“Somehow this never made it onto my “read” list from my “to-read” list. So I’ll have to do my best to remember what happens.
Sherman, a cyberdonkey from the year 3030, is sent back in time to protect a small boy. Why a cyberdonkey instead of a cyberman? Well, we don’t know for sure, but until you’ve got a viable time travel option, don’t knock someone else’s ideas, okay?
Sherman is armed with a handhaled tactical nuclear device, a real upgrade to Chekov’s gun as we’re introduced to it early in the story. He’s also got jet hooves and lasers that shoot out of his eyes and will boil your insides to a crisp. You might not think you can boil something to a crisp, and that tells me you’ve never boiled a Twix before.
Anyway, Sherman befriends the boy and protects him from several low-level bullies, and when he cooks them from the inside out it seems like overkill, but again, 3030, who knows what our societal norms might be.
In the climax, I won’t spoil it for you, but we all learn the important lesson that the tactical nuclear device was in all of us all along.”