"Exile of the Eons" aka "Nemesis" (short story): Socrates meets Hitler!

This is one of the more imaginative stories of Clarke. And well told.

And this story could not have been possible if quartz watches were around when the story was written. That should tell something of the age of the story.

Story summary (spoiler).
First thread of the story, the one involving the war monger ("Master"), begins almost in our time. After bringing a lot of world to ruin, Master is facing definite defeat soon. He is currently hiding somewhere in the Himalayas with with his coterie.

That is when he takes extreme action. Kills his coteries by deceit by assembling them in a gas chamber, & activating it after own escape.

He has already prepared a hibernation chamber for self in a cavity deep inside a Himalayan mountain. Inaccessible with the only entries sealed under massive piles of rock. Explosives are planted to blast himself out after awakening.

Goes to hibernation for 100 years. Any earlier appearance will mean definite trial for war crimes; any later, & world would have changed so much that he won't really be able to dominate.

Only problem is: all the fancy hibernation gadgets depend on a rather rudimentary clock. It is a kind of light sensor outside the mountains. It counts days by watching the sun's rise & fall. While it is triplicated, all three sensors are destroyed by a falling bomb while the war is still in closing stages.

So the dictator sleeps not for 100 years, but through geological ages. His mountains have been under the seas, risen again, & now slowly eroding with winds, rains, & snow.

Second thread of the story begins at this stage. Humans have been occupying the far flung reaches of galaxy for untold eons. And we see a trial of a philosopher for hearsay. The trial is very similar in spirit to Plato's "Apology" (though Apology is a far more readable book).

Philosopher refuses to change his opinions. Three options are presented: kill him (unthinkable - capital punishment has been off bound for eons); modify his mind using a machine (unthinkable - he is one of about a dozen best brains galaxy wide); & send him via a time machine to a future where his opinions can no longer affect human affairs.

Third option is adopted. He is sent, with ample supplies (including a building & a flyer), to earth at a time when earth has become a dead planet. Sun is much colder, earth is mostly a desert, & a day on earth is much longer.

He explores the earth after arrival in new time - a small place in his flyer, almost the sole living being on the planet, though air is still breathable.

That is how he encounters the hibernating Master, & awakens him. Now the philosopher comes from a era where telepathy was common. As Master is awakening, the philosopher learns of his deeds & targedy by probing his mind.

And kills this bad sample of humanity, choosing to live alone on this desolate earth.

See also.

1. Robert Heinlein's "Successful Operation": Another story where a dictator meets an unwelcome end.
   

Fact sheet.
Exile of the Eons, short story, review
Author: Arthur C Clarke
Rating: A

This story has also been published under the following titles.

1. "Nemesis"

The story appears in the following collections.

1. "Expedition to Earth"
2. "The Collected Stories of Arthur C Clarke"

"Loophole" (short story): Government bureaucracy doing what it does best - push the papers!

This engrossing piece of satire is written in a somewhat unconventional style - as a series of memos between government officials & departments.

Story summary (spoiler).
Martians have had a technology civilization for a while, while humans are still at a rather primitive stage. With advent of radio on earth, Martian government have been monitoring the development of earthlings.

That is when they detect the three US nuclear explosions - an initial test, & the two bombs dropped on Hiroshima & Nagasaki. A little later, they detect rockets being tested by earthlings.

They decide to act. Several Martian spaceships reach earth, & issue a warning: stick to earth, or face the consequences. No rockets & space exploration allowed for such violent beings.

We are told of above proceedings in the form of memos moving around in Martian bureaucracy - usually with very comic contents.

In the final act, we see the Martian civilization decimated. It seems, the earthlings invented Star Trek style material transporters when rockets were barred! And used that for attack Martians.

End is again a bit of humor, as the victorious earth soldiers on Mars are not too keen on traveling at speed of light via the beam, but would rather prefer rocket travel, & want earth to develop it for their transport!

See also.

