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"It's hard to tell stories about critters that are not human. John W. Campbell tried it, in "Twilight," and everybody says it's a wonderful story, and nobody ever reads it twice."
- Jerry Pournelle
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| Trans-Oceanic Rocket | ||
| Also, a rocket-plane. |
According to the story, it takes a mere 5 hours to cross the Atlantic. Ironically, the supersonic (and now defunct) Concorde made the trip in just 3 and 1/2 hours.
| I was rushing over the ground toward the glittering, silver-winged projectile that was the Baikal. A glowering officer waved me on, and I dashed up the slant of the gangplank and into the ship; the port dropped and I heard a long "Whew!" of relief...
There's a friendly atmosphere aboard a trans-oceanic rocket. The passengers are forced into a crowded infirmary for anywhere from seven to twelve hours, and there isn't much room for moving about. Generally, one strikes up an acquaintance with his neighbors; introductions aren't at all necessary, and the custom is simply to speak to anybody you choose— something like an all-day trip on the railroad trains of the last century, I suppose... Afterwards we walked along the narrow aisle to the glassed-in observation room up forward. |
| Technovelgy from The Worlds of If,
by Stanley G. Weinbaum. Published by Wonder Stories in 1935 Additional resources -
|
It is also called a "rocket-plane".
(The Trans-Oceanic Rocket Plane)
Five hundred people were picking themselves up from the floor, were trampling each other, milling around, being cast helplessly down as the great rocket-plane, its left wing but a broken stub, circled downward toward the Atlantic.
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| Japan Automated Cargo Transport |
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'Power could be compressed thus into an inch-square cube of what looked like blue-white ice'
'It's so light that you can set it up in five minutes by yourself...'
'Heavy penalties... were to be applied to any one found driving manually-controlled machines.'
'Buy a Little Dingbat... electropen, wrist watch, pocketphone, pocket radio, billfold ... all in one.'
'... an elastic, tinted material that had all the feel and appearance of human flesh and epidermis.'
'It is remarkable that the long leverages of their machines are in most cases actuated by a sort of sham musculature...'
