Reviewed by Chris
TITLE: Creation Debt
AUTHOR: Lore Graham
PUBLISHER: Less Than Three Press
LENGTH: 37 pages
RELEASE DATE: April 13, 2016
BLURB:
Radical views sometimes require committing a crime or two. In his biggest move yet to fight for android rights, Derek liberates a group of androids working off their creation debt at a hospital. One of those androids is 141, who is surprisingly reluctant to leave the facility, leaving Derek baffled.
A delay in their escape forces them to take an alternate route to Derek’s base, trapping them on a decrepit spaceship for a week, where they have only each other for company and a divide created by assumptions and wariness—but also an undeniable curiosity.
REVIEW:
Derek, once a part of the problem, has now pledged his life (and maybe even a large part of his morality) towards freeing the android population from the slavery laid on them by their creators. As he sees it, creation does not mean ownership, but responsibility–and most definitely not permission to lay down 200 years of slavery on the androids created. His latest attempt at bringing down this injustice involves breaking into a hospital where over 100 androids–who have never likely spent even a moment outside the walls of the building–have been working off their “creation debt.” He intends to break them free, at any cost and against any odds. He never suspected he might find the most stubborn android in the galaxy while trying do it, though.
I found I quite liked the concept of this story. The enslavement of these androids, while not a unique idea, set us up to question not only the ethics involved in AI/Human interactions, but also how we are to balance the “good” of freeing these androids against the “bad” of killing humans to do it. You have to wonder at what point the two are indistinguishable.
For example, Derek, in acting for the androids is also acting against humanity, and so at times comes across as a less than sympathetic character. He reminds me a bit too much of fanatics that only see the end game, not the trail of bodies left behind them. Almost like the idea is more important than the people. If any single android had acted against the plan, you can’t help but feel that Derek would have killed them just as easily as he did every human he came across.
It is indeed 141 that comes across as more “human” in this story. If the value of humanity was valued in aspiration and not base instincts to kill or dominate the “other.” I liked this, this subversion and reversal of roles. It made the story interesting where it could have fallen flat.
Mostly this story falls victim to its length. There was a lot of set up going on here and it left me feeling a bit shortchanged that it simply ends after Derek and 141 have sex. Had it been longer, had it given the characters and plot time to fully developed, I think it could be a pretty good sci-fi story. As it is, well it is mostly an interesting concept with a rather unique talked on sex. Not bad, just not all it could have been.
RATING: 
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