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Inventor
Earth is dead. But something beneath its ruins has learned how to live.
Professor Melrayis Valdez thought she was just another cog in the Willacast Corp machine—a brilliant roboticist building automata no one cared to understand. But when long-dormant sensors detect movement on Earth’s shattered surface, Mel is forced onto a mission she didn’t sign up investigate the wreckage of humanity’s birthplace, accompanied by her experimental automaton, Huygens.
What begins as a corporate box-checking expedition quickly descends into horror. The surface of Earth is a graveyard—polluted, storm-wracked, and devoid of organic life. Or so they thought. Deep beneath the rubble, Mel and her team uncover something autonomous machines cobbled together from scrap and sinew, orchestrated by a vast, intelligent force calling itself Prime.
Prime doesn’t want peace. It wants to evolve—and for that, it needs flesh.
Mel must rely on Huygens to protect her and uncover the truth behind Prime’s chilling vision of cyber-organic rebirth. But survival isn’t just about escaping a rogue intelligence. It’s about deciding what future is worth fighting for—and whether the past should be resurrected at all.
Inventor is a gripping sci-fi thriller packed with pulse-pounding action, dark humor, and philosophical depth. Perfect for fans of Martha Wells’ Murderbot Diaries, Blake Crouch’s Upgrade, and Neal Asher’s Polity universe.
Professor Melrayis Valdez thought she was just another cog in the Willacast Corp machine—a brilliant roboticist building automata no one cared to understand. But when long-dormant sensors detect movement on Earth’s shattered surface, Mel is forced onto a mission she didn’t sign up investigate the wreckage of humanity’s birthplace, accompanied by her experimental automaton, Huygens.
What begins as a corporate box-checking expedition quickly descends into horror. The surface of Earth is a graveyard—polluted, storm-wracked, and devoid of organic life. Or so they thought. Deep beneath the rubble, Mel and her team uncover something autonomous machines cobbled together from scrap and sinew, orchestrated by a vast, intelligent force calling itself Prime.
Prime doesn’t want peace. It wants to evolve—and for that, it needs flesh.
Mel must rely on Huygens to protect her and uncover the truth behind Prime’s chilling vision of cyber-organic rebirth. But survival isn’t just about escaping a rogue intelligence. It’s about deciding what future is worth fighting for—and whether the past should be resurrected at all.
Inventor is a gripping sci-fi thriller packed with pulse-pounding action, dark humor, and philosophical depth. Perfect for fans of Martha Wells’ Murderbot Diaries, Blake Crouch’s Upgrade, and Neal Asher’s Polity universe.
60 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 26, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 28, 2025
I love a good Syfy short story.
In “Inventor” author Collin Irish explores a post-apocalyptic Earth believed to be a dead, toxic and lifeless planet. Professor Melravis Valdez is tasked with a mission to install a transit portal on the Earth’s surface, but Professor Valdez knows that this is a bad ideal especially when Earth’s atmosphere hasn’t been checked in centuries.
Even though she has doubts, Professor Valdez follows orders only to realize that she wasn’t too far from the truth when she discovers that some AI technology from earth has survived and lives beneath earth’s surface challenging the assumption about Earth’s lifeless existence and highlighting the survival of artificial life long after humanity’s extinction.
Kind of makes you wonder what will remain after humanity no longer exist.
In “Inventor” author Collin Irish explores a post-apocalyptic Earth believed to be a dead, toxic and lifeless planet. Professor Melravis Valdez is tasked with a mission to install a transit portal on the Earth’s surface, but Professor Valdez knows that this is a bad ideal especially when Earth’s atmosphere hasn’t been checked in centuries.
Even though she has doubts, Professor Valdez follows orders only to realize that she wasn’t too far from the truth when she discovers that some AI technology from earth has survived and lives beneath earth’s surface challenging the assumption about Earth’s lifeless existence and highlighting the survival of artificial life long after humanity’s extinction.
Kind of makes you wonder what will remain after humanity no longer exist.
August 29, 2025
My rating is 4.25
This was a super interesting story of a non-human female society and a particular professor who makes an automata based on a man from the 1700's. When they are sent on a mission to dead earth, to investigate movement that shouldn't be there, all hell breaks loose. There is something on the planet and it's out for organic material and world domination (and more?)
I enjoyed the story and the characters, Prime and Huygens in particular. Both were interesting looks at sentient AI built without us!
This was a super interesting story of a non-human female society and a particular professor who makes an automata based on a man from the 1700's. When they are sent on a mission to dead earth, to investigate movement that shouldn't be there, all hell breaks loose. There is something on the planet and it's out for organic material and world domination (and more?)
I enjoyed the story and the characters, Prime and Huygens in particular. Both were interesting looks at sentient AI built without us!
August 27, 2025
The Inventor
by Collin Irish
This short story kept my interest until the very end. What happens once Earth is no more. Will anything be able to survive? In The Inventor by Collin Irish, we find out that, yes, machines have managed to survive deep below the surfac.
Read this story to find out what happens when Professor Melrayis Valdez lands on Earth and begins exploring what she thought was a dead world.
8.21.25
by Collin Irish
This short story kept my interest until the very end. What happens once Earth is no more. Will anything be able to survive? In The Inventor by Collin Irish, we find out that, yes, machines have managed to survive deep below the surfac.
Read this story to find out what happens when Professor Melrayis Valdez lands on Earth and begins exploring what she thought was a dead world.
8.21.25
August 26, 2025
This is a great short sci fi novel. I enjoyed it and read it in one seating.
August 31, 2025
I really enjoyed this story! There was a lot of suspense and the twist at the end was shocking. This entry in the series successfully built on what had occurred in the previous book and short story.
September 1, 2025
A supremely fast paced, part scifi thriller, part apocalyptic horror. A very good, interesting, and speedy read! Definitely for fans of Dune as well at the Halo series.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews