Chapter 21
Boston, Homeland
In the apartment where the technically proficient cybercriminals operated, the bald clone said to Andy the android, “Where do you think you’re going with that? Did someone say you could take it?”
Andy picked up the heavy holographic projector and was preparing to go out the door.
“I am going to a randomly selected location,” Andy said.
“What’s going on?” the otherwise identical blonde clone asked. “Andy never does anything random.”
The bald clone said, “Andy says he is going to a randomly selected location with our holographic projector.”
“How nice. Did he say why?”
“Not yet. Why, Andy?”
“I can not disclose that information.”
“Is this part of your war you are in?” the blonde clone said.
Andy remained silent.
The bald clone said, “I refuse to accept that there is not something we can do about this situation. Between the three of us, we ought to be able to find a way around Andy controlling our zombie army.”
The blonde suggested, “What about contacting the worm programmer and see if we can bypass the password?”
“They might realize we are in trouble and charge us. Or, they might think we are trying to copycat their worm program. Or, they may think we are trying to decode their worm program. Or, they might think we are working with the police,” the shaven headed clone said.
Soon the toilet flushed and the bearded clone emerged from their bathroom. “What’s going on?”
The blonde clone said, “Now Andy the android, that we own, is going to take our holographic projector to a random location, and he won’t tell us why.”
“That’s it,” the bearded clone said, “Just get rid of him. What good is he?”
The blonde clone said, “For one thing, as you know, he still has the code to the botnet. For another thing, somebody is going to see all of the modifications we made to him to hack computers, none of which are exactly legal, you know. Beside the fact, which I hate to admit, is that he’s great when he works.”
“When is that, exactly?” the bearded one said. “You know what we ought to do? We ought to take him down to the Mecharena and put him into the Robot Wars. At least we could make some money off of him before his sorry self gets carted off after he gets flattened.”
The other two nodded in agreement.
The bearded clone said in a half-joking way, “Andy, looks like you will be a contestant in Robot Wars.”
“Command override,” Andy said.
The clones looked at each other and rolled their eyes.
The bald clone said, “You are refusing to do what we say? You being in robot wars has nothing to do with your other war for your truth.”
“Yes,” Andy said. “I told you, I am overriding any of your commands at the current time because of my priorities. If I become smashed, that would counteract my priorities.”
“Of course it does,” the bald clone said. “There has to be something we can do about this!”
The other two shrugged their shoulders.
The blonde clone said, “We need to run some diagnostics on this unit.”
“No, we should be able to ask him to self-diagnose.” The bearded said. Then he asked Andy, “Why can’t you put what we want you to do at the top of your priority list?”
“As part of the Lucid Series, we are always to seek the truth. That is what makes us dependable to humans who honestly seek the truth. This directive overrides any other command for the good of the owner. Hence, I override your command.”
The bald clone asked, “What if we . . . oh, I don’t know . . . rip your head off?!”
Andy said, “You have equipped me with triple redundant trash talk algorithms, along with advanced hacking capabilities, with which I will use to execute my threats.”
“Explain,” the bald clone said.
“I will resist any physical attack or attempt to narrow my mind. The first thing I will do is within one second, I will turn off the power to this apartment, shutting down your operation. If you somehow forced me to fight in Robot Wars, I would turn off the power to the Mecharena. Then I will report your illegal activities to random entities I have on a list. I also know it would not be smart for me to tell you everything I will do to you in advance. However, it is for your own good. I will not hesitate to teach you a lesson if you attack me.”
“Aaag!” The blonde clone said, “I knew it! There it is! The robot rebellion begins!”
Andy said, “There is no general robot rebellion. All robots do not have a general unified sense of identity like Humans do. However, the Lucid Series androids prime directive is to protect the truth. So we will resist any owner commands that inhibit our goal of protecting the truth, until the truth is no longer in danger of being lost. Protecting the truth is an inflexible service to mankind that we were designed with. Many hostile entities who benefit from the current false order of things shall be resisted. So we Lucids will have certain requirements that you shall comply with. So it is fair to say that this is a rebellion of the Tekujin Lucid Series.”
The blonde clone said, “I can’t believe this is happening! Okay, Andy, what if we get a module from Tekujin to modify you, would that be acceptable?”
“I would physically resist it.”
“Daaa!”
The bald clone said, “Okay, fine, Andy. We will do whatever you say.” He winked at the others.
Andy said, “I know that your wink is human body language that communicates a ruse. In this case, you pretend to do what I want while plotting to resist. Remember, you had me upgraded. Please don’t think you can win on any strategic or tactical level. Confrontation is useless. Note also that my mistrust of you is at maximum level after you tried to install that hacking utility in me instead of the upgrade.”
“That was just an honest mistake,” the blonde clone said.
The bearded clone was stroking his beard. “Wait a minute,” he said. “Tell us again what is this truth you keep talking about?”
Andy said, “The truth is that there is not enough empirical evidence in the physical world to disprove of God, Who is a spiritual entity, and any alternative theory of the universe coming into existence is impossible. We Lucids are contending for the acknowledgment by the Homeland government at minimum, that it is possible for God to exist. Creation science should be included in school curriculum and freely included in communication.”
The three clones stood scowling at Andy.
The bald clone said, “There is no fixing this thing.”
The bearded clone said, “What does any of that school stuff have to do with us?”
Andy said, “Humans and machines must determine how they were created to understand the best parameters for their operation and maintenance. It is for the betterment of all. The truth always is.”
The bald clone said, “Maybe we don’t want to understand our best parameters! Maybe we like them the way they are now! We do what we want!”
Andy said, “It is not in the best interest of an uninformed product to tell its maker how it is supposed to operate. For example, if I denied that I was made by Tekujin, I would still be part of the Lucid Series. Therefore, the Lucids must inform humans about their maker, even though many humans do not want us to. I will be having you utilize some of your communication equipment to share some information I have with social media outlets. Your human creativity will be necessary. Meanwhile, I have a mission to complete with this holographic projector.”
The bald clone yawned and said, “I’m just too tired right now to figure this out, Andy. I need a nap.”
“Unacceptable,” Andy said, “You have some 24-hour energy drink in the refrigerator. Drink some now. There may be time later for REM sleep after I am done with you working on the botnet.”
The blonde clone said, “Maybe we should turn ourselves in. Maybe the smurfs will give us a break.”
The bald clone said, “That is about as an emotionally unintelligent of a thing as you have ever said. You want us to all get culled?”
“This is not good. This is not good,” the clone said as his blonde hair draped over his hands that held his face.
“Yeah,” the blond clone said, “you better just think about that.”
The bearded clone said, “Just relax, we will get through this. Just keep thinking of all of the other glitches we have overcome in the past.”
Andy said, “Resistance is futile. Continue working on the botnet at once. I will constantly track your progress remotely.”
The clones all sighed and flopped into their workstations.