The Cosmic Computer is a sci-fi novel by H. Beam Piper, published in 1963. Conn Maxwell , our hero, is returning from Terra to his poverty-stricken home planet of Poictesme, a.k.a 'The Junkyard Planet', with news of the potential whereabouts of Merlin, a military super-computer said to have been dumped there after the last war. The people of Poictesme hope to find the super-computer, perhaps their only hope out of poverty...Will everything go according to plan and wishes, though?