He envisions the computer, anthropomorphized, standing over a hole in his brain speaking to him directly. At one point, the narrator, Ted, is knocked unconscious and begins dreaming.
On more than one occasion, the group is separated by AM's obstacles. Along the way, the machine provides foul sustenance, sends horrible monsters after them, emits earsplitting sounds, and blinds Benny when he tries to escape. Because of their great hunger, the humans are coerced into making the long journey to the place where the food is supposedly kept-the ice caves. The humans are always near starvation under AM's rule, and anytime they are given food, it is always a disgusting meal that they have difficulty eating. The story's narrative begins when one of the humans, Nimdok, has the idea that there is canned food somewhere in the great complex. AM has not only managed to keep the humans from taking their own lives, but has made them virtually immortal. The master computer harbors an immeasurable hatred for the group and spends every available moment torturing them. The survivors live together underground in an endless complex, the only habitable place left. It carries out campaigns of mass genocide, killing off all but four men and one woman. One day, one of the three computers becomes self aware, and promptly absorbs the other two, thus taking control of the entire war.
Finally, "AM" stands for "Aggressive Menace". The machines are each referred to as "AM," which originally stood for "Allied Mastercomputer", and then was later called "Adaptive Manipulator". As the war progressed, the three warring nations each created a super-computer capable of running the war more efficiently than humans. The Cold War had escalated into a world war, fought mainly between China, Russia, and the United States.
The story takes place 109 years after the complete destruction of human civilization.
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