This audiobook is narrated by an AI Voice.
The Defenders by Philip K. Dick – a classic Cold War science fiction short story, first published in Galaxy Science Fiction in 1953.
For eight years, humanity has lived underground. After a devastating nuclear war, the survivors of both East and West have retreated deep beneath the surface, working in endless factories to build weapons. On the radioactive surface above, the war goes on, fought on their behalf by tireless robot soldiers, who send back daily reports of burning cities and poisoned land.
But when a robot returns from the surface showing no trace of radiation, a small group is sent up to see the truth with their own eyes. What they find there will change everything they believed about the war, about their enemies, and about the machines built to defend them.
A sharp, ironic and surprisingly hopeful story about propaganda, fear and the lies we are told "for our own good." Philip K. Dick later expanded this idea into his novel The Penultimate Truth (1964). The Defenders is an essential read for fans of post-apocalyptic fiction, atomic age retro-futurism and classic golden age sci-fi.
