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"[Science fiction] is the only kind of writing that allows you to look at the world we live in and change one piece at a time."
- Frederik Pohl
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| Mechanical Marshal | ||
| An automaton that functions like a quick-draw lawman of the Old West. |
Amos Handworthy had never married and had no children, but he enjoyed collecting automata, including the Marshal.
| "The others," said Amos
Handworthy, "are marvelous
antiques that I've collected, but
this fellow was made to my own
specifications in Switzerland.
His clothing is quite authentic
and he really works. Watch
this!" He stepped forward and took a loosely draped gun belt off the hitching post to the right of the Marshal and buckled it about his waist. "The device is electrically operated," he continued. "The instant I draw, the Marshal draws too, and the trick is to hit him somewhere on his target photo cells with a beam of light that flashes out of my gun, before he can get off his shot. I can adjust the speed of his draw within fairly wide limits and I've been moving him up to faster and faster speeds. But I've gotten pretty damn fast."
 ('The Fastest Draw' by Larry Eisenberg) WITH a drawing motion that was almost a blur, he whipped out his gun and pulled the trigger. The Marshal was fast, but apparently not as fast for suddenly a recorded voice bellowed in pain and gasped, "you got me, you dirty varmint." "A little touch of my own," said Amos Handworthy. "That's what happens when I hit him." |
| Technovelgy from The Fastest Draw,
by Larry Eisenberg. Published by Amazing Stories in 1963 Additional resources -
|
Be sure to read the article about Light Vests (Laser Tag) from the same story.
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Timeline
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'Looks like she has bought the Avatar Construction Set and put together her own...'
'Across the ground something small and metallic came, flashing in the dull sunlight of midday.'
'A broken circle with arrows pointing to a right-hand flow appeared in the chalf.'
'The object seemed melted together like wax — nothing was distinguishable.'
'Midges have many capabilities. To the untrained eye, they look like sparrows.'
'I made disks of my own voice to the number of five hundred very carefully chosen words.'
'His sensors out and working, and the whirring of the tape that sucked up sight and sound and shape and smell and form...'
