# The Cosmic Computer — Chapters explained

> Chapter companions for The Cosmic Computer by H. Beam Piper.

- [I](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/chapters/i.md): Conn Maxwell returns to his home planet Poictesme after six years at the University on Terra. He is greeted by a crowd in Litchfield, including his family, Mayor Kurt Fawzi, Colonel Zareff, and others. The planet has fal
- [II](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/chapters/ii.md): Conn Maxwell returns to Litchfield and meets with his father's associates in Kurt Fawzi's office. He reveals that despite extensive research, he found no evidence of the giant strategic computer called Merlin. The group,
- [The Price of Truth](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/chapters/iii.md): Conn Maxwell reveals to his father Rodney that Merlin is a myth, based on his conversation with General Foxx Travis. They discuss the impossibility of telling the truth to the people of Poictesme, who have made Merlin a 
- [Breakfast and the Home Guard](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/chapters/iv.md): Conn Maxwell returns home and faces a tense breakfast with his family, where Flora openly scoffs at the belief in Merlin and his mother expresses deep unease about the nature of a thinking machine. Later, Conn visits Dr.
- [The Meeting at the Academy](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/chapters/v.md): Conn and Rodney Maxwell attend a large meeting at the Academy to present Conn's findings about abandoned Federation installations and to discuss the search for Merlin. Conn skillfully navigates skepticism from Wade Lucas
- [Chapter VI](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/chapters/vi.md): Rodney Maxwell returns to Litchfield to organize the Litchfield Exploration & Salvage corporation, with Kurt Fawzi as president, Dolf Kellton as secretary, Lester Dawes as treasurer, and himself as vice-president. Conn s
- [VII](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/chapters/vii.md): Conn and the expedition uncover the buried Third Fleet-Army Force Command headquarters in the Badlands. They find the personnel-file machine instead of Merlin, and discover the private office of General Foxx Travis in di
- [VIII](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/chapters/viii.md): Conn returns home to find Litchfield in the grip of Merlin hysteria and a speculative stock market boom. He argues with Flora about the chaos, worries about an inevitable crash, and begins planning an expedition to Barat
- [The Assault on Barathrum](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/chapters/ix.md): Conn and the expedition arrive at the volcanic spaceport on Barathrum, only to find it occupied by hostile forces who launch a missile attack. After a chaotic retreat and regrouping, they assess the situation and plan th
- [The Battle for the Spaceport](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/chapters/x.md): Conn Maxwell leads a raid on the pirate stronghold at the Barathrum spaceport, freeing prisoners including Captain Nichols, Yves Jacquemont, and his daughter Sylvie. They arm the prisoners with looted weapons and prepare
- [Chapter XI](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/chapters/xi.md): After the battle at Barathrum Spaceport, the Maxwells and Jacquemonts negotiate with Transcontinent & Overseas over the fate of the gutted Harriet Barne. A new company, Alpha-Interplanetary, is formed to complete the shi
- [XII](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/chapters/xii.md): Conn Maxwell and his father discuss the economic boom and political controversies surrounding Merlin. Conn works on the Harriet Barne, studying Koshchei for an upcoming expedition. The ship is completed and tested succes
- [XIII](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/chapters/xiii.md): The Harriet Barne departs from Barathrum for Koshchei, with Conn Maxwell and the crew experiencing weightlessness and making course adjustments. Upon arrival at Port Carpenter, they explore the abandoned city and discove
- [XIV](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/chapters/xiv.md): Conn and his team explore the abandoned factory complex on Koshchei, where they accidentally activate a swarm of cleaning robots that go haywire, attacking them and carrying off their aircar. After escaping the robot cha
- [The Trial of Intentions](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/chapters/xv.md): Conn Maxwell faces a tense confrontation with Kurt Fawzi and the Merlin-hunting committee, who accuse him and his father of abandoning the search for Merlin. Conn defends their focus on building a hypership to restore ec
- [XVI](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/chapters/xvi.md): Conn and his team discover the Sickle Mountain Naval Observatory, which contains over a thousand abandoned hyperships from the evacuation. They begin converting two ships for use, while on Poictesme, Merlin hysteria esca
- [XVII](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/chapters/xvii.md): Conn and his father return to a volatile Storisende, where the Merlin hysteria has escalated into violence and paranoia. After surviving an assassination attempt at the spaceport, they join Wade Lucas, who has deduced th
- [Chapter XVIII](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/chapters/xviii.md): Conn Maxwell learns that Kurt Fawzi's excavation at Force Command has uncovered a collapsium-armored disc atop the buried headquarters, raising fears that Project Merlin may be real and dangerous. Rodney Maxwell reveals 
- [XIX](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/chapters/xix.md): Conn manages the fallout from General Travis's public denial of Merlin's existence, revealing that the disguised General Shanlee is the false prophet Carl Leibert. Amidst chaos, Conn insists on continuing the excavation,
- [The Truth About Merlin](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/chapters/xx.md): General Mike Shanlee, captured and held in Force Command, reveals the secret of Merlin: the supercomputer predicted the Terran Federation's collapse within two centuries. To prevent panic and societal collapse, Shanlee a
- [XXI](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/chapters/xxi.md): The chapter depicts the aftermath of Merlin's trial and the moral dilemmas surrounding the computer's existence. Conn and his group debate whether to destroy Merlin, while a telecast from Koshchei threatens genocide if a
- [XXII](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/chapters/xxii.md): It is autumn again, the second autumn since Conn returned to Litchfield. The house is crowded with guests from Litchfield, Storisende, and Koshchei for a wedding rehearsal. Conn and Sylvie discuss their own wedding plans

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