Skip to main content

story identification - Space ship manned by only AI returns home to a different earth, back in time


I read this short story 30 years or more ago.


A space ship is returning home to Earth from a battle. There are no people on board this ship, only an AI and the ship's computer. When the ship tries to contact Earth it gets no immediate response. The ship attempts to make contact for some time and then is successful with Houston Control (I think).


The AI discovers that it is on a different Earth from the one it is from and that it has also traveled back in time. (The enemy the fleet that it fought still exists).


The space ship comes from an Earth were the Greek empire did not get destroyed.


In the end the AI crashes the ship on the Capitol and gets destroyed, but the computer survives so that the human race has the knowledge of how to build ships and defend against the enemy.


Does anyone know the name of this story?



Answer




This is Helbent 4 by Stephen Robinett. It's a very amusing story, with the last NASA Houston employee sweeping out Mission Control (prescient!). Helbent 4 has been fighting the Spacethings and can't make the Earth understand the threat, so ends up crashing into the Capitol to get Earth to take the threat seriously (They think he is the spacething).


I read it in "The 1976 World's Best SF", and my room-mate had the Robinett collection "Projections". Wonder whatever happened to Robinett?


(addendum: I just thumbed through the story, and I don't see anything about the Greek empire. There is some information about the alternate timeline but it's mostly just slightly changed from ours: President Harry S. Therman and Darwin's Origin of the Genus, for example. I still think this is what you're looking for, though, everything else matches.)


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