After a mechanical man has claimed his desire to live forever in “Ancient Engines” by Michael Swanwick, the ‘father’ of mechs has him sit at his table with his beautiful granddaughter to discuss the long view of immortality in bite-sized steps until the ultimate heat-death of the universe. Only until then, because ‘’the lifetime of the universe is long enough for anyone,” the granddaughter said. “Mustn’t get greedy.”’ That's still a bit too long-term for the young man, though.