Knights of Arthur

In a future Manhattan, the city runs on the labor of beings like Arthur - compact, programmable, and utterly disposable. When sailors Sam Dunlap and Arthur check into a Manhattan hotel, they find themselves in the middle of a corporate transaction: a girl wants to buy Arthur, and the city's power brokers need "guys like him" to keep the infrastructure humming. But Arthur isn't just a machine - he has opinions, desires, and perhaps something like a soul. As Sam and Arthur wait for their mate Vern Engdahl to arrive, they must navigate a world where the line between human and product has completely blurred. Pohl, writing at the height of the Cold War, uses this strange comic caper to ask uncomfortable questions about labor, autonomy, and what we owe the things we create. The satire lands hard: a city run by workers who fit in suitcases is absurd until you realize it's also a nightmare about human obsolescence. The prose crackles with the wit that made Pohl one of science fiction's sharpest observers of capitalism and alienation. Part buddy comedy, part dark prophecy, Knights of Arthur rewards readers who like their science fiction with teeth.