Free Lives Of The Unknown Book 1: The Legend of Andrew Lockeford by G. L. Argain Page A

have been around for at least eighty years. And that was when people actually
paid attention to aliens! Basically, they may have been lingering
around Earth for much longer than that.”
    “So this has been going on for a
while? And all the while you are the only one, supposedly, to meet
some aliens other than the Selentors.”
    “Yeah,” said Andrew, who took some
time thinking about what to say next, but failed to come up with
something meaningful. “What now?”
    “Tell me in detail about your life and
your encounter with the Selentors, please.”
    So Andrew told Juvir about his life,
ranted about his opinions of American society, and described his
close call with the Selentors.
    Referring to the scene where Andrew
was in the armory, Juvir says, “That explains how you got that
ancient sword.”
    Andrew still had his special sword by
his side. “Huh? It seems pretty high-tech to me.”
    “Like I said before, that sword looks
like even your species could create it. It’s millions of years
outdated.”
    “So you’re saying
that those laser guns of yours are so much better?” Suddenly,
Andrew thought about the various weapons from Star Wars . He said enthusiastically,
“Ooh! Do you have anything like
lightsabers??? ”
    “No.”
    His smile instantly switched off as
his mouth remained partway open. Andrew didn’t expect Juvir to be
so blunt on that. “Umm, okay?”
    “Although there may be something that
will match some of your expectations in the weapons
facility.”
    “If we’re going there, can we not use
the teleporters? I don’t think I want to taste my own puke again.”
The taste from the past two incidents still lingered on his
tongue.
    “We won’t need to—it’s just down the
hall. We can walk if you want. Just leave that sword here so that
we don’t have to worry as much about any accidents
occurring.”
    As Juvir and Andrew walked down a lit
green-gray hall with no windows—they could be underground—Juvir
said, “I noticed that a robot helped you escape the Selentors’
grasp quite effectively….”
    “And he didn’t bother to rescue me
from the start either.…don’t get me wrong, I’m still thankful, but
I just don’t know why he made his move after I saved my own self
out of that operating room and found this sword.”
    “That sword is irrelevant, but from
the way you tell it, the robot wanted you to become familiar with
the Selentors and their ways—perhaps also to decide whether you
were worth saving.”
    “Whoa, ‘worth
saving?’ You mean that robot could’ve saved more humans in the past
but didn’t bother to? That I could’ve died if I did something
wrong?”
    “That, or he—rather ‘it’, considering
it has no gender—never got the chance to do so in the past.
Besides, I find it very odd for a robot to be helping an organic
being out in the first place. Usually they are not that fond of
organic beings.”
    “Maybe it was because I was a
different species in which it had hope in me?”
    “Perhaps. The robot must have thought
that you would be cooperative rather than undermine its words.
Organic beings aren’t fond of the robots they create, either, and a
lot of prejudice can occur. For example, most organic people refuse
to be ordered around by a ‘mere’ robot.”
    Andrew was bewildered by the fact that
these aliens, having thousands or millions of years of cultural
experience beyond that of humans, would still have conflicts over
robots. Giving a few seconds of silence before speaking again,
Andrew said, “That guy gave his life for me. I saw him literally
get blown to bits.”
    “Robots don’t fear death as much as
humans do. They can just be recreated with their personalities
intact.”
    Andrew felt unsatisfied by that
statement. The robot he met had disobeyed its masters, and if by
some chance they chose to recreate it, it would have a new
personality that would never be the same.
    “Well, here we are.”
    Large doors slid open to reveal a