Rust: Soul in the Machine: 01/24/19

Rust: Soul in the Machine by Royden Lepp is the conclusion to the Rust series. The giant war machines awakened at the conclusion of Rust: Death of the Rocket Boy have arrived at the farm where the Rocket Boy has been hiding out.

Throughout the series, the head of the farm has been trying to repurpose war machines to serve as farm hands and farm equipment. He hasn't had much luck and what little he has accomplished is now coming back to haunt him.

Although this is a far future, post apocalyptic series, it's a post war series. When the wars are over, the unexploded ordinance ends up in civilian lands. Things get forgotten only to be rediscovered later. Sometimes they're safely removed. Sometimes they explode. Or they rust or they leak or they contaminate the environment.

Then there is the war surplus. There are tanks, planes, munition, weapons, etc that are no longer needed in such quantities. They are sold off to police. Or on the blackmarket or to oppressive governments.

In Rust, it's the old tech being activated, working on years old code that may well be obsolete but there is enough of the old infrastructure hanging on to get Rocket Boy's location to machines designed to destroy him. It doesn't matter that the war is over. It doesn't matter that there are civilians in the way; they are collateral damage.

In the previous books, the protagonist was the Rocket Boy. Now, though, it's time to pull back and see how his presence affects the people and environment. The protagonist, or for the road narrative spectrum, the travelers are the family (33). With the threat of the war machines bearing down on the farm, and the old code overwriting the changes done to the repurposed bots, the farm is no longer safe. That means the goal for the family is to escape the old home and find a new, safer home (66). The means of the attack on their safety comes offroad, across the dirt that was once fields (66). Put all together, this final rust is a 336666 (family home offroad).

Five stars

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