Sixth Iteration

Can a machine fall in love or merely simulate what it is programmed to believe is love? Sixth Iteration by E. Hughes is a brilliant, twisty, reality-bending atmospheric philosophical thriller that questions what it means to live vs. being alive. Whether sentient A.I are any less alive through complex computer-coding than their human counterparts who are coded by DNA. “As 17th century philosopher Thomas Hobbs would say, thoughts don't exist…neither does choice. That humans are compelled by chemical and electrical reactions in their brains-how are artificially intelligent machines any different?”


An artificially intelligent machine who falls in love with the scientist hired to program him, goes on the run to escape the billion dollar robotics corporation that will do anything to get him back.


When scientist Stella Andrews meets Randall Reid of Reid Robotics, she falls head over heels at first sight. But Randall is all business, not to mention a bit oblivious of Stella's feelings, and prefers to focus on the task at hand…which is programming R1, a sentient A.I. program for the MEO Project that has fallen in love with Stella, unbeknownst to the scientists. Various machinations occur that leads to R1 escaping its digital confinement into the real world with a hope of eluding Reid Robotics to be with the woman it loves. Stella soon learns not everyone is who they appear to be, and the only one not in on the company's secrets is her.


Not long after Sapphire's “accident”, she is recruited by Elito, a spy agency in the business of corporate espionage. While on assignment, she falls under the deadly spell of a dashing but dangerous CEO, and must choose whether to run afoul of the man she is falling in love with, or the organization that hired her.