Passion Play

Zelazny, Roger. "Passion Play." Universe 5. Terry Carr, ed. New York: Random House, 1974. Coll. Last Defender of Camelot.

After "the ancient masters" (humans) destroyed "themselves in a combat too mystical and holy for" their machine successors to comprehend, there are still "these ceremonies in commemoration of the Great Machine. All the data was there: the books, the films, all; for us to find, study, learn, to know the sacred action" (Camelot 7). The ceremonial "sacred action" is a car race narrated in the first person by the capital "C" Car or its robot driver that will sacrifice itself in a crash and burn accident. Cf. the film A.I. and other stories of robot or more generally machine take-over after human extinction. Cf. and contrast RZ's "Auto-Da-Fé". (RDE, 20/07/01)