#ioros

The Shell clung to the warehouse wall. Raven looked on through its eyes, if you could call them that — twin cameras, positioned on the humanoid drone’s face, which processed what they saw into a virtual version of the world. It perceived the real world, what Raven saw without a lens, and the virtual world, and to the Shell, both were as real as could be.

The Shell was a physical construct, but…

The investors sat in the viewing room, each in their own plush chair, which were positioned perfectly so that no one investor’s view could be blocked by another. The room, like a lecture hall or a movie theater, had steps of seating extending upward toward the back. A waiter in a dapper suit stood at each corner of the seating array, ready to respond to the investor’s needs.

Dr. Ethine found the…