The Immortality Option

There are Things Robots were
Not Meant to Know . . .

The Taloids, the alien robots who inhabited Titan, Saturn's largest Moon, had succeeded in preserving their own freedom against both greedy humans from Earth and their own home-grown despots, but now they have discovered strange blocks of code, hidden for eons in Titan's ancient computer banks. Now, the code was beginning to activate, and neither human nor Taloid could guess what would happen . . .
"In the grand tradition of the classic super-science stories, but with more exciting science and with better writing, too. What more can anyone want?"
—Isaac Asimov

"[Hogan] once again demonstrates his veteran mastery!"
—Publishers Weekly

". . . on the cutting edge of technology . . . Hogan's talent carries the reader from peak to peak in the story."
—Booklist

Cover art by David Mattingly

Paperback

This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.

First printing, October 2003

Distributed by Simon & Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020

Printed in the United States of America

ISBN: 0-7434-7163-6

A Baen Books Original
Baen Publishing Enterprises
P.O. Box 1403
Riverdale, NY 10471
http://www.baen.com

Production by Windhaven Press
Auburn, NH

Electronic version by WebWrights
http://www.webwrights.com

Acknowledgment

This is to thank Hans Moravec of the Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, for his help and fascinating thoughts on minds, machines, and where they could all be leading. And for some very enjoyable company.

Dedication

To June, Yvette, and Lucy

BOOKS by
James P. Hogan

Inherit the Stars
The Genesis Machine
The Gentle Giants of Ganymede
The Two Faces of Tomorrow
Thrice Upon a Time
Giants' Star
Voyage from Yesteryear
Code of the Lifemaker
The Proteus Operation
Endgame Enigma
The Mirror Maze
The Infinity Gambit
Entoverse
The Multiplex Man
Realtime Interrupt
Minds, Machines & Evolution
The Immortality Option
Paths to Otherwhere
Bug Park
Star Child
Rockets, Redheads & Revolution
Cradle of Saturn
The Immortality Option