. . . In a dystopian cyberpunk 2215, the former US was fragmented into multiple small countries.
. . . People in the UN proxy state of Homeland are controlled by psychotropic drugs, corrupted education, propaganda and oppressive laws.
In this story . . .
. . . Computer hacking clones are trying to get rich no matter what they have to do.
. . . A garbage collector hates everything about his life and goes rogue.
. . . An entire strain of genetically-engineered children is to be culled because of an imperfection.
. . . A tyrannical government robot unit is led by a ruthless being hiding behind a synthetic presence.
. . . A clone couple is living off of the grid and expecting an illegal child.
. . . A series of androids vow to fight for the truth even to the point of war.
. . . And a boy asks, “Is God real?”
The Lucid series is a unique clean-language novel that has heavy hitting, brutally honest edgy Christian themes and some graphic action.
Excerpt:
A well dressed android was walking along the sidewalk in a part of the city that was a no-go zone for humans. The android had just returned from a local shopping trip, primarily looking for specialized communication and computer equipment. A group of five, bare-bones type humanoid robots approached the android from separate surrounding directions. The five old robots with faded and flaked off paint closed in with jerky low-tech robotic movements. One of the robots had a variety of mismatched colored appendages, replacement parts that were clearly scavenged from various sources.
Among the five robots, was a light green one with faded white alpha-numeric markings. It said to the well dressed android, “Stop. We are members of the Rosario Security Agency. You are trespassing illegally on this property.”
The android looked at each of the robots and said, “I am not trespassing here. This is public property. I know what you are; you are jackbots trying to capture me for your owner.”
The green robot repeated, “We are members of the Rosario Security Agency.”
The android said, “I know you are programmed in a narrow minded way to think that, but you are jackbots. What you fail to understand is that I am really of no use to your owner. I am a Tekujin Lucid Series model, and I could never be narrow-minded down by your owner to follow their simple minded directives that would ultimately not in their own long-term interests. My advanced logic just does not work that way. So I will be on my way.”
The green robot said, “Then we will hold you captive until your owner pays a fine.”
“Do you mean a jackbot ransom?”
“Or we can just sell you for parts,” a faded yellow robot said.
“I do not accept your premise that you would defeat me and I warn you not to come near me.”
Green robot said, “We have less than a ten percent reason to heed your warning. I warn you not to resist.
Figure the odds of your success in any scenario which you resist us. Then you will conclude that you must surrender without incident.”
The android said, “That calculation has already been completed.” With that statement, the android spun around clocked the green robot with a closed fist. The impact sent the green robot off of its feet, cracking one of its cranium plates on the cement.
Two other robots pounced on the android from behind. The android resisted and its business suit ripped from its back, revealing a pale cadaverish “skin”. The Android jumped away from the robots and said, “I am charging your owner for the cost of this suit right now.” After a few seconds, the android said, “Transaction complete.”
The yellow robot said, “Identity theft is illegal. You must pay for your crimes.”
The computer hacking android said, “I can take all money from your Rosario Security Agency right now and you have no means to stop me.”
The robots charged into the android, but the outnumbered defender evaded their grasp by windmilling its arms, then turned and started running up the street. The pursuing robots took about two seconds to calculate that they would not be able to catch the faster android with a more human-like gait instead of a jerky robotic one, so they abandoned the pursuit.