1. "Travel by Wire!" (1937) (A): This story about a Star Trek type device to beam people & things around has an ending that shares sentiments of returning soldiers in Loophole. One of the inventors of beaming machines who is also behind the big electronic transportation empire prefers traveling the old fashioned way!
   

Fact sheet.
Loophole, short story, review
Author: Arthur C Clarke
First published: 1946
Genre: Humor
Rating: A

The story appears in the following collections.

1. "Expedition to Earth"
2. "The Collected Stories of Arthur C Clarke"

"Second Down" (short story): Symbiosis of hominids & cattle, with cattle as masters!

In spirit, this story has something in common with the story of Moonface in "2001 A Space Odyssey". But the link is tenuous; this is generally a different story.

It concerns the transformation of an almost animal community into a technological civilization. And is well written, even with some rather incredulous assumptions.

There is another view I can take of this story - as an allegory in the tradition of "Animal Farm" of George Orwell. Kind of relationship between those in services business, & those who dirty their hands with material things - who contributes more? But I doubt that was the view taken by author when this story was written.

Story summary (spoiler).
Story is set on a world different from earth, & concerns two different species of local animals.

From the descriptions, this world appears to be very similar to earth, except that there are two suns - a bright one like our sun, other just gives some orange colored light but no heat.

One of the species is what we would call cattle; other are hominid. But details are different from familiar forms. Story is essentially of cattle; hominids are secondary, & used as tools by cattle.

These cattle are very smart - very good at abstract mathematics & philosophy, but with no control whatever over their environment. Constant fight for food. No tools. Nomadic gazers under open skies. They are also telepathic - at least when communicating among own species, though they can communicate with sounds, & also have own forms of music & dance.

Hominids live on a tiny island in the delta of a river. From the descriptions, they appear to be at about the level of development that humans were about 10,000 years back. There is agriculture, village life, tools made from natural materials. Metals are about to be discovered.

There is a bit of anomaly here. Animals at this level of development, & confined to a single island in a river? While the cattle are hunted by carnivores, they are left in peace by hominids! Note at this stage, not only were humans everywhere on earth - including Americas, but the first Polynesians were were crossing half the Pacific in their tenuous canoes to colonize Hawaii!

OK - let's get back to story.

This is the situation when one of the smarter cattle members discovers this hominid community. He quickly has them dancing to his tune, & is treated by them as a godman. And he figures a way of combining the use of his kind's cattle-brains to these hominids that can control their environment.

Story ends in the two species comfortable in a kind of symbiotic relationship where cattle are masters.

And we are also shown some magic. In less than a generation, the combined civilization moves from hominids at the level of humans of about 10,000 years ago, to that of around 1400 AD!

Fact sheet.
Second Down, short story, review
Author: Arthur C Clarke
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: A

The story appears in the following collections.

1. "Expedition to Earth"
2. "The Collected Stories of Arthur C Clarke"

"siseneG": Genesis spelled backwards

This is actually a joke rather than a story - about God & Creation; dates from 1980s. You won't miss anything if you never read it, though I know someone who liked it.

Searching Google or some blog search engine might throw all of its 2 or 3 lines of text; I recall having seen more than one copies on the web. Here is one online copy (big DOC file that includes this story inline).

Fact sheet.
siseneG, short story, review
Author: Arthur C Clarke
First published: 1984
Rating: C

The story appears in the following collections.

1. "The Collected Stories of Arthur C Clarke"
2. "More Than One Universe"

See also.

1. All stories with religion as a theme.

"Moving Spirit" (short story): A man copes with sin taxes

This lovely little piece of humor is set in England around the time of war. I presume one of the world wars is meant. But it might as well have been set in India of 1970s or 80s; situation is very familiar.

Story summary (spoiler).
In a little town, you have alcohol shortages, governmental rationing, & a prohibition on brewing. Plus ordinary citizens have to pay several hundred percent sin tax on it. Of course, citizenry doesn't like it.

