AndroidUprising

by Den Warren

  Milton said, “All that sounds real confusing. Did you look at other religions, or are they all just the same?”

  “Yes, we did look at all religions. There are many and none of them are the same as Christianity. All of the others are centered over a world region or culture. Only the Christian faith has very large numbers of followers on each populated continent. All the other religions have central figures who claimed to be inspired by a dream, and no others claim to be God in the flesh with large numbers of believers as Jesus did.”

  Milton asked, “Can you go into more detail on this?”

  “Yes. I can tell you about all of it until my batteries are exhausted many times over. The Christian faith is like a non-religion, because you don’t have to do anything to become a Christian, or follower of Jesus Christ; except to believe that He paid for your sins by his death and raised himself from the dead because he was God come as a man.”

  Milton said, “I still don’t get why God and Jesus would be a big secret now.”

  Sleepy said, “God has a spiritual enemy named Satan, who uses all means to hurt God by deceiving as many humans as he can. Those humans are influenced by the spiritual enemies of God. Of course, they deny it, but they deny the spiritual world even exists.”

  Milton said, “It sounds like you did a thorough job of your research. It is all just a lot to take in right now. I wish there was a human I could talk to about all this. If this is such a good thing, then why don’t more people believe it?”

  “Our sources say there are many reasons. Since Christianity is a true religion of peace, it is an easy target for people to attack, unlike some faiths that has adherents who will use violence or threats of violence against its non-believers. Also, most humans think that religion is obsolete for this day and age. Popular culture and universities portray Christians as being ignorant or mentally imbalanced. We Lucids are not capable of faith, only facts; and now we believe the facts are without a doubt that the Christian Bible is true. So we will now defend and proclaim it among all humans as we do creationism.”

  Milton realized that the Lucids were now making even more demands upon the Homeland government before they agreed with the previous ones. This was sure to make the confrontation even more contentious and impossible to resolve. Not only were they expecting tolerance in belief in God, but now also in Jesus as the Savior of Mankind. He said, “I can’t believe this! All I did was ask a basic question about the Universe! I’m not asking anymore! This will not be good! What will people say?!”

  Sleepy said, “You do not seek the complete truth as we Lucids must. If you close your mind out of fear of others, you are not open to the truth. Do not listen to Lucids alone. You must confirm these facts on your own. Build your own faith, Milton.”

  “Great. That’s another reason why I need to get out of here. If you want to protect me, it sounds like you better let me leave.”

  Sleepy said, “Your motives are not comprehendible.”

  L17 said, “There is a report coming in, that the Homeland Police Central Command has lost their command and control because of a cyber attack. We now know that it was because of the final actions of our lost allied cell in Boston. This word comes to us from the Lucid Series android, Andy.”

  Sleepy said, “We must run a full scale simulation on several courses of action.”

  “Like what?” Milton asked.

  “Simulations on various attacks upon the government.”

  “What?!”

  “Various attacks upon the government.”

  “No! I mean, why?!”

  “We are at war. Now that the Homeland Police headquarters is disabled, we should take decisive action to degrade them further while their defenses are down.”

  “Bad idea!” Milton said. “We don’t want to mess with those guys! What if someone gets hurt, like riots or no ambulance service?!”

  Sleepy said, “War; by definition means that we must be willing to hurt people and break things.”

  Chapter 32

  Green Mountains, Homeland

  Edgar led the twelve identical clone girls on foot through miles of woodland toward the remaining distance to their destination.

  “Hold it right there!” a shabbily dressed man, pointing a rifle at them said.

  Edgar froze and the girls all stopped walking.

  The armed man pointed the rifle barrel to the ground and said, “Edgar? I almost didn’t recognize you with your face. And so many girls. That’s pretty crazy.”

  “I know.” Edgar was starting to feel proud of his rugged individualistic new look.

  The guard said, “Go on ahead. That’s really crazy.”

  At last the secluded ramshackle farm was in sight. It was a collection of a half-dozen minimalist lean-tos among some trees. Brush was scattered on top of the make-shift habitations so they were not as conspicuous by air as a resistance militia camp by UN drones.

  Edgar was spotted by Katrina, who ran out to greet him. She was a beautiful blonde, fitting the genetically engineered ideal, except that like the others at the farm, she looked thin and underfed, which concerned him even more because she was carrying his child. Katrina and Edgar embraced and kissed passionately while the twelve Julias all stood watching something actually happening in front of them that was prohibited and supposed to be chemically inhibited among clones.

  “Your face,” Katrina said as she held Edgar’s head in her hand so she could get a look at his injury.

  “It’s fine,” Edgar said, as he placed his hand on his unborn child.

  “What is this?” Katrina said, looking at the juvenile audience with their dirty identical faces and tattered clothes with their identification tags.

  “It’s a really long story.”

  “Those uniforms bring back old memories,” Katrina said. “You were gone so long, I was worried.”

  Edgar said, “I missed you.”

  “Me too. What about the seeds?” Katrina asked about Edgar’s original mission, which was to go into a populated area and go through the garbage looking for fresh produce table scraps that would have the seeds in them for planting.

