There was a great SF story I read some time ago (probably 25+ years ago) where there was a well known treasure trove, guarded by a killer robot that would ask all comers a series of difficult questions from all areas (math, physics, literature, history, etc.) But everyone eventually failed and died... until the last person managed to make it past the robot:
By just answering gibberish to the robot. Unfortunately, after collecting a ton of treasure, the robot casually asked him why he wanted it, he answered in a sensible way (something like "because it's valuable"), and the robot killed him, because he failed the final test.
Any ideas who wrote this? What it was titled?
Answer
Sounds like it could be "The Sixth Palace" by Robert Silverberg. It seems to have appeared in a number of anthologies.
In a game strangely like "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" a robot asks questions of adventurers looking for treasure. If you answer all the questions correctly, you get the treasure, a vast trove of priceless artworks. But watch out! There are no lifelines in this version, and the penalty for a wrong answer literally is your life!
The story was originally published in Galaxy, February 1965 and you can read it at the Internet Archive.
Comments
Post a Comment