The Singing Bell
Encyclopedia
The Singing Bell is a science fiction
mystery
short story
by Isaac Asimov
that first appeared in the January 1955 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and was reprinted in the 1968 collection Asimov's Mysteries
. "The Singing Bell" was the first of Asimov's Wendell Urth stories.
ranch behind a powerful force-field. One August, Albert Cornwall takes him to the Moon to retrieve a cache of extremely valuable singing bells (lunar rocks which, when struck by the correct stroker, make an incredibly beautiful sound) which Cornwall had obtained by killing their discoverer. Louis Peyton kills Cornwall and hides the bells.
The police contact Wendell Urth to help them prove that Peyton had been on the Moon, so they can psycho-probe him to get sufficient evidence for a conviction. However, since a person can only be psycho-probed once in a lifetime, the police want to be certain that Peyton is guilty.
Urth gives Peyton his own flawed, yet still valuable singing bell to examine. He then has Peyton throw it back to him. The toss falls short and the bell is destroyed when it crashes to the floor. Urth has demonstrated that Peyton had been off-planet very recently, despite his claim to the contrary, and had not yet readjusted to Earth's gravity. The killer is taken away to be psycho-probed. Urth requests a perfect bell as his fee.
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...
mystery
Mystery fiction
Mystery fiction is a loosely-defined term.1.It is often used as a synonym for detective fiction or crime fiction— in other words a novel or short story in which a detective investigates and solves a crime mystery. Sometimes mystery books are nonfiction...
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 Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000...
that first appeared in the January 1955 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and was reprinted in the 1968 collection Asimov's Mysteries
Asimov's Mysteries
Asimov's Mysteries, published in 1968, is a collection of 14 short stories by Isaac Asimov, all of them science fiction mysteries...
. "The Singing Bell" was the first of Asimov's Wendell Urth stories.
Plot summary
Master criminal Louis Peyton spends each August totally isolated on his ColoradoColorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
ranch behind a powerful force-field. One August, Albert Cornwall takes him to the Moon to retrieve a cache of extremely valuable singing bells (lunar rocks which, when struck by the correct stroker, make an incredibly beautiful sound) which Cornwall had obtained by killing their discoverer. Louis Peyton kills Cornwall and hides the bells.
The police contact Wendell Urth to help them prove that Peyton had been on the Moon, so they can psycho-probe him to get sufficient evidence for a conviction. However, since a person can only be psycho-probed once in a lifetime, the police want to be certain that Peyton is guilty.
Urth gives Peyton his own flawed, yet still valuable singing bell to examine. He then has Peyton throw it back to him. The toss falls short and the bell is destroyed when it crashes to the floor. Urth has demonstrated that Peyton had been off-planet very recently, despite his claim to the contrary, and had not yet readjusted to Earth's gravity. The killer is taken away to be psycho-probed. Urth requests a perfect bell as his fee.