Dave Holden and Max Polokov
Dave Holden, the senior bounty hunter for the San Francisco Police Department, and Max Polokov, a Nexus-6 android, are linked by a violent encounter that sets the plot in motion: Polokov shoots Holden with a laser, wounding him severely and forcing his replacement by Rick Deckard.
The Attack and Its Immediate Aftermath
Holden had been investigating a group of eight escaped Nexus-6 androids in Northern California. He had already retired two of them and was administering the Voigt-Kampff Altered Scale to a third suspect, a man calling himself Max Polokov, when Polokov lasered him. The attack occurred during the test itself, proving that Holden's identification of Polokov as an android was correct—otherwise Polokov would have had no motive to shoot. The laser track passed through Holden's spine, putting him in Mount Zion Hospital for at least a month while doctors attempted to graft a new organic plastic spinal section. Inspector Harry Bryant informs Rick Deckard of the situation on the morning of January 3, 1992, telling him that Holden is out of action and that Deckard will take over his list of remaining assignments.
The Shift in the Bounty Hunter Hierarchy
Holden's incapacitation creates an immediate vacancy at the top of the department's bounty-hunting chain. Deckard, who had previously received assignments devolving from Holden's schedule, now becomes the acting senior bounty hunter. Bryant notes that this is the first time Deckard will be acting in that capacity, emphasizing that Holden had years of experience behind him. The transition is not merely administrative; it carries the weight of Holden's unfinished work and the danger that felled him. Deckard understands that the six remaining andys—including Polokov—must be retired, and that the Nexus-6 types are smarter than anyone had anticipated. Holden's notes, which Bryant keeps initially, contain everything Holden knew about the androids, including the crucial fact that Polokov had taken a job as a trash collector with the Bay Area Scavengers Company, mimicking a deteriorated special to avoid detection.
The Confrontation Between Deckard and Polokov
Deckard's first attempt to retire Polokov fails when he finds the android's apartment empty, with only semi-ruined furniture and kipple remaining. Polokov, having already fled, then turns the tables by impersonating Sandor Kadalyi, a Soviet police officer from the W.P.O. who was supposed to assist Deckard. The android arrives at Deckard's parked hovercar on the roof, wearing a heavy Russian-style greatcoat and carrying an unusual laser tube. Deckard initially accepts the ruse, but when Kadalyi-Polokov hands him the weapon and it fails to fire—the triggering circuit remains with the android—Deckard realizes the deception. He fires his own .38 magnum pistol, striking the android in the head and destroying its Nexus-6 brain unit. The retired remains of Polokov rock back, collide with the car door, and bounce against Deckard as bits of the unit whirl down like radioactive dust. Deckard calls in to report that he has gotten Polokov, making himself a thousand dollars in bounty money and proving that he reacted faster than Holden had.
The Significance of the Encounter
The Holden-Polokov relationship establishes the stakes for the entire novel. Polokov's successful attack on Holden demonstrates that the Nexus-6 androids are capable of preemptive violence and sophisticated deception, and that the Voigt-Kampff test, while still functional, must be administered with extreme caution. Holden's injury also forces Deckard into a role that will test his own limits, leading him to confront not only the remaining androids but also his own capacity for empathy toward them. Polokov's impersonation of a W.P.O. officer nearly succeeds, and only Deckard's quick thinking and the emergency button on his car floor save him. The encounter underscores the theme of the hunter becoming the hunted, and it sets a pattern of escalating danger that will culminate in Deckard's confrontation with Roy Baty.
