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"It was my preferred entertainment when I was a kid, so when I set out to be a writer, it was perfectly natural that I should write the sort of stories that I used to enjoy reading."
- John Brunner
 |
| The Krang | ||
| An enormous musical instrument (or weapon). |
| "...Who would have suspected it? The Krang is both a weapon and a musical instrument."
"It tells us a lot about the Tar-Aiym... not to mention going a long way toward explaining their interest in two such seemingly divergent fields as war and art. I can't say that I care for their tastes in music, though..." "Apparently," continued the thranx... "the machine generates some form of vibration... I confess myself hesitant to label it 'sound waves.' Probably something partaking of those characteristics as well as those of wave forms we could not identify - although their effects were noted." |
| Technovelgy from The Tar-Aiym Krang,
by Alan Dean Foster. Published by Ballantine in 1972 Additional resources -
|
As to the appearance of the Krang:
From above the dull metal plating of the machine an uncountable profusion of chromatically colored tubes ran toward the distant roof. Azure, peach, shocking pink, ivory, Tyrolean purple... Some were the size of a child's ty, small enough to fit over [the] little finger. Others looked big enough to swallow the shuttle with ease...
"Looks like the ultimate product of a mad organ-builder's worst nightmares..."
And what did it sound like when used?
A thousand million jackboots drummed alien marches on the side of his head while a conspiracy of laughing electrons tried to pull his scalp off. He smelled burnt orange.
The "machine" itself towered a hundred meters above them and ran the length of the auditorium, melting into the curved corners... Much of the machine was closed off, but Flinx could see dials and switches catching the light from behind half-open plates...
The gigantic pipes of the machine pulsed with anvillike ringings, circlets of lambent electricity crawling up their sides like parasitic haloes. They crackled viciously, much as ripping plastic foil...
Thanks to Eric Nodacker for contributing this item.
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Additional
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More Ideas
and Technology from The Tar-Aiym Krang
More Ideas
and Technology by Alan Dean Foster
Tech news articles related to The Tar-Aiym Krang
Tech news articles related to works by Alan Dean Foster
The Krang-related
news articles:
- Twin Solid State Musical Tesla Coils In Concert
- Get Inside The 100 Foot Piano
- Steam Infrastructure-Powered Music
| California Fireman Arrested For Starting Fires |
| Tether Cryptocurrency Flow Rate US$190Bn Per Day |
| Poul Anderson's 'Brain Wave' |
| Waymo Cars Shout At Each Other, Autonomously |
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'You had to live -- did live, from habit that became instinct -- in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard...'
''OVERRIDE,' the City Fathers said suddenly, without being asked anything at all.'
'... they could plug in your wire whenever they wanted to.'
'... the expressionless face before me was therefore that of the golem-wrestler, Rolem, a creature that could be set for five times the strength of a human being.'
'Waldo put his arms into the primary pair before him; all three pairs, including the secondary pair mounted before the machine, came to life.'
'... the glittering little rocket bolted to the black iron behind him.'
'The slender stalks of a sunshade-photocell collector...'
