Read Galileo (Battle of the Species) for Free Online Page B

of the wind against his cheeks.
    “Have you lost a loved one?” the hologram asked. “Replace him with an android that will live forever.”
    Renn was surprised they were still running the commercials, considering that Earth’s consumers had rejected the androids and boycotted all of Autobotica’s products. The company duplicated the loved ones’ consciousness, embedding it into an android, cloned after the one who was lost. The only robots accepted in Earth’s new society were the ones easily identified as robots. Consumers found the androids that looked too realistic to be creepy and disturbing, like solid ghosts walking around, taunting mourners.
    Large maple trees lined the city streets, while solar powered hovercrafts zoomed above roads made of grass. Polished copper robots pushed strollers with human babies, and townspeople smiled and waved, calling each other by first name.
    Adam and Renn arrived at the fish market, jumped out of the truck, and began unloading their catch. They looked over towards the market and saw one of the workers stop in his tracks, staring at them.
    Adam waved and shouted, “Hi, Charlie,” but Charlie just stood there, frozen, staring at Renn in alarm.
    Renn listened to his thoughts and heard, I got to get out of here. Stay away from me!
    Charlie then dropped the crate of fish he was holding and ran off, looking up at the sky, as if he would be struck down by lightning, just for making eye contact with Renn.
    Adam walked up behind his son, whispering in his ear, “Stay off drugs or you'll end up like Charlie.”  
    Renn could tell his dad was making light of it, but Charlie’s thoughts had startled him. He looked up out of paranoia, but saw nothing but a blue sky with hungry seagulls circling above.
    Renn left his dad at the fish market and walked along the town’s main street, on a quest for comfortable shoes. He was anxious to get a new pair, even if they were manual.
    With each step, he became aware of everyone staring at him, whispering and pointing. He overheard mish-mashes of thoughts that seemed abstract.
    There’s a Mindeerian…
    Renn, that poor dear…
    I don’t want to be standing near him when they come.
    It was the latter that made him paranoid the most, while he continued walking down the same street he had walked down all his life.
    He ducked into the shoe store, grabbing the door behind him to keep from slamming it, and turned around to look outside the windows. The town had stopped, all staring at Renn. He wanted to run back outside and shout, “What’s wrong with you people? I know you! You know me!” but their staring made him feel as if they were suddenly strangers who were watching a dead man walking.
    He felt a cold hand on his shoulder, making him jump and cause his hands to spark. He clenched his fists in an attempt to keep them from sparking, but the shopkeeper who touched him read his body language differently and backed up.
    “It’s okay. I won’t harm you, child,” the shoemaker said with pity in his eyes.
    Renn looked at the cobbler, flummoxed. It wasn’t as if he were seeing an alien for the first time. It was the only shoe store in town and Renn had been getting his sneakers there since he was born. “Right,” Renn said. “I was just coming to get a new pair of shoes.”
    “Shoes?” the cobbler repeated in disbelief, as if that had been the strangest thing Renn could have possibly wanted in his tiny shoe store. “Child, haven't you heard?”
    “Heard what?” Renn asked. His heart began racing and his hands illuminated with a bright blue light.
    “I'm so sorry…” the shopkeeper began, “but the Mindeerians are dead.”
    “…what?” Renn asked. It was such a bewildering thing to say, as if one day the postman walked up and said, “Sorry kid, but mankind’s left the building.”
    Renn crept back towards the door. “There's been some kind of misunderstanding. Thank you for your time though…okay…I’ll just…” Renn said,