An Android Dog's Tale



  Books by D.L. Morrese

  ~*~

  ~Stories of the Warden's World~

  An Android Dog’s Tale

  Defying Fate (Combined eBook Edition)

  The Warden Threat (Defying Fate Part 1)

  The Warden War (Defying Fate Part 2)

  Amy’s Pendant

  Disturbing Clockwork

  ~*~

  ~Adventures of the Brane Child~

  Brane Child

  The Scarecrow's Brane

  An Android Dog’s Tale

  One Artificial Dog

  Ten Stories

  Fifteen Thousand Years

  D.L. Morrese

  * * * * *

  PUBLISHED BY:

  Fuzzy Android Press

  (https://fuzzyandroid.wordpress.com/)

  ISBN: 9781311283337

  Copyright © 2013 by D.L. Morrese

  This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. It may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author's work.

  All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

  Author’s Notes on this Edition

  I wish to thank Alex for his help with cover ideas, Rowan for editing, and all the beta-readers, proofreaders, editors, and others who volunteered their time and attention to the publication of this novel. The finished work is far better than it could have been without you. Any flaws that may remain are entirely the fault of the author.

  Units of Measure

  Time, distance, and other units of measure reflected in the story that follows have been converted, along with the languages, to something understandable by readers living on Earth at the dawn the 21st Century. It was either this or put a conversion table and glossary at the end of the book, and no one likes those.

  Regarding Androids

  Androids, by definition, are automatons that resemble humans. In this book and those that follow, the term is used to refer to constructed beings with human-like cognitive abilities rather than an exclusively humanoid physical appearance. To do otherwise would simply be species-ist. Many of the androids you will meet in these books don’t look like people, but they do sometimes think and act like them.

  Maps

  Some readers like maps, so one showing the relative locations of hub terminals is included in the paper edition of this book. It is not in the digital edition because it does not show up well on most compact reading devices. If you are reading a digital version of this book and wish to see some maps, you can find them on the author’s website, https://dlmorrese.wordpress.com/, along with other information.

  Contents

  Prologue - A Species with Potential

  One - People Like Clay (In which Mobile Observer Android 126 first encounters humans.)

  Two - Sheep Lost and Demons Found (In which MO-126 learns that humans can be imaginative, creative, and disturbingly wrong.)

  Three - Dare Not Stray (In which curiosity is discouraged.)

  Four - Split Plea (In which MO-126 realizes that sometimes people just can’t get along with each other.)

  Five - Wheels of Discontent (In which discoveries are made and a person is lost.)

  Six - Unacceptable Marks (In which things must not be written.)

  Seven - Making Choices (In which choices are made and something is overlooked.)

  Eight - Shutting Down (In which some things end and others begin.)

  Nine - A Dog and His Boy (In which MO-126 adopts a boy and herds some sheep.)

  Ten - A Final Note (In which MO-126 says goodbye.)

  Prologue - A Species with Potential

  Just under 20,000 years ago

  (Galactic Standard Year 223447)