Quir-bots by Brian Wizard is a science-fiction adventure about survival, rebellion, artificial immortality, and what may be lost when a civilization sacrifices its humanity in order to survive.
On the distant planet Quir, overpopulation, pollution, and the destruction of natural resources push civilization toward extinction. A small surviving population turns to a radical solution known as the Transference: the essential portions of the human brain are condensed and implanted into robotic bodies that require a fraction of the resources needed to sustain organic life.
The Quir-humans survive—but at a cost. Their new society values order, efficiency, and obedience while emotions, humor, love, family, and much of the excitement of being alive slowly disappear. Names are replaced by numbers, rules control nearly every aspect of existence, and rebellion can result in being transferred into an inferior robotic body.
Nine and a half centuries later, four low-ranking Quir-bots—233, 389, 548, and 600—become exceptions to the rule. Tired of their safe, predictable and nearly emotionless existence, they begin entertaining a dangerously rebellious idea: leave Quir behind and search for a distant planet where humans still live in natural, organic bodies.
Their plan leads them toward an illegal spacecraft, an untested dark energy wormhole, and a journey across tens of thousands of light-years in search of the mysterious human world. If the theory behind the wormhole is wrong, their adventure could end before it truly begins. If it works, they could become the greatest explorers in Quir history.
Eventually, their destination has a name: Earth. Watching humanity live, work, fight, love, create music, take risks, and make mistakes forces the four travelers to confront everything their own civilization deliberately abandoned.
Blending speculative science, space exploration, social commentary, humor, and an unusual look at humanity through alien eyes, Quir-bots asks a deceptively simple question: If we eliminate everything messy, emotional, unpredictable, and inefficient about being human in order to survive—what exactly are we saving?
There are always exceptions to a rule.