"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"