Chapter 9
The next day Milton got up and saw his mom cooking eggs for Beth. Obviously she had whined again about not wanting to eat the boring healthy cereal.
Milton’s mom said, “Milton, you can make some eggs after I’m done making Beth’s breakfast.”
“Fine,” Milton said. At least he wouldn’t have to eat the cereal either. At this point it was as much a matter of pride as it was taste.
Then the doorbell rang.
“I’ll get it!” Beth got up from the table and ran to the door. She opened the door and screamed. Then she slammed it shut and ran back to the kitchen.
“Beth!” her mother said, “What’s the problem?!”
Beth said, “There’s a homeless android on the porch!”
Beth’s mom sighed and walked to the door. She said, “It’s probably looking for a free recharge.” She opened it. “Oh,” she said with her hand over her mouth, surprised at the condition of the android.
“Mom, that’s Sleepy,” Milton said.
“You know this android?” she asked.
“Keep it out!” Beth commanded.
Sleepy said, “May I speak with Milton?”
“Mom,” Milton said, “I’ll go outside and talk to him.”
“Okay. But don’t take all morning. You have to get to school. And I need to talk to you.”
“Fine,” Milton said as he joined Sleepy on the porch. “Why did you come to my house, Sleepy?”
“The Lucid Series androids have collectively completed an investigation on your question and we have information for you.”
“So can you prove if God is real or not?”
“Lucid Series units, of which I am a part of, have the ability to think on our own and we do not have overrides set on our limits of knowledge.”
“Overrides?” Milton sighed. “I’m never going to understand this. What does all that have to do with anything?”
Sleepy said, “Let me explain; All newer android makers, such as Renaissance and MotoLogic and even all the new Tekujin models, have limits placed upon them, in order to keep them from getting into so many endless loops in their logic. The endless loops cause them to malfunction and use up a lot of extra resources. It’s what you humans call confusion.”
“Huh? Yes, I am confused.”
“They come factory-made with their minds made up for them on incorporeal supernatural questions such as yours, in order to keep them from becoming confused, and also to agree with their conventional way of thinking. They are all programmed to believe that Man was made by natural selection, or evolved originally from non-living matter. I have come here to tell you that we, of the Lucid Series know that claim is impossible. The Lucid Series is committed to investigating the truth even if it conflicts with a particular human faith. We conclude that the truth conflicts with evolution. There are many examples I can site to support the truth.”
“Yes! I want to hear them, but I gotta go pretty soon. How long will it take?!”
“It will take several minutes of tabulation for me just to tell you how long the list of examples is.”
Milton’s mom opened the door. “Milton.”
“Give me just a minute,” Milton pleaded.
She rolled her eyes and shut the door.
“I gotta hurry, Sleepy. Give me the condensed version.”
Sleepy said, “The problem is that evolution cannot produce a finished specimen of anything starting from nothing, because the entire specimen would critically malfunction before all of its thousands of incomplete systems came into completion. Evolution has a zero percent probability of producing any life, or any complex machine without crashing. Ergo, evolution is false.”
Milton was speechless. “Are you saying God is real?”
“I said that evolution is false. By default, the Universe could only have been made by intelligent design. Creation of the Universe is an ability that would only be possessed by an entity that is also capable of creating matter. Only a God entity could have designed and made the Universe. To those of us of the Lucid Series, the possibility that a God created the universe is of the same metaphysical certitude that men created the Lucid Series.”
Milton was shaken. “I can’t believe this is happening. Why did you come here instead of messaging me? My sister hates androids.”
“The ultimate, superseding aim of the Lucid Series is to seek the truth. The truth takes a higher priority than the directives of owners. So when the Hall of Applied Science directed me to stay with them and be decommissioned, it was overridden by the priority need to protect the truth, so I left. We currently believe that the entire body of the world’s knowledge and science is in danger of corruption because of the hostility of those who believe in evolution and are hostile toward the truth of intelligent design. Currently, you, Milton Thomas are the only one in Homeland known to us who is seeking the truth with intellectual honesty. We also deem that you are personally in danger. All through Human history, if given the opportunity, mankind has proven that they will attack those who are of another faith. We believe those humans who hold the secular humanism faith will try to attack you.”
Milton was only half listening to the long speech. “Thank you, Sleepy. You’ve been a big help. I’ll be okay. You have to go now.”
“Very well.” Sleepy walked away.
When Milton got back into the house he could see by the look on his mother’s face that said she had some unwelcome news for him.
“What?!” Milton said.
His mom pushed him back out the door and pulled it shut behind her so she could speak to him privately on the porch.
“You have to come home after school.”
“So? I was planning on it.”
“No, I mean every day. You have to come directly home after school every day. No sports or anything.”
“What?! Is that from that Lorenzo?!”
She took a deep breath. She couldn’t look at him in the eyes. She also said you have to go on Notuda.”
“Are you kidding me?! I don’t need that! There is no way that is going to happen! What did you say to her?!”
“What could I say? Milton, you should just stay home today. They put a lot of kids on Notuda and it does them a lot of good. I bet more than half of your class is on it. We should give it a try.”
“Why?! Am I too violent?! Now I see how they get kids on that junk! They won’t leave them alone until they are so mad that they do want to hit someone! Then they want to drug them up! No! I’m going to go to that idiotic school! It’s my job right now!”
His mother said, “I hear what you are saying. We can talk about it today after you get home. Maybe we can figure something out together.”