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"SF is a controlled way to think and dream about the future."
- Gregory Benford
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| Ray-Pistol | ||
| An early version of the raygun. |
As far as I know, the earliest use of this phrase.
| The pilot I left on his own ship, after disabling the radio so that no further communication could be had with the flag-ship and, at the point of the ray-pistol, I forced the commander to return to the Pioneer with me. Leaving him under the guard of Roy Hamilton, I revisited the enemy ship and made steel cable and telephone connections between it and the Pioneer; I strapped the telephone receiver to the head of the pilot, who was so utterly cowed by the ray-pistol that he obeyed my every order, and returned to my own vessel. |
| Technovelgy from The War of the Planets,
by Harl Vincent. Published by Amazing Stories in 1929 Additional resources -
|
Vincent adds more detail, using the same phrase in Tanks Under The Sea (1930):
Chevan had risen from his chair, his face purpling. Quick as a flash his hand shot over the desk top and in it was gripped a slender weapon at sight of which Ongli turned suddenly to flee. But too late. The spiteful crack of the ray pistol coincided with his movement and a sudden flash of light burst forth between his broad shoulders; a splash of flame it seemed to be, searing flame that spread and devoured in an instant. Ongli was no more. Just vanished in a puff of vapor like a punctured gas balloon.
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'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.'
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'...we've promised him a generous pension from the royalties.'
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'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.
