They Named Him Primo (Primo's War Book 1) Read online

  They Named Him Primo

  Jaka Tomc

  Copyright © 2021 Jaka Tomc

  All rights reserved

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

  Edited by: Kevin Ducheyne

  To Oskar

  Never be afraid of being different.

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Prologue

  1. Kent, 2048

  2. Primo, 2031

  3. Maia, 2048

  4. James, 2048

  5. Kent, 2031

  6. Maia, 2031

  7. Kent, 2048

  8. Primo, 2048

  9. James, 2031

  10. Maia, 2048

  11. Kent, 2031

  12. Primo, 2048

  13. James, 2048

  14. Kent, 2031

  15. Primo, 2031

  16. Maia, 2048

  17. James, 2048

  18. Kent, 2048

  19. Primo, 2048

  20. Maia, 2031

  21. Kent, 2048

  22. Primo, 2048

  23. Maia, 2048

  24. James, 2048

  25. Kent, 2048

  26. Primo, 2048

  27. Primo, 2031

  28. Maia, 2048

  29. Kent, 2048

  30. James, 2048

  31. Primo, 2048

  32. Maia, 2048

  33. Kent, 2048

  34. James, 2048

  35. Maia, 2048

  36. Primo, 2048

  37. Kent, 2048

  38. James, 2048

  39. Primo, 2048

  40. Kent, 2048

  41. Maia, 2048

  42. Primo, 2048

  43. James, 2048

  Epilogue

  About The Author

  Books By This Author

  Prologue

  They came for them like an avalanche comes for its prey. Suddenly, systematically, and without remorse. Four soldiers for each. They left nothing to coincidence. Although he knew his kind was a threat to no one, the National Guard members did not share his views on the matter. They put electrical handcuffs on their wrists. The flow of electricity, which constrained their bodies, was constant. Finally, they blindfolded them. It would be easier if the soldiers killed them, he pondered. Less work with that. Less suffering. They probably wanted them to suffer. They wanted them to be afraid like they were.

  The guard drove them to the military complex in uncommonly dark buses. When they took the blindfolds off, he immediately recognized a familiar scene. Wooden barracks, watchtowers with armed guards, and high concrete walls with barbed wire on top of them; this was no summer camp. He looked around and sighed. Hundreds had been brought in: men, women, young and elderly. At least their captors were not discriminatory. The captives were gathered on a giant platform in the middle of the structure. Once there, they automatically formed the shape of a rectangle, like an organized army. Except they weren’t military at all. A battalion of real soldiers surrounded them. Four hundred TR451 pulse rifles were aimed straight at them. We’ll be slaughtered like cattle was the first thought that went through Primo’s mind.

  A tall man, a colonel it seemed, stepped out of the formation and took a few steps toward them.

  “Good day to you all, and welcome to your new temporary accommodations. Don’t be afraid. You’ll probably be here just for a few days. Then we’ll take you home. Of course, that depends on your cooperation with us. We have some rules here that are different from the rules you are well familiar with and abide by. Firstly, don’t contact my soldiers. They will contact you. Secondly, any form of organizing is strictly forbidden. Thirdly, if you break rule one or two, you will be punished. That is all you need to know for now. My soldiers will take care of your activities. Do as you’re told and no harm will befall you.”

  1. Kent, 2048

  “Did you read today’s news?” asked Lucy.

  “Not yet. What’s going on?”

  “It’s started. Blake’s plan is in motion.”

  “You’re fucking with me.”

  With a wave of his hand the TV turned on.

  “—while we’re still waiting for a statement by Senator Blake, we’ve received exclusive footage of army base Sierra Tango. Our special reporter George Greene is on the scene. George, what have you managed to find out?”

  “Hello, Claire. I’m standing in front of the Sierra Tango military base, where the buses are still reeling in androids from the wider area. Minutes ago, I found out that operation Judgment Day is in progress across the entire country. Military facilities will serve as temporary prisons for tens of thousands androids until further notice. Claire?”

  “Thank you for now, George. Let’s rewind to yesterday, when President Cook signed an executive order that enabled imprisonment of all androids on US soil. She also urged leaders all over the globe to do the same. The rigorous proposal’s champion was Senator James Blake Jr.; the cause behind it, the murder of seventeen-year-old Stephen Dean. Let’s take a short break before we return to these interesting events. See you soon.”

  “They’re crazy,” said Kent.

  “I know. I can’t believe they went so far so fast.”

  “They can’t just lock them up in concentration camps. Haven’t we learned anything from history?”

  “Poor things, they must be terrified.”

  “And they’re broadcasting it live. Like a deranged reality show. It makes me sick.”

  “What are you going to do?” asked Lucy.

  “What can I do? I explained to Blake that this is not the way things work. Androids cannot harm people. Let alone kill one. There are laws they have to adhere to. Every child knows that.”

