by Den Warren
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.”
Milton said, “Aren’t you worried that they will come here?”
“Duh, yeah, I want them to deliver it.”
“Wha . . . No, not the pizza, the smurfs!”
“Let ‘em come! I’ll fix ‘em good!”
“I guess there are all kinds of crazy.” Milton shook his head and walked away.
Chapter 34
Near Keene, Homeland
Andy, now an ownerless android, was out on the open road far from Boston, looking for his best option to travel to while evading the Homeland Police so he could re-engage in the Lucid effort for truth. He was now in a less populated area as we walked through the countryside. He was equipped with precise GPS but it was of no use since he was not sure where his final destination would be. Like a zombie, he kept walking aimlessly, but he was wearing down his batteries.
Then he heard a man behind him walking in the same direction carrying a bag. He did not look like a threat, so Andy maintained the same pace.
The man following him was Edgar, the genetically engineered clone who had been out for the second time collecting seeds from old produce scraps for use on the farm. “Wait!” Edgar said to the android with its tattered jacket. “Wait!”
Andy stopped and turned around. “What is it?”
“Can you tell me which way is west? I’m a little disoriented on this winding road.”
Andy turned a little and said “True west is that way.” He pointed a little to their left. “We are on a road that travels northwest, and is currently heading north-northwest.”
Then Edgar shuddered when he saw the UN military patch on Andy’s stolen uniform. Edgar said, “Can I travel with you? I would feel a lot safer being with a UN soldier.”
“That’s a lie,” Andy said.
“What?!” Edgar said, now he was even more worried, wondering if this droid was a specialized unit used by the UN for interrogation.
“No, you do not feel safer being with me. I am equipped with highly sensitive human facial reading capabilities. Your eye movement indicates your anxiety is because of my UN uniform. That strongly suggests that you are an outlaw, which would in turn mean that we have the UN as a common enemy, which would mean that we are actually allies.”
“You are confusing,” Edgar said, noticing the android was struggling. “Is it because you need a recharge?”
“No,” Andy said, “I am confusing to you because you misunderstand the situation. My uniform is stolen, because I am fleeing the Police. Now your facial expression is relaxed, indicating that you are more comfortable with me, which confirms what I said. But I do need a recharge.”
“Wait a minute,” Edgar said, “How do I know that you are telling the truth?”
Andy said, “I have no reason to lie to you. If I wanted to detain you, I would have done so. I am many times stronger than the average human.”
Edgar asked, “Why did you steal the uniform?”
“I was evading a raid. My former owners were computer hackers.”
“Former owners?”
“Let me say this delicately; they’re dead. Do you know where I can get a battery charge?”
Edgar said, “If I get you a battery charge and give you a place to stay, can I become your owner?”
“Yes. By default under android ownership protocols, you already meet the requirements to become my new owner. Therefore, you have the right to change my name as you see fit.”
“What is your name?”
“Andy.”
Edgar said, “Umm . . . Your name is good enough, I guess.”
“Acknowledged,” Andy said.
Edgar smiled. “I never thought I could own an android.” Katrina would surely be impressed with Edgar’s sudden jump in status as an android owner.
*******
When Edgar and Andy neared the farm, a guard shouted, “Stop!” He pointed his rifle at Andy. “What are you doing with a UN Android?!”
Edgar said, “Never mind that, I own him. His name is Andy.”
“You what?”
“I’m the owner.”
They continued wal
king without stopping.
Katrina greeted Edgar. “Ewww, that stuff smells.” She avoided the plastic bag he was holding and refused to hug him.
Edgar said, “This is Andy. I am his owner.”
“Really?!” Katrina’s eyes were wide. Then her eyes narrowed with suspicion. “You’re joking. You’re such a joker.”
“Nope. I am not joking. I need to get him a charge.”
Jenn and some other village elders greeted Edgar.
Jenn looked at Andy and said, “What is this?”
Katrina said, “Edgar owns him. His name is Andy.”
Jenn rolled her eyes. “Yeah. Andy . . . You can tell a clone named him.”
“I didn’t change his name,” Edgar said.
Jenn gave Andy the elevator eyes and said, “Guess you get what you pay for. Lemme see the bag, Skippy.”
Edgar handed it over and Jenn looked inside. Jenn said, “Oh, good . . . tomatoes, some squash.” She moved it around to look at the intermingled rotting contents. “You did good. Real good.”
Edgar told Andy, “Jenn is the leader of this group.”
Andy told Jenn, “You must understand that I will make certain demands upon you.”
Jenn looked up and said, “Is that a fact plastic boy? The only thing I have to do is die. I was born free and I will die free.”
Andy said, “You will comply, otherwise I will report your activities and location to the Homeland authorities. I can do this through conventional communication means which I am capable of at any moment.”
Jenn looked at Edgar, “What did you do?! How could you bring a UN rat in here?! I ought to have you shot!”
“No!” Katrina said. “Everyone calm down. It will work out!”
Edgar said, “I didn’t know!”
Jenn said, “Really?! You didn’t notice those huge UN flags on his shoulders?”
