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"Writing about the future, I have a vested interest in there being a future for me to write about."
- John Brunner
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| Magnetic Coil Slippers | ||
| Maintain your footing in zero gravity. |
| Mrs. Blaiskell brought forward service shoes, worn to some extent by everyone at the station: slippers with magnetic coils in the soles. Wires ted to a power bank at the belt. By adjusting a rheostat, any degree of magnetism could be achieved.
"When a person works, she needs a footing," Mrs. Blaiskell explained. “Of course there’s not much to do, once you get on to it. 'Cleaning is easy, with our good filters ; still there’s sometimes a stir of dust and always a little film of oil that settles from the air." |
| Technovelgy from Abercrombie Station,
by Jack Vance. Published by Thrilling Wonder Stories in 1952 Additional resources -
|
Compare to space-boots from The Passing of Ku Sui (1932) by Anthony Gilmore, magnetic boots from Atomic Fire (1931) by Raymond Z. Gallun, antigrav boots from The Day We Celebrate (1941) by Nelson S. Bond, Steel-Lined Space Boots from Roamer of the Stars (1938) by Clyde Wilson, the neutronium slippers from Revolt on the Tenth World (1940) by Edmond Hamilton, space socks from Lost Rocket (1941) by Manly Wade Wellman, the weight shoes from The World With A Thousand Moons (1942) by Edmond Hamilton, magnetic sandals from The Warriors (1966) by Larry Niven, magnetic-soled shoes from Space Tug (1953) by Murray Leinster, the grip shoes from 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) by Arthur C. Clarke and the flexible sprung boots from Inherit the Stars (1977) by James P. Hogan.
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'It turns sunlight into electricity, just like any solar power converter - you spray it on.'
'The robot looked up at him and gesticulated...'
'The Padre's weightless voice floated reassuringly back to him.'
'...they moved with the ease of dandelion puffs.'
'...some bored drone pusher in a remote driving centre...'
'These pods were programmed to hang in space in a hexagonal grid pattern...'
'...the meteor caught and halted just as a small boy catches a swift ball in his cap.'
