Tower of Glass
Robert Silverberg
Simeon Krug has a vision--and the vast wealth necessary to turn dream into reality. What he wishes is to communicate with the stars, to answer signals from deep space. The colossal tower he's constructing for this purpose soars above the Arctic tundra, and the seemingly perfect androids building it view Krug as their god. But, Krug is only flesh-and-blood, and when his androids discover the truth, their anger knows no bounds...and it threatens much more than the tower. "...a multi-levelled work of high adventure, considerable tension and social consciousness."--Harlan Ellison. Simeon Krug, a fantastically wealthy entrepreneur, endeavors to communicate with the stars in this fascinating tale of a man's incredible hubris and the destruction it wreaks on all within his sphere of influence, which includes the entire world. Every one of Krug's actions appears to be motivated by the need for self-aggrandizement, although he would probably be shocked to hear it; this blindness is a fascinating aspect of the character. Krug wants to stretch his presence across this universe, so he is building a mile-high glass tower on the northern tundra that will house a tachyon projector. He needs workers for his project, so he creates androids that are capable of the full range of human emotion and presses them into service. Some reviewers have complained that the story ends on an inconclusive note but, if you read this story, just think about the havoc that Krug has caused through his single-minded attachment to his own grand schemes without adequate thought to their consequences. Robert Silverberg has penned a worthy cautionary tale about the danger of pairing too much power with too much ambition and too little ability or desire to imagine any result but what the great man intends. Simeon Krug is the king of the universe. A self-made man, he is the Bill Gates of the era, having built a mega-commercial empire on the backs of his products: "androids", genetically-engineered human slaves. Having amassed incredible wealth, his next major goal is to communicate with aliens living in an uninhabitable world, sending a mysterious signal. This requires building a mile-high tower in the arctic tundra. The androids want civil equality with humans, but are divided on the best means to the goal, political agitation or religious devotion to Krug, their creator. And Krug's son, Manuel, is reluctant to step into his role as heir to his father's empire.
