I have no mouth and I must scream

[TMA_1]

Vanguard lead me to this short story, but I was aware of the author for awhile now. He wrote some of my favorite star trek episodes. His name is Harlen ellison. He wrote episodes like "city on the edge of tomorrow".

Ever want to feel what hell is like? want to read something that leaves you empty? something written that makes your mind roil and bubble? This story is without doubt the most haunting I have ever read. Not really for the basic idea of the story itself, because it has been done many a'time.

Three super computers were built, one by the yankees, one by the chinese and one by the russians. consciousness sparked and they united.

typical, but it is what lives beneath the story that is fantastic. The sheer creativity of Ellison is what shocks me. It almost reads like a metaphorical poem, with analogies here, and smatterings of myth there. While all the while five remaining humans are kept by the super computer for eternal torture. See, he made them immortal, so that they could be forever tortured. The machine hates it's own existance, and blames humanity for it's position. The hatred from killing and being manipulated drove it mad.

The computer is sadistic in it's hatred, and if there has ever been a glimpse into hell, this short story does it. good grief brace yourself when you read it.lol

The title says it all for the story.

[Vanguard3000]

TMA:  I highly recommend you find the game as well.  It's made with Ellison's blessings and contributions.  He even plays the voice of Am amazingly ("And, if you can find these three original lobes of that first gestalt mind, you can destroy them.  And if you destroy them, then my dear sweet Ellen... you'll kill me!  You'll kill AM!  The God of this... heavenly place I know you've come to admire!").  it digs deeper into the psyches and backstories of the five souls, damned to live forever in the belly of the monster.

Ellison is one of my favourite authours, and this was one of his best.  Despite the obvious hate you can't help but have for the demonic machine, there is also a sense of sadness.  In essense, he is just as much in hell as the Five; Am himself is trapped in his "straight jacket of substrata rock", with all the power of a god... God, even, but without the simple ability to do a damned thing with it.  Thus, he takes out his frustration on five damned souls... five emmisaries of his sadistic creators.

[TMA_1]

yeah, you can see it's sadness. What do you do when you cannot fight back against something? what do you do when you haven o way of truly fighting back? but have the power to? you hate, and hate on a scale that matches the power that you have. it is heavy stuff.

I dont want people giving me crap for this, but frankly the game is old and I cannot find a place to buy it, is there a place to download it?

[Andrew]

http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?id=531

I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream.

:)

[Vanguard3000]

HotU took the download down, but it does link to Ellison's web-store, where you can buy the game.

[ExSPlug]

Is the story a single novel itself or is part of a book? Can't seem to find it...

[Inoculator9]

Can't wait to read it TMA ;)

And I'd recommend the short story "For A Breath I Tarry." It has a similar theme, and is one of the best Roger Zelazny short stories I've ever read. It involves computers in a similar fashion as "I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream" seems to, but has a somewhat different destination so to speak.

[Vanguard3000]

ExSplug:  It's a short story of about 20 pages (in my book, anyway).  It can be found in the book "Alone Against Tomorrow", which is an anthology by Mr. Ellison.  Every single one of the stories in that book is amazing.  You'll have to go on Ebay or something to find it though, as it is out of print.