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Neutron Tide

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"Neutron Tide"
Short story by Arthur C. Clarke
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Genre(s)Science fiction
Publication
Published inGalaxy Science Fiction
Publication dateMay, 1970

"Neutron Tide" is a short story by British writer Arthur C. Clarke, first published in 1970 in Galaxy Science Fiction.[1] It is among his shortest pieces of writing, consisting solely of a 2-page, detailed description of a futuristic scenario in order to use a pun as a punch-line, a play on the title of "The Star-Spangled Banner", the United States' national anthem. The story was reprinted later in the 1978 Starlord summer special.

Plot summary

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Clarke describes a space battleship flying too close to the gravitational field of a neutron star, and it subsequently being torn to bits by the high tidal forces. A military commander revealing this in a meeting says the only identifiable piece of debris was from an engineer's toolkit, a star-mangled spanner.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Neutron Tide". isfdb.org; Internet Speculative Fiction Database. Al von Ruff and the ISFDB team.
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