Sixth Iteration

Sixth Iteration takes place in the future where robotics and other technology has advanced enough that artificially intelligent machines and robots are in full application and use by the public but are not autonomous (at least, that anyone is aware of). The machines are so integrated into society that it's become difficult to distinguish them from human beings. Enter Victor Reid, CEO of Reid Robotics, who has hired Stella Andrews to teach his machines humanity but not so much that they would seek freedom or free will. That's where Victor draws the line.
Of course, Victor's plans go too far with his top secret MEO project. He is designing hybrid AI beings who look human and share some biological features but are mentally, fully programmed AI. Stella is brought in to make them sentient, but not so much as to perturb the company's CEO. Victor Reid is a modern version of Dr. Frankenstein, only more inhumane and brutal. Cue, uncanny valley. Victor's derision towards artificially intelligent machines whom he sees as his personal army of toys, is clear. The robots are his playthings and so are the scientists who work for him. In fact, he has paired Stella and Randall together for his own nefarious reasons. He understands that in pairing two attractive beings together that a relationship might possibly emerge between them. The question is, will Stella learn who-or what Randall really is before it is too late and she is already emotionally invested? This is the sixth iteration of the MEO software and Victor knows enough from previous pairings between scientists and MEO that a connection between them is inevitable. This is history repeating itself iteration after iteration. But why? This is the question Victor wants to answer--and control.
After signing on to work for Reid Robotics, Stella immediately begins working on the MEO project with Randall Reid, a mathematician and programmer dispatched by Victor to oversee the program and to manage Stella's dealings with R1836. Randall's job is to rein her in and ensure that their AI doesn't become more sentient than Victor desires. Unfortunately, that's exactly what happens when R1836 falls in love with Stella, unbeknownst to the scientists. Problems ensue when Stella and Randall end the troubled project and find themselves on the run from Victor who demands that they return something that belongs to him. Something that could cost them their very lives.
A secondary plot and timeline emergences involving a corporate spy dispatched to steal Victor's secrets and disrupt his plans...a task handed to a beautiful dancer, a woman with whom he has been secretly infatuated. The question, is she a cold-hearted spy or a woman just struggling to survive? Will she allow her heart to overrule her head?

E. Hughes (1974) is the author of Time and Multi-Universe: A philosophy of time and time travel (2022) and Sixth Iteration, a science-fiction novel (2021). E. Hughes is a novelist and writer of more than twenty-five years and has over twenty published works in multiple genres from fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and children's books to date. Her latest offering is Digital Smiles, her final work of poetry, a chapbook released in February 2024. Hughes is also scheduled to release Reality Unbound, a nonfiction, and Kissing Henry, a YA graphic novel in 2024. In addition to Sixth Iteration and Time and the Multi-Universe, Hughes is also the author of Starting Your First Patio Garden: A Coffee Table Book, the Penelope children's books series, Disappear, Love, A Mediterranean Romance, Business as Usual, Infatuation, The Sapphire Chronicles, Hello (a screenplay), Beyond the Plain, Pearls..., and other works (not including pseudonymous works). E. Hughes is a metaphysics philosopher, avid gardener, painter, and hobbyist jewelry designer. She is also an observer of cultural and societal idiosyncrasies.