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Jerry Ashton is the secondary antagonist of the 1999 film The Thirteenth Floor. He is a sapient computer simulation, known as unit, of a bartender in a simulation of 1937 Los Angeles. Within the simulation, he appears to be a regular human, and is modeled after Jason Whitney, a developer of the simulation, albeit with much shorter hair than his creator.
Like Jason Whitney, he is played by Vincent D'Onofrio.
Biography[]
In 1993, Jerry Ashton was created as part of a simulation of 1937 Los Angeles. Like the other units populating the program, he was fully sapient, presumably with memories of a full life, and had no knowledge that he was in a simulation. In 1999, Hannon Fuller, the head of the corporation that made the simulation, entered the simulation in the body of a unit named Grierson, using the simulation to act as a wealthy man and sleep with unit women. However, after some days of doing so, he came across a profound discovery, writing it in a letter within the simulation, and gave that letter to Ashton, asking him to give it to a man named Douglas Hall, who was Hannon's associate outside the simulation. However, Ashton got curious and opened the letter, reading it and finding that it spoke of the world being a simulation, with instructions to drive to somewhere far away he would never think of going otherwise, and to ignore all road signs. First thinking it was a joke, Ashton decided to do what the letter said, and attempted to drive to Tucson, ramming right through roadblocks once he reached the desert, but only found the edge of the simulation. Frightened by the revelation that he and his world weren't real, Ashton began to lose his sanity.
Two days later, Ashton had returned to the simulated Los Angeles, still working despite knowing the truth, and sought to find and talk to Fuller, wanting an answer as to why the lives of the units were being manipulated. However, Douglas entered the simulation instead, as Fuller had been murdered, but left a message for him to find the letter in the simulation. Douglas, in the body of a unit named John Ferguson, found Ashton just as his time in the simulation began to run out. Ashton pretended not to know anything about a letter, just in time for Douglas to be pulled out of the simulation. John, with no memory of what Douglas did in his body, began to wander off, until Ashton called out to him, addressing him as "Mr. Hall" and telling him he forgot his coat and hat. John told Ashton his name, then asked where he was. Ashton then followed John back to the bank where he worked, finding out about users taking the bodies of units due to John knowing nothing of the conversation between Douglas and Ashton.
The next day, Douglas, back in John's body, returned to the bar with Grierson, and followed Ashton to the employee locker rooms. Brandishing a pistol, Ashton revealed that he knew the truth, recounting what he did to Douglas, before demanding to see Fuller. After being told that Fuller was dead, and while Douglas questioned why Fuller would tell him of the simulation's limits, something he already knew, Ashton shot Douglas in the leg and shoulder, laughing madly and demanding to know what is real. Douglas managed to run off, Ashton following while making dance-like movements, and soon cornered Douglas in a pool, only for Douglas to take his gun and pin Ashton to a column. Ashton gave him the letter back, but then shoved Douglas into a pool, trying to drown him, just before Douglas was pulled out of the simulation. Seeing that John was back in his body, Ashton tied him up and snuck him into the trunk of his car, driving off to dump him elsewhere. Just then, Ashton's mind was swapped with that of Jason Whitney, the software developer he was modeled after, who wanted to see what the simulation was really like. Jason was promptly killed by a truck in the simulation, and Ashton woke up in Jason's body.
Confused by the environment of 1999, especially the technology, Ashton managed to leave the server room and assaulted a security guard, taking his pistol and making his way to a conference room, where he turned on TV screens, intrigued by the images. Douglas met Ashton again, where Ashton revealed himself and asked if the screens were the real world, before Douglas turned them off. Ashton, angered, followed him out of the room with his pistol out, but Douglas then told him that 1999 was just another simulation. Fuller's instructions were meant for Douglas to perform outside the 1937 simulation, and Douglas had met with a woman named Jane, who turned out to be from the world that made the 1999 simulation, presumably the real world, which Douglas explained to Ashton while using a simple arcade game as an illustration of the concept. Dejected by the knowledge that he was in yet another simulation, Ashton asked to see the computers that made him. Douglas took him back to the server room, but on the way down, Douglas' mind was taken over by David, Jane's abusive husband who terrorized simulated worlds as a tyrannical deity-like figure. While Ashton stood in awe of the various machines of server room, listening to the computers "breathe," David took Ashton's pistol, which he left on a desk, and shot Ashton in the chest and head, killing him.