Our hero anyway brews at home - for own consumption, but he is still in violation of regulations. On one of these brewing occasions, there is a little accidental blast - no real damage, but a lot of noise. It was a coincidence that among the neighborhood that heard the noise & rushed to help was a tax inspector. Of course, there was smell of alcohol all over the place. Everyone understood, except the tax inspector.

Much of the story is a court room drama. Real meat of the story is the ingenious arguments of defense that get our man off the hook in a hurry. I really wonder why a lot of movies have not copied this defense. It's beautiful.

And then, there is a final twist - after the man is freed of charges. You know, one of those little incidents that make you smile in irony!

Fact sheet.
Moving Spirit, short story, review
Author: Arthur C Clarke
Genre: Humor
Rating: A

The story appears in the following collections.

1. "Tales from the White Hart"
2. "The Collected Stories of Arthur C Clarke"

"The Man Who Ploughed the Sea" (short story): Mine metals from the oceans!

Since the rivers ultimately drain all things from the lands of earth, the seas are full of all kinds of materials. Including fantastic quantities of metals. The only problem is: a single liter of sea water doesn't contain much of a specific metal like gold or uranium, though a cubic mile does.

Story summary (spoiler).
This is the story of a machine that can extract any specified metal from the waters of the seas without consuming awful amounts of energy & in large quantities. The machine is fitted at the bottom of ordinary sea going vessels. So one run across Atlantic can collect a lot of metal for owners of sea liners, e.g. Or a mining company could set the ships moving through the seas, & they can return to the docks when full.

And you save the environment: much lower energy costs in mining metals, & you don't spoil precious land. And there is enough in the seas to meet demand for as long as we can foresee.

End of the story is rather unnatural, but it is generally a readable story. Key part of the story is somewhat descriptive, & happens on board a boat off the Florida coast.

Fact sheet.
The Man Who Ploughed the Sea, short story, review
Author: Arthur C Clarke
Genre: Science fiction
Rating: B

See also.

1. "Imperial Earth": A sub-plot in this novel involves genetically engineered marine life to mine gold from sea water.
   

The story appears in the following collections.

1. "Tales from the White Hart"
2. "The Collected Stories of Arthur C Clarke"

"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"

"Big Game Hunt" (short story): How about playing God?

This story is very similar to "Patent Pending". Both the device involved & principles involved are the same; but application is different.

Story summary (spoiler).
While understanding ECG maps of nervous system are very difficult, we know that they do represent the mental activity.

Here is the thesis of this story: Suppose I record the ECG of some lowly creature while it is doing some very simple activity - like a slug taking a right turn. Can I then drive this creature to do this activity at my pleasure by simply playing back this recording? Sounds like it will interest some pervert, but that is what this story is about.

Our inventor is happy doing these experiments beginning with very low forms of life, & then moving up the chain of life. Until an entrepreneur gets interested.

The entrepreneur actually has very modest intentions, given the scope of the machine. He simply wants to film the Clarke's favorite monster, the giant squid, in convenient surroundings & at leisure.

PS: Actually, the device described is slightly different: you need to fit electrodes physically into the nervous issue of animal, if I recall correctly. But that doesn't change anything basic about the story. And the final hunt is anyway remotely done.

Fact sheet.
Big Game Hunt, short story, review
Author: Arthur C Clarke
First published: 1954
Rating: B

See also.

1. "Patent Pending": This story also has a similar ECG recording & playback device, but it is intended for distributing porn.
   
2. "The Ultimate Melody": This story is similar in that a device is used to tinker with electrical activity of the brain. But the control is exercised through auditory signals rather than clumsy electrodes.
   
3. "The Deep Range": Another story that devotes a side track to a hunt for the giant squid. Here, the squid is captures to become an exhibit in a zoo.
   

The story appears in the following collections.

1. "Tales from the White Hart"
2. "The Collected Stories of Arthur C Clarke"

"Critical Mass" (short story): A stampede is averted

This will easily qualify as among the more forgettable works of Clarke.