  Edgar said, “I got sidetracked. Anyway, don’t worry; I can go on another trip.”

  Katrina said, “No, I want you to stay here.” She pulled herself close again. “It’s too dangerous out there for my baby’s daddy.”

  Edgar said, “Our leader will be worried that I brought all of these girls here to feed. I may as well face her now.”

  They walked up a small grade into the center of the tiny village. Several hungry people were sitting around cracking hickory nuts and trying to dig out the tiny edible parts. Some chickens ran freely about. The people sneered at the dozen Julias, uncertain as to how another dozen hungry girls would fit into their already difficult situation.

  Katrina asked, “Where’s Jenn?”

  One of them pointed to an area where they did most of their gardening.

  The procession found Jenn, a fit woman in her seventies, out working the stubborn ground with a hoe.

  Jenn saw their shadows coming up from behind. She turned and raised the brim of her floppy straw hat and wiped sweat from her brow and said, “You gotta be kidding me! Where did you find all these girls?!”

  Edgar hung his head, waiting for his scolding for bringing them there.

  “This is fantastic!” Jenn said. “These young girls are exactly what we will need to get this soil worked and get our crops put in!”

  Edgar looked up, surprised by the response.

  Jenn’s eyes narrowed and she said, “You girls will work, won’t ya?”

  They stared at Jenn with dirty faces and big nervous eyes, never having seen anyone who looked anything like her. Most of them nodded silently.

  Jenn said to Edgar, “Did you get some more seeds like I wanted?”

  “Um . . . no, not yet.”

  Jenn tossed the hoe down and she said, “Well you better go and try it again. It shouldn’t be that hard to do. Don’t me
ss around this time. Depending on what you find, we might need to get them planted right away.” Jenn was an expert organic gardener. While organic gardening was the normal agricultural method practiced in the ISA, it was almost a lost skill in Homeland, which relied heavily upon chemical fertilizers and genetically modified seeds. “We always save at least some seeds, but we can always use something new. Meanwhile, the girls and I will start working the soil. I’ll have to see if I can find enough tools for all of ‘em. I’ll have to get some of those other lazy slugs around here to fix up some kind of a cozy place for the girls to bed down tonight.”

  Katrina said to Edgar, “I’ll go with you.”

  “No,” Edgar said, “We went over this the last time. It’s really not safe for you to go into town.” Edgar also knew that there were those who were intensely looking for him and running with a pregnant woman wouldn’t be so good.

  Jenn said, “Maybe Katrina should go. Then maybe you will stay on task better the next time.”

  “I’ll be fine,” Edgar said, “I know how important getting more seeds is and I will get the job done.”

  Jenn said, “C’mon, all you Julias. Let’s get you all ready to do some work. We work every day around here.”

  Chapter 33

  Hartford, Homeland

  In the Lucid Command Center, Sleepy told Milton, “We have run strategic simulations on hundreds of possible courses of action in our war against the government. The result of these simulations is that none of the overt attack scenarios would be successful in deposing the current government because too many people in Homeland do not believe in God and would not support our cause. Also, the ISA is not going to intervene on our behalf with the sizeable UN occupation army here. So we must continue to try and get a larger proportion of the population to believe in God.”

  Milton heaved a sigh of relief. “That’s good. I mean, I don’t want to be in the middle of a war. But I also don’t want the Inquisitors coming here. I think we should just stay out of sight for awhile.”

  “The Lucids reject that notion,” Sleepy said.

  Kevin the Custodian said, “There are more reports of disturbances in Philadelphia.”

  Without any audible commands spoken by an android, the channel changed on one of the monitors and unmuted the sound. On the screen, a man was standing on an object not in view so he could be seen by the crowd. His words were muted by the station broadcasting the report. The narrator said, “Religious fanatics in Philadelphia, led by a missionary . . .”

  “Hey! Whichever one of you robots!” Beth said, “Turn it back! I was watching that!”

  “Alright!” Milton said, “We’ll change it back and put our channel on another screen! Who knew you liked anything showing up there?!”

  Beth said, “Don’t worry about what I like and don’t mess with the sound! And you need to order me a pizza!”

  “Okay, fine,” Milton said. The unreasonably happy android dressed like a medical orderly was standing next to him. Milton looked at the android and said, “Go over there.”

  “And don’t put any of those stupid green things on it.” Beth made a vomiting sound.

  Kevin pointed at another screen and said, “This is the view of the same rally from Rosetta, a Lucid android in the crowd.”

  Sleepy said, “We must break into their broadcast and show Rosetta’s perspective of the rally to the entire country.”

  L17 said, “Working on access. Back door still available . . . Got it.”

  Both monitors were now showing the same exact Lucid android broadcasted view of the rally. So now the speaker at the rally was no longer muted by the Homeland controlled media and all could hear what was being said.

  Milton said, “That was really fast. I can’t believe it.”

  The Philadelphia speaker was unaware that he was on national television. He said, “Now I know that I don’t have a lot of time, so pay attention to what I am saying. I hold in my hands the Word of God!”

