A mysterious, dark world of the far future. Earth has been reduced to something half-wild; it’s inhabited by a handful of people, including a few scattered Indian tribes and a small number of robots. Most knowledge and skills for dealing with technology have been lost. The few books from which this knowledge could be gleaned crumble with time. And yet people have, in practice, stopped getting sick and acquired the ability to communicate telepathically. There are inhabited worlds hundreds of light-years away—but here, on Earth, independent robots have started some unclear construction. And in such questionable conditions, humanity is faced with a choice about the path for its further development.
Hugo / Hugo Award — Nominee, 1973 // Novel