  “It seems some people just can’t accept the fact that we’re suddenly not the most intelligent beings on the planet anymore.”

  “Don’t insult the dolphins,” said Kent.

  Lucy smiled.

  Kent knew very well that they couldn’t do anything. Maybe they could join the protesters who would gather in significant numbers in the upcoming days. But that wouldn’t change a thing. Androids had polarized people from the beginning. Ever since he’d presented his notable achievement, humanity had been put on Olympus, among other gods, yet again. If he’d known back then what the future would hold, he would have burned the computers and destroyed all the data from the most important project in human history. Years, decades of research from scientists all over the world would have been gone in seconds. He’d have been a hero to some and villified by others whether he’d destroyed it all or not. You can’t please everybody. How do you convince a person who still believes that the earth is flat that scientists have created the next evolutionary step? How do you explain that superior intelligence is not a threat and that the movies about killer robots are just products of vivid imaginations? Given that our perceptual filters continually shift meanings, we shouldn’t judge living beings through our own subjective lenses. Animals don’t know malice. Androids don’t know hatred.

  2. Primo, 2031

  “Primo, open your eyes.”

  The very first thing he saw was four smiling faces.

  “Where am I?”

  “In Cloverdome Laboratories,” said one of them, still smiling.

  “Welcome,” said another one.

  “Can you
share your status?”

  “Status?”

  “How do you feel?”

  “Everything is so new. What is that smell?”

  All four of the peculiar-looking characters uttered a strange sound.

  “Remarkable.”

  “Kent, you did it.”

  “We did it. All of us, together.”

  “Primo, what you smell is coffee.”

  “It smells wonderful.”

  “Can you stand up?”

  He stood up from the chair he was sitting on and cautiously ventured stepping around the room. He was a bit wobbly at first, but he soon found a more balanced and natural rhythm. He noticed that the faces were attached to bodies that were similar to his. They were covered in a white fabric while he, it seemed, wore nothing except for a thin, pink, organic-like material. But that didn’t bother him at all. He enthusiastically checked his arms, twisted his wrists, and opened and closed his fists.

  “Do you wanna look at yourself in the mirror?”

  “Mirror?” he asked.

  “A mirror is an object that produces an image of whatever is in front of it.”

  “But I can already see myself.”

  “You can see your face in it.”

  “I have a face?”

  “Of course you do. A unique face, unlike any other.”

  “I want to see,” said Primo.

  “So, do you like what you see?” asked a long-haired creature with a high-pitched voice.

  “I’m the same as you, but different.”

  “You are unique, Primo. And those that come after you will be unique too.”

  “Primo. I like that word.”

  “It’s your name.”

  “And your…name?”

  “Sarah.”

  “I like your name too. Who made it up?”

  Sarah smiled. “My mother and my father gave it to me, and it was made up by someone a long, long time ago. Thousands of years ago.”

  “Do I have a mother and a father as well?”

  “You have many mothers and fathers, but the closest thing to a real father is that man over there. His name is Kent. Many have tried to make you in the past, but he made the final breakthrough that made your birth possible.”

  “Birth?”

  “Coming to this world.”

  “I like this world. Are there any more beings in it or just us five?”

  “Earth is populated by nine billion people. And as of today, one very exceptional being.”

  “Nine billion?” asked Primo, surprised. "So the world is bigger than this room.”

  “Much bigger.”

  “Wonderful.”

  “Soon, you can admire it in all of its splendor,” said Sarah.

  3. Maia, 2048

  “I bet twenty credits that the first one will lose it by the end of the week,” said Jimbo.

  “I hear you and raise you ten that it will be the big one,” said Jones. “Did you see the murderous look on his face when Polanski poked him with a stick? We have to watch him closely. I shit you not.”

  “One wrong move, and I’ll bash their skulls in,” said Miller.

  “Don’t be a dick. They’re totally peaceful.”

  “Laguna, who asked you a damn thing? Did your maternal instinct kick in?”

  “What bothers me is that hard-hearted hillbillies, like yourself, are looking for an enemy in every creature that feels something.”

  It took Miller two seconds to jump on her. “You wanna feel something? Ask nicely. Come on, be a good girl.”

  “Get off of me, you jerk! I’d rather fuck a bush than you.”

  Maia observed everything from the other side of the barrack. She knew that they were engaging in a test of strength, like young dogs, determining their relative status by tussling for their rank in the pack.

  “Enough!” she shouted. “Miller, why don’t you pick on someone your own size?”

  “Lieutenant, I don’t need your help!” Laguna cried out.

  “I know,” said Maia. “But we need Miller alive and well.”

  “Lieutenant! I’d take her down in a heartbeat.”

  “I’d recommend you cut down on your testosterone bars. It seems like they’re doing more harm than good,” said Maia.

