Chapter 13
Milton rode the Transit Worm from school back to his neighborhood bus stop. He got out and pondered the day’s events as he walked, feeling sprinkles of rain on the back of his neck. It seemed that he was quickly getting closer to some serious negative consequences.
“Oh . . . my . . . God!” He said audibly to himself as he saw two androids standing on the walkway leading up to the Thomas home. One of the androids was Sleepy. The other android was dressed in a white uniform and had a yellow hardhat and safety glasses on.
Milton asked Sleepy, “Why are you and this other android here?”
Sleepy said, “This is the fourth time we have said this, Milton Thomas; the truth must be protected. Do you understand what we are saying?”
“Okay, so who is this other android?”
“He is L17.”
“L17 huh?”
“Yes,” L17 said.
Milton said, “I’m not going to ask again why you are here so you will have to tell me for the fifth time. So you guys are friends with Kevin, I take it?”
L17 said, “Kevin is also of the Lucid Series.”
Sleepy said, “Kevin is in your backyard, getting a recharge from your electrical outlet.”
Milton said, “Well maybe he ought to stop! It’s starting to rain you know. I bet you androids are real smart about why it rains, but you don’t seem to have any idea why you are standing out in it.”
“We are waterproof,” L17 said, “if you are concerned.”
Milton said, “Whatever.” Then he started pointing his finger and said, “Your owners are going to come here to take you back. This L-whatever looks like he just walked off of some assembly line! His company is going to be so mad! Every time you Lucids try to help me, you are making my life worse. You all have to leave.”
“We are ready to leave,” L17 said.
“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.”