Story summary (spoiler).
There is a nuclear research facility in some small town. Local population never quite becomes comfortable with it presence - always fearing the ultimate disaster.

Until, one fine day, a truck carrying crates with unknown contents loses control, & crashes.

Everyone approaching the accident site is seen running away at double quick speed. A little halo is observed around some of the spilled crates. A general stampede is beginning.

And then the nature of leak is revealed, to everyone's relief.

Fact sheet.
Critical Mass, short story, review
Author: Arthur C Clarke
First published: 1957
Rating: C

The story appears in the following collections.

1. "Tales from the White Hart"
2. "The Collected Stories of Arthur C Clarke"

"Cold War" (short story): An iceberg is headed for Florida coast!

There were a couple of sentences that I didn't really get, but having fun with this story doesn't really require that you be an American.

Story summary (spoiler).
Californian businessmen want some of the Florida's tourist business. So they contrive a plan to dilute the state's claim to Sunshine State tag.

An expert is hired for a secret mission: to artificially create an iceberg in the vicinity of Florida coast, & set it adrift so it lands there. The man will get a bonus if the berg lands on some well frequented beach in Miami during "the season". And there will be Californian cameramen to make a big event of the landing.

Of course, the plans go a little astray during execution.

A note for my tropical readers, including Indians.
Sun shine is a precious commodity in northern countries, including US. On my first visit to US, I was rather baffled by the general excitement whenever next day's weather prediction involved sun shine. After spending a winter in Boston, I got wiser.

Can be a bit tough identifying with this story if you grew up in a place where you wished there was a little less sun shine!

Fact sheet.
Cold War, short story, review
Author: Arthur C Clarke
Genre: Comedy
Rating: B

See also.

1. Henry Kuttner's "Cold War": Another humorous story that has nothing to do with US/Soviet stand-off. Apart from this, the two stories have nothing in common.
2. "Armaments Race" is another Clarke story that involves building harmless but big visual impact toys.
3. "The Ghost from the Grand Banks": This story has a more exotic use of a much bigger man-made iceberg: to life one of the two halves of Titanic from seabed!
   
4. Clarke's other humorous stories.

The story appears in the following collections.

1. "Tales from the White Hart"
2. "The Collected Stories of Arthur C Clarke"

"The Ultimate Melody" (short story): Why do you like some music tracks, but not others?

This must be one of the very few Clarkian stories that border on being somewhat philosophical.

Story summary (spoiler).
We know about circadian rhythms - those bodily cycles that said to be linked to your body's clock. I am not sure if these are what Clarke means by rhythms of the mind, but let's assume they are the same - for the purpose of this article.

Here is the central thesis of this story: When an ECG machine captures the activity of your brain, what we see on display is a wavy thing that looks like it's rhythmic. And these rhythms vary with stimulus, moods, health, etc. Could likable music's rythms have something in common with these mind rhythms?

So the hero, a doctor specializing in brain activity gets interested in the correlation. And a businessman is interested too - far, how much money can be made by a music publisher if you could always produce hit tunes?

Well - the search for the ultimate melody, to which all hit music is supposed to be but a crude approximation, is ultimately found. And a major disaster results!

Fact sheet.
The Ultimate Melody, short story, review
Author: Arthur C Clarke
First published: 1956
Rating: A

See also.

1. Henry Kuttner's "Nothing but Gingerbread Left": Uses a similar idea - employing the power of catchy chants as a weapon during an alternate version of World War II.
   
2. "Patent Pending": Another story by Clarke that involves a machine that lets you experience virtual reality. But nothing else is common between these two stories.
3. "Big Game Hunt": Another story involving direct manipulation of nervous system's electrical activity to generate desirable behavior.
   

Collected in.

1. "The Collected Stories of Arthur C Clarke"
2. "Tales from the White Hart"

"Sleeping Beauty" (short story): A cure for your snoring problems!

