Humandroids

By Tim Spencer

What would you do if you woke up one day and had enhanced abilities far beyond those of other humans? We're not supermen but we are greatly enhanced and can now defeat the threat to our world.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu Publishing Services
• Release date: Oct 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781483416427

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SPENCER

Copyright © 2014 Timothy Spencer.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted by any means—whether auditory, graphic, mechanical, or electronic—without written permission of both publisher and author, except in the case of brief excerpts used in critical articles and reviews. Unauthorized reproduction of any part of this work is illegal and is punishable by law.

ISBN: 978-1-4834-1643-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4834-1642-7 (e)

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Lulu Publishing Services rev. date: 09/11/2014

CONTENTS

Foreword

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

FOREWORD

I have been a dedicated nerd science fiction fan all my life. Now in my middle sixties I have undertaken this project simply out of the challenge to do something imaginative and interesting. One gaping problem is after reading and watching science fiction movies for over half a century it is very hard to be completely original. We see a lot of old worn out tired themes being slicked up and reprocessed again. Evidently original themes are in short supply.

I claim the status of being substantially original in my writings and having not the slightest intention of ever copying or plagiarizing any one’s work. You may find several themes that have been explored in past works but in fairness there are also a number of parallel developments in ideas and concepts of multiple writers and imaginers.

Some themes herein that may be similar to other works I have never read or seen. This is purely coincidental and one cannot keep up with the astronomical amount of works produced by fellow writers around the world. The bottom line is that I hope you enjoy the story and understand I am still an eager excited wide eyed fellow fan of the genre at heart only trying to entertain with my clever ideas I hope you like.

I for one profoundly admire and respect the imaginative and hardworking writers and fans the world over. We range from dreadfully bad to mediocre to a few of amazingly high quality. I’m working on eventually graduating to the last one. This may take some time so if you like my work I thank you and acknowledge you as a fellow fan and lover of the craft.

Tim Spencer

CHAPTER 1

Thomas Graham was dying. The visit to the Veterans Hospital in Saginaw, Michigan was to be his last. He felt even more exhausted than usual after a series of ineffective treatments. He had been diagnosed as having terminal colon cancer and was resigned to facing the end. After all he had lived 78 years and had a reasonably good life. He was on his way home now for the last time. At least he could be comfortable there.

As the short VA blue transport bus turned onto his country road he saw his modest ranch style home come into view just down the road. The bus pulled into his circle driveway and stopped at his wide covered front porch. The driver; a plump black middle aged woman got out of her bus and helped the weak and dizzy old man up his stairs and onto his wide wooden front porch. He keyed open his door and they went over into his big brown easy chair in the front room of his modest ranch style home.

Thank you Doris. He sighed. Her kind face smiled back to him and she told him in a sincere and unsteady voice. Just call us if you need anything, sweetheart. Thomas smiled and replied: I’m all right dear, just a little tired.

You get some rest and I’ll see you soon. She turned to leave and Thomas thanked her again. She left and closed the door behind her. From his big easy chair, he gazed out his front picture window at the farm scene across the road. Past the neighbors farm on the opposite side of the gravel road he could see the clear blue waters of Lake Huron, only a few hundred yards distant and less than fifteen miles from Bay City, Michigan.

He pulled a thick comforter up over his shoulders as he swung the lever and reclined his easy chair back all the way. He closed his eyes and prayed. Thank You God for my life and the good people you have blessed me with. Please look after my son and daughter; their children and grandchildren wherever they are. I guess this is probably my last day on Earth and I leave this world at peace and losing my children as my most painful regret. I thank you for your mercy and your grace. He then drifted off to sleep.

Thomas slept soundly for some time and began to awaken. He was surprised at waking up at all. Thomas looked around and was astonished at how clear headed and lucid he was. He found himself in a large comfortable bed in a well lit room without windows and with furnishings similar to his but this was not his room or his house.

The wallpaper was flowery like his own and so was his bedspread but also definitely not his. His late wife loved flowery decorations. He sat up and looked around more intently. He was curiously surprised he had absolutely no pain.

The door to his right opened and a young dark haired woman came in. She smiled and sat down by him on the queen sized bed. She had not quite shoulder length dark brown hair and the most dazzling green eyes he had ever seen. Thomas couldn’t help but stare, she was breathtaking. She wore form fitting blue jeans with a red blouse. This young woman had a perfect frame with round curvy hips. She was excruciatingly beautiful.

