"Technical Error" is a

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...

by English writer

Arthur C. Clarke Sir Arthur Charles Clarke (16 December 191719 March 2008) was an English science fiction writer, science writer, futurist, inventor, undersea explorer, and television series host. Clarke co-wrote the screenplay for the 1968 film '' 2001: A ...

. It was published in 1950 under the title "The Reversed Man" and appeared again in Clarke's collection of short stories ''

Reach for Tomorrow ''Reach for Tomorrow'' is a 1956 collection of science fiction short stories by British writer Arthur C. Clarke. All the stories originally appeared in a number of different publications. Contents This collection includes: *"Preface" *" Rescue ...

'', in 1956.

Plot summary

The first power plant to exploit

superconductivity Superconductivity is a set of physical properties observed in superconductors: materials where Electrical resistance and conductance, electrical resistance vanishes and Magnetic field, magnetic fields are expelled from the material. Unlike an ord ...

has been built, and technician Richard Nelson is "laterally inverted" following an accidental

short-circuit A short circuit (sometimes abbreviated to short or s/c) is an electrical circuit that allows a current to travel along an unintended path with no or very low electrical impedance. This results in an excessive current flowing through the circuit ...

while he is working inside the massive

stator The stator is the stationary part of a rotary system, found in electric generators, electric motors, sirens, mud motors, or biological rotors (such as bacterial flagella or ATP synthase). Energy flows through a stator to or from the rotat ...

of the disassembled generator. Nelson finds himself wearing his

wedding ring A wedding ring or wedding band is a finger ring that indicates that its wearer is married. It is usually forged from metal, traditionally gold or another precious metal. Rings were used in ancient Rome during marriage. In western culture, a ...

on the wrong hand. Written texts appear mirror-inverted, and coins and his technical diary have been affected. Nelson begins to starve; normal food does not nourish him because most biological molecules are

chiral Chirality () is a property of asymmetry important in several branches of science. The word ''chirality'' is derived from the Greek language, Greek (''kheir''), "hand", a familiar chiral object. An object or a system is ''chiral'' if it is dist ...

. A chemist, Prof. Vandenburg, develops mirror-inverted parallels of nutrients required by Nelson. Ralph Hughes, the station's chief physicist, investigates the incident. He discovers that Nelson has traveled through a fourth spatial dimension. He dismisses the arguments of his curious secretary McPherson, who suspects that

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein (14 March 187918 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who is best known for developing the theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum mechanics. His mass–energy equivalence f ...

had found this fourth dimension - time. The board of directors induce Nelson to partake in an experiment to "re-invert" him. Moreover, nobody is sure if they can continue to meet his unique dietary requirements. When recreating the short-circuit as closely as possible, a number of disquieting questions are raised regarding the technical parameters and specifications to meet. Subsequently, Nelson disappears during the second replicated short-circuit and, in a rush to supply power, the generator's

rotor ROTOR was an elaborate air defence radar system built by the British Government in the early 1950s to counter possible attack by Soviet bombers. To get it operational as quickly as possible, it was initially made up primarily of WWII-era syst ...

is reinstalled. It remains unclear what became of Nelson after his disappearance; his assistant remarked that there "didn't seem to be a person in the generator immediately after the accident". In the early hours of the morning, Hughes realises that the assistant's remark that he didn't see Nelson is evidence that he had momentarily disappeared in the first inversion. This leads him to believe that Nelson must have disappeared from time, but could re-materialize inside the running generator at any moment. He does not manage to contact the power station in time, and, in the distance, above the site of the station, a giant cloud of destruction is seen rising into the sky.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Technical Error Short stories by Arthur C. Clarke Works originally published in science fiction magazines 1950 short stories

Plot summary

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