Mean Universe

The following is a story from my new short fiction collection, Mean Universe, which can be had for $.99, or free if you subscribe to Exiles.

Dr. Nikolas Caley was surrounded by robots and seconds from death.

As one of the founders of Simulacrum Sentry, Nikolas was no stranger to artificial intelligence and the pursuit of consciousness beyond organic life. It was a goal he and his historical peers had been working toward for centuries — using whatever technologies made the most sense in a given...