The Cyberiad, Stanislaw Lem
An utterly delightful collection of science fiction short stories, written by Polish writer, Stanislaw Lem. First published about 50 years ago, these stories weave intriguing tales of fantasy, sometimes reminding you of Alice in Wonderland (though a little more high tech), sometimes Asterix, and at some other times the Matrix series, or the book "Time Machine".
The quality of translation from Polish to English is so good that you can't even imagine that these are translations. The translator seems to have been creative in inventing terms in English for hypothetical terms that must have been used in the original text.
These are stories about two expert 'constructors', Trurl and Klapaucius. They are always busy constructing new machines, with magical, almost God-like powers. The two constructors share an unstated mutual admiration, cooperation, friendly banter, but also at times indulge in sometimes competition, jealousy and even espionage.
These two construct these machines, sometimes for fun, sometimes for monetary reward, and sometimes just to save their lives. There are all kinds of machines constructed by them, including:
- a machine which can create anything that starts with N in English
- a machine which composes poetry
- a disastrous machine which believes 2+2=7
- a machine that gives the perfect advice to its owner
- mathematical models to manipulate probability that results in improbable dragons to become reality
- a love machine
- a storytelling machine
- a machine which can literally pull any information in the universe out of thin air, by finding intelligible patterns in random motion of gas molecules
The machines even have their own personalities. Mostly they are obedient, competent and efficient, but occasionally you encounter a machine which can get snappy; a machine that gets emotional and can drown others who interact with it with strong emotions, almost hypnotically; a machine which is violent and revengeful towards its creator. Some machines are ming-boggling in their dimensions, such as an eight-story monstrous machine in one of the stories.
The other characters in the stories are no less interesting. There is two rival quirky kings who, between themselves, rule half a planet each and want to capture the other half and want the help of the two constructors in their goals.
Then there is a king who loves to play childish games like hide n seek, "spin the electron" and many others and wants the two constructors to devise the ultimate disguise for him.
There is also a sadistic king who is a great enthusiast of hunting, with an insatiable hunger for the most dangerous games. Having conquered every sort of natural galactic fauna and even the most intelligently created machines as game, he orders Trurl and Klapaucius to create the most deadly beasts to hunt. This turns out to be one of the sternest tests of the skills of the two constructors. It takes great cunning from them to beat the king at his game, and escape unharmed and richer from his planet.
One thing is for sure: one should not try to cheat the duo as many a king find to their peril.
Blended in the stories there are interesting views on the meaning of life, creation, progress of civilizations, and even a delightful narration about the power of bureaucracy.
Only one story, the last one, does not feature Trurl and Klapaucius, but reveals how humans are viewed by the robots who are omnipresent in the futuristic world of Stanislaw Lem. And an earlier story reveals a surprising secret about the two constructors themselves (saying anything more would be a spoiler).
