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"A good science fiction story should be able to predict not the automobile but the traffic jam."
- Frederik Pohl
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| Jumpdoor | ||
| The entrance to an energy passage providing instantaneous transportation between points across the galaxy. |
How might it be possible to move from one place to another, without traversing the space in between? Frank Herbert takes a shot at it in Whipping Star:
| The jumpdoor began to hum with its aura of terrifying energies. The door's vortal tube snapped open. McKie tensed himself for the syrupy resistance to jumpdoor passage, stepped through the tube. It was like swimming in air became molasses - perfectly normal-appearing air. But molasses. McKie found himself in a rather ordinary office.. |
| Technovelgy from Whipping Star,
by Frank Herbert. Published by Galaxy Publishing in 1969 Additional resources -
|
Jumpdoors can be dangerous; just make sure you're all the way through when they close.
The phrase “jump door” refers to the door opened in the side of an airplane for people to jump out. I remember Robert Heinlein using it in The Puppet Masters:
Two hours later we were coming in on our target and the jump door was open. Dad and I were last in line, after the kids who would do the real work. My hands were sweaty with the old curtain-going-up tension. I was scared as hell—I never did like to jump.
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'Twoflower's Luggage, which was currently ambling along on its little legs...'
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'The peculiar quality of this light, which gave it its great preeminence over all other penetrating rays...'
'The overworked leg motor would have to cool down before he could work on it...'
‘Where to, sport?’ the starter at cab relay asked.
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