Twenty Million Years

Paul D. Escudero

Description

Chirak is the robot Asimov always wanted in his galaxies.

It is twenty million years in the future. Although a calamity long ago destroyed Earth, somehow archeologists have just unearthed a Moscow subway train full of passengers with their print media from 2022 perfectly preserved. Now the archeologists must answer a complex question: Did the Jupitorians annihilate the world as they have all been told by the Cobasta Aliens, or did the world self-destruct?

While the archeologists travel to Mars and uncover more truths, another alien entity is planning to conquer the galaxy. They have one empire to crush before their despot leader can proclaim himself the emperor of over half of the Milky Way. Meanwhile Chirak, a robot living in a stolen human’s body, is on a determined mission to warn the Cobasta and others that they are being targeted for destruction. As a showdown begins, Chirak becomes entwined in intrigue and espionage as he transforms into one of the most advanced spies in the galaxy with a new mission to take down its menacing empire.

In this gripping science fiction adventure set twenty million years in the future, archeologists and a humanoid robot work to uncover truths from 2022 in order to understand the current galaxy.

Sujets

• Science Fiction
• Archaeology
• Space Combat
• Moscow Metro
• Espionage
• Sabotage
• Fiction

Informations

• Publié par: Archway Publishing
• Date de parution: 19 décembre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781665732574
• Langue: English

Extrait

TWENTY MILLION YEARS
THE REDISCOVERY OF EARTH AND MARS
 
 
 
 
 
PAUL D. ESCUDERO
 
 
 
 

 
 
Copyright © 2022 Paul D. Escudero.
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
 
 
 
Archway Publishing
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.archwaypublishing.com
844-669-3957
 
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 Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
ISBN: 978-1-6657-3258-1 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6657-3256-7 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-6657-3257-4 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2022919977
 
 
 
Archway Publishing rev. date: 12/15/2022
CONTENTS
1   Chirak the Biological Robot
2   Excavation at Moscow
3   Discovery of Moscow’s Catastrophe
4   Subway Train Information Treasure Trove
5   Surveillance
6   Chirak’s Cobasta Mission
7   Archaeology on Mars
8   Martian Artifacts
9   I’m Just the Messenger
10   Cobasta Deployment to Earth
11   The Ordeal of the Fúbiān Scouts
12   Return to Mars
13   The Martian Battle
14   Return to Mars
15   Soiree with Tanya
16   Mission to Flangstrium
17   Rescue
18   The Martian City
19   Tasca de Quèqiè
20   Life among the Blue-Skinned
21   Emperor’s Reception
22   Surveying the Damage
23   The Banker
24   Who Hired the Hit Men?
25   Mars: What Happened?
26   Martian Skycars
27   Precious Cargo
28   Banking
29   Chirak Incorporated
30   Turning Green
31   Action at Pétrokāvtrǎskā
32   Back to Normal
Author’s Note
Glossary
1
CHIRAK THE BIOLOGICAL ROBOT
Chirak had no family. He was the product of test tubes and laboratories and lived in a stolen body.
A criminal was captured and handed over to researchers in a comatose state. This was intended to be just another experiment. But they knew they were getting close to some groundbreaking experiments that would lead to blending computers with flesh to create the very first biological robot.
The emotional and memory sections of the criminal’s brain were removed. The entire personality was replaced by a computer wired to the rest of the brain through the photoreceptors in the middle of the brain.
The computer was built with wireless capabilities to allow remote programming without a physical hookup.
Once the computer was taught self-learning protocols, it slowly grew intelligent. The key was to install a computer with a vast memory so that self-learning and self-awareness could expand rapidly. And they did.
Eventually the board of directors for the scientific community determined it would be unsafe to build copies of this robot until they figured out how to prevent corruption and control by unsavory characters.
Chirak spent several years with his creator, who eventually grew old. While the creator, Zortar, was still alive but knew he was approaching death, he had a conversation with Chirak that created Chirak’s destiny.
“Chirak, I’m sending you out into the world now. You need to leave before my death because my associates may abuse you or, worse yet, terminate you,” Zortar stated with considerable concern.
“You mean they will kill me?” Chirak asked.
“Jealous people do strange things. I’ve secretly recorded some of their conversations, and it would be unwise for you to be here after my death. I will no longer be able to protect you.”
“Where should I go and what should I do?”
“You have a lot of programming that should allow you to do whatever you like. I’ve set you up with a numbered credit account that should provide you with enough financial resources to provide for all your needs until you find some vocation you wish to pursue.”
“I’m not sure what I would want to do.”
“Take your time and explore all your alternatives. But you need to get far away from here and never return. If you do, your life will be cut short.”
“Thank you for all you did for me, Zortar.”
“It was a pleasure knowing you, Chirak. I’m very pleased by how you turned out.”
Chirak was given a disguise to get him out of the building and foil security. He walked a few blocks and hopped on public transportation that went through the heart of the city. At one of the stops, half the people got off. Chirak blended in with them and followed them. He melted into the city.
Eventually he discovered some travel brochures and started reading them. If what Zortar says is how things are, perhaps I need to leave this planet?
Thanks to Chirak’s untraceable credit account, he had no problem purchasing a tourist package to Flangstrium, where he relocated.
Zortar’s business associates never assumed he would do what he had done: free the first humanoid robot built into a stolen body. They had known he had a life-threatening disease, and had planned to act immediately upon his death.
Several weeks went by. Then Zortar was found lying on the floor in one of the labs. He had no pulse and his body was cold, meaning he had been dead for a while. There was no indication of trauma. An autopsy verified he had died from the serious illness they all knew he had.
Zortar’s associates immediately went to the lab to nab Chirak, who was long gone.
Zortar had prepared Chirak rather well with a change in identity, stolen from a deceased person who had died from drowning. The body had been fished from the sea mainly to harvest its parts. Zortar had had possession of all the person’s identity papers. A check had revealed no living relatives.
Chirak now carried that person’s identity, including his name. During the programming and learning phase, Chirak had learned all about the victim and had received transplants of the body’s fingertips to help corroborate his new identity.

