Blade Runner 4: Eye and Talon
First edition cover
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| Author | K. W. Jeter |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Blade Runner #4 |
| Genre | Science fiction novel |
| Publisher | Gollancz |
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Publication date
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December 4, 2000 |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 240 pp |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 44058241 |
| Preceded by | Replicant Night |
Blade Runner 4: Eye and Talon is the fourth book to continue the storyline of the film Blade Runner. It was written by K. W. Jeter and published in 2000 by Gollancz.
The book begins with an "out-take" section, written as a movie script, which describes the scene from the original movie in which Leon is subjected to the Voight-Kampff test. However, in this version, the blade runner performing the test is a woman, and Leon kills her at the end of the test. The section ends with an unknown person commenting "This one didn't work, either; we'll have to try another one.."
The story begins with the introduction of Iris, a female Blade Runner, and the best in her unit. Meyer - her boss - tells her that the blade runner division is in danger; far fewer replicants are coming to Earth, and thus the economic value of the blade runners is dropping, giving the risk of a "reorganisation". Meyer gives Iris the assignment to track down an owl - an extremely rare, real owl, named Scrappy. Iris is skeptical, since if the owl is real (and thus not a replicant) the case seems to be nothing to do with the blade runners, but she accepts the job anyway.
Returning to her apartment, Iris uses a surresper - a version of the esper machine from the original Blade Runner which behaves as a virtual reality machine rather than a simple viewer - to analyse the data Meyer gave her about the owl. The data record contains two recorded scenes. The first shows Eldon Tyrell, feeding the owl. The second shows Deckard's and Rachael's first meeting, in sight of the owl. Iris does not recognise Deckard, and reacts with surprise when the surresper tells her that he was a blade runner; she's never heard of him, and his data has disappeared from many of the blade runner department's files. Iris talks the events through with her pet "chat" - an artificial cat whose fur is designed to release relaxing drugs into the owner when it's stroked.
With no good leads, Iris steps out into the shopping districts of LA and starts asking around after the owl. She doesn't make any progress, until a mysterious man approaches, knowing both her name and what she is doing. At first, Iris attacks him, but he persuades her to trust him and takes her to his "home" within the wreckage of a downed advertising blimp. The man, Vogel, tells Iris the owl's current location: hidden in a disused movie theatre nearby, guarded by men with illegal modified automatic weapons. Iris is immediately shocked: she was never given any warning that the owl could be so heavily guarded, and her casual investigation could have gotten her shot. Iris begins to distrust Meyer, for giving her the job; and she also does not trust Vogel, because she has no idea why he would give her this information.
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