Probably old Russian SF book

Dushan

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Sep 27, 2016
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Hi guys, my first post..

When I was a young boy I have read a few of my great-grandfather's old SF books.
There is one which I would like to get back to.
I was about a giant super-structure, like a giant dome, inside it was some kind of factory controlled by super-computer. The humans built it and needed to do some maintenance on it so they have sent a task force to get inside and switch it off. But the structure fought back against them. I remember one of the defense mechanisms of the structure was to produce immense heat and it almost melted their suits. There were some traps set up by the structure as well..
Does that sound familiar to anyone?
Thx!
 
hello Dushan. Was this book from the eighties or nineties etc? Was this computer on Earth or another planet or perhaps in space? what I'm thinking is a book from about thirty years ago called 'The two faces of Tomorrow " ( i can't off hand remember the author) have a Google and see what it says.
 
I'm stretching here but The Fall of Towers by Samuel R. Delany?
 
Thanks for the suggestions guys!
Unfortunately none of them are what I am looking for :( I would hazard a guess that this is a book from 50s to 70s, from what I can remember the story was taking place on Earth in the (far) future.. I remember that the structure in question was used to produce some goods, more like an industrial complex with its own "mind" than a supercomputer.. The humanity created more of these "dome" structures and needed to repair or do some maintenance on one of them. It had some self-defense mechanism against intrusion from outside. A squad in some sort of "hazmat suits" have burned a hole into the wall of the "dome" with a torch burner and stepped inside to shut it down. Then the defense mechanism triggered and fought against the squad.
Thanks for your efforts!
Dushan
 
The one that came to mind but doesn't sound like it from your further details is Colossus (novel) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia which was made into a film, The Forbin Project. In that, the super computer Colossus had defence mechanisms to prevent anyone getting back in, which was inconvenient when it decided that humans weren't governing themselves correctly. It was built to handle the nuclear defence of the US and got into contact with the equivalent Soviet computer and the two joined to become one super computer.
 
There is a very similar scene in part of "The Long Twilight" by Keith Laumer. Although it's a large experimental power plant not a factory.
 
I'm stretching here but The Fall of Towers by Samuel R. Delany?
I haven't read The Fall of the Towers recently enough to remember a lot of details, but I don't remember men having to perform maintenance on a city machine.

It's one of those books whose message stays with you for a long time. Only other book I can remember that had a similar impact is Childhood's End.
 

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