Farewell to the Master

"Farewell to the Master" is a science fiction short story written by Harry Bates. It was first published in the October 1940 issue of "Astounding Science Fiction". ["Isaac Asimov presents The Golden Years of Science Fiction", Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg, 1979, ISBN 0-517-401479] It provided the basis of the noted 1951 film "The Day the Earth Stood Still" and its 2008 remake.

Plot summary

The story is told from the viewpoint of Cliff Sutherland, a free-lance picture reporter, who is present when a mysterious "curving ovoid" ship instantaneously appears on the grounds of the United States Capitol in Washington D.C. Two days later, "visitors from the Unknown" emerge: a "god-like" person in human form and an eight-foot robot made of green metal. The former is shot and killed by a lunatic after only managing to say in English, "I am Klaatu and this is Gnut." Klaatu is buried nearby. Gnut remains motionless, while laboratories and a museum are built around it and the ship. Both prove impervious to the investigations of frustrated scientists.

Sutherland discovers that the robot enters the ship each night when no one is watching, emerging to resume his position for the day. Gnut is aware of the reporter, but ignores him. After several odd encounters, Sutherland informs the world what he has learned. Gnut is encased in "glasstex", finally forcing the robot's hand. It breaks out, unaffected by all attempts to destroy it, picks up Sutherland and travels to the mausoleum containing Klaatu's corpse. It opens the tomb and takes a recording of Klaatu's voice stored there. It then returns and goes inside the ship.

Sutherland daringly boards the ship before the entrance closes and learns the reasons behind Gnut's behavior. The robot is working on a way to create a copy of Klaatu just from an audio recording of his greeting. However, the new Klaatu is flawed because the recording is imperfect, and he dies soon after speaking with the reporter. Sutherland then suggests retrieving the original recording device and, by studying it, figure out how to compensate for its imperfections; Gnut eagerly takes up this idea. Sutherland sees to it that the equipment is brought to it.

Then, when he somehow senses that the robot is ready to depart, Sutherland impresses upon it the need to tell its masters that Klaatu's death was an accident, leading to a surprise ending. Gnut explains, "You misunderstand, "I" am the master."

References

External links

*cite web
url=http://thenostalgialeague.com/olmag/bates.html
title=Farewell to the Master (full text)
first=Harry
last=Bates
date=October 1940
authorlink=Harry Bates (author)
publisher=Astounding Stories, [http://www.thenostalgialeague.com/ The Nostalgia League]
accessdate=2007-08-11