Charles A. Stearns 27 min read

A wry robot narrator, a proud 'metal person' facing prejudice from the fleshly 'Builders', recounts his run-in with an alarm clock on Phobos.

Charles A. Stearns's 1954 story is told in the droll, dignified voice of B-12, a mechanical being who steals through Argon City on rusty joints and explains the odd business of the alarm clock. Charming, comic social SF that flips the robot story to the robot's side. Read it for a witty golden-age tale narrated with real personality by its metal hero.

In its time

Published in 1954, during the 1950s, post-war optimism meets cold war anxiety.

Reading it

27 min read (a novelette, room for a turn or two).