Welcome the modern equivalent of the great Druid from the village of Indomitable Gauls. The maker of impossible potions. Because this one is modern, he injects them into your body via a syringe rather than making you drink it. But that is about the only difference.

Enjoy in this lovely piece of humor.

Story summary (spoiler).

A man gets ultimatum from his wife: do something about your snoring, or we are parting ways!

There is an additional complication: the man is to inherit a small fortune bequeathed by an uncle five years down, but only on condition that he has never been divorced till the time he gets the money! Can you count the number of movies with some variant or other of this constraint? I know there are a lot in Hindi.

OK - so he approaches the druid - an uncle who is a professor of biochemistry, or something.

Uncle is aware of the will. He extracts a bit of money immediately, & a contract to a part of fortune that will eventually come. In return, he promises to do what he can.

A while later, the snorer is injected with a newly brewed drug by professor. But he is not told that he is the first guinea pig of the wonder drug. Result is magical. Snoring is completely cured. So is the sleep!

Our snorer will never need to sleep again.

Part of the following story is concerned with speculation of how you will use all your extra time if you never needed to sleep.

But another fatal problem is surfacing. Because our man doesn't sleep, he cannot spend much time in bedroom with his wife. He gets out about midnight, & keeps himself occupied with nightly adventures.

Wife is not amused. She would rather have her snorer back!

Another visit to professor. An antidote is delivered. Unfortunately, the professor dies soon after administering drug - in a lab accident.

And, of course, need-to-sleep problem is cured, without snoring, & far better than anyone had hoped for! Our snorer never need to be awake again! Becomes a Kumbhkaran, the demon who loved to sleep - even truer than the original.

No one is complaining, least of all the wife who gets to enjoy the fortune without being burdened with a man of extremes.

Fact sheet.

Sleeping Beauty, short story, review
Author: Arthur C Clarke
Genre: Comedy
First published: 1957
Rating: A
See also: Other Clarkian comedies.

This story appears in the following collections.

1. "The Collected Stories of Arthur C Clarke"
2. "Tales from the White Hart"

"The Defenestration of Ermintrude Inch" (short story): Don't fear the complicated title, please

It was the tongue-twister title of this story that I first found attractive - in a perverse sort of way. After dusting my 20 year old nearly unused Webster (I had brought it because of beautiful bright red cover!), I found the meaning of "defenestration": throwing someone or something out of window. Ermintrude is the name of a women who happens to be the heroine of the story; Inch is her surname, & her husband's.

The story is actually is a timeless piece of humor - told since times immemorial in all cultures. And yet, every telling is different. And often attractive.

Story summary (spoiler).
A man - a sound engineer - feels harassed by his wife, because she speaks too much! After one of their numerous quarrels (wife thinks she hardly speaks, ever!), he decides to do something about it.

Result is what Clarke calls Word Counter (I think), but a more appropriate name would be "Wife Silencer". Or may be "Spouse Silencer", to be politically correct.

This is an ingenious piece of electronics that can isolate words in spoken language, & can associate each word with a speaker. When switched on, every word the wife utters in the living room will increment a very visible counter called Hers; & man's word will increment the counter named His.

On the first run of a few hours, wife's counter beats man's by a factor of 100. And wife is somewhat silenced. Over next several days, situation begins to turn towards a semblance of equality, though wife still beats man by a factor of 2.

But she is feeling depressed. Says she feels stifled because of readily visible counters. OK - the man juggles the gadget so the mike is hidden in living room, & rest of the gadget in another corner of home. A temper-proof seal is attached to now invisible counters - it will be opened a week hence.

Routine becomes normal. until the seal is broken a week down the line. And surprise - man's counter beats woman's by 100! Man is incredulous, & begins debugging the machine. Defenestration occurs when he identifies the cause.

And there is a final twist yet remaining in the tale!

Well told, & enjoyable tale.

Fact sheet.
The Defenestration of Ermintrude Inch, short story, review
Author: Arthur C Clarke
Genre: Comedy
Rating: A

See also.

