The Mechanical Mice by Maurice G. Hugi:
Science Fiction Inventions, Technology and Ideas

"The inventor had spent twelve years perfecting the machine — a thing of marvelous complexity. Trouble was — he didn't know what it was he'd invented!"


('The Mechanical Mice' by Maurice Huigi [Eric Frank Russell])

Fantastic short story about a terrifying device constructed from a design stolen from the future. Apparently, the story was first written by Hugi, then rewritten by Eric Frank Russell. This remarkable story anticipates important elements of Bradbury's stories, as well as the mindlessly malevolent autonomous machines of Philip K. Dick's early stories like Autofac. Unfortunately, it can only be found in various out-of-print collections - or here.

Select an invention:

Golden Shuttles (Mechanical Mice) - tiny robots
Very small robots with an appetite for watch parts.

Psychophone
A device that allows the user to tune their mind to a future reality - a time-traveling device.

Robot Mother - self-reproducing automaton
A self-replicating robot, which creates a series of helper bots that adapt to conditions as needed.

 

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