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"The science fiction method is dissection and reconstruction. You look at the world around you, and take it apart into its components. Then you take some of those components, throw them away, and plug in different ones, start it up and see what happens."
- Frederik Pohl
 |
| Grip Shoes | ||
| Shoes with velcro soles used to walk in weightless environments. |
The stewardess came walking up the narrow corridor to the right of the closely spaced seats. There was a slight buoyancy about her steps, and her feet came away from the floor reluctantly as if entangled in glue. She was keeping to the bright yellow band of Velcro carpeting that ran the full length of the floor - and of the ceiling... This trick of walking in free fall was immensely reassuring to disoriented passengers. |
| Technovelgy from 2001: A Space Odyssey ,
by Arthur C. Clarke. Published by Del Rey in 1968 Additional resources -
|
This lets the stewardess walk "upside down." These are, of course, the Pan Am Grip Shoes (TM).
Thanks to Winchell Chung at Project Rho for the photo.
Compare to space-boots from The Passing of Ku Sui (1932) by Anthony Gilmore, magnetic boots from Salvage in Space (1933) by Jack Williamson, antigrav boots from The Day We Celebrate (1941) by Nelson S. Bond, magnetic shoes from The Dual World (1938) by Arthur K. Barnes,
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 and the flexible sprung boots from Inherit the Stars (1977) by James P. Hogan.
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Tech news articles related to works by Arthur C. Clarke
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'The crawling... object was V-Stephen's surgeon-hand...'
'Joe got out the gravity-simulator harnesses...'
'You couldn't have the capstone without the pyramid to hold it up.'
'the unobtrusive inspections with tiny remote-cast snoopers...'
I'm hoping that this procedure becomes a normal part of medical practice!
'... nothing was perfected until M. Pantalon announced the completion of his automatic valet.'
'...its streets were of remarkable width, with few or no buildings so high as mosques, churches, State-offices, or palaces in Tellurian cities.'
