The novel “The Man in the Maze” by Robert Silverberg was published for the first time in 1968.

Charles Boardman leads an expedition to the planet Lemnos, where Richard Muller, a diplomat who nine years earlier had established his home in the middle of an ancient, huge labyrinth, exiled himself. Boardman’s goal is to reach Muller, but the labyrinth is full of deadly traps.

To limit the risks, Charles Boardman uses a series of drones built directly on his spaceship. They enable finding many traps, yet some men die trying to reach the labyrinth’s center. Ultimately, young Ned Rawlins is the one who encounters Richard Muller, an event not by chance but planned by Boardman to exploit the boy’s innocent appearance to gain Muller’s trust.