I kind of knew this series was going to have to start someday. I thing Mr. Hooke’s “Argonauts” series has ran it’s tour and is getting kind of stale. Seems like they do the same old things and the main character has got kids which really cause unnecessary problems. So on with something fresh and new. Well, almost fresh and new. The “Bolt Eaters” were introduced in the series, “A.I. Reborn”. That one kind of ended when the Bolt Eaters saved all mankind from some pretty nasty aliens. Their story and how they came to be, especially Eric Scala, was told in that original series. I won’t go over it here.
But, as is the usual case, retired military don’t always fit in well with the population. Even when they are now perfecting looking humans, they are still Androids and those people around them pretty much know what they are. They just don’t know who they are or they might be treated a little better. Anyway, the saviors of humanity pretty much like being unknown. They didn’t want the publicity in the first place, just their freedom. That they have and are comfortable living in an apartment building in the city. The same apartment building that appears to have some kind of terrorist group attacking all the inhabitants and specifically the Bolt Eaters.
Attacking the Bolt Eaters is not a wise thing to do even if they appear to be unarmed civilian Androids. Having weapons in the city is forbidden, but not necessarily if they are well hidden, but accessible. Once the attack started, those weapons came in handy for self protection. Whoever was fighting the Bolt Eaters didn’t bring enough men or women and the Bolt Eaters were showing them their mistake. Yeah, the city police force had arrived and were taking on the terrorist, but their weapons and skill sets were no match for these military grade attackers. What the Bolt Eaters had was much better and was doing the job. Instead of being captured by the terrorist, the Bolt Eaters pretty much destroyed every terrorist involved. Yet, when they reached the bottom floor of the apartment high-rise, they met the cops and were arrested. Shooting guns in the city were against the law and good, the Bolt Eaters had shot a lot of guns that day.
Come to find out, this worked just find for the Army High Command. They had a mission for a team just like the Bolt Eaters and since the Bolt Eaters had the experience, they were going to go, one way or another. It was said to them that if they chose not to go on this mission, then backup copies of their minds would be created and those Mind Refurbs would go. Now Mind Refurbs were all explained in the first series so I suggest you read that, but they are not the same as those people with the original minds. Making refurbs would be like creating a twin of you so it’s definitely not you, but it kind of is.
Anyway, you probably have guessed that the Bolt Eaters very reluctantly accepted the mission. That mission was just an Intel gathering mission on a suspected Banthar colony planet. Oh, the Banthar are the aliens that almost wiped out humanity on Earth and well, they did wipe out half of humanity. I wonder if the Bolt Eaters can just “observe” Banthar activities without getting some serious payback? Read the book to find out!