I chose to read this book because of one reason and one reason only. I read that this book was an inspiration for the game science fiction RPG Traveller and I was not disappointed. The universe that it describes is very obviously similar to the Traveller universe which is clearly derived from it.

I did like the story and the topic is still relevant. The protagonists are in search of an AI computer that was abandoned 40 years previously during a period of war. No one knows if the computer is real or not or whether this it just a legend and the computer gains almost mystical status.

I got the impression that the computer Deep Thought in the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy could have been inspired by the computer in this novel. You could imagine if it was so clever then someone might ask it what is the meaning of life the universe and everything is.

This genre of science fiction forms the background for Star Trek and Star Wars though we clearly live in a more high tech computer age than the author could imagine.