Are you in any pain or discomfort? She asked in a soft voice as she swept a small instrument over him that he had never seen before. She then put it away in a small holster on her belt and picked up his hand in hers. She looked intently into his eyes. I will explain where you are and why you are here in just a few minutes. I have a crucially important question to ask you first.

He looked at her with considerable surprise and blurted. I take it I haven’t made it to heaven yet and you‘re not an angel. She smiled broadly and said; No, not at all and no you haven’t made it to heaven just yet. She was so beautiful, he couldn‘t stop staring. She was voluptuous and perfectly proportioned at about five foot seven or eight and weighed, he estimated at about one hundred and thirty pounds.

She began. "My name is Rachael Kelly and I am a humandroid. I was born in Covington Kentucky on March 10, 1887. As of this year 2015, I am one hundred and twenty eight years old. I have an android body with a human brain with spinal chord rescued from my old and dying body at the age of 92. That was back in 1979. I must ask you while you are lucid and clear headed; would you also like your brain and spinal chord transplanted into an android body too?

There are many responsibilities and serious commitments so this is not an act of misguided charity or kindness. There is an emergent pressing reason for all this which all will be explained later. Mr. Graham, would you like a new android body?"

He shook his head and hesitated a moment still in shock. Well, I would be crazy not to want to live longer. By the way, how much longer will I live? These bodies she explained; should last from seven to nine hundred Earth years if properly maintained. Please respond before the medication I gave you wears off and it will be too late.

Really, he replied as he absorbed it. Just like the people in Genesis of the Bible, they lived to be sometimes nine hundred years old. Oh my gosh."

She showed him a set of photos on her laptop showing a dozen very young handsome men. You can have a duplicate of your young self or chose another body type. No thank you Miss Rachael; I prefer a new body and a new life. He pointed his finger at a brown haired sturdy framed young man that reminded him of his young body so many years ago. "That one looks a bit like me when I was young, but not exactly.

That one, he asserted. Yes, I would be crazy not to jump at the chance for an extended life. This one is so short. Yes please, Miss Rachael, the sooner the better." She smiled sweetly at him that made him feel warm and hopeful. Then she gave him an injection of something in his arm he did not feel and he again fell off into a deep sleep.

Sometime later, he awoke in the same room and bed with a slight headache feeling disoriented and dizzy. Rachael was standing over him with her scanning device examining his head. She inspected the device readout intently. Are you having any pain? He put his hand up to his head to scratch an itch and she took it in her hand. No scratching, she ordered and with her other hand she sprayed medication on his incision. There, that should stop the itching.

The medication felt soothing and instantly stopped all itching and after a minute even the ache in his head went away. Thank You Miss Rachael, I feel a lot better, except my stomach is growling. By the way, how long have I been out? She got up and again put the device away in her hip holster. About four days and nights, you needed sufficient time to heal and for the implants to acclimate to your brain nerves and tissues. You must be very hungry. Naturally, we still need a diet of good food to nourish the brain. The intravenous feeding still leaves the stomach feeling painfully empty. After a week you won‘t even have any scar tissue.

She helped him to his feet and she took him over to a full length mirror. He stood there in his blue boxer shorts still a bit wobbly and stared transfixed on his new body in the mirror. This was shockingly surreal. He was so astonished he couldn’t even speak. He was young and handsome again and he felt wonderful.

He felt his new face then ran his hands down his form. His skin was smooth and his body hard and muscular like a twenty five or thirty year old. Rachael held onto his arm as he became acclimated to his new self. He felt no pain or discomfort and he had no problem breathing again as his asthma and emphysema were now completely gone.

She began. You are five feet ten inches tall and weigh a hundred and eighty five pounds. You chose a solid muscular form and you made a good choice. You are very handsome. Thomas couldn’t believe it. Hey; he jolted. I’m an inch and a half taller and I have bigger feet too. Good lord; I even have all of my teeth and a full head of hair.

Rachael grinned and added. I used to be five foot four with size six feet. Now, I’m five eight with size nine feet. She went on. "Our skin feels soft and supple. However it is tougher than leather. I will show you how to maintain and recharge your energy supply.

Our old bodies were basically electrochemically powered the new one is even more so. In your belly button there is a small port for recharging your system and also for downloading information directly into your augmented brain system.

There are currently seventy five small informational discs you must download within the next few days and this is how. She plugged a small chord into his belly button insert and the other end into a small disc player device she clipped on his belt on the chest of drawers next to him. Just follow the directions and prompts from your internal computer enhanced brain system."

