# The Cosmic Computer — Chapters explained

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

- [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/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.dev/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.dev/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.dev/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.dev/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

> 17 more chapter companions — [open a free preview](https://www.betterreads.dev/reader?bookId=the_cosmic_computer_se_720kb&preview=1) to unlock the rest.

- [Chapter VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/chapters/vi.md)
- [VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/chapters/vii.md)
- [VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/chapters/viii.md)
- [The Assault on Barathrum](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/chapters/ix.md)
- [The Battle for the Spaceport](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/chapters/x.md)
- [Chapter XI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/chapters/xi.md)
- [XII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/chapters/xii.md)
- [XIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/chapters/xiii.md)
- [XIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/chapters/xiv.md)
- [The Trial of Intentions](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/chapters/xv.md)
- [XVI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/chapters/xvi.md)
- [XVII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/chapters/xvii.md)
- [Chapter XVIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/chapters/xviii.md)
- [XIX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/chapters/xix.md)
- [The Truth About Merlin](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/chapters/xx.md)
- [XXI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/chapters/xxi.md)
- [XXII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/chapters/xxii.md)

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/chapters