Project Nightmare
Encyclopedia
Project Nightmare is a science fiction
short story
by Robert A. Heinlein
, first published in Amazing Stories
, May 1953, and reprinted various collections, including The Menace from Earth
.
and telekinetic ability
among a small number of people. In an opening scene, telekenetics are shown to be capable of causing a sub-critical mass of uranium to explode as if it were a critical mass, simply by thinking about it. Conversely, they are able to prevent a critical mass from exploding. When the United States is held hostage with nuclear weapons planted around the nation by the Soviet Union
, all known clairvoyants and telekinetic operators are gathered together and tasked with finding the bombs and preventing them from exploding. Each operator is given one city; as time elapses and not all the bombs have been located, some of the operators lose their abilities through fatigue, and others are required to take on more than one city simultaneously. Eventually the bombs are found and disabled, with one exception (in Cleveland). In the final scene, the President requests that the psychics turn the tables on those who threatened them, by locating and exploding bombs in Russia.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
short story
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
by Robert A. Heinlein
Robert A. Heinlein
Robert Anson Heinlein was an American science fiction writer. Often called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was one of the most influential and controversial authors of the genre. He set a standard for science and engineering plausibility and helped to raise the genre's standards of...
, first published in Amazing Stories
Amazing Stories
Amazing Stories was an American science fiction magazine launched in April 1926 by Hugo Gernsback's Experimenter Publishing. It was the first magazine devoted solely to science fiction...
, May 1953, and reprinted various collections, including The Menace from Earth
The Menace From Earth
"The Menace From Earth" is a science fiction short story by Robert A. Heinlein, first published in 1957.-Plot summary:The "menace" of the title is a beautiful woman tourist who visits the Moon colony and is assigned a young guide named Holly, a 15 year old girl and aspiring starship designer who is...
.
Synopsis
The story posits the reality of clairvoyanceClairvoyance
The term clairvoyance is used to refer to the ability to gain information about an object, person, location or physical event through means other than the known human senses, a form of extra-sensory perception...
and telekinetic ability
Psychokinesis
The term psychokinesis , also referred to as telekinesis with respect to strictly describing movement of matter, sometimes abbreviated PK and TK respectively, is a term...
among a small number of people. In an opening scene, telekenetics are shown to be capable of causing a sub-critical mass of uranium to explode as if it were a critical mass, simply by thinking about it. Conversely, they are able to prevent a critical mass from exploding. When the United States is held hostage with nuclear weapons planted around the nation by the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, all known clairvoyants and telekinetic operators are gathered together and tasked with finding the bombs and preventing them from exploding. Each operator is given one city; as time elapses and not all the bombs have been located, some of the operators lose their abilities through fatigue, and others are required to take on more than one city simultaneously. Eventually the bombs are found and disabled, with one exception (in Cleveland). In the final scene, the President requests that the psychics turn the tables on those who threatened them, by locating and exploding bombs in Russia.