2 War machines survive the destruction of humanity, try to build a robot to repair themselves
The story is about 2 war robots who have survived a war that wiped out humanity world-wide. There may be more of the robots functional elsewhere, but since the long-distance communication robots broke down they have no contact with anyone else.
I don't recall if there was an accompanying illustration or just a description, but I have a mental image of a roughly spherical body with 3 short legs underneath and 2 long arms, terminating in long claws, at opposite points on the midline. The limbs were segmented, like flexible tubing.
One of the robots is more thoughtful than the other and realises that if they can't find a way to repair themselves they will eventually run down. It tries to construct a smaller robot with hand-like manipulators instead of the claws they were built with for killing. Making the critical linkage, its claw accidentally causes a short circuit, slagging the brain and destroying the robot. In anger and frustration, it shreds the construct and gives up.
In the final scene, the 2 robots are trudging through snow, one of them trailing its no-longer-functional arms. Its arms snag on an unseen rock and it falls. It doesn't get up, and the other walks on.
I would have read this story almost 40 years ago, in an anthology from the (then local) library.
story-identification short-stories
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DavidWDavidW
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The story is about 2 war robots who have survived a war that wiped out humanity world-wide. There may be more of the robots functional elsewhere, but since the long-distance communication robots broke down they have no contact with anyone else.
I don't recall if there was an accompanying illustration or just a description, but I have a mental image of a roughly spherical body with 3 short legs underneath and 2 long arms, terminating in long claws, at opposite points on the midline. The limbs were segmented, like flexible tubing.
One of the robots is more thoughtful than the other and realises that if they can't find a way to repair themselves they will eventually run down. It tries to construct a smaller robot with hand-like manipulators instead of the claws they were built with for killing. Making the critical linkage, its claw accidentally causes a short circuit, slagging the brain and destroying the robot. In anger and frustration, it shreds the construct and gives up.
In the final scene, the 2 robots are trudging through snow, one of them trailing its no-longer-functional arms. Its arms snag on an unseen rock and it falls. It doesn't get up, and the other walks on.
I would have read this story almost 40 years ago, in an anthology from the (then local) library.
story-identification short-stories
asked 8 mins ago
DavidWDavidW
1,8891430
add a comment |
The story is about 2 war robots who have survived a war that wiped out humanity world-wide. There may be more of the robots functional elsewhere, but since the long-distance communication robots broke down they have no contact with anyone else.
I don't recall if there was an accompanying illustration or just a description, but I have a mental image of a roughly spherical body with 3 short legs underneath and 2 long arms, terminating in long claws, at opposite points on the midline. The limbs were segmented, like flexible tubing.
One of the robots is more thoughtful than the other and realises that if they can't find a way to repair themselves they will eventually run down. It tries to construct a smaller robot with hand-like manipulators instead of the claws they were built with for killing. Making the critical linkage, its claw accidentally causes a short circuit, slagging the brain and destroying the robot. In anger and frustration, it shreds the construct and gives up.
In the final scene, the 2 robots are trudging through snow, one of them trailing its no-longer-functional arms. Its arms snag on an unseen rock and it falls. It doesn't get up, and the other walks on.
I would have read this story almost 40 years ago, in an anthology from the (then local) library.
story-identification short-stories
asked 8 mins ago
DavidWDavidW
1,8891430
The story is about 2 war robots who have survived a war that wiped out humanity world-wide. There may be more of the robots functional elsewhere, but since the long-distance communication robots broke down they have no contact with anyone else.
I don't recall if there was an accompanying illustration or just a description, but I have a mental image of a roughly spherical body with 3 short legs underneath and 2 long arms, terminating in long claws, at opposite points on the midline. The limbs were segmented, like flexible tubing.
One of the robots is more thoughtful than the other and realises that if they can't find a way to repair themselves they will eventually run down. It tries to construct a smaller robot with hand-like manipulators instead of the claws they were built with for killing. Making the critical linkage, its claw accidentally causes a short circuit, slagging the brain and destroying the robot. In anger and frustration, it shreds the construct and gives up.
In the final scene, the 2 robots are trudging through snow, one of them trailing its no-longer-functional arms. Its arms snag on an unseen rock and it falls. It doesn't get up, and the other walks on.
I would have read this story almost 40 years ago, in an anthology from the (then local) library.
story-identification short-stories
story-identification short-stories
asked 8 mins ago
DavidWDavidW
1,8891430
asked 8 mins ago
DavidWDavidW
1,8891430
asked 8 mins ago
DavidWDavidW
1,8891430
asked 8 mins ago
DavidWDavidW
1,8891430
asked 8 mins ago
DavidWDavidW
1,8891430
1,8891430
add a comment |
add a comment |
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