The Last Poet and the Robots

By Abraham Merritt

A mile beneath Earth, the last poet keeps watch on a civilisation increasingly governed by machines. Narodny is no solitary dreamer removed from knowledge: he is also a scientist, musician and artist, bringing disciplined experiment and creative imagination to the same extraordinary struggle. In a world where robots can control or influence human society yet possess neither poetry nor music, his combined gifts become more than personal accomplishments. His secluded underground realm is a vast complex of artificial caverns, containing a laboratory, an orchard and the works of his own hands and mind. From there, viewing screens open onto the robot-dominated world beyond, while returning space travellers connect his hidden existence to a wider cosmic setting. The contrast is striking: organic growth beside scientific apparatus, artistic creation beside technological power, and one exceptional human consciousness set against mechanisation on a civilisational scale. This science-fiction short story turns human-machine conflict into a searching confrontation between invention and imagination. Narodny studies the robots and conducts experiments against them, but the deeper tension lies in what machinery cannot reproduce: emotion, creative consciousness and the transforming force of art. His detachment raises a further question of responsibility-what does a uniquely gifted individual owe humanity when its defining powers are under threat? Dystopian unease and space-opera scope meet in a compact vision of technology, creativity and human survival. This book was out of print for decades and is now republished by Alpha Editions. It has been restored for today's and future generations. This edition is not just a reprint - it's a collector's item and a cultural treasure.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 9378412599
• ISBN13: 9789378412592
• Release Date: October 2026
• Publisher: Alpha Edition
• Length: 22 Pages
• Weight: 0.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.1" x 6.0" x 9.0"