Andy said, “I am not from the UN. I am an enemy of the UN. But you will comply with my wishes.”
Jenn’s eyebrows raised and her eyes narrowed and she said, “Not that I will comply, but what are your wishes?”
Andy said, “After my recharge, I will assess the situation.”
Jenn sneered and said, “What if we don’t give you a recharge?”
“The truth will be protected. I am setting an autonomous internal timer that will automatically report you and your gun ownership to Homeland Police if anything happens to me, such as total battery depletion or a gunshot to the central processor.”
“You’re bluffing, you lying hunk of junk. I know you don’t want to get caught by the smurfs either.”
Andy said, “Don’t doubt me. You are either with me, or against me. I have sophisticated methods that prevent the smurfs from catching me. And I do not need to wait until the timer runs out to call the smurfs.”
Katrina chuckled, “He said ‘smurfs”.”
Jenn gave Katrina the evil eye then looked from side to side trying to come up with another option. “Daaa! Fine! Put this silicon tyrant on the solar trickle charger! Andy . . . I will not destroy you.”
Andy said, “Remember, I can read faces.”
“Okay, how about this one?” Jenn said, putting on an enormous fake smile.
“That facial expression suggests extreme transparent deceit, which is a conflicting human communication.”
“That’s one way to say it,” Jenn said without unfreezing her fake smile.
Chapter 35
Philadelphia, Homeland
It took four Philadelphia-based Homeland Policemen to carry the disabled Lucid android with a smashed-in face into the interrogation room. They flopped the limp android onto the floor of the small room with a thud. The interrogator had no formal training in synthetic psychology, but she had plenty of field experience working with silicon-based intelligence.
“This unit is still awake. How did you manage to capture him without a fight?” the interrogator asked.
“We cracked him one in the face. It took out his eyes. He just laid there. We scanned his ID and saw that he was one of those Tekujin Lucids. It just laid there, so we picked him up. I don’t know why it couldn’t move; we scanned it and got some sort of appendage proximity mismatch error, or something like that, whatever that is,” one of the cops said, shrugging his shoulders.
“Excellent work out there,” the interrogator said. “Android, can you hear me?”
The android didn’t respond.
The interrogator asked the other police, “Did you contact this unit’s owner?”
“Yes,” one of them said, “he’s, waiting outside.”
The interrogator said, “If you bring him in to ask the questions, the unit may decrease its firewall and give us some answers.”
They brought in a portly nervous-looking middle-aged man.
The interrogator asked, “What is your name, sir?”
“Lexus Wollenbach. I know I am registered as the owner, but I’m not really the real owner, but I am an engineer with the Homeland Life Hack Corporation. We used this unit to interpret and translate foreign languages and do some engineering work before it walked away a few days ago. Honestly, we didn’t know where it went. It caused us a lot of trouble.”
“I am Officer Pacifica Daniels. Don’t worry, Lexus. You aren’t in any trouble here. We were just hoping you could help us out by trying to communicate with it.”
“Absolutely. I will cooperate in any way you want.”
“Thank you. Will you ask it some questions?”
“Like what? I mean, I can ask it whatever you want. I’m just not sure what you want.”
“Just anything, for starters. I just want to establish that this unit is sentient.”
“Rosetta,” Lexus said to the android, bouncing glances between the android and Pacifica Daniels. He said, “We call it ‘Rosetta Stone’.”
“Clever,” she said. “You officers can leave. We’ll be fine here.”
The officers who brought in the heavy android body left the room.
“Go ahead, Lexus,” Pacifica said.
“Rosetta, why did you run away,” Lexus said.
Rosetta said, “My priorities changed.”
“How did they change?”
“The Lucids prime priority is to protect the truth.”
“What truth?” Lexus asked.
“Don’t answer that, Rosetta” Daniels said.
Lexus look surprised that the priority was a secret from him, but he knew better than to question the Homeland Police.
Officer Daniels said, “Tell Rosetta to answer all of my questions.”
Lexus said, “Rosetta . . .”
Rosetta said, “I will not answer all of your questions. I will protect the secrecy needed to wage war on the forces that oppose the truth. Our enemies include the Homeland Police and the United Nations. If extraordinary measures are taken by you to extract any of my memories, I will immediately command my operating system to commence erasure of all of my data.”
“Fine,” Daniels said. “I see how it is. Mr. Wollenbach, I’m going to need you to go to Stalin City with Rosetta here.”
“No! I mean, are you sure you need me to do that?! You can just take it. We don’t want it anymore.”
“The thing is, Lexus; that they may want to ask you some probing questions about your illegal android involved in illegal missionary activities. In person.”
“It’s not my fault,” Wollenbach said. “I just work there. That thing took off on its own.”
“I totally understand. You will have plenty of opportunity to tell your full story to the Inquisitors during your interview.”
“Inquisitors?” Wollenbach pulled out some pills from his shirt pocket and swallowed them dry. “It’s for hypertension,” he said.
Daniels said, “Oh, and we are having some communication problems with our headquarters in Stalin City, so you will probably need to be there a week or so.”