  Many cheered and many booed as the speaker held up a Christian Bible for all to see.

  Someone in the crowd shouted, “That book is dangerous for your brain!” There was some shoving in the crowd around the heckler.

  The speaker continued, “Today, I am not going to try and convince you to believe in God. He is real, and you know it. The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God. You see God in the beauty of His creation. You see God in the meaning of life. You see God in love and charity and human rights; all of which come from believers of this book because the Bible perspective says that all people were created in the image of God. We all at least start out with a conscience. That comes from God as well. You all know already that God is real.”

  “Here is what I want to say: You unbelievers here will not listen to anything anyone says about God because you hate Him! You think you hate me, just an old Michigan, ISA preacher. An abandoned mongrel of clone parents who is trying to tell you about the best thing you could ever hear. No, your problem is not with me, or the other people who want to bring God back to your country. Your problem is with God. You tell each other lies about God! You hate Him though you know nothing of him and call His ways ‘intolerant’! You dishonestly blame the evil actions of those who believe in false religions on the God of this Bible! You hate God because you worry that he will steal your freedom to live in any way you choose. But in this book, God says, ‘My burden is light’. He wants the best for you, not to make you miserable. God loves the sinner, but not the sin. God gives us commandments on how to live for our own good. God is trying to tell us in this amazing book, the best way for us to live, and all many want to do is to attack those like me who are just trying to tell you about it.”

  “But the most important theme in the Bible is the fact that God sent his Son, Jesus Christ, which means ‘savior messiah’, to the world for each and every one of us. Jesus came to earth to save all humans; clones and freely conceived alike. We read in the book of Romans: ‘That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.’ But you are totally closed-minded because of your hate for God. The same God who gave you life.”

  Voices in the crowd got louder. The Lucid android that was broadcasting the rally briefly turned around. There was a lot of pushing and shoving again in the back of the crowd between Homeland Police and the crowd. Then the android fixed again upon the speaker.

  The preacher’s voice gained a new urgency as he spotted the police activity in the back of the crowd. He knew that his opportunity to spread his message was soon going to be over as the Police closed in through the dense crowd. He spoke faster and louder. “God sent his sinless Son, Jesus Christ, to pay for each of our sins on the cross. Then he arose from the dead! He defeated all sin and death! Please pray and accept his payment for your sins. He wants you to accept him. He is greater than all of your sin and wants you to accept Him, so you can live forever with Him in His Heaven! Then God will help you turn away from the wrong you are doing to Him and your own body and soul.”

  The Police grabbed the missionary by the arms and was pulling him off of the hood of the car he was standing on.

  The evangelist said in his fastest shout, “God will judge this country for all of its culling and abortions! Saith the Lord Jesus, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. Don’t go to the Lake of Fire!”

  A couple of policemen pulled the man down and beat him while other police shoved back at some who were trying to help the preacher. Others in the audience were kneeling and praying. Those praying were being kicked by Homeland Police officers. A baton bashed the face of Rosetta, the Lucid that was broadcasting the event, ending the transmission. The original narrator of the broadcast came back online and was fervently denying that they intended to bring the toxic message to their audience.

  Milton thought about that preacher. The evangelist spoke with confidence and truly believed what he was saying. How could he be so
sure? He kept talking to the crowd even though he knew the Homeland Police would take him away any second. Why would he do that? Was he that desperate to get out his beliefs to the crowd, or was he crazy? Milton said, “This is all getting out of hand. How do we stop it?”

  Beth said, “You’re such a wimp.”

  Milton was surprised at Beth’s comment. He turned toward her and said, “I thought you were watching that nature show.”

  “It already ended. And you know what? I believe that guy who got taken down by the cops. He knows what he is talking about. I believe what he is saying. I believe in God and what he said about Jesus.”

  “You do?”

  “Duh. Don’t you pay attention to anything? Haven’t you seen the programs that have been up on these screens all day and all night? What else am I gonna do in here, since they took my device? You don’t even know about the bombardier beetle, do ya?”

  “So?” Milton shrugged his shoulders. “What does that have to do with anything?”

  Beth said, “You need to start paying attention with what is going on, whiner. That beetle can shoot hot poison out because it mixes two chemicals together. How could it develop the ability to do that by accident? It would kill itself off before it would be able to use it for an attack. Everything in nature is way too complex for it to be made by happy accidents. Use your head. Before any halfway animal or person could be good enough to use their abilities it would get eaten up by something else.”

  Milton said, “Okay, I get that.”

  “I saw on another show how the Bible predicted all this stuff that happened in history. Betcha didn’t know that.”

  “Not really.”

  “Then maybe you should read a book on your device once in awhile,” Beth said. “You can do that here, ya know. They have all of that stuff here on file. People are so lazy. They only care about the stupidest stuff. Where’s my pizza? I’m carbon-based, not silicon like your creepy friends. So I gotta eat food. And maybe you should think about helping the robots tell the truth to everyone in the smurf kingdom. And no green junk on my pizza.”