Rick Deckard and Max Polokov

Rick Deckard and Max Polokov are a bounty hunter and an android whose encounter defines the lethal stakes of the Nexus-6 threat. Polokov, masquerading as a Soviet W.P.O. officer named Sandor Kadalyi, nearly kills Deckard by exploiting his trust, but Deckard survives and retires him, marking his first victory against the new android type.

Identity and Background

Max Polokov is the first Nexus-6 android on Dave Holden's list, the one who lasered Holden through the spine and put him in Mount Zion Hospital. Deckard learns of Polokov from Inspector Harry Bryant, who gives him the android's description and current cover: a trash collector for the Bay Area Scavengers Company, mimicking a deteriorated special to avoid detection. Polokov's ability to pass as a human had already fooled Holden, who was administering the Voigt-Kampff test when Polokov attacked. Deckard, warned by Rachael Rosen's earlier phone call about the agility of escaped Nexus-6 types, approaches the assignment with caution but also with a determination to prove himself as senior bounty hunter.

The Encounter and Deception

Deckard first tries to locate Polokov at the scavengers' office and then at his Tenderloin apartment, but the android has already fled. Later, while Deckard waits on a roof for the real Soviet cop, a hovercar taxi lands and a red-faced, cherubic man in a heavy Russian-style greatcoat steps out, introduces himself as Sandor Kadalyi, and claims to be the W.P.O. representative. Deckard notices the man carries an unusual laser tube, a subform he has never seen. Kadalyi explains that the triggering circuit remains with him, allowing him to direct the beam irrespective of where it is aimed. When Deckard squeezes the trigger and nothing happens, he realizes the man is Polokov, not Kadalyi. The android switches on and off a miniaturized triggering device in his palm, then lunges for Deckard's throat, snarling that he will break his pencil neck.

The Retirement

As Polokov's hands sink into his throat, Deckard fires his regulation .38 magnum from its shoulder holster. The slug strikes the android in the head, bursting its brain box. Bits of the Nexus-6 unit whirl down on Deckard like radioactive dust. The retired remains rock back, collide with the car door, and bounce against him. Deckard struggles to shove the twitching remnants away. He then calls the Hall of Justice to report that he got Polokov. The encounter leaves him shaking, but he reflects that he is faster to react than Dave Holden, and that Holden's experience had evidently prepared him. He makes himself a thousand dollars from the retirement.

Consequences and Significance

Polokov's attempt to impersonate a W.P.O. officer nearly succeeds because of the android's superior intelligence and ability to mimic human behavior. Deckard's survival changes his ideas about the Nexus-6 mentality; he realizes that Rachael Rosen's warning about their agility was correct. The encounter also demonstrates that the Voigt-Kampff test, which Holden had administered to Polokov, is not always necessary for retirement—Deckard bypasses it entirely. Polokov's death leaves three more androids from the original eight still alive: Luba Luft, Roy Baty, and Irmgard Baty, with Pris Stratton later joining them. Deckard's victory over Polokov gives him confidence but also foreshadows the greater challenges ahead, as the remaining androids become increasingly aware of his pursuit.