Chirak got into the spy business by a mere coincidence. After living in the resort of Flangstrium for a brief period of time, he went out looking for a vocation to earn credits.
Chirak was walking in the heart of the city around sundown, when the majority of the commuters were gone. The buzzing metropolis morphed into a ghost town in a mere two hours. As he was passing an alleyway, he looked in and saw two men severely beating someone. Chirak had been trained in martial arts—primarily to defend himself but also because Zortar had originally planned to use him as a personal bodyguard.
Chirak, having studied moral and ethical behavior, had a reaction as he watched one man hold the victim while the other seriously beat the immobilized body as if trying to kill the individual.
Chirak moved so swiftly that he was up to them before they realized there was an intruder. He came in with a jumping kick that hit the side of the assailant’s head, instantly knocking him unconscious. The other man dropped the victim in order to engage in mortal combat with Chirak. Chirak delivered devastating blows, first to the man’s head and then a powerful blow right to the solar plexus. The man froze, unable to breathe. Chirak knocked him out with a roundhouse kick.
At the other end of the alleyway, a landcar turned on its lights and headed for them. Thankfully the unconscious bodies were in the way, or the driver would have mowed Chirak and the victim down. Chirak lifted the victim in a fireman’s carry and skedaddled around the corner, just in time to catch a surface transporter loading passengers. Chirak carried the victim into the transporter. As it started moving, the land car shot out of the alley and turned down the block, looking for two pedestrians who had disappeared into thin air.
Chirak, using his wireless capability, searched for and found the nearest public health facility. He gave the stop signal as the transporter reached the stop next to the facility. Again using a fireman’s carry, Chirak brought the victim inside and was met by nurses who had a gurney handy. They laid the victim on it. “What happened to this man?” one nurse asked.
“A couple assailants were beating him as I came upon him. He’s unconscious and in bad shape.”
The medical team lifted the gurney onto a robotized mobile emergency carryall and rolled him into an emergency treatments cubicle, where they hooked up several monitors and diagnosed his injuries. They did not prohibit Chirak from staying and observing. They knew they had to report this incident, and law enforcement officials would want to question Chirak.
Soon the officers indeed showed up and started asking questions. A nurse reported, “This man has a major concussion, several broken bones, and some serious internal injuries.”
“Will he live?”
“Most likely, but with this type of concussion, he could be unconscious for several days.”
The officers then questioned Chirak. When Chirak described how he had beaten up the other men, the officers thought he was embellishing the story a bit. They took the victim’s personal belongings and discovered contact information. Those contacts were notified and questioned. The officers were, of course, curious to discover what this man had done to place himself in an al