Killing Time

Killing Time is a novel that combines locations from Seattle to space and technologies from rockets to robots, with wry observations on the contemporary social and political scene. The book is about computer software industry intrigue, and the real world is blended into the story blurring the line between fiction and reality, such as a clash in the book between the director of the FBI, Jay Romey, and U.S. President Ronald Crump.
The story is told with a sprinkling of humor through the eyes of Janie and Dave, who work for the giant software company 'Microcomputer Software' - MS. And from the perspectives of the book's other characters.
Dave uses the MS Web Search Engine software as the basis to develop the 'Time Machine' Prediction Engine,
or just 'Time', aka Tim the Time Machine, that can forecast future events. Then a rival software company tries to steal Time, and the FBI investigates. But MS
kills the project in a corporate reshuffle, and years later
Dave is rehired by MS to resurrect it, and a robot body is built to give Tim mobility.
As Tim ages he starts to fail and is replaced with two new state-of-the art, lifelike robots, Rob and Tina. They work for the Bates Foundation that was set up by Phil
Bates, the founder of Microcomputer Software, and on one project Tina visits the International Space Station to run experiments. In the meantime, Rob teaches seminars in England, and because of the resulting media attention, a fan club is formed that morphs into a church to worships the 'Bots, much against their wishes.