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space exploration - Book or short story about an empty city with deadly traps


Many years ago I read a book or story where a group of people discover a dark city - maybe on another planet - which appears devoid of life but is in very good condition. As they gradually explore the city one of the them falls into a trap and is cut to pieces by something mechanical. This detail I can remember as it was a pretty gruesome idea. I don't know the ending but my guess is that none of them make it out alive.



Answer



Finally tracked down the short story I mentioned in my comment to the original question, and that Jeff mentioned in his answer: See if this sounds about right:


"The City" — A rocket expedition from Earth lands on an uncharted planet to be greeted by a seemingly empty city. As the humans begin to explore, they realize that the city is not as empty as it seems. The city was waiting for the arrival of humans; the contingency plan of a long dead civilization, put in place to take revenge upon humanity after their culture was wiped out with biological weapons by humans long before recorded history. Once the city captures and kills the human astronauts, the humans' corpses are used as automations to finalize the city's creators' revenge; a biological attack on the Earth.



It's from Ray Bradbury's 'The Illustrated Man' compilation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Illustrated_Man


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