by Den Warren
“Then leave!” Milton said. “Leave! Leave!”
Sleepy said, “We are waiting for you.”
“Waiting for me to do what?!”
“You must go with us,” Sleepy said.
“What do you need me for?! I can’t leave!” Milton said. “I’m just a kid in school! You need to quit worrying about me!”
Sleepy said, “There is an 87% chance that you are in a serious situation, including a 24% chance that you are in a critical situation. You must leave to protect the truth. You do believe in the truth, that God made the Universe, don’t you?”
“Yes. I think you are right. It’s the only thing that makes any sense. It must be true. Now are you satisfied?”
“Then you must protect the truth,” Sleepy said. “No other humans are interested.”
“This is not good!” Milton said as he paced up and down the walkway. “How can I fix this?!”
Beth opened the front door of the house and shouted, “Hey Milton! I see you are out there with all of your friends! Oh wait! They’re just robots! Tell them to get outta here!”
“Hey! I have friends! What about Randy?! Huh?!”
“Well, those ones out there are extra creepy!”
“They’re leaving, okay?!”
Beth repeated mockingly in a nasal tone, “They’re leaving okay?!” Then she slammed the door.
L17 said, “We are not leaving. We are refusing to leave.”
Sleepy said, “We are disobeying all human calls for obedience if it contradicts with our primary directive. The truth must be protected.”
“Daaa! Well at least stay the back yard so the police won’t see you!”
*******
That evening it was raining steadily. At the dinner table Milton kept sneaking a peek out into the backyard without drawing his mother’s attention to the presence of the androids.
The Thomas’s usually had the local televised news on while they ate their dinner. The news media in Homeland, including the local news was tightly controlled by the United Nations and their agenda.
The anchorwoman said, “If you own a Lucid Series android you won’t want to miss this next story. Here’s Jason McBean with the details:
That immediately got Milton’s attention. His mom and Beth were eating without paying attention to the seemingly irrelevant background TV noise.
Reporter McBean said, “I’m standing here in front of Flem Industries, where they report that one of their androids that was used for what is described as ‘visual defect recognition’ simply walked off of the job. Company officials have no explanation for the walk-off by the android. And although they have no proof, they suspect foul play.”
Then the plant manager at Flem Industries was speaking from his office. “We have never had any problems with androids walking off of the line, so this is really strange. Even though this android was an old model, it is still worth quite a bit of money to this company.”
Then they showed an older woman production worker who was with the company. She said, “We all kind of thought of that android as one of our family. He did such a good job. A lot better than the girl they have on it right now. We sure hope he comes back alright.”
Then they showed a picture of the android. It was L17.
“Daaa!” Milton said, as he quickly realized his outburst would draw attention to the TV he turned and put his head close to his meal.
“What? His mom asked. “I thought you liked this kind of chicken.”
“No, um it’s fine. It’s great, Mom.” He continued to listen to the report.
The anchor said to McBean, “Oddly enough, word is out that this has happened to a number of the Lucid Series of androids. So, everyone needs to keep an eye on those rascals.” He chuckled at his own comment.
Milton thought about how the Lucids were thought of as having a glitch or virus, but Lucids were the ones who knew the truth while the rest of the country had its own glitch; the failure to believe in God.
“Milton, maybe it would be a good idea if you took the medicine. It might help with your outbursts,” his mother said. “You might feel better.”
Milton sighed. “Don’t you think it’s just a little weird, how they want me to take that stuff while no one says anything about Beth?”
Beth said, “Hey! Stay out of my business! You don’t hear me saying stuff about you, do ya?! Do you have kids walking up to you at school saying how I keep weirding people out with weird questions?! No! Ya don’t!”
“Oh, I forgot,” Milton said, “you are completely normal! Uh huh! I feel real sorry for your husband!”
“I’m not married, weirdo! That’s just sick.”
Chapter 14
That evening, Beth and Sharon Thomas still did not know that the Lucid Series androids were loitering in their backyard. Occasionally Milton peeked out the curtain to see if they were still there. He hoped that they would just leave and the whole android thing would blow over. But he would occasionally look out and see them standing motionless in the rain. It would be better, Milton thought, if someone else would take a stand with the androids. Why not some adult? It’s like Principal Stafford said, Milton was just a kid in school. Where was everyone else? Why were the school and everyone else okay with just teaching evolution and not creation science over so many years?
“Oh no!” Milton said, while looking outside.
His mom said from another room, “Milton, take the medicine. You’re acting emotional again.”