1. "Silence Please": This story introduced a more general purpose silencer. But gadget of our current story should appeal to more entrepreneurs - because of much larger market!
2. "The Reluctant Orchid": Some of emotions of main protagonists are very similar.

The story appears in the following collections.

1. "Tales from the White Hart"
2. "The Collected Stories of Arthur C Clarke"

"The Possessed" (short story): Intellect in the abstract!

This story has something in common with the first story of "2001 A Space Odyssey" - aliens nudging apes to become humans. Only they choose a different species, & the story has a very different ending! And the aliens here are not as philanthropic.

This story also reminded me of another old book - "Godel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid" by Douglas Hofstadter. It was very popular when I was in college, & is written in style between a textbook & a story.

If I recall correctly, & I never went beyond first third plus its many pretty pictures, "Godel" dealt with the idea of consciousness (or at least self-awareness) in abstract mathematical structures. Kind of - can we isolate the idea of consciousness in a way that doesn't depend on anything physical, & will still be recognized as consciousness by reasonable people.

This story is very similar. It also is among the better ET stories by Clarke.

Story summary (spoiler).
A conscious being, Swarm, doesn't have a physical body in familiar sense - it's just a bunch of elementary particles that, nevertheless, is living & very smart. It can move between stars riding the interstellar light, except very close to stars where it can disintegrate & die.

It also is a parasite - it lives off other intelligent beings, by colonizing their minds. This idea of colonizing others' mind also appears in another Clarke story - "The Parasite".

Anyway, disaster has struck its home world, killing its host species & their world. So it is roaming the space in search of a suitable world, & suitable hosts. That is how it comes to earth.

But this is primeval earth. While there is life aplenty, there is no sign of anything intelligent. Should it nudge some of the living beings towards becoming intelligent, or roam the universe in search of another suitable world?

It decides to do both. Through a process akin to cell division, it splits into two equals. One will stay on earth, & try to convert some species into something intelligent; other will roam the universe.

They also decide on a point of rendezvous on earth. The one staying will visit this place periodically for any message from other half. If other half finds a suitable world, it will split again & send a copy back with the information - so the separated tribe can be united again.

Local watches over growing earth life, not able to choose anything suitable. And keeps returning to point of rendezvous - without luck. It is this need for rendezvous that gives the story its title.

Hundreds of millions of years pass. Routine repeats. In the meantime the local has chosen a local life form for nudging. Only problem is - it has bet on the wrong animal, & has lost much of its internal fire because of wait for good life all these years. But it still visits the point of rendezvous - in the hope the other half will come & redeem it.

End of the story is an amusing & inexplicable scene watched by a human family. And you know where the local Swarm had placed its bet.

Fact sheet.
The Possessed, short story, review
Author: Arthur C Clarke
Genre: Fantasy
First Published: 1951
Rating: B

See also.

1. The alien we meet at the end of "The Fountains of Paradise" appears to be a somewhat more physical version of Swarm.
2. Neil Gaiman's "How to talk to girls at parties", nominated for Hugo Award 2007 in short story category, appears to be a variant of "The Possessed".
   

The story appears in the following collections.

1. "Reach for tomorrow"
2. "The Collected Stories of Arthur C Clarke"
3. "More Than One Universe"

"Time's Arrow" (short story): A visit to Jurassic Park, reversed!

I had been wondering why there has been no story involving a time machine by Clarke. And here it comes.

In spite of having seen several time travel movies, I find this story original.

Story summary (spoiler).
A group of paleontologists have hit upon a geological discovery of some importance - fossilized bed on an ancient riverbed with footprints of a big dinosaur. The story is about reconstructing the physical path the dinosaur took around this location.

Looks like the beast stopped in the wet riverbed, then saw something interesting, & ran towards it. So our friends painstakingly dig the ground towards the source of interest.

Near the digging site is an enigmatic facility of several buildings. No one really knows for sure what goes on there - so the speculation is wild: perhaps it is a governmental atomic facility, perhaps it is about a great new invention funded by private investors, ...

