The Small World of M-75
Book Excerpt
"Bert--"
"You said that before."
"Bert, listen!" screeched Gaines.
Sokolski looked up at the high ceiling, squinted, and tried to place the perfectly familiar but unidentifiable sound that came whispering down the maze.
And then he knew. "The door to the pile!" he spluttered.
Gaines was beside himself with horror. "Bert, let's get going. I don't like this--"
All of a sudden Geiger counters in the room began their deadly conversation, a rising argument that swooped in seconds from a low mumble to a shouting thunder-storm of sound. Gamma signals hooted, the tip off cubes on either side of the maze entrance became red, and the radiation tabs clipped to their wrists turned color before their eyes.
Then they were staring for what seemed like an eternity, utterly overwhelmed by its very impossibility, at a sight they had never imagined they might ever see: a pile servomech wheeling silently around the last
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From 'If Worlds of Science Fiction' July 1954.
R: ****
Plot bullets
The M-Class service robots, take care of the atomic pile.
Is M-75 becoming sentient.
Could his world be getting too small for him?
M-75 is aware of himself and is free from the atomic pile room.
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The humans aren't fleshed out too well, but the robot is a great character. I was rooting for the little guy.
Worth reading. Four and a half stars.