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This novella was first published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact, July/August 2023.

Read the full story for free here.

The Anarchistic Colossus... takes place in a future Earth where anarchy has become a way of life - it is, however, a very special branch of anarchy, one that is controlled by the mysterious Kirlian computers... and one that must deal with a race of aliens who look upon the conquest of Earth as part of a very entertaining game...

Table of Contents:

• Interior artwork by Rodger Gerberding
• Editors' Note - essay by Dennis E. Weiler and Philip J. Rahman
• Introduction (Colossus) - essay by Richard L. Tierney
• The Red Brain - (1927) - shortstory
• The Holiday Act - shortstory
• Something from Above - (1930) - novelette
• Raiders of the Universes - (1932) - novelette
• A Race Through Time - [A Race Through Time - 1] - (1933) - novelette
• Farewell to Earth - [A Race Through Time - 2] - (1933) - novelette
• Colossus - [Colossus (Wandrei)] - (1934) - novelette
• Colossus Eternal - [Colossus (Wandrei)] - (1934) - novella
• The Atom-Smasher - (1934) - shortstory
• The Blinding Shadows - (1934) - shortstory
• Life Current - (1935) - shortstory
• The Whisperers - (1935) - shortstory
• Murray's Light - (1935) - shortstory
• Earth Minus - (1935) - novelette
• Finality Unlimited - (1936) - novella
• Infinity Zero - (1936) - shortstory
• Black Fog - (1937) - shortstory
• The Crystal Bullet - (1941) - shortstory
• On the Threshold of Eternity - (1937) - shortstory
• A Trip to Infinity - (1965) - shortstory
• Requiem for Mankind - (1971) - shortstory
• Selected Bibliography (Colossus) - (1989) - essay by D. H. Olson

Charles Forbin has dedicated the last ten years of his life to the construction of his own supercomputer, Colossus, rejecting romantic and social endeavours in order to create the United States' very first Artificially Intelligent defence system.

Colossus is a supercomputer capable of in-taking and analyzing data rapidly, allowing it to make real time decisions about the nation's defense.

But Colossus soon exceeds even Forbin's calculated expectations, learning to think independently of the Colossus Programming Office, processing data over one hundred times faster than Forbin and his team had originally anticipated.

The President hands off full control of the nation's missiles and other defense protocols to Colossus and makes the announcement to the world that he has ensured peace.

However, the USSR quickly announces that it too has a supercomputer, Guardian, with capabilities similar to that of Colossus.

Forbin is concerned when Colossus asks--asks--to communicate with Guardian. The computer he built shouldn't be able to ask at all...

Colossus and Guardian begin to communicate, quickly bypassing existing knowledge ... and the parameters placed on them by their creators. They are perfectly smart and totally in control. However, they lack human empathy and emotion, creating horrific scenarios.

Colossus and its Russian counterpart, Guardian, soon compromise US military secrecy, ultimately subjugating their creators with the threat of nuclear war.

And while Colossus has been specifically designed not to understand emotion - so as to make quicker and more logical decisions about America's safety - this is exactly the thing that makes him so lethal; Colossus does not experience human empathy and is incapable of understanding the moral ramifications of his decisions.

Having handed over total control of American defence missiles to Colossus, the President and Forbin must act quickly to shut down the unstable machine.

Will Forbin be able to take down the machine he's spent ten years building?

Will Colossus cause real damage before it's too late?

Find out in D.F. Jones's thrilling novel Colossus, which deals with the ongoing battle - both physical and philosophical - between man and machine, addresses the author's own apprehensive attitude towards our future. His message is still as poignant and moving today and when the novel was originally published in 1966.

Charles Forbin is the Director: the one man on earth who speaks directly to Colossus. Five years before, the American supercomputer and the Soviet supercomputer were united -- combining their data, their analytic powers, their learning and growth capacity. In the few seconds of that process, they became one Colossus -- master of humankind. Programmed to solve humanity's problems, Colossus solved them: forestalled nuclear holocaust, eradicated poverty and the frustration and violence it breeds. Soon there was nothing for people to do -- but obey. Some made Colossus their God, and Charles Forbin was their Pope. Others wanted to be free of Colossus -- for Colossus was also ruthless beyond any human tyrant ever -- and they wanted Forbin as their deliverer. Either of these movements might get Forbin killed. He is appalled and disgusted by the religious cult, terrified by the rebels -- who haven't a chance, as he knows better than anyone on earth. Then Forbin is handed the key to the overthrow of Colossus -- or is it? He must commit his life to the chance that it is, just to begin with. Then he must commit the earth to the shadowy motives of the mysterious source of this new power.

BETRAYER OF MANKIND

In all his illustrious career Charles Forbin has never faced a challenge as awe-inspiring, and as hopeless! As the man who mediates between Colossus, the Super-Computer, and the rest of humanity, Forbin holds the key to Earth's fate. Now he has voluntarily used his power to switch off the Machine, and thus turned over mastery of the planet to alien invaders.

Will Forbin turn out to be the universal Judas, or can he prevent these strange beings from taking their horrendous tribute? The invaders are wise beyond mankind's conception, and Forbin meets his match in this thrilling third book in the Colossus series.