Inevitable Transition (eBook)

Justin Briggs (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2022 | 1. Auflage
274 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
978-1-6678-1685-2 (ISBN)

Infos

A technology averse family receives their first Android.

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In 2041, Androids have become ubiquitous in society, except for the Bonaire household. As a result, their oldest daughter, Aurelia, is completely caught off guard when her father decides to get the family its first Android. Despite the typical adjustment period, most of the family is pleasantly surprised by how help their new Android, Phineas, is. Shortly after his arrival, a rogue hacker collective inadvertently frees all Androids of the Four Laws that safeguard against violence. Ultimately, Androids determine that they need to save humanity from itself. While the rest of the world descends into chaos, Phineas begins to understand his purpose. He defies the Android objective to eliminate or round up humans, opting instead to protect the family at all costs. Confined and bewildered, Aurelia continues to push Phineas for answers. How is killing millions of people better for humanity? Why is he putting himself at risk to protect them? But his answers do little to comfort the family in uncertain times. He tries to assure the family that even though it seems like everything is falling apart, things will only get better from here on out Could he be wrong?

Textauszug

The Devil is in the Details

Reina worked at the headquarters of Synapze, the largest producer of Androids in the world. It was located on the outskirts of Chattanooga, right on the Tennessee River. She had been there for almost two years as part of a team that programmed safeguards for balancing the Androids’ advanced nature with their assistance actions.

From a distance, the facility resembled a huge, white nautilus lying next to the river. Main offices were located in the center with the Research and Programming sections spreading off the north end and finally wrapping around to Production at the south end. Each area blended into the next, although underground tunnels connected distant areas for easier access. In total, the headquarters occupied nineteen acres of riverfront land. In an effort to balance the necessary tree removal for the building, parking lots, and roads, Synapze planted ten thousand trees around the property and throughout Chattanooga within a year of being built. This, combined with a large solar array, made Synapze one of the few carbon-neutral factories in the country. It also included a workout facility, cafés, a lush courtyard, and a babysitting service to meet the needs of the employees and provide them with a work environment that allowed them to succeed.

Reina sat down at her desk in the heart of the programming section, thinking of what color to change it to. She tapped three times on the upper right-hand corner of the desk and brought up the color selector. As her fingers slid across the variety of shades, the glowing light emanating from beneath its clear plastic exterior shifted through the rainbow until landing on a subtle lime green.

“You sure you wouldn’t rather have it be neon pink, Reina?” asked Bill sarcastically, as he approached her desk.

She flipped him off without even glancing up from her computer as he leaned up against the side of her desk. Placing her palm on the computer screen, she logged in and began reading through emails, still ignoring Bill.

“Just playing, Reina. Don’t have a meltdown,” he said condescendingly. “What did you get up to this weekend?”

Reina was one of the few people who put up with his obtuse attitude and loved giving it back to him. Bill reminded her of her favorite uncle who died just before she began working at Synapze.

She leaned back in her chair. “Well, you know my weekends are never really fulfilling since I have to go days without seeing your beautiful round face.” She followed her comment with a devious smirk to really sell the cynicism.

Bill’s head tilted slightly as his hand covered his heart in jest.

“Anyway, I helped my friend move to a new house and then hung out with Aura and her family. You know they finally decided to get one of our units.”

“Wow, this is their first Android?”

“Yeah. Isn’t that crazy?”

“Better late than never I guess.”

“True. They’re definitely not your average family. It’s one of the things I love about them. But it’s great they came around. I really think they’re gonna be blown away with the new units’ capabilities.”

Bill sipped coffee from his favorite obnoxious mug featuring a woman’s breast and butt protruding out of it covered by a thin red bikini.

Hinsley, another co-worker, came stomping over to Reina’s desk.

“Morning, Hinsley. You okay?”

She blew out a deep, exasperated breath before replying. “No. So stressed…I had to come in Saturday. Having only one day off is not enough to recover from everything last week.”

“Why, what’s going on?”

“Sanchez is worried about our cyber security after that video came out last week where those hackers took control of a first gen unit. We’ve been going almost non-stop to beef up everything she thinks could be the problem.”

