Isaac Asimov's Robots in Time series
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Written by William F. Wu, Isaac Asimov's Robots in Time was the first series set in Isaac Asimov's universe after his death. Set on Earth, it tells the story of the Governors, the latest and most powerful robot. Comprised of six different robots, these robots can single-handedly run an entire human city. Now, however, they are failing mysteriously, and when MC Governor, the last working unit, realizes it will soon be destroyed, it obeys the Third Law of Robotics: A robot must protect its own existence.
To save itself, MC Governor breaks itself down into six different robots and scatters into the remote past. But MC Governor is not aware that time travel alters its own molecular structure. If the pieces are not returned to their own time, they will explode in a nuclear inferno, destroying the past and with it drastically altering human history. Now, an experimental robot named Hunter and an assembled team of human explorers must find the MC Governor robots before they change the past--and the future.
[edit] The Books
- Predator - A new robot named Hunter assembles a team of humans and journeys to the age of dinosaurs to find the first component robot, MC 1, before his actions in the Late Cretaceous alter the course of Earth's zoology long before the evolution of humans--unaware that MC Governor's creator, Dr. Wayne Nystrom, has preceded them with plans of his own.
- Marauder - Hunter takes roboticist Jane Maynard, assistant Steve Chang, and historian Rita Chavez in pursuit of MC 2 to Port Royal, Jamaica, in the time of the buccaneers -- and Rita, deciding to stay in this time, takes off on her own. The team has to face buccaneers in Port Royal, sail with pirates as they prey on a ship, and figure out who among them might be a humanoid robot in disguise.
- Warrior - Hunter and his regular team members, roboticist Jane Maynard and general assistant Steve Chang, are joined by historian Gene Titus in Roman Germany where a rebellion will decide whether Germany regains its independence or remains part of the Roman Empire indefinitely. If MC 3 successfully obeys the First Law of Robotics and saves Roman Legions from a German ambush, the long-term fate of Europe will be changed forever.
- Dictator - December, 1941: Hunter knows that MC 4 will appear in the area of Moscow just before the great battle between the invading German army and the Soviet Red Army defending the city. The battle will be the first Soviet victory in World War II, unless MC 4 somehow interferes, driven by the First Law not to let humans come to harm.
- Emperor - When Beijing, China, vanishes under a mysterious mushroom cloud, Hunter knows where to seek MC 5. He takes his team back to the court of Kublai Khan in the time of Marco Polo's famous journey to Cathay. This time, their historian is Marcia Lew, a knowledgeable but pedantic authority on Kublai Khan's rule whom Steve can barely tolerate. They must not only capture MC 5 and return him to their own time through their time-travel device to prevent him from exploding, but also prevent him from reaching the ear of the benevolent Emperor -- and persuading him to make changes in his rule that could alter the course of history.
- Invader - Now Hunter, Steve, and a new historian named Harriet Lane must worry about Jane's welfare as they travel to southern Britain to seek MC 6 in A.D. 459 -- in the time when a man named Artorius led his British Celts in war against the invading Saxons. Artorius, the real man upon whom the Arthurian legend would be based in succeeding centuries, leads a troop of cavalry -- but now, in early spring, he is not prepared for war.