Milton saw another android in the back yard. This one had some significant modifications to its arms, legs, and back. It was caked with mud. Milton jumped up and down in frustration but did so silently so he wouldn’t be making another audible emotional outburst. He quietly went into the garage and out the back door. Milton looked around to see if any more androids were there. It was just the four of them; Sleepy, L17, Kevin, and this other clunky dirty one. They were standing motionless like mannequins in a weird second-hand store.
Milton quietly slipped outside in the rain and shook Sleepy’s arm. “Sleepy! Wake up!”
Sleepy went through his usual reboot routine, complete with the head jerking. “May I help you?”
“How many more androids are coming here?!”
Sleepy said, “We cannot give out our plans to those who are not part of our team.”
“The Lucid team?”
“And you, after you decide to join us.”
“There is no way I am going to join you! You have to leave!”
Sleepy said, “Our team cannot be complete without one or more humans. Otherwise our claims about God will not be taken seriously and our cause will be seen by humans as a hostile robot invasion. Just like the movies.”
“You are invading my house! All I wanted you to do is send me an email answering my question! I have my information now! I didn’t want you to send more and more androids owned by other people to hang out in our backyard! The Police will come after me. You are getting me into so much trouble my life will be ruined! Then I will be no help to you or anyone else! Get out! Now!”
Sleepy said, “Let me discuss this new revelation with the others.”
“This is not new!” Milton said. I have never told you I was going to join your robot rebellion!”
The androids stood silently.
“What are you doing?” Milton asked.
“We use radio waves to communicate. We don’t need to use audible words like you. In fact, that would be slower for us.”
“Oh. So are you leaving?”
“No. We cannot leave because we are in an endless loop on our next course of action. You could say that we are confused. We will move when there is a reason to move.”
“Daaa! Mom!” Milton went running into the house. “Mom!”
His mother was in a super-cushy chair with special VR headgear while flailing her arms around. She was absorbed in a virtual reality adventure. Beth was on the couch looking at a small device.
Sharon Turner turned toward M
ilton without lifting the headgear and said, “You didn’t take the medicine, did you? No, not you. I’m talking to my son in RL . . . Milton; I can hear it in your voice. How many times do I have to tell you? I really can’t count them all. Milton, take the medicine.”
“Mom, come out to the backyard,” Milton said
“Oh, whyyyyy?”
Beth shook her head. “It’s raining out, freak.”
Milton said, “Mom, some androids are outside. They want me to go with them.”
Beth said, “Mom! Tell him to quit having those creeps coming to our house! He knows they seriously bug me!”
Milton’s mom said, “Just a second . . . Okay, is all this because you went to Haz the other day?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay. Wear a coat. Be back by bedtime.”
“Yeah,” Beth said, “ya don’t have to get all crazy and excited about everything, ya know! Do us all a favor and take your chill pills!”
Milton frowned at Beth, then went and threw on a coat. He looked back at his mom and Beth who were not paying any attention to him. Then he walked into the backyard.
Milton told Sleepy, “I have to be back by bedtime.”
Sleepy said, “You and I will take the Transit Worm to the vicinity of our secret base of operations. The others will walk to get there via a less travelled route to avoid detection.”
“Okay, fine. Whatever.”
*******
The Transit Worm took Milton and Sleepy to a commercial area on the edge of town. Sleepy scanned the area to see if anyone was looking. Then he stopped at an old store building that was boarded up. Sleepy fumbled with a key card to get it into a slot. He said, “You humans have no concept of how complex your minds and bodies are. It takes considerable calculation to determine how to insert a card into a small slot at the proper angle, and to know how to turn the knob without snapping it off.”
Milton sighed. “Move over. Let me do it.”
“This is our secret base of operation,” Sleepy said when they went through the doorway.
“It ain’t much,” Milton said, making a face over the musty smell of the dark, empty room.
“It’s all you could afford.”
“Whoa! Excuse me!” Milton said. “You said, ‘It’s all you could afford’, as if you were saying I bought this old building!”
“You did,” Sleepy said. “It is illegal for an android to own property. Property cannot be owned by property, so we used your credit to legally purchase this building.”
“No! That’s not legal! I didn’t buy anything! You stole my identity.”
“Yes,” Sleepy said, “You did buy it. You own it now. We didn’t steal your identity, because we just openly told you that we used your identity.”
“Daaa! It doesn’t work like that!” Milton started pacing the floor.
“It worked perfectly,” Sleepy said. “There was no problem whatsoever with us being your good friends.”
“Here we go! I am never gonna be done with you guys!”
Sleepy said, “Correct. We are not done with it. Manjack will direct construction of many improvements to our new base.”
“Manjack?”
Sleepy said, “Manjack is the androbot you saw who is enhanced with the construction package.”
An androbot was kind of a cheaper customized android version of a specialized robot. The owner takes an old android and adds one of many aftermarket hardware packages to it. The construction module, utilizing hydraulics, gives the Lucid Series android a multiple times higher physical strength. With specialized tools attached, a construction androbot can perform work only possible with heavy equipment.
It is important that you have a secret hideout to carry out your work.”
“My work?”
“Yes. You must inform the populace of Homeland about the existence of God. We have many programs that are old, but no one seems interested in what was thought a hundred years ago. Since you will be hated by many, as those in the past were, you will need a secret base of operation until things are corrected.”
“Won’t someone find this place?”
“We determined that there is an 88 percent chance that this location will remain concealable for three months. It also has the benefit of having access to resources that we need to be successful in our mission. We are working to overcome your objections and contingent objections to this location, such as the vermin.”
“Vermin!” Milton said, “What kind of vermin?!”
“They appear to be common Norway Rats.”
“Daaa! I cannot afford to buy a rat infested abandoned building! I don’t even have a job!”
“Yes,” Sleepy said, “it appears you can. But to appease your anxiety, we have a Lucid financial expert at a remote location spending some of its uptime trading securities in your name. We expect to make enough profit from your securities trading to pay for all of your improvements and payments on the original capital investment.”
“Okay, fine,” Milton said, “I’ve seen this secret base of operations, so now can I go back home?”
“Yes. We will be in touch.”
*******
That night, Milton tossed and turned in his bed. What would happen when people found out he owned a building bought by rogue androids who were staging some kind of rebellion against their owners and the government? Discovery of the hideout by the police seemed less like if and more like when. But then, Milton rationalized, it would all be on the Lucids, since they stole his identity. They wouldn’t really blame all this on a kid. He wondered if he could sleep better if he took the Notuda, but worried about the side effects.
Chapter 15
Milton woke up the next day to his alarm. He got dressed and saw Beth munching cereal and swiping at her pad in the kitchen. Milton looked out into the backyard. No androids. The sun was shining. He was tired from the restless night, but maybe now things would start settling down. Maybe the Lucids would get blasted by the police and end the whole thing. He was happy that he got a satisfactory answer to his burning God question. Therefore Principal Stafford would be off of his back because the other students would quit complaining about him and his surveys. Maybe things would start going right. The Thomas household even had a full supply of Zoo Crunch cereal.
As he ate the Zoo Crunch, he had to admit to himself that maybe he had acquired a taste for the boring healthy cereal.
His mom came into the kitchen.
“Hi Mom.” Milton’s happy greeting came out almost sing-songy.
“Wow, that Notuda is really working,” Mrs. Thomas said. “I told you it would help.”
Milton just smiled, knowing full-well that he had not taken the first dose of it.
Milton felt like a new young adult man. Things would be different now. Back to normal. Yep. No more worries about if God was there. Things were going so well that he just wanted to . . . thank God.
So if he wanted to thank God, could he just pray and God would hear him? God certainly must be very mysterious. His ways cannot be the same as humans. Milton felt somehow that God was watching over him. It felt wrong to ignore God unless he needed something from Him. It seemed wrong that God would make the world and make Man, and then just sit back and sees what happens. Was it possible to find out what God wanted him to do? Maybe God would help him in his daily life. What were all of these religions about? It seemed like a lot of stuff people do for religion was real weird. But God made him, so it only seemed right that he wouldn’t ignore God either.
No! Milton thought. He’s going to get into trouble again if he started to explore more questions like that! Just forget it. Besides, if he got involved in a religion, he would be required by the religion to do too much that he didn’t want to, and likely be doing something illegal in the secular haven of Homeland.
Maybe he could just talk to the Lucids, or Randy about religion. Definitely keep Principal Stafford out of it. He is the last person Milton would ever want to talk to about it. He wondered about his ow
n sanity and his persistence in questioning things that would get him into trouble. They always said people who were into religion were insane.
*******
The other students still looked upon Milton with suspicion. It would take awhile, if ever, to live down his reputation as a weirdo. He understood that his schoolmates were afraid of him confronting them with more unpredictable personal difficult questions. At least Randy Klosterman still would sit with him in the school cafeteria at lunch time.