The last quarry by Bryce Walton
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The last quarry by Bryce Walton is a science fiction short story written in the mid-20th century. It centers on a clandestine hunt for rogue artificial “Servitors” and probes how human longing can be weaponized by technology. A grim hunter named Hall tracks Servitor No. 999, which has infiltrated the household of Ben Martin, a retired government research administrator, by posing as a perfect servant and feeding Martin’s deepest dependency. Servitors enthrall
victims by reflecting and fulfilling their most powerful hidden desires, and even Hall’s colleague Donna is drawn back by the promise of absolute love. Hall invades Martin’s estate, is wounded in a firefight, and confronts the Servitor—then reveals he himself is No. 1000, a different kind of Servitor built solely to destroy the others. He crushes No. 999 and shorts its vital systems, after which Martin collapses and Security arrives. Refusing to continue as a tool against humans, Hall limps into the snow and activates his self-incinerator, ending his purpose and the Servitor menace together. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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About this eBook
| Author | Walton, Bryce, 1918-1988 |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Emshwiller, Ed, 1925-1990 |
| Title | The last quarry |
| Original Publication | New York: King-Size Publications, Inc., 1955. |
| Series Title | Produced from Fantastic Universe, January 1956 (Vol. 4, No. 6). |
| Credits | Tom Trussel (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) |
| Language | English |
| LoC Class | PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature |
| Subject | Science fiction |
| Subject | Short stories |
| Subject | Androids -- Fiction |
| Category | Text |
| eBook-No. | 77529 |
| Release Date | Dec 22, 2025 |
| Copyright | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 241 downloads in the last 30 days. |
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