The Knights of Arthur

The Knights of Arthur by Frederik Pohl

Frederik Pohl's "The Knights of Arthur" follows Sam Dunlap, a survivor of a nuclear war who, along with fellow ex-Navy shipmate Vern Engdahl, transports a third companion named Arthur—a man who lost his body in an accident before the war and now exists only as a brain in a prosthetic tank, communicating through a specially wired electric typewriter—into a devastated New York City. Sam and Arthur travel separately from Engdahl to avoid attention, and Sam checks into a hotel under the false name Schlaepfer, bribing the staff to protect Arthur's booby-trapped luggage. New York survives as a scavenged, organized settlement run by a self-styled "Major," a former Air Force duty officer who declared himself ranking military authority after the missiles hit and built a "Temporary Military Government" from the Empire State Building, complete with dozens of "wives," an armed PX (formerly Macy's), and elaborate red tape. Sam ventures out to buy supplies, haggling with armed guards at the PX for a typewriter, a rifle, and a wheelbarrow, and rewires the typewriter for Arthur's use, provoking Arthur's habitual self-pitying, garrulous complaints. A young woman calling herself Amy arrives claiming to be "Vern Engdahl," and after Sam disarms and interrogates her (forcing her to disrobe to check for hidden weapons), she reveals she works for the Major procuring manpower and offers to buy Arthur to operate the city's power station, revealing that Engdahl has already sold his own share. Sam refuses, is knocked unconscious by Amy, and wakes to find Engdahl has struck a deal with the Major anyway: Arthur is conscripted to run the Consolidated Edison power plant, Engdahl becomes the Major's "Prosthetic (Human) Maintenance Department Chief," and Sam is made the Major's office-routine chief due to his Navy yeoman experience. Sam and Amy grow close, and Sam learns the trio's backstory: all three served on the hospital submarine Sea Sprite, survived the war underwater, and after failing to find surviving family, drifted between farm country and cities, with Engdahl (an outdoorsy former Eagle Scout) always the schemer steering their plans—most recently to steal an ocean liner so Arthur can pilot it and the group can escape land-bound life. Sam, Engdahl, and Amy scout derelict ships along the Hudson and settle on the Queen Elizabeth as the only viable, upright, unsalvaged vessel, though Amy insists (falsely telling them) that the Major demands nothing less than the best. Engdahl reveals his cover story: they'll present the refitted liner to the Major as a birthday gift/yacht to gain resources and cooperation, intending to steal it once ready. They search Bayonne for tanker fuel; Engdahl's carelessness with a cigarette ignites and destroys a mooring of fifty tankers, nearly killing him, but he later finds an intact tanker and the crew successfully fuels and rewires the Queen Elizabeth for centralized single-panel control of engines and steering. Sam visits the sullen, mistreated Arthur at the power plant, where the disembodied brain expresses fury only through steam blasts, gongs, and dumped coal, having no typewriter there. Amy reveals the Major intends to marry her as his 110th wife via official orders. The group stages the ship as a birthday gift, luring the Major and over a hundred guests, wives, and officers aboard for a party. Sam sneaks off to free Arthur from the power plant, fighting off pursuing guards in a boat chase using a boathook before escaping with Arthur's tank. Back aboard, Vern secretly reconnects Arthur to the ship's systems. As a distracting thunderstorm sends the Major's helicopters away, Arthur—now fully merged with the Queen Elizabeth as his new "body"—casts off and pilots the liner out of New York harbor, using fire hoses and watertight doors to subdue the Major's bodyguards. The Major, resigned and amused, chooses to join the escaping group rather than row back alone, accompanied by his abandoned wives and officers. The story closes with Amy insisting Sam marry her immediately, with Arthur, now empowered as ship's captain, performing the ceremony—laughing so hard he jams his own typewriter keys.

By Frederik Pohl · First published 1958 · Genre: Science Fiction, Dystopian, Adventure · 6 chapters · 18,444 words

First lines

_With one suitcase as his domain, Arthur was desperately in need of armed henchmen. for his keys to a kingdom were typewriter keys! _

There was three of us -- I mean if you count Arthur. We split up to avoid attracting attention. Engdahl just came in over the big bridge, but I had Arthur with me so I had to come the long way around.

What this Textopian page supports

The Knights of Arthur is listed on Textopian as a novel by Frederik Pohl, dated 1958 CE.

This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.

Good citation fit

Similar titles

Genres

Tags

science fiction · fantasy · Arthurian legend · knights · adventure · mythology · time travel · epic · heroism · quest · magic · medieval

Contents

More by Frederik Pohl