"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.

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

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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