["The Humanoids"] deals, essentially, with the conflict that began when the wheel and the lever were invented: the battle between men and machines. Mr. Williamson's new version of the fight is waged on a galactic scale, with weapons and terms that may tax the imaginations even of the most ardent s-f readers.

The setting is a planet far removed from earth. An interplanetary war is about to break out and the worlds are desperately arming. Suddenly the Humanoids appear from space, offering to settle the conflict. They are sleek little manshaped robots, controlled by a monster machine on a far-removed world; they have but one purpose, which is to serve and obey man and guard him from harm. The planet accepts them, only to find that the robots are equipped only to carry out their primary directive in the most literal terms….

Mr. Williamson's writing is considerably better...