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Escape!

"Escape!" is a science fiction short story by American writer Isaac Asimov. It was first published as "Paradoxical Escape" (a publisher's change in the title) in the August 1945 issue of Astounding Science Fiction and reprinted as "Escape!" (Asimov's choice of title) in the collections I, Robot (1950) and The Complete Robot (1982).

"Escape!"
Short story by Isaac Asimov
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Genre(s)Science fiction
Publication
Published inAstounding Science Fiction
Publication typePeriodical
PublisherStreet & Smith
Media typePrint (magazine, hardback and paperback)
Publication dateAugust 1945
Chronology
SeriesRobot series
 
Risk
 
Evidence

Plot summary edit

Many research organizations are working to develop the hyperspatial drive. The company U.S. Robots and Mechanical Men, Inc., is approached by its biggest competitor that has plans for a working hyperspace engine that allows humans to survive the jump (a theme which would be further developed in future Asimov stories). But the staff of U.S. Robots is wary, because, in performing the calculations, their rival's (non-positronic) supercomputer has destroyed itself.

U.S. Robots finds a way to feed the information to its own positronic computer known as The Brain (which is not a robot in the strictest sense of the word, since it does not move, although it does obey the Three Laws of Robotics), without the same thing happening.

The Brain then directs the building of a hyperspace ship. Powell and Donovan board the spaceship, which takes off without them being initially aware of it. They find that The Brain has become a practical joker: the ship lacks manual controls, amenities such as showers and beds, and food aside from canned beans and milk.

Shortly after their journey begins, and after many strange visions by the crew, the ship safely returns to Base after two hyperspace jumps. By then, Dr. Susan Calvin has discovered what happened: any hyperspace jump causes the crew of the ship to cease existing for a brief moment, effectively dying, which is a violation of the First Law of Robotics (albeit a temporary one); the only reason the artificial intelligence of The Brain survived is because Susan reduced the importance of the potential deaths, and descending into irrational, childish behavior (as a means of coping) allows it to find a means for ensuring the survival of the crew.

External links edit


Preceded by:
"Risk"
Included in:
I, Robot
The Complete Robot
Series:
Robot series
Followed by:
"Evidence"

escape, 1930, british, crime, film, film, other, uses, escape, disambiguation, this, article, does, cite, sources, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, citations, reliable, sources, unsourced, material, challenged, removed, find, sources, news, newspa. For the 1930 British crime film see Escape film For other uses see Escape disambiguation This article does not cite any sources Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Escape news newspapers books scholar JSTOR December 2009 Learn how and when to remove this template message Escape is a science fiction short story by American writer Isaac Asimov It was first published as Paradoxical Escape a publisher s change in the title in the August 1945 issue of Astounding Science Fiction and reprinted as Escape Asimov s choice of title in the collections I Robot 1950 and The Complete Robot 1982 Escape Short story by Isaac AsimovCountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglishGenre s Science fictionPublicationPublished inAstounding Science FictionPublication typePeriodicalPublisherStreet amp SmithMedia typePrint magazine hardback and paperback Publication dateAugust 1945ChronologySeriesRobot series Risk EvidencePlot summary editMany research organizations are working to develop the hyperspatial drive The company U S Robots and Mechanical Men Inc is approached by its biggest competitor that has plans for a working hyperspace engine that allows humans to survive the jump a theme which would be further developed in future Asimov stories But the staff of U S Robots is wary because in performing the calculations their rival s non positronic supercomputer has destroyed itself U S Robots finds a way to feed the information to its own positronic computer known as The Brain which is not a robot in the strictest sense of the word since it does not move although it does obey the Three Laws of Robotics without the same thing happening The Brain then directs the building of a hyperspace ship Powell and Donovan board the spaceship which takes off without them being initially aware of it They find that The Brain has become a practical joker the ship lacks manual controls amenities such as showers and beds and food aside from canned beans and milk Shortly after their journey begins and after many strange visions by the crew the ship safely returns to Base after two hyperspace jumps By then Dr Susan Calvin has discovered what happened any hyperspace jump causes the crew of the ship to cease existing for a brief moment effectively dying which is a violation of the First Law of Robotics albeit a temporary one the only reason the artificial intelligence of The Brain survived is because Susan reduced the importance of the potential deaths and descending into irrational childish behavior as a means of coping allows it to find a means for ensuring the survival of the crew External links edit Escape title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database Paradoxical Escape at the Internet Archive Preceded by Risk Included in I RobotThe Complete Robot Series Robot series Followed by Evidence Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Escape amp oldid 1178907989, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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