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 Milton 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.