Skip to main content

robots - What sci-fi short story featured a man waking up from stasis several times over millennia?


I read this story in a sci-fi anthology in the mid 90s, but I remember thinking the book looked pretty old by then.


The story is about a man who wakes up from stasis / cryogenic sleep in the future, only to discover that he's the only human left alive on Earth. He's greeted by a simple robot which is programmed to follow his instructions. He spends some time in the library, but eventually decides to go back to stasis. Before he does, he gives the robot an order, which it interprets to mean that it should expand its own capabilities.


When the man wakes up again next time, many years have passed, possibly centuries, and the robot is noticeably smarter, having gained several extensions and upgrades. For some reason, the man goes back to stasis.


That keeps happening a few times, the man goes in and out of stasis, and every time he wakes up the robot has upgraded itself. Eventually the man gets so depressed about being the only human left that he decides to go back to stasis permanently.


The next time he wakes up, billions of years have passed and Earth is about to end. The robot, who by now is on the far side of the singularity, ushers him into a spaceship and puts him back to sleep.


The man wakes up a final time,




on a planet full of humans. The robot has spent the time when he was in stasis to find a new planet, terraform it, and create human beings to populate it. The twist is that everyone has a green tint, because they were modeled on a discolored picture of the man's wife, that he had in his wallet. The man decides he's fine with this.



I can't remember exactly why all the other humans were dead, could have been a war or a plague or something similar. I also can't remember why he went in and out of stasis, it could have been that he gave the robot a project to complete that would take a long time, and only woke up to check on its project.



Answer



This is "Second Ending" by James White. It seems like this may be a duplicate, but I couldn't find the original.


Don't see the text online, but several reviews (such as http://www.whatsthatbook.com/?xq=10579) should show it's a match.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.
Post a Comment
Read more

game of thrones - Is Syrio Forel dead?

In the episode 'The Pointy End' (Season 1 Episode 8) when Arya runs from the Lannister guards you hear the sound of a sword being dropped (around 4:56): [embedded content] After that neither Syrio or Ser Meryn Trant is never mentioned or seen in the show again, except when Arya mentions to the Hound that Ser Meryn Trant killed Syrio. Is there any mention in the books that Syrio actually dies?
Post a Comment
Read more

tolkiens legendarium - Difference between elves and dwarves blacksmithing in the Lord of the Rings

Both the elves and the dwarves were famous for their metal work in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but what is the difference between what they made, and which one had the better skill of making amours and swords? Answer James Christopher's answer sums up the second part of your question well, but as to the difference in what they made, a little more detail is needed. Once the Elves learned to forge with steel, the shape of the sword changed, now being able to take on the form of a great broadsword or a light and agile curved sword. Additionally, they took great pride in decorating their swords. As we see in the Lord of the Rings , some swords like Sting had magical properties such as glowing blue when orcs are near. As far as the use of Mithril, lotr.wikia has two contradictory passages: Thus, Elven blades became renowned as great weapons, capable of performing deeds beyond the skill of their handlers and were even more glorious when the use of Mithril was allowed to the Elves. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

How do Pokemon trainers collect their winnings?

According to Bulbapedia , Prize money is the money that a Trainer pays out at the end of a battle. So we know that the money comes directly from the trainer that just lost, and not some third-party committee or sponsor. But how is this done? It can be easy seeing the random trainers who challenge you along the way wanting to wager and then, after admitting defeat, sticking to their word and handing over their hard-earned pokebucks. Then there are the likes of Team Rocket and Giovanni, who also give money once they lose. This doesn't seem like something people in a criminal organization would willingly do. From this it appears that trainers have no say in whether or not they cough up the dough after losing, but I can't find anything on how exactly the funds are transferred from loser to winner. So how do Pokemon trainers receive their winnings?
Post a Comment
Read more