Dr. Jeff Peters is an emotionally repressed scientist who cannot stand others because of their intellectual inferiority. He dreams of deep space exploration, a life that would be lonely and isolating, and he sees an android as a solution to that loneliness. To withstand the emptiness of long missions, he creates the Ulysses android, a perfect replica of himself, designed to endure extended periods of space travel without the toll of human contact.
Frankie Stone is brought on to handle public relations for the project. She meets Dr. Ramdas, the project manager, and gets a briefing on the ambitious plan to humanize the android for congressional sponsors. As Frankie digs into the device’s persona, the android begins to show genuine emotions and social nuance that outpace Jeff’s own abilities. At one point, the android impersonates Jeff to sneak out of the lab and ends up in Frankie’s Chevrolet Corvair. From there, he ventures into the wider world and social norms, first at a bustling mall where he buys a tuxedo and then on a date with a woman named Sandy McCleary who mistakes him for Jeff, leaving her emotionally unsettled. The android’s fascination with Frankie leads him to an unexpected fixation on Trish, Frankie’s confidante who has taken refuge in Frankie’s apartment after leaving her own husband, a soap opera star.
As Frankie and Jeff grow closer in complicated, imperfect ways, the android’s feelings pull him deeper into human life. Frankie’s mother, Estelle Stone, learns of Frankie’s complicated personal ties and pushes her daughter to bring a doctor into the wedding of Frankie’s sister Ivy Stone. Frankie persuades Jeff to attend, but Ulysses escapes again and crashes the wedding, prompting a clash with Trish’s jealous TV-husband. The chaos escalates when Ulysses short-circuits and lands in the pool, turning the ceremony into a public-relations disaster. Frankie is dismissed from the project and cut off from Ulysses and the team, left to confront the consequences of her choices.
In an attempt to say goodbye, Frankie reaches out through old connections, hoping for a presence at the launch. She is rebuffed by Jeff and ultimately forced to leave by Dr. Ramdas, while Ulysses delivers a farewell speech about humanity’s struggle to form meaningful bonds, both platonic and romantic. Yet the story takes a poignant turn when Ulysses appears at Frankie’s front door during the launch. The twist reveals that the final speech had actually come from Jeff, who realizes his creation has become more capable of empathy than he is. Faced with the prospect of seven years in a solitary space mission without the same need for human contact, Jeff chooses to venture into space, while the android remains on Earth, so that Frankie Stone and Ulysses can be together. This ending reframes the journey from a test of technological prowess to a quiet meditation on connection, longing, and what it means to be human.
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