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Luba Luft was an android who worked as an opera singer in San Francisco.
Biography[]
After escaping to Earth, Luba Luft – posing as a twenty-eight year old German – found employment with the San Francisco Opera Company. As of January 3, 1992/2021, she was performing in a production of Mozart's The Magic Flute at the War Memorial Opera House, playing the role of Pamina.[1]
During a break from a rehearsal, Luft retreated to her dressing room, where she was met by Rick Deckard, a bounty hunter who had come to administer a Voigt-Kampff test to her. Luft insisted that she was not an android and suggested that perhaps Deckard was one himself, outfitted with false memories. During the test, she avoided giving meaningful answers, instead attempting to deconstruct the questions. Eventually, she detached the test's adhesive disk from her face and as Deckard crouched down to pick it up, she drew a laser tube and aimed it at him. Accusing him of being a sexual deviant, evidenced by the implications of some of his questions, Luft called for a harness bull. Officer Crams responded to the call and after failing to verify Deckard's claims to be from the San Francisco Police Department, he arrested him.[1]
Luft returned to the rehearsal and afterward, went to a local museum to view an Edvard Munch exhibit. There, she curiously viewed the painting Puberty until she was grabbed by Deckard and fellow bounty hunter Phil Resch. Surprised to see Deckard, she was introduced to Resch, who she insisted was an android. On their way to an elevator, Luft requested for the bounty hunters to buy her a print of the painting, which a clerk stated was only available in a book. Deckard complied, which prompted Luft to point out to Resch that an android would not have. Once inside the elevator, Luft continued to provoke Resch until he brandished a laser tube. Deckard attempted to disarm Resch, but was unsuccessful and Luft was shot dead.[1]
Behind the scenes[]
Luba Luft appears in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and its comic book adaptation. In the book's film adaptation, Blade Runner, the dancer Zhora is loosely based on her. The passage from the book where Luba Luft summons the android police officer to her dressing room to arrest Deckard is adapted in the 1997 video game, with Dektora filling her role. In the stage adaptation, her name is slightly altered to Luna Luft.