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  “No!” the bald clone refused.

  “Accessing Homeland Police Hotline . . .” Andy said.

  “Daaa!” the bald clone said. “Alright!”

  The blonde clone said, “We are not your slaves, Andy!”

  Andy said, “Looking at the situation, it turns out that you are in fact, my slaves. You are in the human state of denial, where you cannot look at your own situation objectively. You should, for your own benefit, choose to certify the reality of this situation.”

  “Man! He just keeps telling us off in novel ways,” the bald clone said. “Come on, let’s go back to work. Maybe this kooky war of his will never happen.”

  The bearded one said, “We’ll think of something.”

  “I hate you, Andy,” the blonde clone said.

  Chapter 12

  Hartford, Homeland

  Milton sat with Randy in the school cafeteria, eating the typical twenty-third century lunchroom cuisine. They were treated to processed protein blend with a choice of sauces; fresh hydroponically grown greens; and fruit juice.

  Randy said, “This is my third favorite lunch, right behind the chili and the pizza.”

  “Uh huh,” Milton said, not really listening. He had even more to think about after the hallway confrontation.

  Randy said, “Daaa! Don’t look. Stafford is in here. Don’t come this way! Don’t come this way! He’s coming this way!”

  He walked up to Milton, not looking happy and said, “Thomas, in my office as soon as you are done here.”

  *******

  “Thomas, I have been a principal quite awhile now. But I haven’t run into anyone else like you. You seem to cause drama wherever you go. But I would have never thought that you would get Kevin the Custodian stirred up in your little theatre. You know, Kevin didn’t work out as a teacher, but he was doing great as a Custodian. You messed that all up.”

  Milton sat with a look of surprise on his face.

  “Do you seriously think I can keep an android around who attacks the children? You don’t seem to get it, Thomas. You have no idea what a robot can do to a human. They can kill a human real quick. What exactly did you do to Kevin?”

  “Nothing . . . I”

  “C’mon! Cut the baloney here! You ruined Kevin and now it will cost the taxpayers a bundle to replace him! Not to mention you could have gotten some of the other boys killed!”

  Milton felt intimidated by Stafford, a large man with a deep voice. But he had to think quickly. He said, “This is basically all your fault.”

  “What?! Tell me I didn’t just hear you blame me for all this.”

  “That’s right. If you would have helped me get an answer to my question, then the truth would have been protected. You’re a teacher, so you should have helped me.”

  Stafford looked shocked. He sat shaking his head at the situation. “Thomas, you are going to make my brain explode. You got a metric ton of nerve telling me something like that. I hope this Notuda they got you on will kick in pretty soon. You got anything else brilliant to add?”

  “Yes. Blaze Bangeese and those other guys were attacking Randy Klosterman and me in the lunch line when Kevin stopped him.”

  “You know what, Thomas? There aren’t any videos of that all over Twitbook like there are of Kevin lifting Blaze off of the floor. You’re crazy if you think Kevin can be salvaged. You are the one who is the common factor in all this trouble. You are in the middle of it all. That tells me you are the problem.”

  “Mr. Stafford, someone needs to listen to me. These androids know that everyone is destroying science with evolution. They will not stop until the truth gets out.”

  “Oh, so you know more than the entire science community now. If I don’t listen to you the world will end. Why should I listen to a kid? You don’t know anything. That’s why you are in this school.”

  “Evolution could not have made the human body because it had to start from nothing and have everything working at the same time so the body could survive. There is way too much that would go wrong. God had to have made man and the androids are realizing it. Yes, I asked them the question, but that is all I did. I’m not some kind of terrorist or something. But I think those androids are doing the right thing.”

  Then Principal Stafford’s phone rang.

  “What?! I’ll be right down!” Stafford stood up. He sneered at Milton and gritted his teeth, clearly blaming him for whatever was going on at the other end of the phone call. Then he ran out of the office.

  *******

  When Principal Stafford arrived at the hallway outside of the cafeteria, he saw Stephon the school maintenance manager sitting on the floor holding his nose with a bloody rag. The school maintenance robot was lying on the floor with one of its arms missing at the shoulder. The floor was slick with dielectric robot oil. Student and teacher onlookers looked terrified. Locker doors all along the scene were caved in.

  Stafford asked a teacher, “What happened here?!

  She shook her head and shrugged her shoulders.

  Stafford shouted, “Who knows what went on here?!”

  The crowd just stared at him. One of the smaller children stepped forward and handed the principal the maintenance robot’s detached arm.

  Stafford helped Stephon up. He asked the battered maintenance manager, “You okay?”

  He nodded yes as held his bloody nose.

  “What happened?”

  “We were getting ready to take Kevin to the salvage plant. Then he like . . . resisted. It all happened so fast. Kevin more or less sucker punched our much stronger repair bot and got the best of him. Otherwise, I think the repair bot would have easily taken him in a brawl. I’m not too worried about the repair bot, since it should be able to repair itself for the most part.”

  Stafford asked Stephon, “So did Kevin object to being taken to the salvage yard or something?”

  “You hit the nail on the head. I ain’t never seen a droid act like that. It musta been some kinda glitch. It kept saying, ‘the truth must be protected’ while they were going at it. Then afterwards Kevin ran off somewhere. I need some cold water for my nose so I can get this stopped.”

  Stafford immediately knew that Milton Thomas had something to do with the situation. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and called the city police. “I want to report a rogue android.”

  “Can you describe the android, Mr. Stafford?”

  “It is our Custodian. It has a green uniform. Oh, and a ‘Stay in School’ sign on its back.”

  “Can you tell me if your android was properly maintained?”

  It was rare, but on occasion an android would mutiny against its owner because some malfunction involving the owner’s authority link or related settings would become corrupted.

  “Well, it is kinda old, but we have this student who may have tampered with it somehow.”

  “A student?”

  “Yes, but we are dealing with that situation right now.”

  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 fri
ends 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.”

  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.”