Ok, that’s not too hard, Thomas acknowledged. I’ll start with the charging and maintenance system. He placed it into his disc player. As you can see, she continued as it played. You have an internal heads up display your eyes can see internally with choices up and down both sides of your visual range. You can switch it on or off at any time.

You will have both microscopic and magnifying binocular vision, night vision, and a very advanced Forward Looking Infrared Radar capability. You will be able to focus in on and read a newspaper at over a hundred yards. Focusing your eyes will be instantaneous, no more presbyopia. You will now have your own unique fingerprints and unique retina characteristics

You will be able to see and accurately measure distances exactly up to at least a hundred miles. You will have an additional short range radar type of ability to about seven hundred yards or so. Fog or smoke will be penetrable up to that distance.

You will be able to instantly change your eye color from your original blue to any of the common shades. Thomas commented. That would explain why I now can see perfectly without my glasses, even the minutest detail.

Rachael continued. "You won’t be needing glasses ever again. Your augmented brain and memory will have instantaneous and permanent recall of all previously learned, newly learned and downloaded information. Anything you hear, see, read or learn becomes permanent and instantly accessible.

You will be a living, breathing library and a living super computer. You will for example; be able to pick a face out of a crowd immediately and never forget the face or information about that person. If you see the faces of forty thousand people at a stadium and meet them, you will remember all their names, plus all he information you have learned about them; permanently.

You will never again get sick or have any kind of allergic reaction with a couple of rare exceptions which will be detailed on the disc. Unless you are physically injured you should have no pain, ever again. You won’t have to shave or cut your hair anymore unless we set the regen chamber to grow some if you wish. I put some hair on your chest too.

However you will have to access some previous information outside your common usage file. Old memories that are too traumatic can be repressed and I advise you to select the ones and repress you find too painful. This way we won‘t become debilitated because of depressive moods or episodes. Despite these new bodies we are still very much human."

Thomas sighed: this is a lot to take in. Rachael replied; Oh this is just the beginning. She went on. "You will have the strength of six very strong young men at full recharge and even at such strength you will also have the most sensitive touch capability. In an emergency you can have the strength of eight or nine such men for a short time, a half hour or so.

Naturally this sense of smell will be several times better than normal and you will be able to identify a number of basic chemical substances. The disc will elaborate further on that. That super sensitive sense of smell will not always be desirable. Nasty smelling things will become even more nasty smelling and disgusting. Stun gun, tasers and must gasses will affect you far less unless there is a massive exposure.

We have the ability to stun others with a touch of our fingers and there are three settings of personal stun; slight which harmlessly and painlessly disables the subject for a few minutes. The second stun is about like a stun gun or taser. The last his stun is quite harsh. This one we call Smoke em; because a prolonged stun will cause their hair to start to smoke. It hurts like being electrocuted but the after effects are fairly moderate with only a few slight burns.

There are five settings on our particle beam pistols. Setting one is a short range field beam that temporarily stops movement and confuses conscious thought harmlessly. These settings work up to about a hundred feet. Two is a gentle stun that makes the subject immobile and will stay that way for ten minutes or so. This effect is also harmless.

Three is an actual stun that is quite uncomfortable. It immobilizes a person for less that ten minutes. Four is a disabling and harsh stun that also smokes them for about ten minutes. Five kills on the spot; that is our default setting. It dissolves the glue that holds molecules together and death is instantaneous even with a peripheral hit. Our beam rifles simply have three times the energy and range of the pistols.

You will have about five days and nights on one full charge at your body’s normal activity. You can replenish your electrical energy from sunlight with your space blanket solar recharge system which is included in your belt pack, you can spread it out and recharge in about two hours in direct sun. I recommend recharging at every opportunity and keep it at a hundred percent.

You may need four hours if it is cloudy. You can plug into any 110 or 220 volt system with adaptors also in your belt pack. You also have a direct current adaptor to recharge from most motor vehicle systems. You can even clamp onto a car battery and recharge your system that way.

Your belt pack has a list of goodies and functions revealed in the discs you are downloading now. It is to be kept within arms length at all times as a vital part of your equipment package. Mine as you see is always on me except when I sleep.

You can run at speeds up to thirty miles an hour for about two hours but remember that will drain your system in as little as eight hours. You will also be able to move five times faster than a normal person in emergency mode.