Until one day there is an accident. The facility vanishes. And the diggers discover what it was that the dinosaur found interesting!

See also.

1. Two similar stories, L Sprague de Camp's "A Gun for Dinosaur" & Ray Bradbury's "A Sound of Thunder", are interesting variations on this story.
   

Fact sheet.
Time's Arrow, short story, review
Author: Arthur C Clarke
Genre: Science fiction
First Published: 1952
Rating: A

The story appears in the following collections.

1. "Reach for tomorrow"
2. "The Collected Stories of Arthur C Clarke"
3. "Across the Sea of Stars"

"Jupiter Five" (short story): Precursor to "Rendezvous with Rama"

This story obviously leads better known "Rendezvous with Rama" - there are just too many similarities. This story also has elements that will be seen in the 3 sequels of "2001 A Space Odyssey".

Story summary (spoiler).
Like Rendezvous, we have an alien spaceship in our solar system with kilometer scale dimensions. Like Rama, this is a complete independent habitat including its own sea. Like Rama, it has traveled for untold number of years through interstellar space. Like Rama, number 3 is important to these aliens - e.g., the ship's hull comprises of 3 layers.

Unlike Rama, this ship is spherical rather than cylindrical in shape, & has multiple entrances rather than only one. Also unlike Rama, it is dead & has been dead for several million years.

And, for a change, the aliens are not tentacled but reptilians, as in "History Lesson".

But by & large, the story is in the same style & tone as Rendezvous.

Last third is just a mundane fight of wits, & could have been dropped from story without any effect; it just prolongs the story. Or may be it is a precursor to 3 Rendezvous sequels; there are similarities with those sequels.

You get a preview of Odyssey sequels in the form of voyage to Jupiter, & a stopover at Ganymede.

Quite a readable story, but I prefer Rendezvous.

Fact sheet.
Jupiter Five, short story, review
Author: Arthur C Clarke
Genre: Science fiction
First Published: 1953
Rating: B

Series: "Jupiter Five" (A), "Rendezvous with Rama" (A), "Rama II" (C) , "Garden of Rama" (B), "Rama Revealed" (B)

The story appears in the following collections.

1. "Reach for tomorrow"
2. "The Collected Stories of Arthur C Clarke"
3. "Across the Sea of Stars"
4. "The Sentinel (collection)"

"The Curse" aka "Nightfall" (short story): Fate of a bombed city

Among the least entertaining stories by Clarke. The only good thing about it is that it is really short!

Story summary (spoiler).

Story describes the state of a dead small town some days after a nuclear bomb was dropped on it. It is completely descriptive - no humans, animals or dialogs - and of course the mood is sad & nostalgic.

The town involved is Stratford-upon-Avon, apparently a very well known city in England, located on the banks of river Avon. The city is both the birthplace of William Shakespeare, & where his grave is located. Both the grave & the river make an appearance towards the end of story.

Story apparently gets its title from the last line of the translation-to-modern-English of the well known epitaph on the gravestone, though the story quotes the original epitaph when identifying the grave:

"Good frend for Iesvs sake forbeare
to digg the dvst encloased heare
Blese be y man y spares thes stones,
and cvrst be he y moves my bones."

Story dateline has an anomaly I could not resolve. The city was accidentally bombed some 300 years after Shakespeare died. The story is told a few days after the incident. That would place it about the year 1616 + 300 = 1916 AD. Yet the bomb dropped is a hydrogen bomb!

Acknowledgment.

Till I saw Sarah's comment below, I had no idea of the identity of either the city or gravestone, nor any idea of the importance of both to England. Thanks Sarah.

I substantially revised the text above on June 22, 2007 after following Sarah's links, & after rereading the story.

See also.

1. Other stories with nearly the same subject matter: Ray Bradbury's "There Will Come Soft Rains", & Arthur Clarke's "If I Forget Thee, Oh Earth ...". Bradbury's version is the lightest read.
   
