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"I took the Minnesota multiphasic profile test once, and I tested out as paranoid, cyclothymic, neurotic, and schizophrenic. But I also tested out as an incorrigible liar!"
- Philip K. Dick
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| Ship Hull Thermobatteries | ||
| Solar activated and charged batteries built into the hull of a spacecraft. |
I thought this was a pretty clever "wake up call" for when you've been drifting in space between solar systems for a few thousand years.
| "Do you realize," he demanded savagely, "that if the crew of that ship is in suspended animation, and if their coffins or containers open only from the inside - do you realize that they expect to open them themselves?
"Yes, sir," said Freddy wearily. "Of course. Why not?" "Do you realize that cables from those containers lead to thermobatteries i the ship's outer plating? The monsters knew that they couldn't survive without power, but they knew that in any other solar system they could get it! So they made sure they'd pass close to our sun with what power they dared use, and went into suspended animation with a reserve of power to land on and thermobatteries that would waken them when it was time to set to work? |
| Technovelgy from The Ethical Equations,
by Murray Leinster. Published by Astounding Science Fiction in 1945 Additional resources -
|
Leinster didn't originate the idea of thermobatteries. In 1897, American inventor Harry Reagan was granted a patent for an application of solar heat to thermo batteries. His invention was a means of collecting, storing, and distributing solar heat as needed.
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'The pitiless M rays pierced Earth and steel and densest concrete as if they were so much transparent glass...'
'Pina2bo would have to operate full blast for many years to put as much SO2 into the stratosphere as its namesake had done in a few minutes.'
'Nanny is different,' Tom Fields murmured... 'she's not like a machine. She's like a person.'
'We made a crude , small cell and were delighted - and, I admit, somewhat surprised - to find it worked.'
'...we've promised him a generous pension from the royalties.'
'The clothes and jewelery drew their tiny power requirements from her movements.'
'At the end of each appendage's eight fingers there are tinier appendages...'
'We want to do something to help those who are suffering from tooth loss or absence,' said lead researcher Katsu Takahashi.