Observers will see only a blur. Again this will take up more energy and this capability should be used when necessary. Remember, you must take in food nutrition for your brain, so even at a full body electrical charge if your brain is deficient of what it needs you are in deep trouble.

So eat three modest meals per day, the disc will specify what foods are best and how much. You will only require a little over half of the normal food supply. You will expel waste the usual way and consequently about half of normal volume will be discharged. We must also maintain our bodies and brains with a modest exercise regimen.

These humandroid bodies have no wiring or no recognizable electrical devices. They appear to be organic and they appear to function similar to our old bodies for the most part. We have no idea how they actually work but they do and for that I am very grateful."

Thomas nodded in acknowledgement. She went on. This cabinet has the rest of the numbered discs Rachael indicated and picked up the first set of discs. As I said, there are seventy five altogether and they cover almost all known subjects. So continue with these after dinner. It’s ready now."

Thomas put on khaki pants, a green button up shirt and his black leather walking shoes and socks and of course his belt pack. It looked like a large thick black belt otherwise.

How did you know that dinner is ready? He asked half jokingly. Rachael answered his question as they walked. "The second disc details our communications systems that makes us appear to be psychic when we actually are not. We have a super cellular type of communications system with similarities like a regular cell phone.

You can call me or any phone type number using a very low volume and frequency outside the human range whether on the surface or you can call any of the androids, shuttles or this mother ship. You’ve got to be hungry, let’s go and eat."

Ship, we’re on a ship; what kind of ship? Thomas asked very surprised. The couple went out the room and into a wide well lit white hallway. She answered nonchalantly. We’re on a large ship orbiting in space. Thomas asked curiously. Miss Rachael, if we’re on a space ship then why aren’t we floating in zero gravity weightlessness?" Rachael took it in stride and informed him.

This incredibly advanced ship uses both grav and anti grav technology. I still don’t know exactly how it works but it allows us to float our U ships over the surface and also the opposite, to keep us planted firmly to the deck of this ship and all our other ships. Thomas was quite elated and excited about it all. Wow, wow, this is amazing.

Several seven foot tall stocky human type beings with generic male and female faces in variously colored jump suits walked past them. He stared incredulously. These aren’t regular people are they? She informed him they were pure androids. They are our helpers; they are bigger and stronger even than we are. They do however stick out like a sore thumb in public.

She went on describing the androids. These guys and gals are a curious lot. They cannot make human decisions or take life except when defending us such as during a combat mission when they are ordered to do so. They are so advanced they perform the brain to body transfers and maintain the ship and us. However when I ask them about certain subjects they respond with; Sir, that information is currently not available."

They can fly our ships and do many other things better than we do. However when we are in trouble or unconscious they respond immediately to rescue and restore us."

They and our sponsors are extremely high tech even though we are not. There are about forty or so androids currently on board. They rest by just plugging in and standing by to respond when they are needed. As you see they wear coverall type jump suits of different colors to identify their specific tasks. They rotate assignments every week or so.

You will be issued your own personal android and you will find that after a while interacting with them that they have very subtle individual personality characteristics. They insist they are all exactly alike but you will realize that after spending time with them they will reveal those subtle differences.

I treat them just like another person. I give them respect and they respond to me with respect. My girl Mimi has rescued me several times already. I can’t help I have come to love her and maybe I’m imagining it I think she loves me too.

You would think I would have lots of technical knowledge and insight but I really don’t; just what is on the discs and my experiences since 79. Even after all these years I am really just an old Kentucky girl; basically a housewife, without a family. However I have learned and adapted to things I never could have imagined from the disc downloads and my experiences. I am still a Kentucky housewife at heart.

There are certain restricted areas of this ship I have never been to and I cannot open certain doors. The androids won’t let me in even when I order them to. I guess I really don’t need to go in anyway. I was just curious and bored. They maintain and repair everything including me.

I had a dream of when the last time I was shot by an enemy and my gal Mimi picked me up in her arms saying very emotionally: My poor, poor beautiful baby girl; those evil bastards hurt you again. I’ll kill them all. She walked on and concluded. There is no file record of the event so it had to be a vivid ream when I was unconscious. The androids are not emotional about anything so that had to be a dream. She put me into a regeneration chamber and saved my life for the seventh time. She thought of something.

"I do have to go down to the surface from time to time and back a U shuttle into an old warehouse and oversee the androids get our supplies, food and necessities which are loaded on pallets and the androids load them on the ship for me. All I have to do is maintain a list