Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Latest By
Category:
Armor
Artificial
Intelligence
Biology
Clothing
Communication
Computers
Culture
Data Storage
Displays
Engineering
Entertainment
Food
Input Devices
Lifestyle
Living Space
Manufacturing
Material
Media
Medical
Miscellaneous
Robotics
Security
Space Tech
Spacecraft
Surveillance
Transportation
Travel
Vehicle
Virtual
Person
Warfare
Weapon
Work
"Bureaucracies hide their mistakes, because people's careers are tied to those mistakes. Therefore, bureaucracies are a perfect mechanism for perpetuating mistakes."
- Frank Herbert
 |
| EverRest Cryotorium | ||
| Rest forever in cryonic suspension among the stars. |
In the future world of 2081, wealthy individuals try to reach immortality by having their bodies frozen and placed in low Earth orbit until cures are found and tested. Unfortunately, the EverRest Cryotorium is suffering from the same problem as the International Space Station.
| The EverRest Cryotorium, No. 2034/HH in the National Astronautics and Space Administration Registry of Inert Platforms, had been falling in toward the planet for five years now. Everyone knew the orbit was decaying, but no one gave much of a damn.
The operating company had gotten its fees in advance, and ... they were long gone. The EverRest Corporation assured the survivors of "absent friends and loved ones" that internal systems and basic hull integrity would preserve the cryo-environment at an optimum 200 degrees Kelvin for centuries to come... Not all of the EverRest's inhabitants had been trustful of lawyers... and had converted their assets into bearer bonds, negotiable Swiss paper and gem-quaility stones. For the repose of these assets, the EverRest Corporation had provided titanium-clad, asbestos-lined vaults built into the base of each of the platform's twenty-four cryogenic "sleep-cases." These modern-day Pharaohs, wrapped in the chill embrace of liquid gases, had tried to provide for their afterlife as thoughtfully, comfortably and completely as any resident of the Valley of Kings. Unfortunately, they made the same mistakes... Within six months of EverRest Corporation's demise, adventurers had matched orbits with the platform, entered it, and plundered each of the twenty-four "Star Vaults." |
| Technovelgy from Flare,
by Roger Zelazny. Published by Baen Books in 1992 Additional resources -
|
Compare to Suspended Animation (Frigorific Process) from The Senator's Daughter (1879) by Edward Page Mitchell, cold-sleep from Robert Heinlein's Methuselah's Children (1941), stasis from Heinlein's Door Into Summer (1951) and corpsicle from Pohl's The Age of the Pussyfoot (1965).
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Flare
More Ideas
and Technology by Roger Zelazny
Tech news articles related to Flare
Tech news articles related to works by Roger Zelazny
| Is It Time To Forbid Human Driving? |
| Indonesian Clans Battle |
| Liuzhi Process Now In Use In China |
| Animated Tumblebugs On Astounding Cover! |
Want to Contribute an
Item?
It's easy:
Get the name of the item, a
quote, the book's name and the author's name, and Add
it here.
| <Previous | Next> |
|
|
|
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Science Fiction Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
|
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
'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...'
