Project Gutenberg 2022-06-06 Public domain in the USA. 151 Smith, George O. (George Oliver) 1911 1981 Smith, George Oliver Long, Wesley Cartier, Edd 1914 2008 Cartier, Edward Daniel Rat Race $aUnited States :$bStreet & Smith Publications, Incorporated,$c1947. Produced from Astounding Science-Fiction, August 1947 Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. "Rat Race" by George O. Smith is a science fiction short story published in the late 1940s. The narrative revolves around the creation of an innovative mousetrap by the protagonist, Peter Manton, which inadvertently leads to unforeseen consequences. The story explores themes of invention, unintended effects, and the complexities of time, as Manton's invention interacts with the fabric of reality in unexpected ways. In the story, Peter Manton invents a unique mousetrap that not only captures mice but also transmits them to unknown locations. Initially, this seems like a brilliant solution to a rising mouse population, particularly amidst wartime shortages of conventional traps. However, as the device begins to demonstrate its ability to send captured mice back in time, strange occurrences escalate into a national crisis dubbed a "plague of rats." This results in attention from the government and law enforcement as they attempt to decipher the trap's mysterious properties. Ultimately, it is revealed that the inadvertent time manipulations lead to the very problem the trap was meant to solve, presenting a humorous and thought-provoking commentary on the nature of innovation and its ramifications. (This is an automatically generated summary.) 20220312081047smith 1947 US Reading ease score: 85.6 (6th grade). Easy to read. en Science fiction Short stories Inventions -- Fiction Mousetraps -- Fiction PS Text Category: Short Stories Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy Category: Humour 57153 2025-07-27T06:31:40.025809 text/html 33507 2024-10-18T22:23:45 text/html 427281 2025-07-27T06:31:42.031807 application/epub+zip 426117 2025-07-27T06:31:40.542793 application/epub+zip 77639 2025-07-27T06:31:40.224800 application/epub+zip 464592 2025-07-27T06:31:43.307808 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 457095 2025-07-27T06:31:41.785838 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 108917 2022-09-30T18:04:20.228896 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 50263 2025-07-27T06:31:39.889821 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 30402 2024-10-18T22:23:45 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 18174 2025-07-27T06:31:43.454798 application/rdf+xml 27119 2025-07-27T06:31:40.331799 image/jpeg 4665 2025-07-27T06:31:40.276819 image/jpeg 418421 2025-07-27T06:31:40.040834 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia en.wikipedia