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"A science fiction story is a story built around human beings, with a human problem and a human solution, which would not have happened at all without its scientific content."
- Theodore Sturgeon
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| Sonar Pistol | ||
| A device that divers can use to find seabottom and objects in extremely dark or murky water. |
The action in the novel Starfish takes place at extreme ocean depths where no light from the surface penetrates. How can divers find their way around? By using the same techniques as sea creatures.
| They call it a squid: a jet-propelled cylinder about a meter long, with a headlight at the front end and a towbar at the back. Clarke, floating between Beebe and the seabed, checks it over with one hand. Her other hand grips a sonar pistol. She points the pistol into blackness; ultrasonic clicks sweep the night, give her a bearing.
"That way," she says, pointing. Ballard squeezes down on her own squid's towbar. The machine pulls her away. |
| Technovelgy from Starfish,
by Peter Watts. Published by Tor Books in 1999 Additional resources -
|
I don't think that there is anything as sophisticated as this device in a handheld form. Present-day divers can equip themselves with simple handheld sonar devices that look like flashlights. They are used to make a simple depth-check possible from the surface (from a kayak or canoe) or when underwater. These devices are simple, however; you point them at the bottom and press the button and a single result is provided. They do not provide a picture of what is there.
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| Your Solar Electric Paint Is Ready, Larry Niven |
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'...the rocket’s landing-arms automatically unfolded.'
'...points and patches of light... sliding all over their faces in a programmed manner that had been designed to foil facial recognition systems.'
'...the combined Wind-Suncatcher, like a spray of tulips mounted fanwise.'
'I went to the control room where the three other men were manipulating their mechanical men.'
'The low-slung monorail car, straddling its single track, bored through the shadows on a slowly rising course.'
'It was a smooth ovoid floating a few inches from the floor...'
'... he thrust in his charging arm to replenish his store of energy.'
'...the terrible Jovian gravity that made each movement an effort.'
