12

I believe this story was published in the late 1950s or early 1960s; it may have started as a short story and then been turned into a novel.

The basic plot was that the protagonist had created a tiny computer ("Manche") that approximated the capabilities of today's netbook, plus a degree of sentience; as the story progressed, he and Manche were fighting for Truth & Justice, etc., but were bested by the villain(ess, I think), who then stole Manche. Our hero then built a better/faster/smaller version, named Dimanche or Diamanche, and after a suitable battle, saves the day.

I don't recall anything else about the story -- not even, really, why I enjoyed it so much . . . but it was one of the pieces that spurred my love of electronics, computers, and the hybrid human/computer knowledge-retrieval made possible by sites like Stack Exchange. So it's kind of amusing that Google has been so little help finding this story! :*)

Improve this question
5
  • 1
    Google turns up one reference: a story from Galaxy circa 1953 (Simak? Don't think so...) about a computer engineer who builds AI machines small enough to slip under the skin behind his ear: they talk to him through his skull, and he "subvocalizes" his end of the conversations. I remember the computers' names were Dimanche and Manche. Unfortunately that person was looking for the author and title too.
    – user56
    May 31, 2011 at 7:22
  • @Mithrandir What's wrong with "implantable" and what's wrong with the computers tag?
    – user14111
    Feb 17, 2016 at 3:41
  • @user14111 It's not a computers question. Check the tag wiki. And implantable sounds like it can't be planted. Perhaps i'll edit that again, and add it in a again, phrased differently.
    – Mithical
    Feb 17, 2016 at 3:44
  • 2
    @Mithrandir "Implantable" is a standard English word, and its one and only meaning is "capable of being implanted (in the body)", like a pacemaker. Nobody would think it meant "incapable of being planted". Also I note that you changed the OP's meaning slightly by removing the question mark after "sentient"/
    – user14111
    Feb 17, 2016 at 3:55
  • @Mithrandir I checked the computers tag wiki: "for questions specifically involving (usually non-robotic) computers in a science-fiction work." Fits this question to a T as far as I can tell.
    – user14111
    Feb 17, 2016 at 4:01

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
12

The story is “Delay in Transit” by F.L. Wallace. It appeared in Galaxy, September 1952. You can read it at the Internet Archive. It was collected in Neglected Visions, amongst others.

The first computer is called Dimanche and the replacement is called Manche. The protagonist isn't actually fighting for Good, just trying to go on his life. The main theme in the story isn't exactly information retrieval, it's the difficulty of travelling in a galaxy with billions of stars and only point-to-point ship travel: the problem initially faced by the protagonist is being stranded on an intermediate step in his interstellar journey.

Improve this answer
4
  • I confirm (I have it in an anthology).
    – user56
    Jun 10, 2011 at 19:39
  • Thanks for the additional info, Gilles. On the topic of hybrid human/computer knowledge-retrieval, just wanted to add that I found the story by OCR and grepping a bunch of Galaxy magazine scans. Only read a couple pages to confirm the identity but it looked interesting, may go back and finish at some point.
    – so12311
    Jun 11, 2011 at 0:03
  • That is exactly correct! Thank you SO much for your time & effort in finding this -- not only the story itself, but, it turns out, the anthology in which I'd actually read it (along with a number of other stories I enjoyed); I've found a used copy and ordered it. :*)
    – Tracy O. Logan
    Jun 15, 2011 at 1:26
  • This was also present in the anthology: Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories, 14 (ISBN: 0886771064), which is actually where I remembered it from.
    – user64668
    Apr 12, 2016 at 22:03
1

The story you are talking about was published in a book of 4 short stories.
the book title is "Bodyguards and Four Other Short Stories" edited by H. L. Gold. Published in the early 1950's. The stories were from Galaxy magazine.

Improve this answer
2
  • 1
    Welcome, unfortunately the Orginal Poster had already confirmed the other story was correct, however a good attempt!
    – Edlothiad
    Jan 23, 2017 at 0:04
  • 1
    If you click on the first link in the accepted answer, you will see that Bodyguard and Four Other Short Novels from Galaxy was one of the anthologies in which the story "Delay in Transit" appeared.
    – user14111
    Jan 23, 2017 at 0:30

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.