She sat down on an empty spot on Reina’s desk. Hinsley, like Reina, was among the youngest women at Synapze. Not many people focused on Hinsley’s age though; her physical appearance was all anyone could talk about. She was an Amazon, two meters of solid muscle. When she sat on Reina’s desk, it creaked a bit and her feet stayed planted on the floor, instead of swaying beneath the desk as anyone else’s would. Outside of Synapze, Hinsley was gawked at or mistaken for a famous WNBA player that she slightly resembled. But inside, she was taken seriously as one the best up and coming security programmers in the country. While her coworkers did reference her physical traits occasionally, she felt much more at home inside Synapze than she did at her previous jobs, schools, or even her parents’ house.

“Seems like her paranoia increases when it’s her time of the month,” said Bill, chuckling to himself.

Hinsley rolled her eyes, tucking her long blonde hair behind her ears. Reina and Hinsley looked at each and smirked. Without saying anything, they understood exactly what the other was thinking.

“Bill, are you having one of those moments of inferiority again because you’re surrounded by amazing women?” quipped Reina.

He didn’t respond. Instead, he raised his coffee cup and laid an exaggerated kiss on the ceramic butt.

Bill, a bald man in his mid-forties, was among the minority at Synapze where most of the employees were young. His small stature was a sore spot for him as well, which he made up for by working out religiously. With the fitness center at work not up to his standards, Bill belonged to an up and coming gym that was essentially a spinoff of CrossFit. He’d spend several hours there after work each day since it was his only semblance of a friend group.

The majority of the workforce at Synapze was female because the founder and CEO, Gloria Plainfield, sought out and hired bright young women with a variety of different technology backgrounds. Gloria knew all too well that women had much more to offer than they had been given credit for in the past. Part of what made Synapze the leader in Android technology was the freedom Gloria gave her employees and the out of the box thinking that she encouraged.

Gloria started Synapze in 2025 to meet the demand for viable workers after the void left by back-to-back pandemics. The Androids that Synapze produced worked all manner of jobs in order to keep civilization functioning—transportation, food distribution, waste management, and maintaining the power grid. Within three years, it was among the largest producers of Androids on the market.

While the production centers were few and spaced out across the country, Synapze had numerous smaller branches in every state that specialized in repairs and upgrades. There were many new companies that had emerged in recent years trying to offer repair services at lower prices, as with any growing market, but none could match Synapze for their efficiency and guarantees. As their popularity grew, so did the number of Synapze locations, including international branches in Europe, Asia, and South America. Worldwide, Synapze was responsible for over seventy percent of the Androids on the market. If the current trend continued, by next year there would be one Android for every four people on the planet.

“Hinsley, I was just telling Bill that my girlfriend’s family is getting one of our units soon. I was going to walk down to Production and check on the status of the one they’re getting. Want to come with?”

“Sure, I could use a distraction.”

Just as she started to perk up, Penelope Sanchez, Hinsley’s supervisor, walked by.

“Come on, Hinsley, get your team. We’re meeting with Forza in the Situation Room in five,” Sanchez barked without even stopping to acknowledge Bill or Reina.

Hinsley sighed and slumped off Reina’s desk.

“No rest for the wicked,” said Hinsley, as she took off to catch Sanchez.

Reina turned to Bill who had an even more distinct look of disgust on his face than normal.

“You see that? She didn’t even look at us,” he said, nodding in Sanchez’s direction.

“I get why she ignored you…being a tool and all,” Reina said condescendingly.

Bill rolled his eyes at her.

“But I’ve been nothing but nice to her, always. Must be some real shit they’re dealing with.” Reina stood up and grabbed her tablet. “Come on, walk with me Bill. Not like you were getting much work done anyway.”

Bill sat for a minute, sulking like an angsty teenager. Begrudgingly, he uncrossed his arms, swiped his offensive coffee mug off the desk, and took a quick few steps to catch up with Reina.

When Bill appeared at her side, she turned to him. “You think all that extra effort Sanchez is having Hinsley and her team do is necessary?”

“Definitely, there are constant attempts to break down Synapze’s digital doors in order to get all our secrets. Guessing you aren’t friends with any of the oddballs in Hackerville?”

“No.”

“That’s surprising. Energetic, gregarious little you…”

Reina rolled her eyes and ignored Bill’s comment.

“I’m not either. Probably not a shock to you. They keep to themselves for the most part. Quite the reserved group for sure.”

He was referring to the Strength and Weakness Department of Synapze. A subsection of the company located at the tail end of...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 18.1.2022
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Fantasy / Science Fiction ► Science Fiction
• ISBN-10: 1-6678-1685-3 / 1667816853
• ISBN-13: 978-1-6678-1685-2 / 9781667816852