The Defenders (short story)
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The Defenders is a 1953 science fiction short story by Philip K. Dick, and the basis for Dick's 1964 novel The Penultimate Truth.
The story deals with the Cold War era. It depicts a future history (from the perspective of 1953) where nuclear war had occurred years ago and the American people are living in subterranean cities to avoid radiation. The Americans are told that the war is still going on on the irradiated surface, using soldier-like robots. One day, they decide to return on the surface...
In the end of the short story, we find out that contrary to what Americans thought, the war has ended long ago and the robots have been maintaining a peace with the Soviets on Earth for a long time. The subterranean dwellers were not informed because they were believed by the machines to be too immature and belligerent to understand the futility of war.
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