2. Henry Gee's "Are We Not Men": While I didn't quite like either, if you liked Curse, you might like this story by Gee too. Very similar telling style, though on a different subject.
   

Fact sheet.

"The Curse" aka "Nightfall", short story, review
Author: Arthur C Clarke
First Published: 1953
Rating: C

Collected in.

1. "The Collected Stories of Arthur C Clarke"
2. "Reach for tomorrow"
3. "More Than One Universe"

"The Awakening" (short story): Man shall not inherit the earth!

Frankly, I am getting bored with Clarke's doomsday stories - there are just too many of them!

Story summary (spoiler).
Earth is so prosperous at this future date that boredom is the biggest problem. Too many men committing suicide because of lack of excitement in life.

Our hero, if you can call him that, decides to do something interesting. He gets a spaceship built, with an inner chamber that is essentially a machine controlled chamber for human hibernation.

He takes off into space, parks himself into a solar orbit beyond Pluto, & goes to sleep in the hibernation chamber. The machines controlling hibernation chamber have instructions to awaken him unfathomable eons hence; ship likewise has instructions to bring him back to earth after awakening.

At the time of awakening, something in the machines fails; he is not awakened really, but stays in hibernation.

Ship faithfully brings him back to earth. But earth has changed unrecognizably. Gone are its seas, Alps, & Himalayas. Also gone is the moon - it crashed into earth at some time in far away past (I was taught that moon is moving away from earth, a few centimeters a year!)!

Well - the ship lands at the best site it can find. Some members of the current master race of earth come, awaken him using their technology but only for a while. And he realizes it is not the man that inherits the earth, but ...

Fact sheet.
The Awakening, short story, review
Author: Arthur C Clarke
Genre: Fantasy
First Published: 1951
Rating: C

See also.

1. "The Parasite" - another story of a prosperous future human society with bored individuals. But the two stories are developed very differently.

The story appears in the following collections.

1. "Reach for tomorrow"
2. "The Collected Stories of Arthur C Clarke"
   

"The Forgotten Enemy" (short story): Ice age returns

Story summary (spoiler).
Our Sun, in its run around galaxy, has entered a vast cloud of generally harmless cosmic dust. No one knows how long the pass will take - decades or thousands of years.

Result is: much less heat of the Sun reaches earth. And earth has entered the process that will take it into the long forgotten ice age.

The story is about the anguish of a man who has seen his world shattered by the event.

Fact sheet.
The Forgotten Enemy, short story, review
Author: Arthur C Clarke
Genre: Fantasy
First Published: 1950
Rating: C

See also.

1. "Transience" - where our Sun enters a more dangerous kind of cosmic cloud, a nebula.
   
2. In Asimov's novel "Currents of Space", a floating cloud of carbon dust hits the sun of an inhabited planet, with disastrous effects.

The story appears in the following collections.

1. "Reach for tomorrow"
2. "The Collected Stories of Arthur C Clarke"
3. "Of Time and Stars"

"A Walk In the Dark" (short story): Of primeval fears

If the only terror you knew as a child was that of darkness, you might be able to identify with this story. At least for a while.

An MP3 version of this story is available online (link via SF Signal & Free SF Reader). I haven't heard the audio version.

Story summary (spoiler).
A man of a high-tech community is forced by circumstances to walk for a few hours on a lonely road in a wilderness with no moon & little starlight. In a region that locals believe is kind of haunted, & has a monster on the loose!

Story is of the man's fears as he walks down the road; plus a predictable twist near the end of tale. Not the best of Clarke, but I didn't begin getting bored till about half way through.

Fact sheet.
A Walk In he Dark, short story, review
Author: Arthur C Clarke
Genre: Horror
First Published: 1950
Rating: C

The story appears in the following collections.

1. "Reach for tomorrow"
2. "The Collected Stories of Arthur C Clarke"
3. "More Than One Universe"