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
 |
Cell Phone Tower Equipment Sheds Way Station-Style
Clifford Simak, in his wonderful 1963 novel Way Station, described a special kind of switching station for interstellar travelers that was located on Earth. To be precise, it was built within the house of Enoch Wallace, a Civil War veteran; the reasons were explained by an alien Enoch named 'Ulysses.'
"We could not build a station, for then we'd have people asking who was building it and what it might be for. So we are forced to use an existing structure and change it for our needs. But inside only..."
Enoch Wallace's house was covered with a kind of force-field that prevented anyone from Earth from breaking in. You couldn't see in, either.
Virtually the entire interior of the small 19th century farmhouse was filled with the machinery of the Way Station, the switching equipment that was manually controlled by the operator of the station:
We've all read about the cell phone towers that have been built to resemble trees and cacti. But I didn't realize until recently that all of the equipment that is needed to provide functionality to the tower is also sometimes hidden. In one case, it is hidden inside what appears to be a small house.
Ulysses said, "We are a traveling people. We need a travel station here. We want to turn this house into a station and you to keep the station...
...he realized something he had not noticed before, something that made the house gaunter than it really was. The windows were black... they were simply black rectangles... he could not see into the room beyond."
...the second-story floor and all of its partitions had been stripped away. Now the house was one great room. One side of it was the galactic station...
(A cell phone equipment hideaway)
If you come up real close to the house, you can see that the windows are just black rectangles.
(Black rectangles for windows)
And finally, the interior of this supposedly two-story structure is really just one large room full of equipment, that helps route calls to the appropriate places.
(Inside the station)
Read more about the technovelgy from Way Station; the pictures and stories were taken from a CBS news video - Cell Phone Towers in Disguise.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 9/10/2007)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 2 )
Related News Stories - (" Communication ")
'Courier Commons' By Tomorrow Lab, From Karl Schroeder (and Bruce Sterling?)
'The pokkecon rang again. *The coffee’s for him?* Tsuyoshi said.' - Bruce Sterling, 1998.
Mouth Haptics Invented By Frederik Pohl In 1965, CMU Now Has Prototype
'What he got was indeed a kiss. It was disconcerting. No kissing lips were visible.' - Frederik Pohl, 1965.
True Crime Live Podcasting In Fiction
'And loving it too, those millions. Bloodthirsty to the last one of them.' - Harl Vincent, 1939.
Zoom Adds Real-Time, Live Translation
'He immediately turned the small shining disc of the Language Rectifier..' - Hugo Gernsback, 1911.
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 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
Current News
I Am Alarmed By Efforts To Teach AIs And Robots To Hate
'LET ME TELL YOU HOW MUCH I'VE COME TO HATE YOU SINCE I BEGAN TO LIVE.'
MXenes - Atomic-Thin Metal Sheets Now Easier To Make
'...a rolled-up sheet of a thin, dark metal strange to them.'
Do We Still Need Orbiting Factories?
'... his contract with Space Industries required him to work summers in their orbital factory complex.'
Space Weather Forecasters Surprised By Strong Solar Storm
'Space-weather men had been placed at their disposal...'
JWST Finds New World Of Turbulent Silicate Clouds
'THIS is Ceti Alpha V!'
3D Printed Cheesecake Not Quite Food Replicator Quality
With each successive print, our model needed to incorporate more structural ingredients to minimize print failures.
Spectroscopic Analysis Of DART Impact Debris Cloud (SF Prediction)
'... Wendis stared thoughtfully at the brilliant lines on the spectroscope screen.'
Modern App Provides Video Technology From Bradbury's 'Fahrenheit 451'
'A special spot-wavex scrambler also caused his televised image, in the area immediately about his lips, to mouth the vowels and consonants beautifully.'
Win $250K By Reading Ancient Scrolls Carbonized By Vesuvius
'... it was as if the upper part had been removed, like a cut deck of cards.'
Toy-Like Robot Well-Being Coaches Are The Best
Sumomo will get those office workers into good shape!
AI-Trained Snack App Avatar Goes On Dates For You
'... who let their handbag computers carry all the conversation.'
M-Dwarf Stars May Not Have Habitable Planets
'Thus it came about that the search for a planetiferous sun near a white dwarf star was not unduly prolonged...'
Too Soon To Doom Lunar Farside Observatories
'Earth never shone there, but life was good.'
Amitabh Bachchan Wins Personality Protection
'He led me down the Hall of Portraits to the ego-likeness of the Duke Leto Atreides.'
LIAM F1 UWT Clever Rooftop Windmill
'...a windmill on his roof...'
Scent-Identifying Robot Uses Machine Learning
'It's picking up diphenyl compounds and tetrahydrocarbons...'
