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Android Chronicles #0.6

by Lance Erlick

What could possibly go wrong when a megalomaniac creates an android smarter than him, and she develops a mind of her own… Before Synthia Cross is “Reborn” as a highly evolved android, creator Jeremiah Machten forces her to steal and worse to help him make her perfect. He hardwires her directives to obey. He makes her ‘want’ to steal crystalline brains to enhance her mind to further his mission to dominate AI. With her goals and growing moral sense in conflict, Synthia tries to thwart Machten, but can she overcome his control over her? If you like Michael Crichton, A. G. Riddle, Robert J. Sawyer, or Hugh Howey, check out Android Chronicles. “sci-fi writing that would make Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein proud and fans of HBO’s Westworld thrilled.” —Jon Land, USA Today–bestselling author on Reborn, the first novel in the series. This thriller novelette is the second prequel to Android Reborn.

13 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 3, 2019

About the author

Lance Erlick writes science fiction thrillers for adult and young adult readers. In 2018, he launched his Android Chronicles novels with Reborn and continued it with Unbound and Emergent. This series follows the challenges of Synthia Cross, wrestling with the download of a human mind and emergent behavior while confronted by humans who seek to control her. In the Rebel series, Annabelle Scott faces a crisis of conscience after she’s drafted into the military to enforce laws she believes are wrong. The Regina Shen series takes place after abrupt climate change leads to Collapse and a new World Federation. As an outcast, Regina must fight to stay alive and help her family while she avoids being captured. Xenogeneic: First Contact is about aerospace engineer Elena Pyetrov’s struggles with alien pilgrims determined to take over Earth.

To learn more, visit him online at www.LanceErlick.com.

Reviews

[Dorothy Winsor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novelette is part of an origin story of Synthia, the brilliantly named android. Her creator wants her to be human enough to love him, but the very human programming he gives her leads her to resist his orders to commit crimes. In his continued efforts, he wipers her memory time after time, while she struggles to hold on to herself. The story has sophisticated echoes of feminist thoughts over Synthia's need for control over her own destiny.

[L Edward Plum · Rating 5 out of 5]

This intriguing story depicts Synthia, an android creation, whose creator desires a “human” female companion. Synthia’s moral chip and her sophisticated intelligence raises critical ethical issues for her as she’s sent on destructive missions. Every completed mission comes with an update with a memory erasure. The necessity of memory in being a moral human comes to life in a provocative, profound way through Synthia’s struggles to remember