***
The drug was taking effect now and I found it harder to order my thoughts in any way.
Gods? What god had Jena been talking about? His god, your god, their god, the god out there but no god for me.
Mech, the god for all A.I. beings, as robots and androids were now permitted to call themselves, lived in a red world of dust which corroded him and he had three sons, Iron, Tin and Wire. They lived in the desert for they were afraid of the sea but one day Iron, who was the eldest son, committed a sin by openly doubting Mech and Mech banished him. Iron wandered alone until he came to the sea and left his mark upon a rock but no more was ever heard from him again.
The Myth of Mech went around my head until I said ‘No!’ For a while I had been curious about the android god but he wasn’t for me. Neither the Christian God, nor Allah, nor Yahweh were for me. Many replicants, like me, were not able to find faith. When you didn’t trust your own memories it was hard to find peace. The memory of the sunset on Mars was typical. If it had been real, I would have been six at the time and I know the event happened but not to me. Most replicants were ‘grown’ until the age of sixteen before being bought, or ‘adopted,’ to use a more acceptable term. Of course, if you had the money you could adopt earlier or later but sixteen was the most usual age. This was the age at which it was felt a rep. child would be psychologically stable and provide the least trouble for prospective parents.
Parents were encouraged to call the first day a birthday and do something distinctive so that the rep. would remember it clearly. In my case it was a picnic by the river in Frisco East with my mother Mary, stepfather and sister Justine. At first, I had believed all the implanted memories of my early years but soon, taunts of other children made me ask my mother what a replicant was. She told me and, later at college, when I met other replicants, I soon learned the truth about our memories. It hurt.
For all this, the memory of the sunset on Mars was the most vivid and it didn’t stop coming.
***
While in the trance, I lived through the blanker, which was sent to Jena’s apartment. We spent five days together doing the sites of the Moon. Most couples used this method while traveling, to spend more time together. It had some hilarious results. While using a blanker the time-delay was often a problem and while feeding the baby mammoth, star-attraction at Collins Zoo, my blanker couldn’t react fast enough and had his hand bitten off. We lost the deposit of course. On the seventh day, I arrived and the blanker was returned to the vendor.
***
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Biography of Lazlo Ferran
Lazlo Ferran's extraordinary life has included studying aeronautical engineering; being a dispatch rider, graphic designer, full-time busker, a guitarist and singer (recording two albums); travelling widely, marrying in Kyrgyzstan and a long and successful career within the science industry. He has now left employment in the public sector to concentrate on writing. He has lived and worked in London since 1985 and grew up in the home counties of England.
Brought up as a Buddhist, in recent years he has moved towards an informal Christian belief and has had close contact with Islam and Hinduism. He has a deep and lasting interest in theology and philosophy. His ideas and observations form the core of his novels. Here, evil, good, luck and faith battle for control of the souls who inhabit his worlds.
He has traveled widely, spending some time in Central Asia having various adventures, one of which was getting married in the traditional Kyrgyz way. He keeps very busy writing in his spare time and pursuing his other interests of history, genealogy and history of the movies.
From the author:
Thank you for reading my story and I hope you liked it. I value very much feedback from people and need this if each book is to be better than the last, so if you could take the time to either post a comment on my blog or simply email me, I would appreciate it.
Where to find Lazlo Ferran
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Blog: https://www.lazloferran.com
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