Friday, May 4, 2007

"What Goes Up" (short story): An industrial accident opens up new vistas

This is not the worst story by Clarke, but there are many that are decidedly better.

Story summary (spoiler).
An accident during the commissioning of a nuclear power plant in Australia creates a zero-gravity field of a limited range right on the surface of earth - a sphere of some size that goes both into atmosphere & inside earth. And has fantastic properties.

Title of the story has to do with our normal notion of up: moving towards zero gravity.

Fact sheet.
What Goes Up, short story, review
Author: Arthur C Clarke
First published: 1955
Rating: B

See also.

  1. "The Sentinel": Observable behavior of the shield protecting alien planted beacon on moon is very similar to the human created zero gravity field in this story.
  2. "Technical Error": Another story where an accident during commissioning of a familiar machine opens up fantastic & fearsome new vistas.
This story appears in the following collections.
  1. "Tales from the White Hart"
  2. "The Collected Stories of Arthur C Clarke"

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