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"We follow the scientists around and look over their shoulders. They're watching their feet: provable mistakes are bad for them. We're looking as far ahead as we can, and we don't get penalized for mistakes."
- Larry Niven
 |
| Flat Cat | ||
| A nearly two-dimensional furry little beast. |
| "Say, Mr. Angelo, what is this? At first I thought it was a fur cap; now I see it's alive." Castor pointed to the furry heap on the counter. It was slowly slithering toward the edge.
The shopkeeper reached out and headed it back to the middle. "That? That's a 'flat cat.' ...It has a Latin name but I never bothered to learn it. Angelo tickled it with a forefinger; it began to purr like a high-pitched buzzer. It had no discernable features, being merely a pie-shaped mass of sleek red fur... [Castor] looked down and three beady little eyes stared trustfully back up at him, then closed and disappeared completely. |
| Technovelgy from The Rolling Stones,
by Robert Heinlein. Published by Scribner's in 1952 Additional resources -
|
Okay, this isn't really a piece of technology, and it wasn't a bioengineered beast, either. However, if I included Clifford Simak's hunting robes, I should certainly put this one in, too.
(Cover art by Darrell K. Sweet)
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Additional
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More Ideas
and Technology from The Rolling Stones
More Ideas
and Technology by Robert Heinlein
Tech news articles related to The Rolling Stones
Tech news articles related to works by Robert Heinlein
Flat Cat-related
news articles:
- Flatcat Robot Recalls Both Heinlein And Simak
| What'll You Have? Extinct Animals Returned, Or Synthetic Eggshells? |
| Black Fungus Blocks Radiation |
| Lunar Biorepository Proposed For Cryo-Preservation Of Earth Species |
| Let's Make Slaver Sunflowers! Engineering Plants To Reflect Light |
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'Maybe the individual intelligence of each Cubic pools into a group intelligence...'
'Looks like she has bought the Avatar Construction Set and put together her own...'
'Across the ground something small and metallic came, flashing in the dull sunlight of midday.'
'A broken circle with arrows pointing to a right-hand flow appeared in the chalf.'
'The object seemed melted together like wax — nothing was distinguishable.'
'Midges have many capabilities. To the untrained eye, they look like sparrows.'
