The Sorcerer's Apprentice

By Malcolm Jameson

A request for mineral water becomes a threat to an entire industrial system. High on Pikes Peak, a vast installation uses gravitic power and a formula attributed to Einstein to integrate atoms, turning substances drawn from the atmosphere into essential manufactured materials. Directing it is Algernon Leroy "Bucky" Sillywood, the brilliant scientist-engineer known as the Sorcerer, whose extraordinary machinery demands more than theoretical knowledge from anyone entrusted with its controls. When an inexperienced assistant misunderstands the converter, the installation begins directing its immense productive capacity towards water. From that sharply comic error, the story develops a crisis of machinery failure and environmental disaster, placing the plant, its associated industries and the upland valleys in danger. The disproportion is central to the satire: an ordinary request collides with world-changing technology, and a seemingly simple task exposes the perilous gap between operating a machine and understanding it. Beneath the escalating industrial chaos lies a pointed examination of technological responsibility. Scientific ingenuity may make astonishing production possible, but practical competence remains indispensable when a mistake can spread far beyond the control room. Blending science fiction, comedy and disaster, this short story turns atmospheric conversion and large-scale manufacturing into a compact warning about human error, powerful systems and the consequences of knowledge applied without comprehension. This book was out of print for decades and is now republished by Alpha Editions. It has been restored for today's and future generations. This edition is not just a reprint - it's a collector's item and a cultural treasure.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 9377786983
• ISBN13: 9789377786984
• Release Date: November 2026
• Publisher: Alpha Edition
• Length: 22 Pages
• Weight: 0.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.1" x 6.0" x 9.0"