own brain. I believe I exist based only on what my environment tells me.

Don't you believe in your own ghost?

And what if a computer brain could generate a ghost and harbor a soul? On what basis then do I believe in myself?

(The elevator stops and the doors open. Batou starts to exit.)

Bullshit! I'll see for myself what's in that body. With my own ghost!

===

(We see Aramaki in his office. The two men from before enter.)

We're both busy men, so let's keep this short.

I would prefer that.

I'm here to take the contents of that cyborg body. In return, we absolve Section 9 of all responsibilities in the case. The Foreign Minister's signature.

===

(Togusa is getting in his car. He sees two similar cars parked next to each other, across from his own.)

Security, whose official vehicles are parked in the basement garage?

They belong to Chief Nakamura of the treaties bureau and a Dr. Willis.

Give me the video record of their entering the building.

(The two men enter.)

Replay, infra-red view.

(The video replays. He replays it again.)

One... Two... Three...

(He looks back at the cars.)

Send me the pressure sensor records for basement garage spaces B-7 and 8.

(He is logged into the security system and sees the records.)

Major, this is Togusa. Code 0-9.

What?

Does Nakamura have some sort of special cyborg body?

There are no cyborgs in Section 6. Besides the diplomatic problems, maintaining them is too much trouble when they have to go overseas.

So, even if that tall guy was a cyborg himself together they wouldn't weigh more than half a ton, right?

Pressure sensor data... The garage?

There are two VIP-mobiles here.

But neither of them looks like the type who'd drive himself. The security video only shows the two of them but you know how sensitive the entrance door sensors are. They took three full seconds to close after them. It's illegal to use thermoptic camo in a government building, right?

It's a serious violation of the National Security Act. Section 6 is up to something. You all ready?

If my Matever'll do.

===

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Ghost in the Shell - Script

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