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
"The world is really so surreal these days that it's necessary for us to blunt it somehow in order to stay sane. The artist functions to short-circuit the buffering mechanism, so that people can occasionally perceive the weirdness of things as they are."
- William Gibson
 |
| Mass Detector (Gravitator) | ||
| A device that finds substantial masses, particularly in the path of a space craft. |
| As if in answer, a loud clangor came from the Orford mass detector, on the wall back of them. Dubold shut off the rockets, while Mansell leaped to the telescope. Dubold narrowed the detector beam to a tiny spear of electron stream, and turned to the screen. The feed-back of that narrowed beam would detect a tiny mass a thousand miles out in space through the disturbance of its flowing electrons and locate it in space as accurately as if sighted by a gun. At the intersection of the cross-bar lines a tiny shadow showed like a blot of ink in its intensity. Yet Mansell could see nothing..
Mansell changed the course of the ship slightly and the clangor ceased. Dubold shifted the needle beam a bit and located the mass again. A light- ning calculation by Mansell told them that the mass was at least fifteen hun- dred miles ahead. Its detection informed them that the mass was large enough to be seen with the naked eye. Yet Mansell could see nothing. Mansell and Dubold looked at each other doubtfully, but Shafton was not watching them. Instead, he had his eyes glued to the gravitator as if he could not believe what he saw. "Strange, I could see nothing," Mansell admitted to Dubold, in an under- tone. "Must be a phenomenon of space, something we don't understand. However, we are out of its path..." fE looked toward Shafton as he spoke. A flicker of alarm crossed his sharp-cut features as his attention riveted upon the young spaceman's face. For Shafton's eyes were staring aghast into the gravitator's dial. "The gravitator!" Shafton cried. "It has swung over to 10-x." "Impossible," the commander snapped,"why—why, it is unthinkable. There must be something wrong." Suddenly he switched the floor magnets off. So sensitive were the spacemen's sensations to gravitational pulls out there in almost weightless space, a slight but decided tug toward the prow could be felt. Again the commander scanned the surrounding space. |
| Technovelgy from Roamer of the Stars,
by Clyde Wilson. Published by Thrilling Wonder Stories in 1938 Additional resources -
|
This phrase was also used in Hands Off (1954) by Robert Sheckley:
The readings were uninteresting. They showed a planet smaller than Earth, uncharted, and with no commercial value other than oxygen atmosphere.
As they swung past, their heavy-metals detector came to life.
"There's stuff down there!" Agee said, quickly interpreting the multiple readings. "Pure. Very pure — and on the surface!"
He looked at Barnett, who nodded. The ship swung toward the planet.
Compare to the gravity detector from The Cometeers (1936), by Jack Williamson
THE ship's mass detector flared pink, then red. Agee had been dozing at the controls, waiting for Victor to finish making dinner. Now he looked up quickly. "Planet coming," he called, over the hiss of escaping air...
(Mass Detector from 'Hands Off' (1954) by Robert Sheckley)
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Roamer of the Stars
More Ideas
and Technology by Clyde Wilson
Tech news articles related to Roamer of the Stars
Tech news articles related to works by Clyde Wilson
| Beautiful Visualization of Dawn Spacecraft |
| Tumblin' Tumbleweed Rovers To Eplore Mars |
| Tentacled Robot Captures Space Debris |
| Reflect Orbital Sunlight On Demand |
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
'Once in the very first weeks of the war, before everyone had been evacuated from the surface...'
'For a while your colonists will have to come up to the [orbital] Hospital...'
'...it raised its front end off the ground and waved its antennae at them, then raised one armoured claw as if to snip them out of the sky.'
'Henry... assumed the curious absent look of a robot talking on the TBR circuits.'
'The king, an old hand in the running of tyrannies, instantly grasped the directions...'
'...a hemispherical force field enclosing his head.'
