The last thing K-404 remembers is a happy home with the human child Ele, whose care is his primary purpose. So, when he wakes up in a landfill of tossed-away technology, his only thought is to reunite with his family.

This world is not his own, though. It’s a wasteland of desolate buildings, flying metal disks, and monstrosities that keep themselves active by stealing another bot’s power.

How did the world get this way?

And why was he discarded?

Hampered by imperfect memory, an obsolete body, and limited battery life, 404 sets out to find his home. Joined by other castaways, he faces off against scavengers and monsters, only to encounter greater threats. Pursued, outsmarted, and manipulated on every side, 404 teeters on the brink of annihilation. His only chance of survival? Those bits of himself—the connections—he hasn’t lost.

K-404 awakens and finds himself in a robot’s grave.¹ Soon he recovers power and motive: he is a caretaker unit, created to serve his assigned family. Why then can’t he remember their fate or the reason he was abandoned in this vast inhuman land? Kerry Nietz’s robo-drama Lost Bits follows the earnestly heroic Four as he finds new allies and fights rogue bots to preserve his purpose. Clipped prose mimics Four’s thought mechanics, while endearing side characters support the android’s quest. Lost Bits boldly leads fans out of dead wastelands into celebrations of life, exploring the nature of humankind through the lenses of a human creation.

Best for: Fans of simple science fiction guided by deeper algorithms.

Discern: Bot-on-bot violence, often involving robo-rebels.