  “Come on, I was just fooling around. Laguna knows that. Don’t you, love?”

  “Fuck off, asshole!”

  “You don’t know what you’re missing,” said Miller, satisfied.

  The third day of operation Judgment Day was well underway. For now, there was complete order at Charlie Echo base. Androids were obeying soldiers’ orders, and they did not seem offended by the provocations. Maia knew very well that accommodating four hundred and fifty droids was a challenge all by itself. The droids weren’t trained for battle and their software prevented them from harming humans, but something else was in play. They could function as a group on a higher level. If, at first, they’d required a wireless network, the third generation of droids had changed that. Every single one of them had a transmitter and a receiver that allowed an exchange of data in realtime. As always, the army had been one step ahead. Signal blockers had been deployed, but they’d jammed a bunch of other frequencies, even those used by brain implants. The solution had been simple. All droids had to be modified. Their communication devices were set to a single frequency. That solved one problem but created another in the process. Droids were aware that they were being listened to, so they started communicating in a unique code consisting of images, sounds, fragrances, and emotions. It was unbreakable. When top-notch supercomputers couldn’t break the code, people asked the droids themselves. The result was the same as if the droids were explaining ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs to a newborn. The droid language was on a whole new level. There were too many combinations, and they changed all the time. People eventually recognized the right of droids to have their own language and made no more significant efforts to decipher it. Or so they said.

  4. James, 2048

  “Senator Blake, tell us about your next moves,” said the anchorwoman of the evening news.

  “As you already know, we are almost done with rounding up all the androids. We’ve been bringing them to military bases all over the country. We didn’t want to take any chances, so we made a move that, as you know, didn’t sit well with the public. It was expected. The next phase will focus on testing individual androids. This will allow us to find out how dangerous they are and what their intentions are. Our main purpose is to find the murderer of Stephen Dean. And mark my words, we’re going to find him.”

  “How certain are you that an android killed Dean?”

  “Hundred percent sure. The investigation will confirm it. Look, I’ve been warning about the inevitable threat for years. Ever since they flooded our society with those…robots. It wasn’t enough for them to play God and make these creations in our image. They had to upgrade them, make them superior to people. It’s one thing to have a smart kitchen oven, an artificial arm, or an implant that enhances your brain’s capability. That’s called improving our good citizens’ lives. I’ll tell you what’s not. Giving androids citizenship. Employing them instead of humans. That was a big step backward.

  “Some people say that you built your career solely on hate speech toward androids.”

  “You have to understand something. They’re not people. They never were and never will be. They’re machines. Walking computers. You may think that they are humanlike because they speak, think, and even feel, but that’s all part of the people haters’ plan. They are trying to convince you that whatever’s happening is natural. That it’s the next step in evolution. Some even say that God wanted this to happen. I’ll tell you this. If God wanted men to reach his divine lordship, he would’ve let us build the Tower of Babel. It was never meant for man to be so close to God. Not while living. What happens after death is open for discussion, but I don’t think that this is the right time or place for such a debate.

  “OK. We’ve gotten a bit
off track. So what you’re saying is that androids are staying in detention until further notice?”

  “That’s correct. Until we make an evaluation of each individual, they’re staying in military camps.”

  “Some people call them concentration camps—”

  “I think that we will end our conversation right there.”

  James couldn’t understand why he was the primary target. He was working for the good of mankind. How shortsighted must you be not to understand that there was a global conspiracy going on? He loosened his tie. Damn journalists. A bunch of liberals, all of them. We can’t all have equal rights. The world doesn’t work like that. Wouldn’t it be nice if we were still in times when the main problems were gay marriages, giving citizenship to illegal migrants, and equal opportunities for minorities? Those had been the golden years of politics. Many topics had led to broad debate, clashes of interest, demonstrations from both sides of the political spectrum, and legislative arguments from all sides. He remembered his student years, when he’d organized several rallies in support of the former president. Beautiful times. However, today he was on a different mission. Humanity was on the brink of defeat. Homosexuals had been a piece of cake, but this new enemy was unpredictable. He took off his jacket. The only logical solution was to destroy every single one of them. There was no point in playing with fire. The only possible conclusion to this story was that it would be either them or us in the end.

  5. Kent, 2031

  “Kent, you did it, goddammit,” said Roger Donovan, Cloverdome Laboratories’ CEO.

  “We all did it,” Kent replied. “We and the others before us. They deserve more credit for this than me.”

  “Don’t be so modest. Take another look. Go on.”

  Kent looked through the window into the room, where the humanlike creature was slowly walking around. An untrained eye would inevitably mistake it for a human. That was the point. There had been proposals to make them look less human and more like machines. They’d said it was a matter of security. But he’d insisted that their appearance had to be relatable to people. They had to look like humans. And act like them.