Project Gutenberg 2016-01-15 Public domain in the USA. 154 Stecher, L. J., Jr. 1918 1988 Stecher, Lewis J., Jr. Stecher, L. J. Wesley, Joseph Emshwiller, Ed 1925 1990 Emsh Emsh, Ed Alexander, Ed Emshwiller, Edmund A. Willer EMSH Man in a Sewing Machine Produced from Galaxy Science Fiction February 1956 Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net "Man in a Sewing Machine" by L. J. Stecher, Jr. is a science fiction narrative crafted in the mid-20th century. The story centers on themes of human ingenuity, artificial intelligence, and the complexities of communication between life forms—whether human or machine. The book explores a conflict scenario involving an invasion of the Solar Confederation by alien forces and delves into the relationship between its protagonist, John Bristol, and his advanced computer, Buster, which delivers cryptic advice throughout their interactions. In the story, John Bristol grapples with the enigmatic counsel of Buster, who advises, “A Stitch in Time Saves Nine,” in response to questions about how to defend their civilization against the aliens. The tale unfolds as Bristol and a council of leaders attempt to interpret this proverb, leading them to explore the concept of inter-planar travel—referred to as "stitching"—as a potential means to evade the invaders. The discussions drive Bristol to discover a strategy that involves alternating returns between the two universes to mislead the enemy and ultimately seek peace instead of destruction. Through humor and philosophic exchanges, the narrative envisions both the challenges and moral dilemmas of technology and warfare, resulting in a thoughtful reflection on humanity’s response to crisis. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 73.5 (7th grade). Fairly easy to read. en Science fiction Artificial intelligence -- Fiction Spouses -- Fiction Computers -- Fiction Questions and answers -- Fiction PS Text Science Fiction Browsing: Literature Browsing: Science-Fiction & Fantasy Browsing: Fiction Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy Category: Humour 78129 2025-06-20T12:55:37.708497 text/html 54344 2024-10-22T23:44:18 text/html 328562 2025-06-20T12:55:40.148577 application/epub+zip 327394 2025-06-20T12:55:38.376537 application/epub+zip 94088 2025-06-20T12:55:37.942498 application/epub+zip 369545 2025-06-20T12:55:41.644487 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 362445 2025-06-20T12:55:39.883553 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 129598 2022-09-23T07:12:13.443532 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 70821 2023-09-22T07:19:05.970606 text/plain 51064 2024-10-22T23:44:18 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 17995 2025-06-20T12:55:41.789472 application/rdf+xml 26784 2025-06-20T12:55:38.022584 image/jpeg 4729 2025-06-20T12:55:37.981524 image/jpeg 299940 2025-06-20T12:55:37.730524 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia